Change With A Capital C: What Works?

We should all expect to go through upheavals during our working lives, which is all the more reason to become competent at dealing with it. By Professor Danny Samson FIML

 

 

Organisational change is hard and often unsuccessful because even seasoned managers can fall prone to underestimating organisational inertia. We often insufficiently attend to the concerns employees have about change, principally what will happen to them. Yet in these highly turbulent times, surely change management should be a core capability of every competent leader and every organisation that wants to sustain its survival and prosperity. So, what works and what are the pitfalls?

When change is radical, being “Big C” change as against incremental in nature, then the stakes and the risks are commensurately higher. By radical or Big C change, we refer to large transformations or makeovers, whether they are of culture, structure, size, technology, location, product range, distribution channel or any other core element of an organisation.

With radical change in particular, it’s critical to have a strong and compelling vision that motivates and justifies the change. Otherwise, when the going gets tough (and it will), the doubters will emerge and get a strong voice.

The next step is communicate comprehensively the necessity of such a change. Deal openly with the naysayers, and get quickly into the implementation phase. This brings us to the crucial and proven element of successful implementation of major change: create a solid project plan and drive it with tough, hard accountabilities expected from all participants. The project plan is the guiding ‘change map’ that overcomes the chaos that would otherwise result.

Otherwise we’re asking for chaos through ‘ad hockery’. If difficult decisions need to be implemented, such as downsizing and redundancies, then these need to be anticipated as part of the plan, and implemented in a thoroughly professional and precise manner. All employees will want to know their future, so the sooner this can be resolved, the better.

Successful change management is planned and executed in a fast and decisive manner so that the organisation can settle and stabilise.

This approach works much better than the “death by a thousand cuts” approach of multiple incremental steps in an attempt to get to the same end point. I saw this major contrast in New Zealand when both their Post and Telecom businesses were going through major restructuring and downsizing, with one doing a radical change process and the other announcing a five-year downsizing process.

NZ Post was successful in doing it fast and hard, then rebuilding its systems and culture, introducing new technology and renewing almost every aspect of its operations and service levels.

 

“It’s critical to have a strong and compelling vision that motivates and justifies the change.” – Professor Danny Samson

 

 

Similarly, when I served on the board of the TAC (Transport Accident Commission) in Victoria, we chose to implement new e-business technologies, even though it meant that many jobs would change and some would disappear in our pursuit of higher levels of productivity and client service.

Perhaps the hardest thing to change in an organisation is people’s behaviour and culture. As a young engineer (many years ago) working at ICI in Sydney, I was amazed at the negativity of the industrial culture, and the gulf in attitude between managers and the workforce, along with the many insipid managerial attempts to chip away incrementally at the unproductive culture there.

Finally, with necessity being the mother of invention, the need for radical change was realised. A new site manager was brought in to overcome the deeply resistant and negative situation that had built up over decades. He brought sincere, yet firm, intentions, restructuring the workplace arrangements very substantially, enduring personal threats from militant resistors.

When the going got tough during a six-week strike he even had to deal with second thoughts from head office, which was ready to buckle on some of the core issues. He showed a huge amount of personal courage to see through the changes and implement the visionary plan to bring the company out of the industrial dark ages.

Executing radical change needs a vision and a plan, and the ability to demonstrate and communicate benefits of change to the business the. But tying it all together is the leadership team with the determination — let’s call it the stiff backbone — to see the journey through.

 

What Millennial Companies Get Right

 

Every generation brings with it a unique perspective and experience – otherwise why would people keep coming up with names to describe them? So what can business owners or potential startup founders from other generations learn from millennials? By Carolin Lenehan

 

MONICA Wulff is a statistician, a startup founder, and a Gen Y millennial. But once you strip the labels away, she’s a young Australian businesswoman receiving kudos and recognition around the world for her work developing a reliable statistical base of knowledge about Australian startup founders and the enabling environment they need to sustain them.

As CEO and co-founder of Startup Muster – Australia’s most comprehensive survey into this burgeoning growth sector – Monica’s views on what can be done to help new startup businesses grow and prosper are both insightful and innovative.

 

Do it with Passion

“We haven’t had the hard times faced by previous generations. We haven’t had to grit our teeth and say I’m just going to do this job, even though I hate it. For us it’s, ‘I’m going to follow my passion, I’m going to follow my purpose, I’m going to work somewhere or on something that is unique to me, and from that, I will be able to make an income and a living’,” Wulff says.

