Nothing slows down an enterprise more than a workforce that is working at cross purposes, unmotivated and uncaring.

And nothing dims the prospects of an enterprise more than having a workforce that fails to innovate, isn’t inspired to be creative, and which just checks in and checks out day after day.

The eternal question is “how” to align employees to what the business needs and there are many methods, tools and professionals devoted to getting employees to shift their attitudes and behaviors.

But, even these efforts are not producing the desired result.

We believe this is because there is an increasingly large gap between what business feels it needs and what matters to people.

So, the real question for business right now isn’t “how” to align people as “what” people should be aligned to.

Which begs the ultimate question of “why” should people care enough to align?

Ask most executives what they’d like their employees to align to and they’ll talk about their brand strategy. But why would someone want to devote their time, energy and spirit to a business strategy envisioned in terms of the company’s financial results?

According to Dave Pullin, the question is “How do we motivate business to devote their existence to people?” He goes on to say,

“Business has become the problem.

People want jobs, but no business regards itself as having an obligation or objective to create jobs. People want rewarding jobs, but business wants to pay the least they can get away with. People want fulfilling jobs, but business couldn’t care less whether jobs are fulfilling.”

The emotive branding process is a way to strike a new balance between what a business needs and what matters to people.

Our clients benefit from having a clearly articulated and humanly expressed “why” for their brand. They also come to know the feelings their brand should evoke in order to bring their “why” to life. Finally, they receive helpful tools that the people behind their brand can use to transform the way the brand reaches out to people.

By starting with “why”, our clients suddenly make more sense of their “what” and “how”. When they engage people through their “why”, our client’s brands suddenly become more personally relevant and emotionally important to those indiviudals.

One by one, our client’s employees change their outlook, update their attitudes, and engage with the brand on a far more meaningful level.

So, whether you need to get senior executives to devote their energies to developing more purposeful strategies, or you need to get a workforce excited and motivated about delivering on those strategies, or you need to retain valued employees and attract more good people, the power of a meaningful “why” gets your business closer to the results it needs.

When a well-intentioned, compassionate and mindful brand reaches out to people, people respond accordingly. They go from not caring about the brand to keeping it close to their hearts and minds. They go from not having a reason to be inspired and motivated to new behaviors that set the stage for each and every “business strategy” to be realized–and, of course, the desired “financial results” to be gained.

Emotive Brand is a San Francisco branding agency.