Corporate Culture The Four Ingredients That Are Crucial to Your Company’s Success

The first section on values advises you on how to build a list ofvalues without falling into the sophomoric trap of spending allyour time developing and prioritizing a list of meaningles

Corporate Culture: The Four Ingredients That Are Crucial

to Your Company’s Success

This chapter shifts attention from the components of your planthat are considered to be tangible to those parts of your story

that may appear at first glance to be intangible The term corporate

culture is used frequently in business language What makes up

cor-porate culture is often in question Many things can be and should

be included in any discussion of an organization’s culture In thischapter you will develop four products for your story and businessplan:

177

7

1 A set of core values

2 A philosophy statement

3 Operating principles

4 A strategic intent statement

The four represent important influences on parts of your cultureand must be considered when developing the integrated planningmodel

The first section on values advises you on how to build a list ofvalues without falling into the sophomoric trap of spending allyour time developing and prioritizing a list of meaningless rhetoric.The explanation leads you to developing a set of core value state-ments and their subsequent requirements to put the values intoplace while accounting for the operational values

The second component of the culture is the philosophy ment This statement of how you intend to do business sets a nec-essary tone It sends a strong message about what is important tokeep your business viable On the other side is the implication that

state-if you violate this philosophy you jeopardize the health and being of your company

well-The third component of the culture are the operating ples In this description I outline a number of filters through whichyou must pass your story for authentication and validation.Adherence to the principles or cross-checking your business planagainst the principles provides the consistency of your story.The fourth component, the strategic intent, is a critical restate-ment of where the management team intends to take the organiza-tion It sends signals to employees and has significant influence onhow they react A military commander always signals strategicintent through the military version called commander’s intent.With this statement the commander gives subordinate unit com-manders advance warning that certain types of operations will fol-low the present tactical plan When subordinate commanders knowthe intent they can better prepare to follow it Different logisticalrequirements exist if you plan to continue the attack or you plan to

princi-defend the hill Likewise, business leaders need to tell their zations what they have in mind for the long term For example,marketing needs to know the strategic intent so it can align its cam-paigns with the company direction.

organi-T HE T HREE S TEPS FOR D EVELOPING A L IST OF

C ORE V ALUES

In previous years we began a planning session with work on thegoals It made sense to decide what you wanted to accomplish.There would have been no discussion of the types of soft issues nowincluded in planning models To suggest starting with or even dis-cussing values would have been summarily discarded, rejected, andrebuffed Yet we knew that values played an important part in thebehavior of organizations as they moved out of a command-and-control hierarchy toward empowerment, diversity, and a virtualstructure

Today we believe core value statements may constitute one ofthe most important components of your story They are differentfrom philosophy because values define what’s core to the organiza-tion’s management behavior They set boundaries on what isacceptable and unacceptable by providing ethical lines you do notcross A simple definition of values as those things important to you

is a start point, but it’s not sufficient We need to define operationalvalues but spend the bulk of our time on the deeper core values

The danger of introducing values into the business plan isthat the concept is overworked, overused, and understated in man-agement language Usually a discussion around the planning tablebrings together a list of items such as these:

■ Quality

■ Teamwork

■ Integrity

■ Honesty

Such discussions are not only boring, they’re very superficial.This is traditional list-making Most planning teams display mildinterest, but there’s no astounding breakthrough at the planningsession Implicitly no one in his right mind would sit in front ofpeers and deny listing teamwork as a value Not after the chief exec-utive officer just published a newsletter proclaiming this to be theyear of company teamwork

I challenge that teamwork may be important but not ily a core value It is really a by-product of another value Likewise,

necessar-we may have an emotional connection to building customer tions Again, is this a value or something else? What happens whene-business becomes the norm and the personal component of thecustomer service relationship is diminished from its present form?While these items are important to the functioning of yourbusiness, they are transitory, too Consider the business emphasisand how it evolves and changes In the early 1980s, a fellow con-sultant suggested that I change my business cards to read TotalQuality Management (TQM) My response was, “Why? What will I

rela-do when that fad has passed? Change my card again?” What pens when the level of quality provided is so consistent across prod-ucts and businesses that it is no longer a discriminator? This leads

hap-to another level of understanding of the concept of values and theirrole in the organization’s story