For Monica, this was easy – she loved statistics, then she fell in love with the startup world. Startup Muster is the marriage of the two and she has no problem putting every ounce of her being into making it work.

If you’re going to go through the hard slog of a startup life then you need to be doing something that you’re passionate about.

“One of the first things new startups are told is to find your story,” Monica says. “You’ve got to have a problem that you’re solving. Unless you’re dedicated and in love with the idea, you’re not going to succeed and you won’t be believeable [to investors, customers etc].”

Monica Wulff: co-founder and CEO of Startup Muster.

 

Get comfortable putting yourself out there: behave like a digital native

Living, eating and breathing your product and your brand 24/7 is essential – you never know where your next opportunity or investor might come from.

Millennials have an edge from growing up curating their personal brand on social media – with positive and negative personal consequences.

‘Go social’ with your business, but do it with purpose and integrity. Every post, every photograph, every event you report in from, all need to be carefully curated to leave an imprint of who you are, what you stand for and what you are achieving. The story you are telling through blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter and WeChat all need to evoke aspirational feelings in your customers and clients – particularly if you are targeting millennials!

 

It’s not Entitled. It’s Entrepreneurial.

In her 2017 book, The Millennial Myth, Crystal Kadakia seeks to redefine the labels into business strategies that harness the millennial mindset:
“It’s not lazy, it’s productivity redefined.
It’s not entitled, it’s entrepreneurial.
It’s not hand-holding, it’s agility.
It’s not disloyal, it’s seeking purpose.
It’s not authority issues, it’s respect redefined.”

 

She has described millennials as enabled by the internet, enabled by STEM, and driven by YOLO (You Only Live Once).

Millennials like Crystal and Monica were at university during the Global Financial Crisis, and the recession that followed. Their generation will be the first to be less well-off than their parents.

“What came out of it was the mindset that there’s no such thing anymore as a golden handshake after 40 years with one company… We are working to have more ownership of our future. I’ve got a mission, and some would describe that as ‘entitled’,” Monica said.

 

AND REMEMBER . . . DON’T FEAR FAILURE

Tackle your new business with passion, drive and integrity. Nurture its public image, curate it carefully. Don’t fear criticism, use it to hone your product and build your defences. If you do fail, learn from it and wear it as a notch on your belt. Soon it will be the new black.

 

Waste Not, Want Not

 

Why toilet paper market disruptor ‘Who Gives a Crap’ is on a roll.
BY GLENN CULLEN

 

With a company name of Who Gives a Crap (WGAC), it would initially seem incongruous that the first lesson many of its staff will learn is one of perseverance. A self-proclaimed market disruptor of the toilet paper industry – which donates 50 per cent of its profits to improve sanitation in third world countries – the business only really got legs because one of its co-owners refused to get up off his seat.

Founded by Simon Griffiths, Danny Alexander and Jehan Ratnatunga in 2012, WGAC needed to raise $50,000 in pre-orders to start production of its toilet paper range. Griffiths (pictured) came up with the idea of sitting on a toilet in the warehouse and not getting up until they met the target, all the while filming an ad and livestreaming his, ahem, movements. There were scenes reminiscent of Danny Glover in Lethal Weapon and some numb buttocks but 50 hours later the mark was met and Who Gives a Crap got wings.

“The idea that you can sit on a toilet for more than two days and start a business through sheer belligerence says a lot about the company,” explains Phil King, head of production and sourcing.

Five years on and WGAC has moved millions of toilet rolls, donated about $500,000 to its charity partners and employs 28 people in an operation that’s expanded into the United States, Philippines and now England.

The gist of the operation is this: WAGC sources its forest-friendly toilet paper, tissues and paper towels and has them manufactured in China. They’re shipped to Australia and distributed to seven warehouses around the country, ordered almost entirely online and then sent direct to the consumer. Most employees work in the ‘customer happiness’ department, that is sorting out orders and ensuring people get their product.

“On the inside, we look and operate like many start-ups,” King says.

“We’re really de-centralised; there is no office and while we do have hubs like the Inspire 9 work space in Melbourne where a few of us gather, most of the team work remotely. We have customers, team members and warehouses across three different countries and that makes communication really important.”

To wit: this year marked the first time the full team actually all met in person.

Smart use of technology has thus become key to operations. WGAC uses platforms such as Slack (group messaging), Trello (project management) and Zendesk (customer service).

