The Value Pyramid: Why People at All Levels of An Organization Need To Experience Value in Your Offering

The Value Pyramid: Creating Resonance Through Understanding Individual Values

Today we will continue to examine the guiding principles of the Rule of 24, giving attention to Guiding Principle #3, The Value Pyramid. In order to understand what is meant by this, I want you to imagine a pyramid with an organization’s staff making up the base. The middle of the pyramid is occupied by managers, and the top of the pyramid houses the executives. Normally, there are more staff than managers, and more managers than executives. This is called the Value Pyramid because all people, at all levels, need to experience value in what you have to offer in order to lend support to the cause as a whole.

Identifying Individual Currency

In order to understand the importance of this pyramid of value, they key is in the understanding that “value” is defined differently by those occupying the different levels. While staff may find value in a feature that makes their job faster or easier, managers might find value in anything that you can justify that will improve productivity or reduce risk. Executives, on the other hand, might be looking at saving time in order to save money, or strategic initiates and returns for investment. Understanding that these values do not resonate with one another is key, and it asks that all who are occupying space in the pyramid be aware of where the value lies within the spaces, and people, who are situated on the other two levels. It IS possible to resonate with all groups: one just has to understand the “currency” of everyone on their team, and address those points that make them feel heard and valued. You might show the staff product features and elements beneficial to them, while managers will see summaries of features and benefits in a way that showcases potential for risk reduction and improvement in productivity.

If our presentations revolve around the people we want to serve, rather than the product we want to sell, we cannot help but create resonance with all stakeholders, drastically improving the experiences had by all involved.