When you’re looking to bring on your first hires, values may not be at the forefront of your mind. But these first hires will impact the company culture for the next 50 hires; so establishing and rolling out core values into your organisation is key.

But as you scale, you’d be wrong to assume these values will stay the same.

As you welcome new people onboard, take the time to realign your values with your team.

At ISL Talent, we took the opportunity of our recent rebranding process to sit down as a team and rebuild our company from the inside out- starting with our values.

First things first,

What are brand values?

Your brand values are the principles that can be found in everything you do.

They need to be meaningful for you, your team, and your customers- and translated into actionable promises that everyone can get behind.

Examples of brand values

Your brand values should be unique to your brand. At ISL Talent, we believe in strong teams, built better. And we started with our own.

A team built on integrity, autonomy, and talent:

Take charge

We empower our staff with the autonomy to make their own decisions or seek the support of the wider ISL team.

All together now

We strive together, fail together, and learn together. Because none of us is as strong as all of us.

Talent first

Where others see targets, we see potential to find and place quality hires that keep giving. It’s all about long-term added value, not short-term fixes.

Do the right thing

We always act with integrity and do what’s best for client and candidate.

Aim high

Our desire to achieve, love of friendly competition and commitment to going the extra mile ensures we always punch above our weight.

Looking for inspiration to realign your brand values? Here’s how we did it.

Reach out to a brand consultant

It might seem strange to bring an outsider in to help you and your team reaffirm your values- but a fresh set of eyes can spot things that you no longer notice.

We reached out to Sue Bush- a brand consultant from The Co-Foundry to help us in our mission.

Not only did Sue hold workshops with the team, but she also conducted customer interviews with our clients to hear from them what made us different.

This look from the outside in helped us to involve our customer and build a brand that doesn’t just speak to our team.

Involve your team in the process

As a startup leader, you have to make decisions at pace- and most of the time without the involvement of your whole team.

But some journeys are better taken together- and branding is one of them.

Getting your whole team involved will help you to understand different areas of what makes your brand special. And it’ll ensure that in the long-term everyone understands and shares the same values.

You want to build a brand that everyone believes in.

Hold a brand discovery workshop

This workshop can take any form you want it to.

Basically, book a slot in the diary and get your team together for an hour or so.

Oh, and come armed with post-it notes and pens!

Use this time to really get down to the essence of your brand. What does your company stand for? Discuss your business purpose, your tone of voice, your customers, and the direction you want to pull in.

You may or may not have had these conversations at the start of your journey but having them now- with your team- will be crucial as you scale.

Put your findings into practice

The sign off for the final brand decisions may ultimately lie with you, but hopefully the inputs from your team will help guide you to create something that everyone believes in.

After your first session, present back your findings to the team and ask for their feedback. Of course, opinions may vary slightly, and you can’t fix every snag, but if your whole team is pulling in one direction and you’re pushing in another then head back to the drawing board.

In a startup, your team are your biggest brand ambassadors. But if you never take the time to define what this brand is, you’re missing a trick.

Your values shouldn’t just be empty words. They need to be at the essence of every company decision, every customer interaction, and every hire.

Define your brand, and watch it grow.