When strategy development is complete, most executives start the rollout process. But communicating the strategy isn’t activating the strategy. Activation requires establishing guidance on how to shed old mindsets and embrace new ways of thinking. This necessitates shifting from telling to illustrating.
Change always begins with identifying specific behaviors that impact outcomes. Yet things like company values are typically too subjective, abstract, or generic to drive a distinct strategy. For instance, “product excellence” is a common organizational value, and no one would argue against it. But what does that mean for daily decision-making? How does that value help those teams with conflicting opinions find common ground?
This is why behavioral principles are needed. In this example, translating “product excellence” into a behavioral principle would be, “We won’t release a product until we would use it ourselves.” When facing multiple courses of action, this provides teams with a clear edict. Rather than having various interpretations of what product excellence means – which can fuel relentless internal debate and conflict – the behavioral principle becomes the decision-making tool.
Your behavioral principles should be designed in a way that makes them: a) embody your unique orientation and position, b) shine a clear light on how employees should make decisions, and c) be free of buzzwords. There are two parts to writing a behavioral principle. First, specify the what, and second, explain the how. With one of our clients, we began by asking, “What behaviors and mindsets reinforce and express your unique orientation and brand position?” and crafted the following four behavioral principles:
1. We create experiences that connect emotionally with customers, by knowing who they are, caring, and genuinely engaging.
2. We develop helpful, practical, and beneficial solutions to real-world problems by understanding customers’ real-life challenges.
3. We positively impact the customer experience through every conversation, every interaction, every point of contact, every message, and every piece of content.
4. We focus on making things easier for customers by helping simplify decisions and removing complexity.
Depending on your circumstances, you may benefit from developing additional principles but do not exceed more than what would be considered practical and reasonable. Too many can create the potential for inconsistencies and contradictions. If necessary, consolidate similar principles into a single concept. The goal is to ensure the organization has a straightforward framework for making aligned decisions.