“We have some structured, standard meetings, but we are [the corporate structure] very flat and, typically, people take a lot of ownership for their piece and get their heads down. We’ve gotten really good at being succinct in our communication with each other. Our days aren’t bloated with internal meetings because they just don’t work.”

The hybrid model of splitting profits with donations is core to the operation, with Griffiths maintaining that if there wasn’t the prospect of financial return for some of WGAC’s early backers they may have struggled to get the level of interest they did. King also feels pure not-for profit ventures can get more political.

“In the NGO world there are multiple stakeholders in terms of your philanthropists and I suspect that takes more time, takes you away from what your core vision is,” he says.

For the staff it is also a vital plank — they can earn a wage, take shares in the company and contribute to an organisation that is making a difference.

 

“Employees want companies that give them a reason to get out of bed to feel that they are doing something positive,” King says.

 

“Everyone has a common bond around why they are here, yet it’s rarely spoken of. We all enjoy toilet humour, but really the given is that we all enjoy being part of something bigger than ourselves.”

While King maintains that mix can provide a best-of-both-worlds scenario, giving money away is not always as easy as it sounds and often comes with an extra level of scrutiny.

Griffiths discovered this first hand with the Shebeen Bar in Melbourne, an establishment he ran where profits from the exotic lagers and wines were slated to fund overseas aid projects.

But because it didn’t make cash profits for three years and was ultimately shut down, largely through complications arising from regulatory issues, there was no scope to fund anything. It resulted in some media barbs but Griffiths was unrepentant, saying he would do it all again.

WGAC appears to have no such woes with their key beneficiary, Water Aid, delighted with the amount of money that is now being raised for them.

“I think that there is extra responsibility in being a social enterprise, because so many consumers place their faith in us and will us to succeed on their behalf,” King offers. “But the positive energy around that is the best of that world, not the worst.”

 

The disruptors

Who Gives a Crap is in good company in shaking up its field, joining the likes of Uber, Airbnb and Deliveroo in changing the industry paradigm. Here’s a few other market disruptors you may not have heard of:

Quid: Big Data is everything these days and Quid is making waves in the information platform sphere with its Internet scouring tools to create trend maps that tell its customers what is getting media traction.

Shoes of Prey: An Australian company that allows you to design your own shoes at a sensible price while guaranteeing their fit. Carrie Bradshaw would be proud.

Space X: Rockets to Mars are not just a Hollywood fantasy for Space X, the aerospace disruptor that aims to get people to the red planet in the coming decades. Started by Elon Musk, founder of electric car company Tesla.

Temple & Webster: Taking on IKEA and department chains may sound foolhardy but Temple & Webster has found quite the niche with its subscription-based homeware offerings.

Social Intelligence: A human resources company that uses next-level social media scanning to determine whether there are any red flags attached to that would-be employee.

 

 

Did you know . . .

  • 2.4 billion people across the world don’t have access to a toilet.
  • More people have a mobile phone than a toilet.
  • WGAC boasts that its production method has saved 47,968 trees and 101,170,933 litres of water, while 8060 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions have been avoided.
  • Almost 900 children under five die every day due to lack of adequate toilets and diseases associated with poor sanitation.
  • There are no inks, dyes or scents in WGAC products and they’re ‘tree free’, whereas more than 98 per cent of toilet rolls sold in Australia are made from virgin fibres (non recycled and typically from trees).
  • Since 1990, nearly a third of the current global population has gained access to an improved sanitation facility (that’s 2.1 billion people).
  • A World Health Organization study in 2012 calculated that for every $1 invested in sanitation, there was an economic return of $5.50 in lower health costs, more productivity and fewer premature deaths.

 

The Leadership Road Less Travelled

 

With a new name comes a new resolve for the Institute of Managers and Leaders to treat leadership more holistically, as seen in our latest book, Leadership Matters: 7 Skills of Very Successful Leaders

By David Pich

As you can probably imagine, over the past two years as chief executive of the Institute of Managers and Leaders (formerly the Australian Institute of Management), I’ve heard an awful lot about leadership. I’ve also been asked a lot about it and I’ve read a lot about it. I’ve spoken to the Institute’s members – and lots of other managers and leaders – about leadership. That’s an awful lot of conversations about leadership. And so there should be: leadership matters.

After all of these conversations and discussion about leadership, there’s little doubt in my mind that it’s best defined as being a unique blend of inspiration and perspiration. But a rarely acknowledged issue is that the vast majority of today’s thinking around the topic of leadership is focused on leadership > from the inspiration perspective. While undoubtedly important, this perspective is what I think we all might agree is the ‘sexy stuff’ of the leadership debate.

