The Importance of Displaying Graphically

“People think visually. People think in language. When words and visual elements are closely intertwined, we create something new and we augment our communal intelligence....Visual language has the potential for increasing human ‘bandwidth’, the capacity to take in, comprehend, and more efficiently synthesize large amounts of new information. It has this capacity on the individual, group, and organizational levels.”

-Robert E. Horn, “Visual Language and Converging Technologies in the Next 10-15 Years (and Beyond)” 

If you have attended one of my culture workshops, you may have had the opportunity to see me in costume, personifying one of the CoreVals™ turned Superheros developed for LexTech years ago. Wearing a superhero costume may seem a bit silly on the surface, however, my reasons for creating these characters were, and still are, serious. As Horn’s research has shown, I wanted my team to not only be aware of our company’s core values, I wanted to integrate them into our communal experience. You can’t just tell employees to feel something. You have to help them feel it. 

This collaborative process turned Lextech’s Core Values into The Core, and it consisted of: 

Captain Client: who led the team with his commitment to clients coming first 

Passionista: a can-do wonder of a woman with the ability to exude passion and energy 

Danny Deliver: a courier astride a cheetah who delivered success 

Grow’n: A buff Scotsman who represented our commitment to strong growth

Tea and Wok: invincible twins who demonstrated the epitome of teamwork

While CoreVals™ mark the ideals by which you do business, living those ideals is the only way to show every member of the organization how earnestly you take them. The personas added dimension to the words, while conveying our unspoken commitment to diversity. Many companies put their values into words, but ours had definitely taken on a new dimension. This took us several steps beyond simply having core value statements and as a result, Lextech grew 650 percent in just six years.

As outlined above, once you establish your new CoreVals™ it is imperative to get some creative input and decide on a theme and style for print materials, meeting agendas, and a core values rollout event itself. The suspense and excitement among your leadership team and the passion of your Culture Czars will grow as you plan how to bring your message to the masses, also helping you memorialize your core values so that others will remember them. Unless CoreVal™  words are highlighted in some graphic way and hung on the wall, they really don’t exist and aren’t part of the culture. Simply having them in an email or on the company wiki/intranet is not effective.

The best way to start showcasing your core values is to get your core team together and decide on a theme. It doesn’t have to be fun or funny- let it reflect your organization’s style or market niche. If you’re a bunch of academics, maybe riffing on titles of the classics will work for you. If you’re people-oriented, pictures of customers can drive home your sincerity about your values. If you work with children, small hands or toy trains add meaning to the words on the wall. As you go about this creative process, be thinking ahead. How will you use your presentation to keep your CoreVals™  in the minds of employees daily, weekly, and monthly?

Your organization’s CoreVals™  may not lend themselves to outside themes like superheroes or starship officers. Instead, you can personalize them through the use of the stories associated with your business, as SABRE did with its use of real- life “heroes.” The SABRE core team identified employees and customers who represent distinct values- like the Uber driver who does her job with confidence because she is empowered to prevent an attack, or the child safety expert who displays his passion for protection as a trainer for the SABRE Personal Safety Academy. 

Remember that all eyes may be on your display someday, so take special care in designing your visual theme. A common misconception is that core values are for internal consumption only- that they will never be communicated outside the organization. That’s a big mistake and a lost opportunity. CoreVals™ can be effective when floated downstream to customers and the general public, and upstream to vendors and colleagues. It helps spread your unique culture to the greater community, aligning your best clients and vendors with your company’s mission. 

Finally, you’ll need several print iterations of your descriptive core values, on posters, pocket cards, and put in front of everybody in creative ways via customized key rings, coffee mugs, or some other everyday item, creating a multimedia affair. Office posters, or even a mural, are also effective. By displaying your CoreVals, it suggests that you are not only proud of, but serious about them. The big reveal should happen at a company-wide gathering. However you connect with your team, your delivery system will be a thoughtfully composed speech that sums up your vision for the company’s culture.

Have fun with this part of the Culture Czars process. It may feel particularly satisfying because it uses both sides of your brain or because it connects the people inside your organization to the larger world. Remember you are leading a culture that extends beyond the four walls of the company. If you are interested in learning more about this process, you can check out case studies on some of the projects mentioned in this blog including Lextech, SABRE and Lumiere Children’s Therapy by signing up for exclusive access at https://www.cultureczars.com/resources.