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- Build a Company Culture That Serves, Sizzles
& Succeeds
- by Ron Kaufman
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- A strong organizational culture drives challenge, performance, and
positive behaviour.
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- An organization is only as good as its people. But bright people have
more options today than ever before. And good pay is no longer enough to hold the best.
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- Are good people clamouring to join your organization, or are resignations
climbing? Do your people come in early and voluntarily stay late, or is absenteeism on the
rise? Are your staff upbeat and enthusiastic, or do they gripe and moan?
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- Does your organization inspire loyalty, dedication, creativity and
motivation? Does your "company culture" challenge staff to learn, improve and
grow? As a good manager, you must ask yourself these questions. And you need to find
positive answers.
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- To grow, even to survive, you must develop a company culture that
attracts, inspires and retains good staff. Take this seriously, or your organization could
become a collecting point for old ideas and old thinking..."dead wood".
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- Every organization has a distinctive culture. A good culture reinforces
the values and behaviours that you want, and weakens the attitudes and actions that you
don't. A weak culture, of course, gives little guidance or direction, to the team,
allowing all sorts of inappropriate actions and behaviours.
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- Make sure your company's culture works overtime for you. Use the
following ideas to build a stronger and more attractive culture inside your organization.
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- Vision, Mission and Values:
- Are your vision, mission and core values clearly written down in black
and white? Have they been framed and hung upon the wall? If so, great! But then what
happened? All too often these important statements become part of the woodwork, ignored by
old-timers and quickly forgotten by new hires. Don't let this happen to you.
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- Integrate these key statements of purpose and philosophy into your
recruitment and orientation programs, internal company communications, training and
development schemes, methods of appraisal, recognition and reward.
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- Ask yourself this question: "Can every member of your staff explain
the company vision, mission and values in their own words, and give practical
illustrations in the course of their daily work?" If so, you have harnessed the power
of their alignment and understanding. If not, your team may be adrift without a clear
course, or rowing hard... but in divergent or conflicting directions.
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- New Staff Recruitment:
- Do you invest enough energy selecting
staff who are really aligned with your vision and
values? Do you give candidates sufficient time to get to
know you and your organization - before they sign on as
members of the team? Do you screen prospective employees
with the powerful profiling tools available in the
market today? Or do you complain about a tight labor
market and find yourself content with hiring enough
"warm bodies"? If so, you may not know the
full cost, in money and morale, of the turnover that
follows such hasty recruitment.
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- New Staff Orientation:
- Do you actively help new staff settle in and get comfortable for long and
productive careers? Or do you push the personnel department to get new hires on-line and
operational in the shortest possible time?
- Studies show that employees who get thorough and thoughtful orientations
will stay longer and contribute more throughout their careers. Are you investing enough
time and energy to help your new staff start right?
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- Training & Development Programs:
- Investing in training and staff development programs is good. But many
companies engage a wide assortment of trainers and programs, making little effort to
ensure a smooth and beneficial integration.
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- Here's a simple test: Can each of your outside and in-house trainers
clearly explain your organization's vision, mission and values? Can they describe the
issues and major challenges facing your company today? Are you convinced their training
will help address issues, solve problems and strengthen people's careers? If not, why not?
You pay these professionals to help your people face the future. Shouldn't they understand
the future your people will be facing?
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- Annual Appraisals:
- If you say you want a service driven organization, is quality service in
your appraisal? If you want a creative mindset, are you assessing staff on the range,
depth and volume of their ideas? If you want an open corporate culture, are your
appraisals done in an open format? If you want cross-functional and non-hierarchical
communication, do you employ a 360-degree appraisal process?
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- No amount of broadcasting company values will matter if people are
measured by other standards.
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- Take a hard look at your current appraisal system. Is it up to date? Does
it reward, recognize and reinforce what you want your company to become?
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- Rewards & Recognition Programs:
- The old adage is true: what gets rewarded gets done. But not all rewards
are monetary. They may be public, private, formal, informal, planned, unexpected, elegant,
simple, unique.
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- The most motivating rewards may be public celebrations of the people and
actions that exemplify your organization's highest values.
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- At Singapore Airlines for example, the Managing Director's Award is the
most prestigious tribute an employee can receive. The award is given each year to those
staff members whose action demonstrate the airline's commitment to total quality service.
Winners are celebrated, photographed, interviewed, published, wined, dined and praised,
yet receive no special monetary award. These people become the legends, heroes and role
models of the organization. Their deeds are told and retold for years to come. Their
actions -- and the public recognition they receive -- keep the airline's values flying
high.
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- How inspiring are your practices of rewards and recognition? How
frequently and consistently are they applied? People thrive on appreciation, recognition
and reward. Does your company culture provide enough?
