Brand management is cultural management
Culture is present wherever people come together. It has great power that can be used for the targeted development of a company. Culture is reflected in almost all areas of the company, such as communication, products and customer service, and therefore has a decisive influence on how companies and brands are experienced.
A strong corporate culture creates clarity and commitment for the collaboration of employees and their interaction with customers and partners through shared values and principles. Culture creates an environment in which a company’s entrepreneurial and social ambitions can be brought to life in the best possible way.
Culture is not an end in itself, but an instrument for increasing a company’s performance. There is no such thing as a fundamentally good or bad corporate culture, only one that is suitable for achieving the company’s goals. If the ambitions and values of the company and its employees are congruent, there is a stable basis for a productive working environment.
The importance and impact of corporate culture is often misjudged – i.e. overestimated in the short term and underestimated in the long term. While a company’s strategy and structure can be adapted in the short term, corporate culture is an inert force that needs to be developed with care and foresight.
Successful companies align their strategy, structure and culture to the same, ambitious target picture, thereby creating a solid foundation for the development of the entire organization.
Interplay of strategy, culture and structure
The strategy and structure can be adapted relatively quickly to changing conditions. Culture, on the other hand, does not, because people, as the bearers of culture, are sluggish. They are creatures of habit. Habits are deeply rooted and require repeated practice to take effect. New attitudes and emotions take time to become ingrained. Sufficient time is therefore crucial for cultural work, as this change process takes the longest.
The value of culture for business success is now widely recognized. Nevertheless, culture remains elusive and uncontrollable for many companies.
The &EQUITY Culture Vitalizer is a program and tool that makes corporate culture concretely describable, measurable and thus controllable. The program was developed together with the strategy consultancy &EQUITY.
→ Learn more about &EQUITY and the method.
The &EQUITY Culture Vitalizer is an depth psychological instrument for the holistic analysis and development of corporate culture – with a particular focus on the influential, implicit consciousness of employees.
The culture can be developed in a targeted and continuous manner in three steps. The results can be used seamlessly for the overarching development of the corporate culture and brand.
The three steps of cultural development are a continuous cycle.
Step 1: Analysis of the current corporate culture
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Rationally perceived
What values do employees believe in?
What do employees think about this value system? -
Emotionally experienced
Which values unconsciously influence employees’ feelings and perceptions?
What is the implicit emotional world of the employees?
Step 2: Definition of the cultural guiding principles for successful strategy implementation
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Which values should guide employees’ thoughts and actions?
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What work style should employees follow and what feelings should they have?
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What guiding principles are required for this?
Step 3: Development of tools and measures for efficient employee emotion management
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Which instruments and measures promote the desired guiding principles so that it can be internalized and lived by all employees?
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Which key metrics can be used to manage the cultural development of the company?
Exemplary view into the analysis and development of culture
The &EQUITY Culture Vitalizer — Analysis and management of the corporate culture
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The Culture Vitalizer delivers precise, meaningful and concrete results on the current corporate culture.
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The Culture Vitalizer forms the basis for psychologically sound work on the development of the corporate culture.
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The Culture Vitalizer enables dynamic management of the various cultural measures and effective monitoring of success.
The &EQUITY Culture Vitalizer is a valuable, long-term investment in the company’s human capital.