Culture: What a difference it makes!Learn Management Articles on management-info.biz. Culture: What a difference it makes! article will help answer your questions on Management Articles.We at management-info.biz specialize in Management Articles. Management Articles at management-info.biz provides the most up to date news and articles. If you have questions please do not hesitate to contact us.
For three years, I had the opportunity to work for the company that this man headed up before he decided to sell his successful enterprise to a large, old school retailer. We were all very happy for him. This sale was going to mean a lot more time for he and his wife to travel and generally enjoy life after a lot of years of hard work and dedication to their business. We were saddened to be losing such a great leader but we knew he deserved the rest and we wished him well. Those three years were perhaps the most rewarding and educational years of my entire career, one that spans over twenty years. The company was managed in such a way that you had no choice but to feel like an important part of it. No employee was ever treated like a number, unworthy of receiving up to date communication on what was happening within the company. The executive were always aware of the impact their actions would have on store personnel and customers. In this company everyone understood where, and by whom, sales were made and every effort was made to include input from the field whenever important decisions were being made that would affect employees or customers. The man I speak of did not always have a successful company on his hands. At one time, as I understand, the company had been on the brink of failure. He, and his loyal employees managed to save it. It was quite a feat, requiring dedication, a new direction and a new way of being. Sam did many, many things to move his company in the right direction. To detail all of them would require a book, which I hope he will write some day, and a lot more information than I have available to me. I did not know this man as well as some of my colleagues did but I know, for certain, that he is a man with integrity. If he says it, you can take it to the bank. By the time I came on board the company was doing very well. A brand new culture had been built. That's right...built. Culture is something you build with every word you say and every action you take. A positive culture does not come about by accident. It takes a lot of soul searching and checking with people and just when you think you have it all figured out you have to check again. It takes the ability and the willingness to know and admit that you don't know everything and you don't have all the answers. It takes a desire to get input and feedback from the people affected by a given situation. It takes the guts to take action to fix something that's not working. It takes coaching and loyalty and lending a hand to those who need it. It takes understanding that people don't make mistakes because they want to. It takes a firm, but kind, word to someone who messes up. It takes the ability to foster a feeling of belonging among those who are in your business family. Sam certainly did all of these things and he worked tirelessly to ensure his executive and management teams did also. Store Managers were invited, and expected, to have an impact on the whole organization and not just their own store. If she made a request there were only two acceptable outcomes. 1) The request was granted and a date for completion was to be given or 2) The request was not granted and the reasons were explained. It did not stop there if the Store Manager was not satisfied with the outcome. She was never expected to settle for an answer that did not satisfy her. The process that ensued was one of open and on-going dialogue until either the Store Manager became convinced and was satisfied with the reason that her request could not be granted or she managed to convince her Manager that the request should be granted. It wasn't over just because someone said it was over. And the company flourished. Following the news of the sale of the company, most field management stayed in place for some time. Unfortunately, as with all good things, the culture we had come to know and love ended. It was like a period of mourning. Executive and management moved on to new challenges and the business went straight down, at least for the short term. The new owners will never understand what happened. There will be reasons and excuses but they all amount to nothing. The truth, that they probably do not even realize, is that the great culture was run out of town; obviously deemed unnecessary and not worth saving. It's that simple and it's such a shame. Those of us who lived in Sam's environment clearly understand what happened when he and his carefully chosen team were no longer at the helm. The key to sustaining a successful business is to RESPECT the culture - after all, the business is secretly thriving on it; OBSERVE carefully, for a time, and then ACT appropriately.
|
More Articles:1. Quick Quiz: Helping Others with Leadership Skill Development Oftentimes a quiz can be an effective learning device. For that reason consider the following questions and see what you learn. Hopefully a few questions will inspire you in the direction of improved management and leadership skill development. The answers are at the bottom of the column, but please resist the temptation to peak until you have given some serious thought about your answers. 1. How many hours of TV do fathers between the ages of 25-34 watch each week? a. 10 hours b. 15 hours … 2. Think "Business Processes" Not "Departments" - 5 Compelling Reasons 1. Process Thinking follows the natural flow of the business A business process is a collection of interrelated work tasks triggered by an event and geared towards providing results or outcomes valued by the 'customer'. The adoption of process thinking causes an organisation to align its activities and systems with the natural flow of materials and information from the start to the end of the value chain. Functional thinking creates silos with boundaries across which information and other resour… 3. DaimlerChrysler: Merger or Acquisition? By Matthew Keegan In 1998 Daimler-Benz and the Chrysler Corporation tied the knot. The newly created DaimlerChrysler [DCX] conglomerate was touted in the business world as a merger of equals with both companies retaining their unique and distinct identities. Soon after the merger the honeymoon period abruptly ended and the rancor began. Diametrically opposite management and cultural differences contributed to deep divisions which nearly scuttled the new relationship. Today, things are much different than they w… 4. Are You A B.O.S.S. -- "Boisterous, Omnipotent, Self Indulgent, Sociopath" By Rick Johnson Boisterous, Omnipotent, Self- indulgent Sociopath. Avoid the B.O.S.S. syndrome with five leadership principles that translate academic leadership theory to real world, 21st century application.There are many academic theories published on leadership. Some of these theories include:Participative LeadershipPatricia McLagan & Christo Nel state that, “leadership is about breaking new ground, going beyond the known and creating the future.” They talk about new governance requiring effective leader… |
||||
