Our world today is overwhelmed with many perceptions. The variety of media outlets imposes many people’s opinions on us, which causes a number of perceptions to begin to be formulated in our heads. These perceptions, combined with the biases that we have, form very distinct views of how we see and interact in the world. These views influence our personal lives and are equally active in the business setting. As business leaders, we need to be aware of the perceptions that may influence and impact our businesses and how we can harness the benefits of various views to build a better business.
This brings us to the concept of mindset and how critical it is in building the best outcomes for your organization. Mindsets are crafted over time by what we take in and how we process it. If our perceptions, views, and intake system are shaped by ineffective models, then the mindset will also take on that framework.
This is where the culture of your business needs to be designed to allow for broader insights and innovation to take place but be guided by a framework that keeps the direction and content aligned with the organization’s purpose, core values, and principles. Without a foundation for the culture, creativity can wander astray and impact your organization and all the people inside of it.
A recent example of this was the Bud Light commercial, which cost the company dearly in terms of customers, profits, and ultimately, workers who suffered employment impact because the creativity drifted out of bounds for marketing a beer product and touched into the land of social drama.
It is great to have creative and innovative ideas manifested to contribute to an organization’s core business products, services, and stance on the community they serve. The key is to have some guardrails in place to keep the nonsense out, and the context focused on the deliverables of the organization. Much like guardrails on the expressway, they keep the car from additional danger when the driver loses focus or control of the vehicle.
How your organization is perceived in the marketplace impacts so many aspects of the business’s success. The easy one to measure, as referenced in our prior example, is the impact on sales when your customer base leaves your product for an alternative. Getting them back is far more costly than acquiring them in the beginning. When your perception alienates your customer then your business not only suffers in sales but in reputation. Rebuilding a positive reputation takes many cycles of good experiences to make up for just a single one-time issue.
This week, ensure your organization is creating a positive mindset and perception in not only your current and future customers but also your staff, vendors, and community. It is great to be innovative but only within the framework of your organization’s Purpose and Core Values. Stay clear of stepping in a direction that draws the wrong kind of attention. Stay focused on the differentiation of your products or services by what actually can benefit the consumer rather than trying to make a statement about something your product or service has nothing to do with.
To assist in this effort, revisit our prior insights article on vocabulary. If you have a framework of vocabulary for your organization and you stay within that set of guidelines, then you will have less of a chance of driving the perception of your business off the road.
Need a third-party review of how your business might be looked at by your customers, employees, and the community? Give JKL Associates a call in MI (313) 527-7945 or FL (407) 984-7246
Journey On!
COPYRIGHT – JKL ASSOCIATES 2024
QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS – EMAIL US AT PARTNERS@JKLASSOCIATES.COM OR CALL OUR OFFICES – MI AT (313) 527-7945 FL AT (407) 984-7246
Celebrating 30 years of Delivering on “Promises”
