Do you know the essence of your business?
You know…what makes your business special…the key to its success?
This is a question I often find myself asking CEOs and Executive Teams as I support them with improving the performance of their business.
Unfortunately, all too often the response to this question is a blank stare. They know what they do to serve customers and make money, but not what truly sets them apart in the world.
In asking this question to at least 100 leadership teams over the last 5years, I’m struck by the excitement and energy created when they finally find their answer.
What is essence?
Whilst some might describe essence as the unique selling point (USP), I personally think it’s deeper than this. For me, the essence goes beyond a marketing pitch and gets to the core of the business; what has made it truly great in the past. For all the businesses I’ve worked with, I don’t think there is a single common definition of essence that applies to everyone, or even to any sector. Instead, it is unique to that company and sometimes to that company in that moment.
Examples of essence can be the belief in the founder or the type of technology or solutions they have. Sometimes it’s the relationship they have with their customers or partners. And sometimes it’s the culture and wrapped up in the type of people they employ and how their teams work together. As I said, there is no one single essence that applies.
Regardless of what the essence it is important for every leader to clearly understand what it is for their business. And through this understanding it is their job to nurture it, ensuring that it evolved consciously and leveraged to support the ongoing success of the enterprise.
Why is essence important?
Years ago I worked for a company where the essence was the relationship between the sales team and our customers. Regardless of the level of customer, from small to national, the ability of our sales team to connect with them and form strong human bonds is what set us apart in the market. Despite knowing this, in a period of change, a newly appointed CEO directed changes to be made to the sales team that eroded the psychological contract they had with the business. The result, many left, unsurprisingly taking their deeply held customer relationships with them. The ultimate impact was that in a short period of time the share price plummeted, and the company has struggled to recover since.
The moral of the story is simple – when you don’t understand the essence you risk compromising it and undermining what enabled you to be successful in the first place.
Discovering your essence
With the concept of essence being so important I challenge every CEO, Executive and leader to take time to discover what it is for their business. The path to doing this is easy, just go out and ask as many people as you can some of the following questions:
- What has been core to our success in our journey so far – i.e. what got us here?
- What is special about our company and should not be compromised?
- What sets us apart from the competition?
In asking these questions of an executive team during a recent strategy setting workshop, it was hard not to feel excited for them as they discovered their essence.
‘We’re the only one in our sector who can deliver high quality product the very next day,’ was their description.
Until the point where they’d taken the time to describe it, they hadn’t realised how powerful this capability was. They’d also not consciously realised how close they were to compromising it as they pursued changes to their operating model. From then they focused more on how they could enhance that capability and put it central to their growth strategy.
Over to you
If you’re seeking to deliver greater levels of growth. Or, if you’re seeking to make changes in your business or even your team, I encourage you to take some time to think about your essence. Through doing this you can understand what’s key to your success so far, and it will force you to consider how you can use or evolve this in the future.
If you are interested in learning more about The Purposeful Leader’s approach to setting strategy and leveraging essence at business or team level, contact Rob via rob@purposefulleader.co