We need to move to another dimension of sophistication tounderstand values This new level of emphasis is on core values Ididn’t invent the term; lots of other people use it also However, I

do offer you a different application of values from those usuallyfound in your planning process The concept of core values meansreaching a certain level of understanding of what is more perma-nent While teamwork and quality are important transitory opera-tional values, they do not reach deep enough into the roots of yourstory

Core values are those things that probably will not change overtime These are the deep-seated fundamental lines you will notcross in spite of the circumstances These values define the line over

which you will not step in a situation where it would be easy tolook the other way

Defining the list of company values in a planning meeting isnot a task to be taken lightly Identifying your core values is really

a gut-wrenching activity By asking questions of yourself you have

to thoroughly scrutinize your baseline for business behavior anddetermine where limits can be set

Another important function of core values is to provide ioral maps for business decision making People need to know what

behav-is important to the business so they can make informed choices indecision-making situations Values give an organization a path out

of difficult situations When a crisis occurs, it is the value ments that give stability to the chaos Managers turn to the corevalues as beacons or, better still, as channel markers to see if theirintended responses to the crisis are within accepted norms

state-Picture a case where a manager, Susan, has reached an tant junction in her project Two alternatives are available and bothare logical, practical, and make good business sense She choosesalternative A, only to find it difficult to implement A natural cul-tural resistance seems to be in effect This is because alternative Bwas a better fit with the company’s values system Although alter-native A was correct, it just didn’t fit the norms of the organization.Had Susan known the values, had they been discussed, she couldhave made the more appropriate selection Her culturally inappro-priate choice caused wasted effort and lost energy, which eventual-

impor-ly shows on the bottom line

For the organization, values play the same role in giving tion in times of crisis By always falling back on your bedrock beliefs

direc-or cdirec-ore values, you are able to be consistent in your stdirec-ory There is

a folk saying: “If you always tell the truth you never have to ber what lie you told to whom.” If you always live your values, younever have to worry about stepping out of the ethical box If yourvalues are ethically in line with the societal norms of the time youshould have no problems

remem-Step 1: Determine What’s Really Important

To capture your values as part of your story, you need to have frankdiscussions with your team to determine what is really important toyou, your team, and your business From the discussion you need

to develop a list of core values Keep it a short list, say, around four

or five items Too many values on the list seem to dissipate theimportance of the list It becomes a tedious code of conduct foremployees to remember People seem to be able to relate better to afew core values than to a long list

There has been research on the number of values a companyshould maintain and communicate James C Collins and Jerry I.Porras have done extensive analysis of the successful habits ofvisionary companies They devote a significant amount of effortdefining the role and importance of core values in a visionary com-pany’s culture Collins and Porras found that “visionary companiestend to have only a few core values, usually between three and six

In fact, we found none of the visionary companies to have morethan six core values, and most have less And, indeed, we shouldexpect this, for only a few values can be truly core—values so fun-damental and deeply held that they will change or be compromisedseldom if ever.”1 The message here is to keep your core values listlimited

If your list is of the short-term-importance type, you will spendexcessive time arguing the validity of the list In fact, there may be

a direct correlation between the amount of time spent discussingoperational values and the length of the list

Don’t spend a lot of time in disagreement over what should be

or shouldn’t be on the list That argument is really not as tant as what honesty means to the team as a core value Don’tspend any time putting the list into an order of priority That, too,

impor-is a waste of your valuable management time You will be ing the complete list anyway, so a priority activity is not necessary

consider-Step 2: Explain How to Put Each Value Into

Action

Once your core list is complete, describe how you live your values.Little is accomplished in your planning if you only make a list ofyour value statements They must be translated into actions orobservable behaviors There is a way to complete the value state-ments by making them more meaningful Define each statement inaction terms Planners find the following format to be quite effec-tive Consider the complete examples provided here; they weretaken from four different business plans:

