Dandelions put out a taproot from the very beginning to give themselves every advantage possible in journey ahead—because they don’t know if that journey will be easy or tough.
Unfortunately, too many companies don’t operate with the basic principles of dandelions and as a result, start with weak foundations, don’t plan for adversity ahead, and falter when the economic winds change. If we’ve learned anything from history it should be that change is inevitable. It can be sudden and unpredictable or like a slow-moving glacier.
What are you doing to give yourself a shot at success even against all odds?
Establishing Your Organizational Foundations
At Thinkhaus, we work with companies to build strong foundations. Depending on where you are as a company, this may be defining your purpose, vision, mission, values. You might use all of these or only a couple. These are your taproots.
Some companies never bothered to write these down, or maybe they did but the language was off. Some companies discovered that somewhere in the pandemic their foundations shook loose and didn’t hold up that well. One of my personal favorites here was created by the brilliant writers for the show The Office and their fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. Their Mission Statement reads:
“Dunder Mifflin Incorporated provides its customers quality office and information technology products, furniture, printing values, and the expertise required for making informed buying decisions. We provide our products and services with a dedication to the highest degree of integrity and quality of customer satisfaction, developing long-term professional relationships with employees that develop pride, creating a stable working environment and company spirit.”
The statement is purposefully packed with corporate babble that is neither clear nor differentiating. It worked great for a comedy show, but you can find similar statements in organizations across the globe.
Generalizing foundational language can also lead to shaky cultures. For example, all those companies that promised their employees that they worked like a family had some soul searching to do when things got tough and they laid off half the “family”. Because that’s not really what we do to family. We don’t push our kids out the door when things get tough. We tighten our belts a little, maybe cut back on extracurricular activities, take fewer trips, etc. But the family stays the family.
It's one thing to say you want a culture that treats people equitably and does everything possible to maintain a collegial environment, but a little clarity goes a long way, especially in difficult discussions and markets.
In mid-2022, Netflix sent out a memo to their staff saying they are not like a family. They are like a high-performance team. And they evaluate based on performance, move people in and out as needed, and optimize to keep the machine performing.
“The thing we most value is working with talented people in highly creative and productive ways,” the statement read. “That’s why our core philosophy is people over process, and why we try to bring great people together as a dream team. Of course, any growing business requires some process and structure. But with our people-first approach, we can be more flexible, creative, and successful in everything we do.”
Further, Netflix went on to say, “As employees, we support the principle that Netflix offers a diversity of stories, even if we find some titles counter to our own personal values. Depending on your role, you may need to work on titles you perceive to be harmful. If you’d find it hard to support our content breadth, Netflix may not be the best place for you.”
It’s a much more honest approach: You matter to us. You bring a lot to the table. But don’t forget what we all agreed to build together when we joined.
You don’t have to agree with Netflix. And that’s exactly the point. If their foundations aren’t right for you, choose another place to work that matches who you are.
Is it time for you to take another look at what your company stands for?
Clarifying Brand Foundations
Maybe for you it’s at the brand level. In brand strategy, we use the equity pyramid as a framework to clarify the elements of the brand. The model itself isn’t that important. I want to focus on the bottom two sections for a minute: Points of Parity and Points of Difference. Points of Parity are those things you need to do to be seen as credible in your category but aren’t all that unique. Points of Difference are things that only you do and a fast follower would have a tough time matching within six months.
Something we run into all the time is companies that are shouting their Points of Parity and wondering why people don’t understand what makes them unique. Dandelions do NOT do this. The dandelion doesn’t worry whether they’re like everyone else. They are not. They know their purpose and what makes them unique, what separates them from the competition, and they go on to proudly do their own unique thing.
Why Worry About Foundations?
If you were to construct a building and didn’t quite finish the foundation before putting up the walls, you would expect things to get shaky when it came time to build the second floor. It makes logical sense when talking about a physical space. But companies launch on shaky business principles every day and wonder why they can’t hold on when times get tough.
Establishing a dandelion strategy and getting the foundations right from the start won’t keep recessions, pandemics, or competitors away. But they will help you be best prepared to weather the storms when they happen.
Tell us your thoughts on building strong foundations.