Know why you do the things you do--and support staff in doing them.
By Kelly Schmit
As an employee of CUES, I really related to what former Trader Joe’s CEO Doug Rauch said during our Directors Conference in December. Two points from his presentation rang especially clear: 1) innovation is needed for a business to succeed, and 2) the right culture is needed for innovation to take place. About a year ago, CUES went through the rebranding process, a major change. We wanted to create a culture of innovation; put ideas into action; and deliver valuable events, products and services to our market. Rauch told all of us at Directors Conference: "To create a culture of innovation, you have to start with why you exist as a business. Often we know what we do and how we do it, but sometimes we forget why we do it; and the why is the most critical part. Great businesses don’t simply try to maximize their bottom line, but return to their purpose." As part of its rebranding process, CUES took a hard look at its mission and vision statements (read them here), what we were and what we wanted to become. Building a culture that fully supported the new statements was a major part of this. Gathering buy-in for a new direction and getting feedback from every member of our organization was crucial. "The secret to Trader Joe’s success is culture,” Rauch said. “Culture eats strategy for lunch because strategy can’t work without culture. If you try to implement a strategy that goes against the culture, it will face immediate rejection. Also, culture is the one unique signature you have.” CUES now regularly asks staff how they’re feeling about their work, and has set goals to improve survey scores over time. By doing so, we are increasing our employee engagement and commitment to our mission. In turn, CUES staff are deepening relationships with our members and aligning our internal values with our offerings. Rauch said there will be lots of benefits from this. "When you take care of your customers and employees, they become ambassadors and ultimately reduce your marketing costs,” he told his Directors Conference audience. “And, the two greatest predictors, per Gallup, Inc., of high employee engagement are positive answers to the statements: I have a voice at work, my opinions matter, and someone at work cares about my advancement." Since the new brand launch, CUES has formed several committees patterned after strategic initiatives, giving employees a chance to lend their voices. Our staff's deepened commitment to CUES has led to new offerings, like CUES Elite Access and Strategic Innovation Institute. CUES has seen first-hand that if organizations move toward a culture of innovation like Trader Joe’s, employees, members and communities will be the better for it.
Kelly Schmit is marketing coordinator for CUES.