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- Company Social Events:
- Too many social gatherings are expensive undertakings that provide an
outlet for stress but do little to enhance communication or commitment to the business. It
doesn't have to be this way. Memorable social events can deliver enjoyment for the staff
and build enthusiasm for your company's goals, achievements and values.
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- Put a cross-functional team in charge of design and delivery for your
next social event. Give them time and budget. Provide them with professional and
management support. Set parameters and guidelines for linkage to the business and the
organization. Then monitor their progress, but let the show be their own.
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- Lavish praise for an event well done, and you will build a tradition of
interaction that deepens and strengthens as it grows.
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- Staff Suggestion Schemes:
- Managers want feedback and suggestions for improvement from staff. But
how many companies can point with pride to widely respected and frequently used suggestion
schemes?
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- Making your program more than just a box on the wall requires rapid
response from management, immediate implementation of good ideas, and generous recognition
for contributions.
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- Try this: give away $100 (or a dinner for two) every month for the best
new suggestion. Even if the first month has only a meagre selection of ideas, pick one and
give the prize away. Once people realize there is a prize given out every month, you'll
find the suggestion box brimming with input by the month's end.
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- Management and Staff Interaction:
- Management and staff will work better
together if they have abundant opportunities to
interact. Schedule frequent team meetings. Provide
secure opportunities for staff to speak up without fear
of reprisal or retribution. Create panel discussions
where all sides can ask questions and receive candid --
not defensive -- replies. Host social functions, team
games, or a telematch. Organize a fishing trip, nature
walk, overnight retreat. More is truly merrier when
mingling the members of your team.
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- Rites and Rituals:
- Companies with strong cultures evolve
rites or rituals that are memorable and unique. At one
multinational, significant sales are honored by the key
salesperson ringing a huge Chinese gong at the beginning
of the monthly sales meeting. The message rings loud and
clear: Successful sales are good reason for public
celebrations.
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- An American R&D laboratory fires a loud outdoor cannon each time one
of the research teams concedes a major or costly mistake. People worry when the cannon is
quiet for too long! The cultural message is understood: Invention requires making
mistakes. We are here to take those risks.
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- At the Service Quality Training Centre, new trainers are thrown fully
clothed into the water at their first company retreat. The message: "We're all in
this together. Welcome aboard."
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- Internal Communications:
- How does word get around from your head
office? Do your memos look dry, boring and official? Is
that the kind of place you want your office to be? Are
your bulletin boards covered with old announcements,
faded backgrounds and ancient pieces of tape? Or are
they current, colorful and information-rich?
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- Which message do you want to send? Does your newsletter focus on current
customers, real issues and difficult but significant achievements? Is it seen as an open
forum, or sanitised propaganda from Head Office?
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- How much dialogue do you really want? If you have moved to an e-mail
environment, is access open and response encouraged? Or do staff read your latest comments
on-screen and then discuss implications in the washroom?
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- External Communications:
- How you communicate with the outside world reflects back upon your
internal staff.
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- Do your employees take pride in the advertising and public relations your
company sponsors? Is your corporate image fresh or outdated? Is your organization seen as
a public spirited contributor to the community, or just another money making enterprise?
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- Management Role Modeling:
- The most powerful action for building company "culture" is
management members leading by their own example.
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- A senior Japanese executive was visiting one of the company's overseas
manufacturing plants. As he walked along the carefully prepared factory floor, he saw a
small scrap of paper just below one of the machines.
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- To his subordinates shock and amazement, he detoured from the carefully
prepared route and stooped to pick up the paper. Placing it quietly into his pocket, he
returned to the designated path.
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- That one gesture did more to reinforce the company's commitment to
house-keeping than countless booklets and banners. The challenge for all of us is clear:
We must walk the talk!
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- Make your culture nourishing.
- Your company culture is like water. It can flow strongly and steadily,
refreshing your team and carrying people forward. Or it can sit festering and stagnant,
gradually poisoning those around it.
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- It can be fertile and rich, irrigating growth and stimulating new ideas.
Or it can be destructive and narrow, crashing down upon any signs of change.
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- Resignations, absenteeism and destructive gossip are bad news. But they
are only symptoms. The source is weak morale, low motivation and a suffering company
culture.
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- Your prescription for better health? Take action now. Build your
organization to nourish people, stimulate ideas and motivate everyone towards giving their
very best.
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- Ron's successful background includes high-impact special events at the
Rose Bowl, the Great Wall of China, St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow and on the Capitol
Mall in Washington DC. His unique approaches to leadership and learning have been featured
in LIFE Magazine, the New York Times and frequently on TV. A graduate of Brown University,
USA, Ron is certified in Applied Neuro-linguistics and is a professional member of the
National Speakers Association. For more information please visit his web site: http://www.ronkaufman.com/
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