Transforming the Corporate Culture

When a corporation hires a proven leader to revive a sagging operation, the hardest part of the job isn’t what’s seen on the balance sheet.   Of course attention is given to improving the numbers in sales, productivity, employee retention and other measurable items.  However very often the biggest challenge comes in transforming the corporate culture.   Unless this happens early in the new leader’s reign, then little else will go right.  Corporations have a culture that was either shaped by the previous leadership or occurred by default.  Either way if the ‘unit’ isn’t performing as desired then the current culture is a significant factor.

A weak or distant leader ignores the corporate culture, which makes it possible for divisions to be created between departments and middle managers.  If you do a values based feedback on these leaders, often words like controlling, manipulative or being liked crop up.

Any new leader has to immediately make an impact on the corporate culture in positive ways or that leader will lack the power to implement significant and lasting change.  Easier said than done with something as intangible but powerful as culture.  You could watch and pay attention, but that’s the long game and maybe you don’t have time.  You could measure it, find out what everyone in the organisation really values and thinks is important - and rarely does your staff satisfaction survey ever reveal this level of information.

Transforming the corporate culture isn’t tossing out all that exists as wrong and imposing a new culture by memo.  A real leader magnifies and applauds the positive factors in the corporate culture and then, by motivation and inspiration as well as example, begins to turn the corporate culture away from negative attitudes. The blend of the best of the old culture and exciting new ideas can revitalize a corporate culture and motivate employees to perform at their very best.  You’ll see the fruits of your labour in the balance sheet, your sales, productivity, innovation and employee retention figures will show a marked difference.

Employee Presence versus Employee Engagement

Do you remember getting that perfect attendance sticker / pin / badge in infant school?  It was such a big deal, proving that you showed up on time every day for school, rain or shine.

In the workplace, attendance is also important - but it’s not a measure of effectiveness.

Whilst employees can show up every day to work it’s also possible for them to accomplish minimal productive work during that day.  Emails and meetings are two common activities that aren’t necessarily productive.  The difference between productivity and barely sustainable effort takes employee engagement.  The member of staff who’s fully engaged in their work is in agreement or alignment with the corporate goals and mission statement.  This person gets more than a paycheck every month, they also take home a greater sense of personal job satisfaction, perhaps not daily, but much more than once a month.

The UK Work Foundation discovered that the lower the job satisfaction level, the worse the productivity. Well no surprises there.  However when job satisfaction falls below 50%, productivity literally stagnates.  Research in 2002 found that the US and other countries competing with UK industries were 30% more productive than the typical UK worker.  And all the doom, gloom and continual talk of recession is hardly the obvious recipe for increasing happiness.  However that aside it’s possible to ride external factors by creating clear goals that inspire or at the very least motivate the team. 

 

Getting a job that matters to you

Wow, I’m still on a high after Friday.  The event “Getting a Job with Meaning” was a huge success, with everyone discovering useful insights and feeling more confident than ever about themselves.  Which in the current climate is a great asset.  I got to share my views on job fulfillment and walk my talk, because I was experiencing it as I was teaching it.  Plus filming and recording went really well and the product should be ready to go by mid October. 

Thank you to everyone involved, especially the attendees - you were amazing.

 

Business resilience in todays credit crunch economy

On the 22nd of September I’ll be giving a talk for the Turnaround Management Association . 

With continued talk of recession, the credit crunch and an increase in raw material costs, many businesses are facing challenges on all fronts.

I’ll be offering my views on the impact corporate culture has on all of this and the real bottom line benefits of building a values driven business.  It’s not THE answer to what’s going on in the world of business and the economy, but it makes a significant difference.

Join me where I’ll share :-

The new principles of business that are generating sustainability, resilience and shareholder value.

The results some organisations are seeing as a consequence of this.

The influence values and culture have on the success of Mergers and Acquisitions.

The importance that establishing a values culture can have even on a non-performing business.

 
Full details of the location etc are available here.

 

Authoritarian Leadership

Tyrannical leadership is an option, although not generally advocated in this day and age. Authoritarian is a softer word and then there’s controlling.  Aah the beauty of the English language, what a difference a word makes.  

So what do these tyrannical, authoritarian, controlling leaders have in common – well a view that what they say goes and an unquestionable belief that those they ‘lead’ will do what they say, because they say so.  The controlling ones say they listen to others opinions but after a while their staff have stopped giving opinions because they didn’t seem to count for anything.   So there becomes an unspoken work dynamic of  “I’m in charge and this is how we’re going to do it”, if you don’t like it get lost.”

Controlling leaders are more common than we give credit for.  Yet in essence this is a sign that it’s a manager who hasn’t grown and stepped up to the demands of leadership. The control element is often rooted in that person’s capacity to handle uncertainty and help others handle it.  If they can’t cope there’s very little chance they can lead others through it.

Is there a time for this style of leadership, certainly, if there is a crisis you want absolute clarity and instruction.  Great leaders have flexibility and a range of leadership styles.   Or they know what environment they’re best suited to lead in, knowing when they’ve done their job and the organization needs a different environment for continued growth, they move on.  The core of leadership is about fulfilling the needs of everyone involved in the organization.

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