The work had to be done upfront, so when the company flipped the switch on the name change and talked to its customers, everything was ready. Gratz says it all took a lot of time and energy that didn’t end with the external launch. The commitment to greatness is ongoing.
“It’s this constant reinforcement of, ‘Be the best that you can be every single day,’” she says. “Challenge your partner, your cohort in arms, to deliver to your client. Be curious. Think about problem-solving differently. Ask for help. Ask for another piece of insight, and don’t be afraid to do something differently than what you did previously.”
Comprehensive and heartfelt
A rebranding has to come from the heart of the organization; it cannot be a small group of people that isn’t engaged with the rest of the business, Gratz says.
“This can’t just be one voice,” she says. “It’s not just my voice saying, ‘This is what our brand commitment is. This is who we are. This is what we stand for.’ It has to cascade down to the organization.”
You can narrow things down later, Gratz says, but a cross-functional group that’s part of the rebranding from day one is critical.
“They’re part of that journey and they’re the leaders that are going to help you spread the word, reinforce the word — and reinforce the word and reinforce the word — and get the momentum going behind the brand,” she says.
In addition, authenticity is essential, Gratz says. g2o’s brand personality traits of words like integrity, pragmatic and genuine aren’t fancy, but they’re real.
“You’ve got to believe in the brand that you’re launching,” she says. “It can’t be a name change, right? It has to embody the brand of your organization. It’s got to be very — it sounds silly — but heartfelt, because when you stand in front of your clients, which I do every other day, I have to know that, for me as a leader, I am able to stand up to and behind that brand.”
Gratz, who emphasizes collaboration and transparency with her leadership team, wants to model the way.
“We’re leading leaders,” she says. “We’re educating the next layer of leaders.”
For example, even if the company doesn’t win a piece of business, Gratz likes to learn afterward why g2o didn’t get it. Recently, she went to dinner with a prospect who turned down the company’s pitch and had a really nice conversation. The following week, he sent a thank you card for her level of commitment and involvement.
Developing like-mindedness
Gratz also is working to get employees to come together around the central backbone of the organization that is already in place. Employees in each area of the company need to see beyond their differences.
She’s helping connect the dots with things like collaboration rooms to bring teams together and demonstrate what they do together.
“It was getting like-minded and driving the value internally that, ‘Wow, I had no idea. This is what the experience team did and how it makes my job so much easier,’” she says. “So, if I design something with the technology in mind, I can streamline this process considerably for my technology partner internally and, oh, by the way, that means a lot for my client, as well.”
