Mosaic Pillar #3
Sustainability is fundamental for long-term brand success. The early work of designing systems that bring ease, as well as coaching up internal teams’ capabilities, can lay the groundwork for years to come.
When you are in start-up mode - on a both or a project - innovation and original development is and must be a high priority. That’s how the good ideas, products and services come to fruition and great brands are born.
When a company or organization comes to its ‘toddler’ years, if you will, the one-off strategies and successes that supported a launch now need to become replicable systems to support sustainability. And I don’t just mean at a product level - when your team excels at a new strategic effort, or when a new hire finds their groove - you want more of that.
Systems Design
That is where the art and science of designing systems comes into play.
The science is in being a student of the data: what exactly happened? What were the influencing factors? What was the critical order of things?
The art of it comes through appreciating the nuances: was this the particular strength or charisma of this leader? Or the unique harmony and muscle memory of this experienced team?
Having an outside perspective and direction on your systems design can go a long way in equally balancing the art and science evaluation. Not being a permanent part of your team nor having ownership of past success, I can bring an agnostic review on what the real contributing factors are.
“When it comes to complex systems, we found that no single expert fully grasps, and no set of documents fully captures, the subtle ways in which individual components are interwoven with one another.” - HBR article Getting It Right the Second Time (an oldie but a goodie).
Designing the internal systems and even operating procedures that marry together institutional knowledge and documentation is the root of good systems design. It’s people AND process - always.
Having a Model
The above HBR article goes on to share a real life example of what I think is a critical step: developing the OG model.
For example: Banc One, at its height of its season of acquisition and growth, developed a ‘sister bank’ system. Every new franchise was paired with a sister bank that had recently undergone the exact same experience…gaining efficiencies, warning against prior pitfalls, accessing support.
Now imagine that kind of modeling strategy applied to your organization’s onboarding process. If every new hire was paired with a teammate, recently onboarded themselves so they hold empathy and awareness for the experience, and someone that’s also already demonstrated success in applying their brand learnings, so you know they ‘get it.’
What a powerful resource that would be. And it need not be limited to hiring. This model is a strategy I relied on greatly in developing and growing internal teams - both agency and client side - for department stand-ups, new process rollout, cross-functional training, you name it.
The Ultimate Balance
While profits are not always the ultimate motivating factor, they remain critical nonetheless. Profitability is born out of efficiency, and efficiency is gained from leveraging experience.
Now, working in the creative industry, you can imagine the reactions I sometimes get when I use words like “efficiency” or “replication.” EKT, design is an art and every situation is unique. Yes. Yes, AND…
…Your team needs to see what the big picture can and should look like. You need not make the same mistakes twice (or more, oof). Building the bridge while you drive on it can be energizing in isolation, but as an operating procedure, leads to burnout. You need a starting place from which to edit.
I strongly believe that it’s from the security and trust in the experience of a solid model that really great innovation can be achieved. From established structure, great creative experiments can be tested.
If you’d like to chat more about sustainable systems your company needs,