Today we’re living in a post-psychology world. We’re surrounded by – and the debate about leadership is dominated by – soundbites and memes and by reality TV. These days every person and their dog (or indeed their cat) has a blog, a LinkedIn profile, an Instagram account, a Pinterest page and a Twitter feed about leadership.

We’re bombarded with images and quotes telling us that leaders  must be resilient, authentic, brave and emotionally intelligent. We’re reminded that leaders must listen, reflect, sympathise, empathise and every other form of ‘ise’ you can think of.

All of this is what I like to call the LGS stuff – or the leadership guilt stuff.

It’s the stuff that makes us as leaders feel inadequate. Of course, it’s the stuff that sells coaching sessions, self-help courses and lots and lots of books, and let’s face it, keeps people like Tony Robbins in business!

It’s all absolutely true of course. A leader does need to be resilient, authentic, brave, emotionally intelligent and all the other things. There is absolutely no doubt that all the leadership guilt stuff is important in making in good leader become a great leader. It’s true there are personal attributes that leaders must develop and hone to improve their leadership. And it’s absolutely true that myriad books, coaching options and indeed Tony Robbins-inspired courses can – and do – assist.

And it was this observation that led to the Institute’s first book on leadership for a number of years.

Leadership Matters: 7 Skills of Very Successful Leaders tackles the real work of leadership. It looks at the nitty gritty, the tough stuff. It’s about the leadership grunt rather than the leadership guilt.

So, why did we decide to take the leadership road less travelled with our first book under the newly named Institute?

The answer lies at the heart of the rebrand of the Institute. The newly named Institute will focus on setting the standard of management and leadership competence and striving to see this standard accepted nationally. At the heart of this will be a focus on the things that managers and leaders actually do to mark themselves as great managers and leaders. This focus, by definition, is about the perspiration of leadership.

In short, you can be the most resilient person it’s possible to be. You can be acutely aware of yourself and in touch with your own emotions and feelings and you can be as bold and brave as the next manager and leader. But this alone won’t guarantee you success in the profession that is management and leadership. Having the ‘right’ personality and behavioural traits will only get you so far. If we’re going to set the standard for management and leadership competence and if we’re going to accompany managers and leaders on their personal leadership journey, we must look at leadership much more holistically.

We must include the hard work, the heavy lifting, the tough stuff. This is exactly what the book does. It tackles the perspiration of leadership. It does this by considering seven of the core skills that contribute to successful leadership. There are others of course. But the seven skills detailed in the book are those skills that, in researching the book, the Institute’s Policy and Research team found were ubiquitous.

The seven skills of very  successful leaders are:  Setting strategy; Defining culture; Leading people; Making decisions; Ethical leadership; Inclusion; Networking.

CHAPTER 1: SETTING STRATEGY

The Institute’s book starts where successful leadership typically begins – with a plan.

Successful leaders have a plan. They have a vision and a direction, and they know where they’re going and why they’re going there.

Successful leaders tend not to wing it. They don’t make a habit of guessing or second guessing. On the contrary, they set out on a path with a relatively clear view of where they’re going and how they intend to get there. Of course, good leaders need to be flexible in the execution of their plan, but they never lose sight of the ultimate objective that lies at the heart of their strategy.

A good example of the power of plan – or a dream – is seen in the leadership of Martin Luther King.

MLK had a dream – he had a vision. He knew what the future could look like. He could see the possibilities.

Of course, as leaders we can only dream of having a mere fraction of the impact MLK had, but to be successful we can perhaps take a little leaf out of his leadership book.

 

CHAPTER 2: DEFINING CULTURE

Successful leaders must focus on getting the environment right so that they – and their team – can deliver the strategy.
Culture is absolutely key, but it’s all too often ignored because it’s too often placed in the too-hard basket. At its heart, culture is about people. It’s about the people we work with and the teams we work in. These people and these teams are all absolutely crucial to the success of a leader.

The culture a leader creates will determine the success of the strategy and ultimately the success of the leader.

This chapter of the book asks leaders to think about their business, their team and, more broadly, their organisation. It asks what the core strategy is and whether the culture is aligned to that strategy. Are the recruitment, reward, recognition and reporting policies and processes aligned to support the strategy? Of course, if the culture doesn’t support the strategy, change will be required.

 

CHAPTER 3: LEADING PEOPLE

This chapter is possibly the defining chapter of the book. In terms of successful leadership, it’s the BIG ONE, the piece de resistance. There can be no doubt that a leader leads.

