RECONFIGURING CORPORATE CULTURE: A FUNDAMENTAL OF REBRANDING

CONTENT: 1. Introduction 2. Culture As A Brand

3. The Bond: Culture, Values and Vision

4. Culture Reconfiguration Need 5. The Challenge of Cultural Change 6. The Reconfiguration Processes: The Zechariahs STK Model 7. Strippers 'Act 8. Turbaning The Head 9. Keeping The Command 10. Final Word

RECONFIGURING CORPORATE CULTURE: A FUNDAMENTAL OF REBRANDING

INTRODUCTION It was a great interest to me when I discovered Reebok, a German sportswear companys name was coined from the Afrikaans spelling of Rhebok, an African antelope. However intriguing that was to me , the name was seemingly not helping their bottom line until ZigTech-an innovative performance-enhancing shoe technology that transfers energy to the front of the foot from the heel- was introduced. Small wonder sales climbed 4% in North America by this rebranding effort. Rebranding a company cannot be ruled out from the timeline of an organization, and the objectivity of the process varies with the business needs of the different companies.

RECONFIGURING CORPORATE CULTURE: A FUNDAMENTAL OF REBRANDING

INTRODUCTION ( contd.) From launching a strategic product line under a new subsidiary or an SBU, introducing a major innovative business system within your industry, or laundering a tarnished companys image , the business benefit if unachieved makes the rebranding wasteful. Achieving the same borders arguably on the culture of the company. The failure of this is not far-fetched from certain bad behavioural patterns that forms a segment of a corporate culture which affects its commercial success. Reconfiguring such corporate culture becomes vitally important as an integral part for a successful, proactive rebranding. It is fundamental.

RECONFIGURING CORPORATE CULTURE: A FUNDAMENTAL OF REBRANDING

CULTURE AS A BRAND Tony Hseih, former CEO of Zappos.com and author of Delivering Happiness said it better, Your culture is your brand. If your culture is wrong, your brand in time maybe a disaster. Suffice then to put the word Culture - in proper perspective. Is tradition another word for culture? Culture is the strategic amalgamation of behavioural patterns of enclaved individuals established or constituted to govern and guide relationships within and infrequently outside the group. Simply put, culture is the way of life, so is tradition, too.

RECONFIGURING CORPORATE CULTURE: A FUNDAMENTAL OF REBRANDING

CULTURE AS A BRAND ( contd.) In business, it is a vehicular tool or valve that conveys or opens the values that are intrinsically wired into the vision(s) of a company. This influences how businesses or services are delivered and invariably determine the frequency of patronage the company gets, and the bottom-line ,indeed. Customers are concerned about your service delivery. That is what they see; thats your brand. When you hear Zappos, delivering happiness ignites in your mind.

RECONFIGURING CORPORATE CULTURE: A FUNDAMENTAL OF REBRANDING

THE BOND: CULTURE,VALUES AND VISION There is a symbiotic relationship between values and vision. The indepth comprehension and the ingestion of a vision into or by a leader often times births the inherent values that drive the vision. The values culminate into the culture which varies from company to company.

RECONFIGURING CORPORATE CULTURE: A FUNDAMENTAL OF REBRANDING

THE BOND: CULTURE,VALUES AND VISION ( contd.) It is an aberration when visionary leaders do not possess or exhibit values that are part of the core values of the company. Havent you seen integrity as a core value of a company, but the MD/CEO chews his words like bubble gum? Imagine a company collecting money from customers to supply a requested quantity of product at an agreed deadlines, and three months afterwards , no supply was made. And the MD/CEO doesnt care about such business practices or the processes. It is obvious his personal demons has formed and calcified, or runs independently parallel to the corporate culture.

RECONFIGURING CORPORATE CULTURE: A FUNDAMENTAL OF REBRANDING

THE BOND: CULTURE,VALUES AND VISION( contd.) Its ridiculous most vision and mission statements are just vail, unweighty, mere and empty sentences in a 21st century era.When such are unchecked, it cascades to the lowest employee of the company. I can bet , not far from long, internal frauds would spring from one or two departments . Dont forget these employees are also ambassadors who drive or sell your brand. Hence, business leaders should be mindful of their organizational culture.

RECONFIGURING CORPORATE CULTURE: A FUNDAMENTAL OF REBRANDING

CULTURE RECONFIGURATION NEED Aside the contextual reason of this article ( rebranding ), profitability should be the ultimate. Your profit, sometimes is derived from your image . Some call it brand worth or equity .At a time Coca- Cola as a brand was worth about $80 billion while the company was $8 billion. Rebranding is not a cheap business endeavour ; counting the cost is very critical. I am yet to discover a company a company that rebranded but doesnt care a hoot about its business benefits. Lets assume company XYZ has been notorious for several huge internal frauds, and complaints have always been lodged to the Consumers Protection Right Agency about the crude , shady ways of XYZ doing business with the customers, and the Standard Organization of Nigeria pushing the Federal Government just got the Industry Best Practices bill signed into law .

