Tool Box
Issue No. 46 - April/May 2009
How to build a winning culture
by and and and
Why do many of the same companies appear time and again on lists of the best places to work, the best providers of customer service, and the most profitable in their industries? Strong, adaptive cultures can foster innovation, productivity, and a sense of ownership and trust among employees and customers. They also outlast any individual charismatic leader.
We learn a great deal from organizations whose strong and adaptive ownership cultures give them a powerful competitive edge. Here are our top 10 lessons.
1. Leadership is critical in codifying and maintaining an organizational purpose, values and vision. Leaders must set an example by living the elements of culture: values, behaviours, measures and actions.
2. You invest in culture. An organization’s norms and values aren’t formed through speeches, but actions and team learning. Strong cultures have teeth. Some organizations choose to part ways with those who do not embrace the values and behaviours other employees do. Others accomplish the same objective more positively. In one Not-For-Profit for example, managers constantly reinforce the culture by recognizing those whose actions exemplify its values, behaviours and standards. Team successes are cause forcelebration. It rewards individual accomplishments.
Managers at all levels offer frequent informal recognition and send handwritten thank-you notes (which stand out in the age of e-mail). Those who aren’t living up to the values soon get the point.
3. Employees at all levels notice and validate the elements of culture. As owners, they judge every management decision to hire, reward, promote and fire colleagues. Their reactions often come through in comments about subjects such as the “fairness of my boss.” The underlying theme in such conversations, though, is the strength and appropriateness of the organization’s culture.
4. Organizations with clearly codified cultures enjoy labour cost advantages:
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