{"id":1017914,"date":"2022-05-22T10:56:14","date_gmt":"2022-05-22T17:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cx-journey.com\/?p=24022"},"modified":"2022-05-22T11:01:10","modified_gmt":"2022-05-22T18:01:10","slug":"values-create-value","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/customerthink.com\/values-create-value\/","title":{"rendered":"Values Create Value"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n\r\n

I originally wrote today\u2019s post for Bill Quiseng\u2019s blog. It was posted on his site<\/a> on March, 15, 2022. <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

As I was writing my latest book, Built to Win<\/a><\/em>, I wanted to be sure to incorporate the notion that it\u2019s important to design a customer-centric culture because there are clear outcomes to doing so. Culture (and certainly not one that puts the customer at the center of the business) isn\u2019t just fluff. It\u2019s tangible. It\u2019s measurable. It\u2019s critical. It\u2019s the foundation of the business and of business success.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Because culture is defined as core values plus behaviors, I needed a statement that nicely summarized the fact that the culture drives value \u2013 for employees, for customers, and for the business. After all, the sub-title of the book is: Designing a Customer-Centric Culture That Drives Value for Your Business<\/em>. When I saw Marc Lore\u2019s (founder of Jet.com) quote that \u201cthe values create the value,\u201d I said, \u201cYes, that\u2019s what I\u2019m looking for.\u201d Short and sweet \u2013 and right to the point.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Culture is a driving force in creating value for customers and for the business. Yes, values do create value. First, when your values drive a customer-centric culture, you\u2019re putting customers at the center of all you do \u2013 again, no discussions, decisions, or designs without thinking about the customer. Solving problems for customers creates value for them \u2013 and ultimately creates value for the business. (That assumes you\u2019ve done the work to understand your customers and focus on those customers that will create the greatest value for the business, too.) Second, when customers\u2019 values align with the brand\u2019s values, when customers are aligned with a brand\u2019s purpose, they are more likely to prefer, purchase from, and recommend the brand to others than those who are not.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

How do we know? Well, as with any other work you do within your organization, shining the spotlight on culture is also all about the outcomes! Not all outcomes are financial, but what I\u2019ll call \u201cintermediary outcomes\u201d that ultimately lead to the business outcomes you desire. Let\u2019s move to drawing a very clear line from culture to business outcomes, starting with this graphic below.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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While the graphic may be self-explanatory, let\u2019s walk through it briefly.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The foundation of a winning organization is leadership and culture. Leaders must deliberately design the culture they desire, or else allow the culture they get. Rather the former than the latter! To do so, leaders must care about their people, create a culture that puts people first, and ensure that employees have a great experience. As a result, employees are enabled to do good work, and they feel a sense of purpose and belonging; they\u2019ll feel appreciated and valued; and they\u2019ll feel energy and enthusiasm about their work and the workplace. All of that leads to employee happiness and engagement; a more creative, innovative, and productive workforce that puts out quality work; and employee loyalty.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

With that as their foundation, employees can deliver an experience for customers that leaves customers feeling valued; helps them to achieve value; solves their problems and helps them do some job: and culminates in engagement, happiness, and loyalty.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

When all of that is aligned, the business benefits include both strong employer and talent branding, shorter and less costly recruiting cycles, increased customer lifetime value, revenue growth, profitability, and a host of competitive advantages that perpetuate all of these outcomes.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Let\u2019s get to some real hard data about the connection between your culture and the bottom line. In the past, executives have used the excuse that there\u2019s no data on this connection, but it exists.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

McKinsey conducted some research<\/a> that points to culture correlating with performance. They looked at more than 1,000 companies, and those with cultures in the top quartile of McKinsey\u2019s Organizational Health Index had shareholder returns that were not only 60 percent higher than median companies but also 200 percent higher than companies landing in the bottom quartile.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

John Kotter and James Heskett conducted research years ago, culminating in a 1992 book titled Corporate Culture and Performance,<\/em> and they have continued to build on that research over the years. They discovered that leaders who use culture as a strategic tool (versus those who don\u2019t) do so quite successfully; these leaders saw, over an extended period of time\u2026<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n