Roadmap: Establishing an Identity to Accelerate Growth

If you missed the "why" the last article consisted of the 5 primary reasons why Identity is the cornerstone of accelerated growth.

Now that we’ve established the critical importance of a firm identity, let’s dive into a practical, actionable roadmap for leadership to follow as they work to define their company’s core values, customer value proposition, and sacred cows (those "untouchable" principles or priorities that guide the organization).

Establishing a strong identity isn’t something you can slap together in a few brainstorming sessions—it’s a process of deep reflection, collaboration, and iteration. But with the right steps, you can lay a solid foundation that sets your company up for long-term success. Here’s a roadmap to help you lead the charge.

Step 1: Start with Reflection – Conduct Leadership Introspection

Before you can define your organization’s identity and values, you need to start by understanding the leadership’s core beliefs, goals, and the existing company culture.

Actionable Steps:

• Leadership Assessment: Hold a leadership retreat or workshop where the C-suite and senior managers reflect on what makes the organization unique. Discuss personal values, the organization’s current strengths and weaknesses, and long-term goals.
• Questions to Ask: What does our company stand for? What are the unique qualities we bring to the market? What does success look like for us, both financially and culturally? What values do we want our employees and customers to associate with us?

This initial self-assessment is crucial to creating a shared understanding within leadership before moving forward. Without alignment at the top, it’s nearly impossible to communicate a clear identity to the rest of the company or the market.

Step 2: Identify Core Values – Establish the Foundation

Core values are the guiding principles that dictate behavior and decision-making throughout your organization. They’re non-negotiable and help shape company culture, customer interactions, and the overall vision of the company.

Actionable Steps:

• Core Values Brainstorm: Based on the leadership introspection, narrow down the most important values that resonate across the team. These should reflect what the organization stands for and what it wants to achieve.
• Prioritization: Focus on 3-5 core values. Too many values dilute the message and lead to confusion. Each value should guide company policies, employee behaviors, and business decisions.
• Alignment Check: Make sure your core values align with your long-term vision. For example, if innovation is critical to your company’s success, "Creativity" or "Embrace Change" might be a core value.

Example Values:

• Customer Obsession: Putting the customer’s needs at the center of everything.
• Integrity: Acting with transparency and honesty.
• Innovation: Continuously seeking out new ideas and creative solutions.

Pro Tip: These values should feel authentic, not buzzword-driven. Employees will smell inauthenticity from a mile away, and customers won’t trust an identity that feels manufactured.

I use flashcards when I talk about core values with a leadership team, it helps get the conversation going. I always ask the leadership team to remove cards they don't feel represent their values. I've learned the hard way, the simple act of making decisions as a group gets the momentum started and accelerates the process.

Step 3: Define the Customer Value Proposition – What Problem Do You Solve?

Your customer value proposition (CVP) is the reason your customers choose you over the competition. It’s the unique combination of benefits that your product or service provides. My experience in service companies allowed me to be very effective at this because all products are ultimately providing a service to a customer. For example: a customer doesn't need a vacuum, they need clean floors, and they don't need a shovel, they need a hole. Defining your CVP involves answering the questions: What problem are we solving for our customers, and why are we the best choice? Analyzing these questions might also provide insights into indirect competitors or even value-driven pricing considerations.

Actionable Steps:

• Customer Research: Talk to your existing customers. Conduct surveys, interviews, and gather feedback on why they chose your product or service. What problems are you solving for them? What pain points are you alleviating?
• Competitive Analysis: What does the competition offer, and how do you stand out? Your CVP should emphasize your differentiators—whether that’s superior product quality, unbeatable customer service, or cutting-edge technology.
• Develop a Clear, Concise CVP: Distill all your research into a one- to two-sentence statement that clearly articulates your unique value. This will be the anchor for your marketing, product development, and customer engagement.

Example CVP: “We provide businesses with easy to use accounting software that saves time and simplifies financial management, so they can focus on growing their business.”