We Value Profit

This means we:

1 Make a reasonable profit on every deal or we don’t contract

2 Take steps to continually eliminate inefficiencies from ourbusiness processes

3 Spend money wisely for things we need to support ouroperations

We Value Our Product

This means we:

1 Protect its image at all costs

2 Continuously improve its performance

3 Sell it for what it is worth

We Value Our Reputation

This means we:

1 Safeguard our public image

2 Require high ethical standards for employees

3 Take swift, decisive corrective actions in potentiallyembarrassing situations

We Value Our Time

This means we:

1 Don’t chase contracts

2 Don’t waste time submitting competing bids

3 Pull the plug early on bad projects

Follow this format for discussing each of your values Listingthe actions causes your management team to achieve a more com-plete understanding of what the values mean to the company Idon’t know of many planning sessions where this level of sophisti-cation and meaning is attached to value statements This formatfurther connects the planners with an awareness of what may ormay not be happening within their organizations It is a conscious-ness-raising activity

Step 3: Account for Any Gaps

When you are satisfied the list and all the action-oriented ments reflect what you want the value proposition to contain, youtake still another step Next is the gap analysis as drawn in Figure 7-

state-1 Spend time discussing each value in terms of what you say sus what you do Ask yourself four key questions:

ver-1 Is there a gap between what we say and what we do?

2 If so, is it a large, medium, or small gap to my employees?

3 How important is the gap?

4 Is it critical to our short-term or long-term plan? Which orboth?

These are serious questions that must be answered to get you

to action planning All gaps must be accounted for and closed with

a definitive action I call these your “quick fix,” steps you mustimmediately take to protect your story These actions are a preemp-tive strike on employees so you are not caught in an inconsistentstory You confess up-front to any shortfalls and present compre-hensive plans to correct the problems Never ignore or cover upidentified gaps I promise you, it will come back to haunt you oneday Think about it If you know there is a problem, then so do theemployees And they know you know

In summary, values are a cornerstone to your story Carefulconsiderations are made to define what are operational values and

Figure 7-1 You lose management credibility when you don’t model your values.

what are the true, core values Separate out the short-term tional items and make them strategies or tactics For example, team-work may be important, but instead of restating it in the valuepiece, move it up to the strategies/tactics area Then dig deep formeaning in four or five core values that drive your business’s veryexistence Look for things that are so fundamental to your contin-ued success there is never any thought of violating them.

opera-H OW TO P REPARE A C LEAR , W ELL -C RAFTED

P HILOSOPHY S TATEMENT

Your philosophy is the second important cultural componentdefined in this chapter Philosophy determines how you intend toapproach your business It signals who you are and how you willdeal with the world around you Having a well-written and com-municated philosophy statement provides stability in troubledtimes Working in conjunction with values, the philosophybecomes a beacon for employees and management to turn towardwhen the going gets rough A clear philosophy gives you a frame-work for sorting problems It also is a strong influence on how youconduct daily business You may find the roots of your philosophy

in the character or uniqueness of your business Distinctive tures are attributes that cause you to be unique This is a goodstarting point to understand business philosophy An examination

fea-of any fea-of the following eight attributes can help you formulateyour philosophy:

1 Price Your philosophy may be to compete on price.

Usually this means your products or services have to bepriced lower than the competition You believe you sim-ply underprice the competition every time on every item.This is a difficult factor to manage if you are in a com-modity business, such as a grocery store, that has high vol-umes and low margins

2 Speed Your philosophy may be built around speed of

delivery Pizza food chains use this standard as a majorcompetitive advantage A whole secondary wave of indus-tries has grown up as support facilities for these business-

es Selling products on the Internet is okay, but someonestill has to deliver them to the end user

3 Quality Your philosophy may have its roots in quality You

may chose to be known as the best of your product line;however, be careful of quality because it is now a standard

