As the old business axiom goes, ‘if you’re not moving forwards, you’re going backwards.” In today’s ultra-competitive landscape, The Growth Imperative is absolute. If continuous growth is not maintained, stakeholders – and customers – look elsewhere.
Many businesses seek answers in technology. Automation, robotics, AI become the focus for investment with the expectation that these tools will deliver continuous growth. Certainly, ‘tech’ is part of the answer. It helps companies to maintain competitiveness in their sector. But technology is simply an enabler. On its own, it doesn’t drive growth. People do. It’s not the chisel that creates the masterpiece – it’s the sculptor who wields it. Employees, the ones that make the products and deliver the services, together with the customers who buy them, are the true drivers of business growth.
Without employees who are emotionally invested in your business, who care about its success – beyond the transactional level of bonuses and paychecks – growth will always be a challenge. But when employees feel engaged, motivated, appreciated – loved even – they become that most valuable of assets – The Brand Ambassador.
When I look at other companies I view as being among those most likely to be the winners in the future, culture is key. It’s not enough to have a hit product. You must have continuous capability to execute on the next hit product. And that ultimately comes down to culture…Satya Nadella, CEO Microsoft
They become your advocates ‘out there – in the real world’. They talk about what they do and the business they do it for with genuine enthusiasm. They deliver a consistent, positive message that supports your business and promotes your brand from inside the company.
More than this, when employees are emotionally engaged in your business, they give you more. They want to learn how to do their jobs better, they want to produce flawless products, and they want the customers they serve to feel the same connection as they do to your organisation. Great Customer Experience becomes a personal mission.
So, how does this internal engagement reflect outside – where potential customers are found? It means that your advertising, PR, social media content can be truly authentic. Your brand promise becomes more than a statement of intent, but a living, breathing, working model of what your organisation stands for. No disconnect, no dissonance between what the customer sees and hears and what they experience. Everything joins up – and that’s where real customer loyalty comes from.
It’s what we call The InsideOut Approach.
And it works. Here are a few examples…
In 2008, DHL Express lost €966 million. Their business strategy was heading in the wrong direction. We worked with DHL to help create a people-centric engagement and learning programme called Certified International Specialists. It was founded on the simple principle that motivated people deliver great service which increases customer loyalty – and ultimately profit. With 100,000 employees worldwide now delighting in delivering an industry-leading Customer Experience, in 2011, they posted a profit of €2.4 billion. And ten years later became the #1 Great Place to Work in the world.
In 2019, the issue of plastic waste was affecting employee and consumer confidence in the Coca-Cola Company – even though the business was investing heavily in sustainability. We led internal workshops to help leaders and managers gain the skills to act as brand ambassadors for sustainability. And then developed ‘Never Settle’, the company’s first-ever corporate reputation campaign. Employee knowledge increased by 142% and consumer brand favourability went up by 42%.
In 2021, Coats, the world’s leading thread maker, wanted to reposition its 250-year heritage for today’s employees and consumers. Inside the business, we worked with the HR team to develop the Coats for All and Coats for Her engagement campaigns. This has been aligned with a new, external campaign celebrating the social impact of employees under the headline, ‘Coats Cares’. These DEI initiatives have lifted Coats to be named as one of the ‘World’s Best Workplaces’ in 2023.
These success stories reiterate the simple fact that great brands are built from the InsideOut. When internal culture is aligned with external brand promise, the momentum of growth becomes frictionless.
LSE and Gallup analysed 300 organisations in 73 countries finding significant correlation between employee satisfaction and business performance.LSE and Gallup
But internal culture isn’t simply a coat we can put on. It must be authentic to the business, an element of the company DNA. To try to enforce a culture won’t work. It must be natural, surfaced, nurtured, guided and supported. It must be something your people believe in.
When leadership is aligned to the business strategy, then a clear vision can be established and given a consistent voice. This process delivers product or operational excellence. When that consistent voice reinforces the business culture, that’s when the magic happens – and employees become engaged and feel enabled, resulting in greater and continuous innovation. And engaged employees connect more meaningfully with customers delivering a heighted customer experience. What we sometimes call ‘Customer-centricity’.
That’s how culture delivers business growth. But this becomes doubly impactful when it works alongside your brand promise. Again, there is a process:
1. Start with Brilliant Basics
2. Develop Inspiring Initiatives
3. Build towards Transformational Growth
From a management POV, these two processes need to be constantly monitored, calibrated and aligned. But the effort is worth it in terms of continuous growth and ‘clear water’ in your brand positioning. If you are authentic to your culture and have a brand promise based on what you believe, then your businesses cannot be duplicated. Because every business culture is unique – and therefore, can deliver a distinct brand promise.
For too long, internal business culture has been seen as a nebulous ‘nice-to-have’, a way of retaining staff or polishing our DEI credentials. In actuality, it is fundamental to business success, growth and impact. Now, in 2025, it’s time to consider its potential. Start by evaluating your own internal culture and checking how it lines up with your external brand promise. Do your own people believe the same things about your business that you want your customers to? If not, where’s the divergence? What’s causing it? Do you need to realign the culture – or the promise? And if so, how?
Transformational growth is a reality for all businesses when they realise that internal culture and operational excellence are two sides of the same brand coin. Check out how the InsideOut methodology could work for you – and if you want to talk further, The Maverick Group are happy to offer a consultation. Get in touch.