RECONFIGURING CORPORATE CULTURE: A FUNDAMENTAL OF REBRANDING

CULTURE RECONFIGURATION NEED ( contd.) Hence, it is mandatory business in all industries are conducted using best practices. For XYZ to stay in business for a long while in order not to lose her market share of 43% to competitors, reconfiguring the organizational culture becomes the essential bridge to the future, and to launder her tarnished public image; rebranding would be helpful , if its affordable. However, it can get very challenging reworking a deadly corporate culture as part of the rebranding project.

RECONFIGURING CORPORATE CULTURE: A FUNDAMENTAL OF REBRANDING

The Challenge of Cultural Change Beside the underlining issues interwoven with transition, human psychology, corporate communication model ,among others, there are some little foxes that spoil the vine. You wonder who the foxes are ? Ask John Maxwell. Everything rises and falls on leadership. The success in changing the organizational culture ,or better put , reconfiguring it is magnified when there is experiential evidences of top-management inclusion. Be the change you want to see , Mahatma Gandhi said. Change Management as crucial it is for a company would not be sustainable if started bottom-up.

RECONFIGURING CORPORATE CULTURE: A FUNDAMENTAL OF REBRANDING

The Challenge of Cultural Change ( contd.) I dont think Id loiter GlaxoSmithKline premises with the used wrapper of my menthol gum when the Managing Director keeps his own in his hand until he gets to the nearby waste bin. Or seeing the Vice President , Finance of my bank stops to open the door for a customer. Thatd make me bury my prideful, lousy attitude towards customers. I would have had a rethink about the scenario and the unlearning process starts. The culture critical path goes thus: rethink - new habit relapse new habit attitude new behaviour - new culture. You may choose to call it over flogging the dead horse; the success of this cultural change path is hastened or consolidated when an old, ill-mannered top executive turns a sincere new leaf, take for example vis--vis upholding integrity.

RECONFIGURING CORPORATE CULTURE: A FUNDAMENTAL OF REBRANDING

The Reconfiguration Processes Reconfiguring a corporate culture or otherwise , rebranding it inside out. I would liken it to the biblical analogy of taking away the grimy, grubby garments and being clothed with rich, royal robes. To buttress this, I coined a concept which is Zechariahs STK Model. The Zechariahs STK Model was born out of a profound understanding of the fourth vision out of eight of Zechariah, one of the postexilic Jewish prophets in the Bible. See the book of Zechariah, chapter three ( The Vision of The High Priest ) of New Spirit filled Life Bible (NKJV).

RECONFIGURING CORPORATE CULTURE: A FUNDAMENTAL OF REBRANDING

The Reconfiguration Processes ( contd. ) The Model is applicable when there are evidences of dysfunctional character traits, moral infection and invariably unhealthy workplace culture which are potential drawback to the achievement of corporate goals. Dr. Jack Hayford wrote in the Bible commentary, The essence of this vision is the cleansing of the priests and the land. The priests are the visionary leadership while the land is the entire workplace. The Model is in three phases and has been summarized as STK: Strippers Act, Turbaning The Head, and Keeping The Command.

RECONFIGURING CORPORATE CULTURE: A FUNDAMENTAL OF REBRANDING

Strippers Act

Take away the filthy garments from him. And to him He said, See I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes.
It is rare to see any changes commence without defining the objectives and identifying possible challenges. In context of this topic, there are some strippers acts which must be done ,cascading from the business leaders to the lowest ranking employee of the company. Strippers job you imagined, right? This is identifying, admitting and administering the iniquitous , unprincipled and unhealthy workplace culture that have cloaked the people, the practices and the process .

RECONFIGURING CORPORATE CULTURE: A FUNDAMENTAL OF REBRANDING

Strippers Act (contd.) The significance of the priests being stripped of his own filthy garments is strategic. The leadership of the company are the ones qualified, more than anyone, to envision the future. More on this would be discussed on Turbaning The Head. Certain personal behaviours strapped with incivility should be stripped off. Do you know why? Your greatest asset is human capital; devaluing them is counterproductive. Esther Dyson said, Owning intellectual property is like owning land; You need to keep investing in it again and again to get a payoff; you cant simply sit back and collect rent.

RECONFIGURING CORPORATE CULTURE: A FUNDAMENTAL OF REBRANDING

Strippers Act (contd.) The visionary leader must, at all times, carry or wear a rich robe of inspiring identity. It would be parochial to misunderstand this wearinga-rich-robe identity as wearing expensive designers clothing. A rich identity is in our character, culture and value system. Read this story: Stan Gault, having retired from Rubbermaid Corporation, was given a CEOs job at Goodyear Tire to revamp the crippling performance. He immediately sent messages to employees that he was on their side; he acted so, too. He ensured his pay commensurate Goodyears performance. He unscrewed most of the light bulbs in the large office he inherited in order to reduce costs. The news spread like wildfire across Goodyear. Employees did not realize he would be sacrificing too when he asked them to slash expenses. What an inspiring brand

RECONFIGURING CORPORATE CULTURE: A FUNDAMENTAL OF REBRANDING

Turbaning The Head

So they put a clean turban on his head, and they put the clothes on him.
How do you reconfigure or manage the ailing parts of a companys culture. Having at the back of your mind that employees, other than high-profile celebrity are brand ambassadors, too? Which staff inclusion style do you employ in relation to the drivers or evangelists of this new vision?