In one sense, managing is easy. Managing is about knowing the processes and implementing them. It’s about  dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s. It’s about following the rulebook and ticking the boxes. But leading people is something  else entirely.

Leading – and leadership – is about recognising and celebrating individual differences, motivations, skills and experiences. It’s about balancing the individual, the team, the plan, strategy and the vision. And then working hard to keep the all of these often competing demands in balance while delivering.

CHAPTER 4: MAKING DECISIONS

That leaders make decisions is an obvious statement of fact. But successful leaders make the right decisions and they make those based on sound research and wise counsel.

In this chapter we argue that successful leaders typically understand the decision-making process. They weigh up the options, they narrow things down, they analyse and — of course — they agonise. But after all of this, they make a decision. There is, of course, another thing that successful leaders do when making decisions . . . they consult. This aspect of decision making means they identify those experts they can trust and rely on and then they ask questions and listen to the answers.

CHAPTER 5: ETHICAL LEADERSHIP

In essence, this chapter urges managers and leaders to be ethical. Always.

Effective leadership is based on the principle of leading by example. Successful managers and leaders cast a shadow that others walk in, find comfort in and seek to copy. As such, leaders must set the bar for what’s right and what’s wrong and this bar needs to be set much higher than many of today’s leaders chose to set it.

The role of a leader is to set the standard of behaviour that others look up to. When it comes to ethical behaviour, successful leaders must walk the talk.

CHAPTER 6: INCLUSION MATTERS

This chapter argues that successful leaders celebrate, support and encourage diversity and inclusion.

Leaders must look to the future while keeping a sharp eye on the present. And they must recognise the future is likely to be different. Leadership is about recognising this and celebrating this difference – and embracing it. Leaders must prepare now for that future.

Successful leaders are coaches and mentors. They are inclusive. They involve and include people regardless of gender, sexuality, ethnicity, disability or colour and they operate without prejudice and with an innate sense of fairness.

CHAPTER 7: NETWORKING IS WORKING

This chapter supports a long-held view of the Institute. We believe that successful leaders get out of their offices; they meet people, they network. A successful leader has a significant group of people he or she can turn to, rely on, and be with.

No leader is an island, they must keep up to date and well across the latest thinking, technology developments and people. They need get out there, get known and be seen.

To coin a phrase I personally find really quite dreadful, to be successful in the modern world, leaders do need to put some time into their personal brand. Of course, this doesn’t mean that networking and connecting socially always comes easily to every leader, but leaders recognise the power that comes from of having a finger on the pulse of knowledge and information.

In this way, the Institute believes that successful leaders recognise that networking is working.

 

  • Click here to secure your copy of Leadership Matters for the special member price  of $25 (including postage)

Transparency Will Get You Everywhere

 

Thinking about a rebrand? It’s time to listen to consumer and become the consumer. By Candice Chung

 

Here’s a question every customer wants to know about a company’s rebranding campaign — what’s in it for them?

The ability to answer this question at each stage of a rebranding exercise is key to retaining customer loyalty and creating ‘good news’ narratives.

“Once you’ve worked out your vision, mission and direction, the next step is to put yourself into the shoes of the consumer [or member],” says Barbara Pesel, Managing Director of communications agency Pesel & Carr. “In other words, you need to become the consumer and work out what they want to hear about your brand.”

Strategic empathy is crucial to getting stakeholders on side with branding initiatives. “It is really about saying to the market, ‘We’re here, we’re listening to you. We’re still relevant and this is what we’ve come up with,” says Pesel.

Some of these perceived benefits might include new product offerings, better customer access, or improved services. “Ultimately, people care about the quality of the product and their overall customer experience,” says Nicole Hartley, Senior Lecturer of University of Queensland Business School.

Transparency is another key factor. “Try to be transparent about the need to re-brand,” says Hartley. “That is, don’t just spring it on your customers, introduce it to them and let them know why this is a benefit to them.”

Above all, customers want to feel respected. According to a 2016 customer quotient study by Harvard Business Review, “Customers trust companies that they feel understand them. They respect companies that they believe respect them in return.”

This overall sense of trust can be broken down in five main elements: openness, relevance, empathy, experience and emotion. And a company’s performance on these key indicators “predicts loyalty outcomes and is clearly correlated to profit and growth”.

