In our last post we shared a story about a company that was doing all of the right things and wowed us with their service, quality and integrity. In this third part of a three part series we share a story of Brandstone, a branding company re-branding brand. What makes it more interesting is how they came to be.

We first met one of the owners when he reached out for coaching for himself. He was the successful co-owner of a boutique company that helped businesses flesh out and promote their brand. But he wanted to take his business to the next level, with a greater sense of purpose. His vision was bigger than he and his partner could bring to fruition.

If you find your North Star, it will light your way forward

This lead to them going deeper, discovering the joint purpose that was bigger than their fears, a north star worth the risk and effort. They uncovered their core values, the values that are non-negotiable, the ones that drive decisions. This clarity made it easier to see the path unfolding. It also made it easy for them to attract their third partner, a person with complementary and needed skills who shared the same vision and had resonant core values. The process they went through also became a significant part of the work they would replicate with their own clients, so that brand truly represented the purpose and values of an organization, and was not just a tag line or lip service. A new company was born.

Like with most start-ups, there comes a time when you grow enough to hit the wall. The three partners had the skills and raw ingredients to attract the business and execute. What they lacked was the glue that would constitute them as one powerful triadic unit operating in concert like the three musketeers. They needed to more fully leverage the power of a true team. Until that would happen, they were working harder then they had to, were stepping on each other’s toes and their commitment as full partners was also just beyond their reach.

All for one and one for all!

This is when we started working with them triadically, coaching them as a triadic unit with a minimum of two coaches, so we could offer both multiple perspectives and model the process that eluded them. Our coaching was not about three or five way conversations; it was about sharing what we were observing and feeling about their interactions. It looked at how they were being, what they were doing and the impacts it had on the expression and integrity of the firm’s purpose, values and goals.

Fast forward to today. Unlike management, leadership is messy. Leadership deals with the unknown, with the ever-unfolding uncertainty and complexity that human beings bring to the table. Coaching three principals to operate as a cohesive leadership team that truly has each other’s backs is as messy and rewarding as parenting. Which is why we feel like proud parents of a new type of branding company that will literally change how branding is delivered, what it means and how consumers will view their clients.  Now a new possibility has been born.

Alignment can make all the difference

In our prior two posts there were distinct differences between the hotel chain and Brenthaven. While both probably started out with the vision and clarity of purpose of the founders, only Brenthaven stayed true to it. The difference is not simply size. For the hotel chain, each hotel brand, and each hotel, has as much opportunity to walk its talk as Brenthaven. What Brandstone experienced through our work was the power of what some call the soft skills, or the interiors, that drive the more easily observable and measurable exteriors, the products and services. Only when the purpose, values, mission and vision are clear and aligned with every fiber of an organization can it perform with greatness. As Simon Sinek, author of Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action says so poignantly, people buy because they believe what you believe; they buy WHY you do what you do, whether they are employees or customers.

We invite you to download our free eBook How To Create Great Places To Work, and learn more about how to connect those dots. Contact us and we will give you a brief free survey so you can assess where your own organization is on the great places to work journey.