My mother and father moved house recently. The inevitable clearing of all their kids crap from the loft ensued… and I had a lot of crap stored up there…
It was a mix of nostalgic trips through the ages and a realisation I may be a closet hoarder. Fine balance I guess.
Behind 6 years worth of Elle Decoration magazine dating back to 1998, a small box took my eye.
Inside was a treasure trove of company values in action, not that I knew it at the time.
Back in the late 1900’s I worked for Habitat. It was at its peak.
It’s where I cemented my love and interest in all things design and interiors. I worked there throughout my college years and I loved it – helping to set up displays, matching colours and ornaments, the reams of fabrics and wallpapers, bed linen for days and beautiful kitchens. I was in heaven.
Each season we were gathered in our departmental teams and we were handed these booklets where we were trained on every page and item of the new range.
This image really doesn’t do these pieces of literature justice. They are beautiful.
They had clearly been created by a talented designer and with considerable consideration.
The booklet ran through the next seasons products, the origin stories, thinking behind then, how they were made, by whom and how to relay this to the customer.
There are exquisite. That’s probably why they’re still with me after 20 years.
Looking at these now, they really showed me what Habitat stood for (at the time at least): Quality.
Of design, product, customer experience and knowledge.
As we were those literally on the shop floor, we were at the forefront of the brand experience, it was vital that we knew and cared about this stuff – so that we could impart the details, stories and provenance of the products to the customer.
Because it’s important.
Habitat was battling cheaper high street brands entering the market and with higher price points, that had to be justified at every touch point of the brand experience – product design and in store.
Sales staff are so often overlooked and undervalued in retail.
But this was a real investment, production and training just for the staff.
It allowed us to deliver on the brand promise of quality and maintain that expectation from the customer.
If you want to embed your values in an organisation, it’s not just about having the values in a document, on the website or the canteen wall. You need to live it, have systems in place that support them and equip your team to deliver on them every day.
This is now what I see when I look at these booklets.
How do you optimise, use and train your values? What can you do to embed your behaviours throughout your team? What systems and tools do they need to live up to your brand expectations? Where are the gaps? What opportunities does this represent?
How can you be more Habitat?
You never know, some of you staff may reference it in 20 years time…
Lauren 🌱