“The way in which brands have become very smart over the years is that they’ve stopped talking how wonderful they are, and started to focus on what makes their customers unique,” says Pesel. In the end, companies that demonstrate an ability to listen actively and apply strategic empathy will win them the kind of loyalty they need.

 

 

 

Brand Is You And It Is Them

 

 

Making people want to identify with your brand is crucial to any rebranding as Candice Chung explains

 

 

At the most fundamental level, all forms of rebranding is an attempt to influence the subtle chemistry between a company’s reputation and their customer’s social identities.

“Rebranding is not merely about revamping a brand name or logo, it’s about changing a company’s message, goals and their culture,” says Nicole Hartley, Senior Lecturer of University of Queensland Business School. “This requires a vision for the brand that is inspiring to customers, stakeholders and employees.”

To ensure an overall alignment of visions, first, a company needs to understand what it represents to its customers. “Specifically, what does this brand say about them and their social identities?”

Our social identity refers to a self-curated sense of who we are, and the groups we belong to. For instance, those who cycle to work may identify with people who stay fit; they may also identify with being environmentally conscious. Each of us contains a multitude of social identities, which in turn become powerful triggers to our consumer behaviour.

 

“Successful rebranding is about surprising or delighting customers in a thoughtful and authentic way.”

 

“When consumers identify with a social group that has a well-defined, positive image, they tend to select products that most clearly broadcast membership in it,” according to a recent report by Harvard Business Review.

“Toyota’s [environmentally-focused] marketing for its Prius hybrid car provides an example of how to do this well. By September 2014 the Prius accounted for over half the hybrids ever sold in the United States.”

As Revelian CEO Cherie Curtis pointed out in her recent ‘Change’ podcast with Institute of Leaders and Managers CEO David Pich, “brand is an interactive thing”.

“How much do your members/clients want to attach their identity to your brand? That is the biggest endorsement they can provide,” Curtis says. “It’s about people wanting to associate themselves with that brand.”

Most big rebranding mishaps result from companies not taking the time to understand their customers’ attachment to the brand, says Dr Hartley. “Wanting to merely inject a bit of modernism into a brand is not enough.

“Successful rebranding is about surprising or delighting customers in a thoughtful and authentic way.”

New Name, New Opportunities

 

How successful rebranding can open up new markets for your business. By Candice Chung

 

Regardless of the core business of a company, one of the main aims of of rebranding is to change the expectations you’re setting for your stakeholders.

Companies typically find themselves at a strategic crossroad in response to changing market conditions or increased competition, says Nicole Hartley, Senior Lecturer of University of Queensland Business School. Or they may consider rebranding as a way to support growth strategies that involve moving into new markets – extending their appeal to a wider range of clients, a different gender or age group.

No matter the reason, there is one common thread between all successful rebranding campaigns. “Rebranding done well involves acceptance and continued brand loyalty by your established consumer market,” says Dr Hartley.

Below are some stand-out examples of Australian companies that have broken new grounds by re-energising their brands while maintaining customer loyalty, according to Dr Hartley.

Virgin Blue In 2010, the company renamed and repositioned themselves as Virgin Australia. This was in response to a drop in market share and revenue after entering the market as a low cost airline. Keen to compete in the upmarket business and leisure segment, they repositioned the brand with a new culture and a new customer experience. The comprehensive rebrand led to a name change and focused on a more contemporary look and appeal.

 

‘Rebranding does well involves acceptance and continued brand loyalty by your established market’ – Dr Nicole Hartley

 

Woolworths’ notable 2009 logo relaunch involved a signatory new W for Woolworths, styled with a green apple and accompanied by a new tagline, “The Fresh Food People”. The rebrand hits back at the growing perception that a large percentage of Woolworths’ food was imported. Importantly, it reflects the company’s commitment to fresh produce, which was proudly Australian grown. Their additional commitment includes showcasing the baked goods section within the stores, so shoppers could see fresh food production in action.

ANZ wanted to focus on delivering a brand image that pushed them from being a domestic to an internationally recognised brand – particularly in the Asian markets. A new tagline for the bank – ‘We live in your world’ delivered on this in their 2009 campaign. They also launched a new logo that spoke to a more diverse population. The use of a lotus as the main image “represents ANZ in all its markets regardless of language”, and signifies cultural resonance with the Asian market.

Super Retail Group’s 2012 rebranding campaigned aimed at making a clear distinction between two of their flagship brands – Amart (All) Sports and Rebel Sports. The shift was to rename Rebel Sports as ‘Rebel’ – repositioning it as a premium sports retailer, while enhancing the focus on a female sports enthusiasts market. Rebel Sport had been identified as overly masculine, and the revamp of Rebel (with a new yellow and black logo), together with an effort to make its product offerings more women-friendly, ultimately helped to expand its female market.

