5 steps to embedding new behaviours. Many of the recent headline PR fails were caused by a lack of alignment between the behaviour of a company and public expectations. To avoid these headlines it's important to understand exactly what's happening in your organisational culture, and evaluate how this may be at odds with public expectations.

1. BEHAVIOUR: THE HEART OF A BRAND?
Matthew Willis
matthew.willis@fourtold.eu
@ftwillis / @fourtoldltd

2. RECENT PR DISASTERS

3. Justin Wellesby protests about the ethics of
payday lenders in the strongest terms.
Only to find the Church of England’s pension fund was a major
investor in Wonga…

4. In 2011, Google paid 6m tax on UK revenues
of 2.6bn.
Not so easy to square with their famous mission statement:
‘Don’t be evil’

5. ‘better people, better products, big picture, beyond
petroleum.’
Environmental tragedy. Economic and PR disaster.
Aftermath of the deep water Horizon oil spill.

6. The reason these events have been such
clear PR disasters, is that the actions of the
organisation have run counter to their
espoused values.
A form of hypocrisy that a savvy public is
immensely sensitive to.

7. The Alignment Factor
BRAND
PROMISE
SOCIETAL
EXPECTATIONS
STAKEHOLDER
EXPERIENCE
SUSTAINABLE
REPUTATION
Sustainable reputation can only be achieved when all three
aspects above get aligned.
Think about it: would it be
a scandal if JP Morgan
were to invest in Wonga
instead of the Church of
England?

8. BEHAVIOUR IS SHAPED BY
ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE

9. Formal (Overt) Aspects
Informal (Covert) Aspects
Goals
Technology
Structure
“The way we say we do things”
“The way we actually get
things done”
- beliefs &
assumptions
- perceptions
- attitudes
- feelings (anger,
fear, liking, despair,
etc.)
- services/products
- policies and
procedures
- stated values
Values
Informal
interactions
Group norms
Organisational culture can be hard to pin down
Much of what happens in an organisational culture is ‘under
the surface’

10. 5 steps to embedding new behaviours
Changing culture and embedding new behaviours is hard
work, requiring effort and commitment.

11. 1. Cross functional ownership
Values and behaviours need to be embedded
everywhere. It needs cross functional
understanding, support and ownership.
This can be problematic for companies that
work in silos

12. Our typical organisational structure in silos conflicts with
cross-functional working

13. 2. Leadership role modelling
1. Cross functional ownership
Great leaders truly represent the spirit of their business. The
leader’s behaviour is consciously and subconsciously
replicated.
Do they walk the walk – by demonstrating the values – or just
talk the talk?

14. What values have these leaders instilled in their
companies?

15. 3. Clarity of meaning
2. Leadership role modelling
1. Cross functional ownership
Does teamwork look the same in the Army as it does in the
NHS?
Is Commitment the same in an insurance business as it is
for a firefighter?
What does professionalism look like here? What are
examples of being professional or unprofessional, in our
situation? How will we identify it, measure it, call it to
account?

16. VALUES
RESPECT OPEN COLLABORATIVE EXCELLENCE
TRANSPARENT PROFESSIONAL TEAMWORK DIVERSE
TRUST INTEGRITY CREATIVE COMMITMENT
Most companies include some of these words in their
values, but they are meaningless unless articulated
within the context of the business.

17. 4. A good story
2. Leadership role modelling
1. Cross functional ownership
3. Clarity of meaning
Part of creating clarity of meaning is having a
good story.
Stories are in vogue as the communication
method of choice at the moment.

18. These are the parts of your mind used to
process data, facts, logic
Wernicke’s
area
Broca’s
area

19. All of these areas of your mind can be
activated by a story
Emotion Wernicke’s
area
Action
Smell Memories
ImagesBroca’s
area
Amygdala
Emotional connection; visualising through description;
recalling an associated memory.

20. This is why stories work: they act as
velcro for the brain.
So use stories to get people to think: about why the values are
important, what behaving in particular ways actually means in
reality
• Instead of long text, statistics and charts
• Present your ideas using storyboards.
• Use a clear narrative theme
• Tie together images and content, emotional call to action and
connection with your company history to make it personal.
Think about how you can appeal to lots of different parts of the brain,
so your message will be ‘sticky’

21. 5. Participation
2. Leadership role modelling
1. Cross functional ownership
3. Clarity of meaning
4. A good story
In any behaviour change people have to make the decision that they
want to change. This is ‘step one’ of AA’s 12 step programme – but
equally true in culture change.
The only way to achieve this is to provide the information, in the most
compelling form (the story), and provide opportunity to think and
connect with it. This is what real ‘engagement’ is about: the opportunity
to think, and contribute.
In a values discussion, this can (and probably should) go as far as
allowing employees to co-create the values.

22. There are lots of other ways of
encouraging participation in your values
The concept is very simple,
playing into two main 21st
century trends: social, and
personalisation.
And it started with the
employees. They were the first
to see their names on the
bottles. And events were
organised for them to share
these with members of the
public.
Demonstrates one of Coke’s
values: Collaboration
Share a Coke campaign: a well-known example we
love
Share a Coke: it started with the employees

23. 5. Participation
2. Leadership role modelling
1. Cross functional ownership
3. Clarity of meaning
4. A good story

24. model for creating a culture fit for today’s social media age.

25. CONTACT
Matthew Willis
Partner
matthew.willis@fourtold.eu
+44 7824 449717