| Maintaining a solid and positive corporate culture has become harder in our rapidly changing business environment, but it is not impossible. |
|
Menu of Articles:
Six Steps to Peak Performance Performance is Key to Business Success Vision & Culture Affect Performance Performance Accelerates When Behavior Fits The Task The Peak Performance Factor: Finding the Right Person for the Right
Job Performance-Based Training: The Key to Improving ROI The Six Keys to Performance Excellence Adobe Acrobat Version
|
Vision & Culture Affect Performance
A clear vision and a strong corporate culture are critical elements of performance. Successful companies outperform their competitors, achieving profitable quarters year in and year out, while others struggle. What is the mystery that allows some organizations to prosper year after year while others soar to the top, only to disappear a few years later?
Maintaining a solid and positive corporate culture has become harder in our rapidly changing business environment, but it is not impossible. Consider, for example, The Coca-Cola Company, which has been around for many years, and continues to thrive.
The key to success for Coca-Cola can be found within the company’s succinct mission statement: "As the world's largest beverage company, we refresh the world. We do this by developing superior soft drinks, both carbonated and non-carbonated, and profitable non-alcoholic beverage systems that create value for our Company, our bottling partners and our customers." The vision is clear, and the corporate culture remains strong and focused, regardless of changes occurring in the marketplace.
The Entrepreneur's Vision An entrepreneur’s vision is usually very clear as he starts his business, bringing his product or service to market. He initially struggles to handle all aspects of the business on his own. Eventually, he increases the business enough to hire help.New employees arrive with their own vision and unique behavior. The company benefits from the additional expertise in specialized areas crucial for growth and expansion of the original business.
New markets open and sales increase. Additional employees with expertise and behaviors even more diverse are added. Soon, the company has developed a personality that may or may not resemble what the entrepreneur first envisioned. When the entrepreneur eventually discovers this, he will feel compelled to bring it under control.
Getting the Vision on Paper Traditionally, an entrepreneur wants employees to share his vision and dream. In many cases, however, this dream has become a money machine that is difficult to maintain and control while trying to hold on to the same "family" atmosphere with which he began. Enter the human resource professional, who accepts the responsibility of codifying the entrepreneur’s vision, developing principles, policies, procedures and job descriptions that will help bring the business under control and focus everyone in the intended direction.The HR professional, the "people expert," struggles between meeting the employees’ wants and needs and ensuring that the company is protected in our litigious society, not the easiest of tasks. As often happens, the HR professional successfully produces guidelines for a smoother operation, but fails to capture the entrepreneurial spirit with which the company was founded. As a result, management and staff don’t feel inspired. The company looks great on paper, but morale is low and performance flounders.
The Corporate Culture is Critical Performance enhancement can only occur when morale is high. A company will never realize its full potential until employees feel a sense of accomplishment and look forward to coming to work.Companies can make this happen by following five simple steps.
- Assess the CEO’s perspective of the company’s principles, policies and procedures. Use an empirical tool (as well as common sense) to measure what he has established. Address any sensitive or problem areas to ensure the spirit of the law is being communicated effectively.
- Use the same empirical measure with staff and management to isolate their perspectives. Staff members should define the reasoning on which they believe the guidelines are based. Note any unclear areas for future discussions.
- Compare/contrast what you learn from the two. There will be obvious discrepancies in thought as you move from the CEO to the staff. Define the differences, and describe how these differences may affect the workforce. Many times the CEO is charismatic and people will be drawn to him. However, this does not mean that his principles, policies and procedures will be widely accepted. Sometimes these very things drive employees away from the company.
- Sample the workforce. Be sure the sample is indicative of the group as a whole. Guarantee that the entire workforce understands that they are participating in a performance enhancement process and their opinions are valued. Have a sample or representative group solicit input from everyone, and present it at the appropriate time.
- Redefine existing principles, policies and procedures to conform to the entrepreneur's desire for a positive performance-based approach. This will alleviate any confusion employees may have and provide a clear explanation of the outcome expected.
Share the results with employees. Ask for input and build trust; creativity will flow. The CEO may have the final say in all matters, but multiple sources of input from employees will provide a greater opportunity to benefit the company as a whole. The corporate culture and philosophy will be receptive to change and prepared for growth, creating conditions perfect for performance enhancement.
Chuck Coker
Home | Author | Speaker | Trainer | Martial Artist |
Table of Contents
Email