 

Rebranding an Aussie icon

 

From retaining relevance to winning market share, there is a lot to be gained from an effective rebranding campaign. Here’s what we can we learn from Bonds — the Aussie retail giant that has continued to reinvent itself over the past century.

 

By Candice Chung

 

Designer Coco Chanel once said, “In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different.” While the celebrated icon and businesswoman may have been addressing the fashion world, her game-changing advice is just as relevant when it comes to managing corporate image.

For established companies, one way to redefine their point of difference — and remain competitive in a changing market — is through strategic rebranding.

“Ultimately, rebranding gives you an opportunity to communicate, and to go out to your stakeholders again with a good story.” says Barbara Pesel, Managing Director of communications agency Pesel & Carr. “It’s really about saying to the market, ‘We’re here, we’re still relevant, and more importantly — we’re listening to you.’”

Before attempting a rebrand, however, it’s crucial that the company has a strong grasp of its core DNA. Pesel defines this as the sum of an organisation’s vision, mission and values. “Vision is about long-term goals. Mission is what you’re going to do to get there. And your values are your guiding principles.” A sudden or unexplained shift away from any of these factors can risk alienating core customers.

In recent years, a handful of major Australian brands have attempted to reinvent themselves with varying degrees of success. Woolworths notably relaunched its logo in 2009 to focus on ‘freshness’, Virgin Blue moved away from its low-cost origins by repositioning itself as Virgin Australia in 2010, while Radio Shack failed to attract a younger clientele by changing its name to The Shack in 2009.

 

‘Rebranding is really about saying to the market, ‘We’re here, we’re still relevant, and more importantly — we’re listening to you’

 

One household name that has continued to excel at brand reinvention is Bonds. From its early days as a small manufacturer of women’s hosiery in 1915, to its introduction of the iconic Chesty singlet that put them on the map in 1920, the company has evolved into an established leader in today’s $2.5 billion underwear business.

Throughout its 100 year-plus history in the retail market, Bonds has successfully remodelled itself from a masculine, working class icon to a quintessentially Australian brand that appeals to all ages and gender. “Our brand values are at the heart of everything we do,” says Bonds Head of Marketing Emily Smalls. “We design comfortable, great-fitting products, we innovate with the changing consumer landscape and we ensure our communications reflect our brand values.”

For Bonds, those core values are authenticity, inclusivity and a sense of irreverence. And it’s the company’s ability to translate their DNA across an ever-expanding product range that allows it to grow without losing its following.

Bringing Sarah Murdoch on board as an ambassador in 2001 was a watershed moment in Bonds’ 102-year history.

“Rebranding done well involves acceptance and continued brand loyalty by your consumer market,” says Nicole Hartley, Senior Lecturer of University of Queensland Business School. “Two elements come into play here: understanding your key markets and being transparent about the need to rebrand – [in other words], letting your customers know why this is a benefit to them.”

One of the ways Bonds has managed to achieve this is through an effective use of ambassadors. For instance, the introduction of Sarah Murdoch as the face of Bonds has been instrumental in the launch of Bonds Bras and the Female Chesty in the early 2000s; as has the hiring of Pat Rafter to re-energise its male underwear range. Since then, Bonds has continued to introduce new products with personality-driven campaigns fronted by the likes of Rachel Taylor, Miranda Kerr and rapper Iggy Azalea — each reflecting a different facet of the company’s distinctly Australian DNA.

“Ambassadors put a very human element to a company’s image,” says Pesel. “When you think about it, Bonds is all about the first thing you put on in the morning and the last thing you take off. Their ambassadors are people who are able to embody the everyday experience and allow their customers to identify with it, too.”

Above all, the brand has remained agile while upholding its reputation because of a simple reason, says Pesel: “The key thing with Bonds is that it has never tried to be anything but itself. This sense of reliability, along with their ability to put themselves in their customer’s shoes, is ultimately what sets them apart.”

Embracing Change: Hot Tips from Young Leaders

 

The new leaders: how they think and why they’re totally suited to these times

 

By Nicola Heath

 

Change. It’s the greatest challenge young leaders face today.

“In one year, the amount of change we are exposed to is probably equivalent to 10 to 20 years of our parents’ generation,” says Luke Higgins, a Managing Director and Technical Architect at global professional services company Accenture.