What problem are we solving? Bookkeeping and Accounting. Why are we the best choice? Saves time they're able to reinvest in their business, offsetting the financial investment in the software.

Example Tagline: "We simplify the top and bottom lines so you can focus on growing them."

Step 4: Establish Your Sacred Cows – Define the Non-Negotiables

Your sacred cows are the principles or goals that are non-negotiable. They’re the company’s hard limits—the values, products, or goals that won’t be compromised for short-term gains or trends. These will serve as guiding principles for leadership, ensuring that critical aspects of the business remain intact no matter what challenges or opportunities arise.

Actionable Steps:

• Leadership Consensus: Get buy-in from senior leadership on what your sacred cows are. This could be anything from an unwavering commitment to customer service, to refusing to enter a market that doesn’t align with your values, or maintaining a high-quality product.
• Document the Sacred Cows: Put them in writing and make them visible to all employees. This helps create accountability.
• Communicate Internally: Let employees know what these sacred cows are and why they exist. By understanding the company’s boundaries, employees can make decisions that align with leadership’s vision.

I use the term sacred cow because I think it's more fun and people always look at you funny for a few seconds. However, it's critical you don't have unnecessarily constraining sacred cows.

Examples of a poorly worded Sacred Cows: “Our materials will always be sustainably sourced, no matter the cost.” "We will always use orange and blue in our logo." "We will never use frozen ingredients."

Step 5: Develop and Test Messaging – Tell the World Who You Are

With your identity, values, CVP, and sacred cows defined, it’s time to craft your messaging. How will you communicate who you are—internally and externally? This is where you align leadership, employees, and customers around a consistent, clear message.

Actionable Steps:

• Internal Messaging: Start by communicating your values and CVP to your employees. This can be done through company-wide meetings, an internal newsletter, or workshops. Make sure they understand how their work contributes to the company’s goals and values.
• External Messaging: Develop customer-facing messaging that reflects your firm identity and core values. This could be on your website, in your marketing materials, or through direct customer communications.
• Test and Iterate: Roll out your messaging and test it with real customers. Gather feedback and refine as needed. Your identity and values should resonate clearly and attract the right audience.

Step 6: Integrate Identity into Operations – Make It Real

A firm identity isn’t just a marketing exercise—it needs to be baked into the daily operations of your business. From hiring and onboarding, to product development, to customer service, your identity should guide how your company operates.

Actionable Steps:

• Hiring and Onboarding: Ensure that new employees understand your firm’s identity from day one. Integrate your core values and customer value proposition into the onboarding process so that everyone is aligned from the start.
• Decision-Making: Use your firm identity and sacred cows as a filter for decision-making. When new opportunities arise, ask yourself: Does this align with who we are?
• Employee Performance: Create key performance indicators (KPIs) that reflect your core values. Reward employees who exemplify the company’s identity in their work.

Step 7: Monitor and Evolve – Stay True, but Stay Current

Your firm identity should be a stable foundation, but it doesn’t mean it’s set in stone. As markets change, customer needs evolve, and your company grows, it’s important to revisit your identity and make adjustments when necessary—without losing sight of your core values.

Actionable Steps:

• Regular Check-ins: Hold quarterly or annual meetings to assess how well the company is sticking to its core values, CVP, and sacred cows. Are they still relevant? Are there new opportunities or challenges that require an adjustment in strategy?
• Adapt Where Needed: Don’t be afraid to evolve your identity, but stay true to your core principles. For example, if new technology emerges that can help you serve customers better, incorporate it without compromising your customer-first philosophy.

Conclusion

Defining your organization’s identity isn’t a one-and-done task. It’s a continuous process that starts with introspection and moves through practical steps like identifying core values, creating a strong customer value proposition, and establishing sacred cows. Once these elements are in place, your organization will have a clear sense of purpose, direction, and alignment. This will not only guide leadership decisions but also create a strong, unified company culture that resonates with customers and employees alike.

By following this roadmap, you’ll be able to establish a firm identity that serves as a foundation for growth, innovation, and long-term success.