Does your team know your company’s story?

Last Tuesday Leadership Q&A I asked the following question:

Does your team know your company's story? Do they know why the company was founded? What motivating factors led to the building of the company? And what factors continue to drive the company today?

Bricks and Mortar View

Far too often we view work simply as a business to make money. We know the locations, the departments, products, and people, which make up the company. We see our work as a part of an established entity like an office consisting of bricks and mortar. In this kind of environment, we can easily operate without any sense of purpose.

Why Stories

The power of stories helps us connect with others, communicate ideas, and imagine endless possibilities. Good stories are retold and passed down for the benefit of others. When stories are lost, we lose a sense of why we are here and why we do what we are doing.  

A Company Story

A company story is more than day-to-day operations, the bricks and mortar. A company story tells the journey, the events, and reason for its creation. It tells of the lives of the founders, their values and skills, the inspiration behind their ideas, the challenges they addressed, the need for the product, and the results, including notable customers that helped launch the company success.  

Story Example

Herbert Everest and Harry Jennings built a successful company by providing mobility solutions for the disabled. These friends were engineers, and Herbert was unable to walk after surviving a mining accident in 1918. For years, Herbert used early versions of wheelchairs. He found them big, bulky, uncomfortable and difficult to use. In 1933, Harry set out to build a lightweight, collapsible model in his garage with Herbert to improve his quality of life.

They later patented the model in 1937 and went into business starting the Everest and Jennings Company. They obtained government contracts to supply wheelchairs for disabled veterans of WWII and gained fame by becoming the wheelchair of choice by FDR and Winston Churchill. They grew to become the world’s largest supplier of wheelchairs.

This company built upon the goal to provide comfort and ease of mobility for disabled individuals continues today through innovation to seek to improve the quality of life for those facing limitations of mobility. With a company story like this, the employees can see their role as a part of a noble cause to help others and understand the purpose behind their work.

Conclusion

The power of the company story bridges each new employee to the purpose of the company. It exemplifies what innovation can do and invites employees to imagine new solutions for current needs. It establishes the company brand to connect product benefits with the community and raises the company image beyond a business of making money to a business of helping people.