In the past, change was optional. Organisations could maintain the status quo and remain successful, says Higgins. “Now we don’t have a choice. We have to change one way or another, to survive. You can see that with the Fortune 100 companies, every 10 years, you look at them and many drop out because they haven’t changed.”

As technology and methodology constantly evolves, the trick is identifying the right one to adopt. Which change will drive enough value to justify the investment? “That’s always the hard part,” says Higgins. “You need to be sure the change is worth the effort.”

Disruption is part of the architecture at Accenture, where Higgins runs two strategies in parallel. The first is an emerging strategy that tests new ideas and technologies. If successful, they are then incorporated into a deliberate strategy, where assets are scaled, refined and eventually rolled out.

AIM Emerging Leader board member Bec Hovey is Associate Director of Online Marketing at University of Southern Queensland. Change is so important to her team, it has its own catchphrase: ‘positive reframing’.

“It’s part of our team DNA,” she says. If something goes wrong – a ‘curveball’ in the team’s parlance – the first questions are, “‘How can we reframe this? How can we bring back the positivity to this situation, and what can we do, and what can we control at the end of the day?’”

Bec Hovey . . . mastering the art of dealing with ‘curveballs’

In this environment, the ability to adapt is fundamental. Success lies in being “resilient enough to be continuously improving and continuously adjusting what that end goal might be,” she says.

Jess Ferguson AIMM, Manager at EmploysurePLUS Services, agrees. The challenge, she says, lies in “building enough agility to flourish in a disruptive time.”

“My team works in a constant space of learning and adapting. This is particularly necessary when you’re working in the business of disruption,” Ferguson says. “We don’t take things for granted or get complacent. We know that things could change and evolve at any point and we embrace the growth that comes with that, and support each other in whatever way we can.”

Many of us are resistant to change – not so Ferguson. “I don’t like being stagnant. I’m a total optimist and believe I can make the best of anything that comes my way,” she says. “Being agile and flexible and open to the shifting direction that we move in is something that I’m very comfortable with it. Actually, I really enjoy it.”

In an age of volatility, Higgins believes an effective leader needs clear direction. That means evolving and adapting to new technologies at a micro level, but, Higgins says, “you have that over-arching macro view that is always consistent.” As a leader, you need to be open to finding new ways to achieve the end goal.

 

‘We are more adaptive to technological change’ – Bec Hovey

 

Viewing change as an opportunity, not a threat, is what sets young leaders apart from older generations, suggests Hovey. “We are more adaptive to technological change.”

Hovey introduced Facebook Workplace to her team in 2016 as way to improve inter-campus communication. Using the tool – particularly video chat – has improved collaboration and transparency between the Brisbane and Toowoomba offices.

Ferguson, who also uses Facebook Workplace at Employsure, says the tool has been crucial in helping leadership communicate vision and other important insights to teams. “It’s been a huge connection tool for the entire business.”

Jess Ferguson . . . constantly learning and adapting is the key.

Technology permeates everything Higgins does at Accenture too. “Every decision I make is data driven,” he says. He is also always asking how technology can improve the way his team operates. “How do we introduce automation, AI, robotics to do our job in a better way so we don’t have to use manual labour to do that work anymore? That’s where we leverage technology a lot.”

At Thankyou, a Melbourne-based social enterprise, team members use task management tool Asana and video-conferencing service Zoom, which Managing Director Daniel Flynn (pictured at top) says has proven useful in connecting teams on the road. “We’re setting up to launch in New Zealand so we have teams that live in different countries. It helps us connect and keep moving at a fast pace.”

It’s important to continue to evolve, be open to new ideas and new technology, says Flynn. “We try and fail until we find a good fit.”

 

‘It’s not about me, it’s about us’  – Daniel Flynn

 

If today’s leaders want to solve the world’s problems – poverty and climate change among them – Flynn believes focus needs to switch from the self to the collective. Where we look inward, we must look outward, he says. “We need leaders who are focused on things greater than themselves and not just career progression.”

In this quarter, social enterprises like Thankyou are leading the way. Its mission is simple: to empower people to help end poverty. Thankyou’s leadership team tries to embody the organisation’s ‘we, not I’ ethos. “It’s not about me, it’s about us and how we can create change outside of our scope,” says Flynn.

“If I see people who are just trying to build their careers, step on people to get ahead, to be honest they don’t last long at Thankyou. It’s just not the culture we’ve created.”