The Top 4 Ways to get your Team Inspired by Your Brand Values

Brand Values are one of the six pillars of brand story strategy.

And if you know how important they are, you’ve probably taken the time to articulate them clearly, write them down and even communicate them with your team.

But what are your team supposed to do with them now?

How do you help your team to put brand values at the centre of everything they do? What does doing that actually look like?

In this article, I’m going to share why it’s important for your team to embrace your brand values and how you can help them be inspired to take action on them every day.

Why it’s Important for Your Team to Embrace Your Brand Values

Values are the place from which we make decisions.

So, when our brand values are in proper alignment and clearly articulated, we’ll make good marketing decisions, good product decisions and as business owners, we’ll make decisions for our business that are also good for us.

And all of this is good for our brand.

What’s even better though, is when we’re able to get our entire team demonstrating our brand values.

When we can do this, we’ll create a strong team culture of shared goals, a stronger brand story, and more loyal customers, because we create an opportunity for those we serve to connect to our brand values at every interaction, with every team member.

4 Ways to Inspire Your Team to Take Action on Brand Values

#1 Make them part of your interview and induction process

The best way to make sure your team are engaged with your brand values is to make sure those values are shared in the first place.

Ask potential team members what they value during the interview process. Find out if they understand what your brand values are by asking questions in the interview that relate to demonstrating those values.

And once a new team member comes on board, set the expectation around demonstrating brand values early, by making it a key part of your induction or onboarding process.

Give examples of how others in your team have demonstrated brand values, and be sure to explain why they’re so important to business growth and customer happiness.

#2 Put your brand values front and centre in the workplace

We can be what we can see.

Putting your brand values front and centre in your workspace where the whole team can see them, serves as a daily reminder of what our brand promise is to our clients and our colleagues.

This could take the form of an inspirational wall mural, a poster in the break room or reception area, or even a desktop image or screen saver.

#3 Give your team the autonomy to act on brand values

A mistake I see all the time when it comes to brand values and teams, is that team members aren’t given the autonomy to act on brand values without having to overcome red tape.

This creates frustration for the team member, and for customers – particularly when dealing with customer challenges.

If you’ve done the education piece on your brand values with team members, let them demonstrate those values to customers consistently by allowing them to make decisions that uphold your brand values, without having to jump through hoops.

Make sure your systems, processes and approvals are setup to let your brand values shine.

#4 Make brand values a regular part of your team meeting

One of the best ways I’ve seen teams get gritty on demonstrating brand values is by sharing examples with each other.

Make brand values a part of your team meetings. Get each member of the team to bring in an example of how they demonstrated brand values since you last met.

Sharing in this way helps build both a deeper connection to your brand values and how they can impact your customer in a positive way, while also giving the whole team examples of how to demonstrate brand values that they might not have thought of before.

You can even think to take this one step further, and bring the celebration of brand values into a Team Member of the Month Award that you give to the person who has best demonstrated brand values across the month.

Brand Values are more valuable when your team is on the same page.

When it comes to building a strong brand, consistency is key.

And when you’re able to get your team demonstrating brand values consistently, they’ll become an even more valuable contributor to the story you’re building for your brand.

Embed brand values early with new team members, put them front and centre in the workplace, give your team autonomy to act in alignment with your brand values, and make sure you regularly share and celebrate those values so they can become a key driver of customer loyalty in your business.