'We're out there with a microscope' - Jack Welch, final meeting with management _____
Proclaiming the sweetest victory of all, Paul Keating lauded the Australian Labour Party's 1992 electoral success as one 'for the true believers'. Setting aside political preference, I ask along those lines: does your company really
reward its true believers??? _____
A constant refrain among individual contributors is the lack of real opportunity for employees to grow independent of political support unrelated to specific performance or cultural alignment. At times, employees appear to be almost in the grips of an alien host which feeds off goodwill as a political parasite, destroying initiative, perspective and flexibility. "Sure, upstairs says we're free to make it', employees explain, 'but we all know the score, right??"
THE ETERNAL RECURRENCE: THE CULTURE QUESTION RE-REVISITED
True, the culture question always seems to be a delicate one: why, I cannot fathom.. But in company after company, I have come across (at the risk of repeating myself) the absence of winning behaviours at the middle-managerial and front line supervisory level. Of course, increased visibility enables the Board to supervise upper management with relative transparency and efficacy. And certainly those to whom much responsibility is granted, much is expected in return. (Of course, there have been notable failures at upper management level all too recently, which reinforces the forthcoming message) _____
However, I would ask you: does this "culture" translate, REALLY TRANSLATE ACROSS THE ORGANISATION? Whereas the company strategy may not be entirely sacrosanct, the mission, I would argue, should be pretty much beyond the pale of tampering or self-interest. Does the upper level of management honestly, HONESTLY know what is happening in the ranks? Or, does wilful blindness or simple oversight (yes upper managers are busy people) preclude genuine insight into corporate practice as it pertains to the company's preferred culture at its most basic and critical level, the operating level at which the organisation wins or loses with customers day by day?_____
And so I pose a question to senior managers in all large corporations, (though this could apply equally to middle sized/any size business) - How does the senior team DIFFENTIATE performance and ELIMINATE PROFITERRING/POLITICKING at the middle and junior levels? And how is it possible to do so? This field, I realise, is inundated with advice and riddled with organisational psychology. But at the risk of over-ploughing, I add my piece. ______
CANDOUR: POLICING THE LIMITS, BREAKING THE BOUNDARIES
I think it is fairly uncontroversial that deeply driven perception of a lack of accountability, candour and fairness among employees imposes constraints on profitable growth. In economic terms, the principal-agent problem imposes externalities over time upon shareholders, and even society at-large. Thus, how do organisations through a process of self-selection eliminate information asymmetry, inefficiency and conceptual boundaries to facilitate employee growth and learning for sustainable performance? Specifically, are lower-level managers merely jockeying for position and status in the manner of Thorstein Veblen's Luxury Class? (I acknowledge this analogy is surely a little unjust, given the real demands placed upon supervisors and their internal resources and operational assets). Nevertheless, do certain ingrained behaviours constitute near-impervious obstacles to WINNING ACCORDING TO YOUR COMPANY'S MISSION?? Is it possible to identify and measure true belief among the true believers?? _____
A WINNING CULTURE COMES FIRST, ALL THE TIME.
In a winning organisation, quite simply, culture and the company's professed values must come first - EVERY TIME.. While it is perhaps costly to perform a full cultural audit, desired behaviours based on recognisable and measurable value MUST translate down and across the corporate space: from line to staff, in a matrix or in relation-to-relation networks. THE CULTURE MUST COME FIRST. And, to conclude, that requires not just senior managers but all responsible employees, as FREE AGENTS, to track and insist upon cultural value in all their interactions, and to call out those who refuse to validate - or even conciliate - the TRUE BELIEVERS.. And if supervisors make their numbers, kiss up and kick down - indeed, most likely with a velvet boot - then they need to be doubly called on their behaviour. Frankly, employees at all levels have to summon the strength and exercise the responsibility, with their best judgment and intent, to state: "THERE'S JUST NO PLACE FOR POLITICKING HERE. MAYBE YOU HEARD DIFFERENT. YES, YOU MADE YOUR NUMBERS, MR/MS/MRS X BUT YOU DIDN'T BELIEVE IN OUR PEOPLE. YOU WOULDN'T LET US GROW. THIS PLACE IS DIFFERENT, YOU SEE. MR/MS/MRS X, IT SEEMS YOU'LL HAVE TO GO. AFTER ALL, THIS PLACE IS FOR THE TRUE BELIEVERS .... "
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