What communication model or structure are you going to apply to disseminate or share this new vision or project of culture change across the company, bearing in mind previous futile and flawed communication strategy experienced with the rightsizing exercise?

RECONFIGURING CORPORATE CULTURE: A FUNDAMENTAL OF REBRANDING

Turbaning The Head ( contd.) Can we afford this project right now, and how does it affect our bottom line?

These and many more are the issues that pop up in the head of the business leader. And having his mind, heart or head clear and upright becomes useful for productive brainstorming and added plus for value stream mapping and decision making. They wrap all these into what Management people call strategic planning. But ask yourself this question: Can there be planning without thinking? Strategic thinking is a competency thought leaders exhibit during critical moment.
See it more like an input a fundamental for change management

RECONFIGURING CORPORATE CULTURE: A FUNDAMENTAL OF REBRANDING

Turbaning The Head ( contd.) Little wonder a clean turban was put on the priest's head first, and the clothes afterwards, in the verse above. Turbaning the head is to separate the leadership, not relational but as a representative who bears a huge burden of the people before God. Likewise the business leader is wrapped with layers of issues of the workplace. He returns communicating or sharing a new vision, often times demanding a new direction to maximize the future. Developing a strategic concept demands strategic thinking and strategic intent. How to let this new vision rob on or clothe the whole company depends on the strategic planning of the head.

RECONFIGURING CORPORATE CULTURE: A FUNDAMENTAL OF REBRANDING

Keeping The Command

"...And if you will keep My command, then you shall also judge My house. It's not enough to strip the whole company off unproductive and unhealthy business process or culture, or turbaning the leadership of the company with the right strategic intent and well-thought strategic planning; sticking to the established rules to guide and govern business processes and employees' behaviours with respect to customer's relationship management becomes a topline conditioner for the commercial success of the rebranding or the reconfiguration project.

RECONFIGURING CORPORATE CULTURE: A FUNDAMENTAL OF REBRANDING

Keeping The Command ( contd.) Every industry has its policy, or better put, rules that guides and regulates its business processes or system. Wholesomely abiding by these rules stands out a company; benefits of this are evident when the chips are down because integrity is the guide to ride with in the tide of life. I am talking about compliance to business rules. Business Rule, according to BusinessRulesGroup.org, a non-commercial peer group of IT professional states, "From the business perspective, a business rule is guidance that there is an obligation concerning conduct, action, practice or procedure within a particular activity or sphere. It involves the behaviour of people in the business system."

RECONFIGURING CORPORATE CULTURE: A FUNDAMENTAL OF REBRANDING

Keeping The Command ( contd.) Business rule acts like an interface between people and business process. Over time a relationship is established which culminates into guiding behaviours, creating norms and configuring the corporate culture Take for example, on a shop floor where the scrap level is alarming, productivity is dwindling by the quarter, and the Director of Manufacturing is bothered grievously, hence his preoccupation He constitutes a team to manage the crisis; he appoints the team leader, a manager who has over the years demonstrated undoubtedly a passion, commitment and compliance to the established Total Quality Management system of the company. The team swings to action, studies and monitors the Front-End Production Processes (right from the supplier's activity to the finished product).

RECONFIGURING CORPORATE CULTURE: A FUNDAMENTAL OF REBRANDING

Keeping The Command ( contd.) After 3 months the report was submitted to the Director of Manufacturing. The following were areas of discovery: substandard raw materials by supplier, poor housekeeping, extremely low Overall Equipment Effectiveness, to mention a few. The team's recommendation was to re-engineer the production processes. Business on the shop floor is not the same; new rules, new activity. The Quality Assurance manager must ensure total quality compliance of production team to the new standard specifications. This new drive objectively is not to cow employees' work ethics, but to reshape how everyone works Procurement, laboratory, the Production, and the Marketing and Sales departments.

RECONFIGURING CORPORATE CULTURE: A FUNDAMENTAL OF REBRANDING

Keeping The Command ( contd.) These ethics form the culture. Three months down the line afterwards, they have produced a superior product exceeding customers' expectations. The competitors are yet to recover from this market share swipe. If you keep thy command, you shall also judge my housekeeping abreast of up-to-date Industry info or knowledge is leverage for equipping your company for compliance, and subsequently organizational success. It is similar to concept of product leadership.

RECONFIGURING CORPORATE CULTURE: A FUNDAMENTAL OF REBRANDING

Final Word Personal branding or corporate rebranding is incomplete as long as we are replete with hindering culture cloak. Undressing the unprofitable, grimy, grubby garments of corporate depravity is sore, yet strategic for repositioning the individual or the industry for success. Wearing a rich royal robe or identity of principled, healthy workplace culture, and ensuring strict compliance of employees to business rules and policies equip for better competitive advantage and industry leadership. Is this not how a brand is plucked from the fire?

Inspired by The Vision of The High Priest The Bible. Zechariah 3:1-7 (New Spirit-Filled Life Bible-NKJV).

PyramiDZone was birthed from a training programme designed

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