If you don’t have quality to begin with you are not in thegame

4 Service Level Your philosophy may be to focus on service

levels Remember, high service also includes hidden costs.This means you must get your service right the first time

5 Quantity Your philosophy may be to give more for the

dol-lar An ice cream parlor that gives generous helpings isusing this standard as a distinctive feature

6 Uniqueness Your philosophy may be to stand out from the

crowd A catchy product or perception of uniquenessoften opens doors to customers

7 Brand Recognition Your philosophy may be to use

market-ing to get to customers You choose to become a nized name in your local area, then expand to nationalrecognition

recog-8 Reputation Your philosophy may have its roots in

integri-ty You may choose to build your business on a reputation

of solid products, honest practices, and reputable services

Years ago while consuming every management book I could

find, I ran across Michael Lewis’s Liar’s Poker Lewis was a young

stockbroker who exposed an insider’s view of Salomon Brotherscirca 1989 Besides telling a great story, he had the courage to pub-licly state the company’s philosophy statement “Screw the cus-tomer, they have a short-term memory” is very revealing of the

arrogance of some brokerage houses It seemed that customers onlyhad so many choices, so the traders didn’t worry about how theirclients were treated The business circle was small, so the clientswould have to return sooner or later.2

Let’s examine another case of a poor philosophy and its ing implications Picture an automobile dealership in the 1960s.Recall buying a new car from a dealer across town or out of townand trying to get it serviced? Much to your dismay you were told totake it back to the dealer where you bought the car What prompt-

result-ed that behavior was the philosophy of “one car, one customer, andone deal.” Car dealers saw the market as a never-ending stream ofcustomers so captivated by the big American car mystique that thebuyer was in fact helpless The result of this philosophy was thatdealers didn’t want you back in the dealership for maintenance andwarranty work In fact, you were a nuisance Selling the product in

a one-transaction relationship was the name of the game, so vice was poor to nonexistent

ser-Then something changed Better quality foreign automobilesbegan showing up on the market Less maintenance, less down-time, and less fighting with the dealers for simple service hadinstant appeal with the consumers This began a wave of buyerbehavior that got the dealerships’ attention Not only had the auto-mobile manufacturers been forced to make better-quality cars, butanother economic factor kicked in to further punish the dealership.Someone realized how much money a person spends in a lifetimefor automobiles The one car, one customer, and one deal philoso-phy was costing a fortune in lost revenue

Dealerships had to not only revise their products, they wereforced by the economics to rethink their business approach to cus-tomers The product was no longer the driving force The cus-tomer’s buying capacity became the central focus If a dealer want-

ed to achieve a multiplier effect with repeat customers, customers’children, and all their friends, something had to change Howabout changing the philosophy? Perhaps a philosophy statementthat reads something like “A customer for life.” Clearly the deals

had to have a customer attraction What would get the customerback in the door? It certainly wasn’t the product—that could bebought from around the corner or across town or from a competi-tor It certainly couldn’t be price, because underselling the compe-tition has an end price point If the price is not right, the customerwill simply move down the street until he finds the price he is look-ing for Service became the door opener and saving feature of thedealerships Now great stories are told about high-contact service,such as cars being picked up at the airport and taken in for mainte-nance And you even get your car back washed and vacuumed.Outstanding dealers follow up with a call to see if you are satisfied.This is a far cry from the treatment you and I received with our newcars back in the sixties Sadly, it took economics to get car dealers’attention But isn’t that always the way?

Tips for Developing Your Philosophy

You need to spend the same quality time defining your philosophy

as you did with your core values Ask yourself questions such asthese:

■ What is the one thing about our business that sets us apartfrom everyone else?

■ When the situation is bleak, profits are down, and thingslook hopeless, what is the single belief we turn to for sur-vival?

■ What belief has been the bedrock or foundation of oursuccess?

■ What theme will ensure success if we follow it faithfully?From this thinking should come a single-sentence statement thatcaptures the essence of your philosophy

In Chapter 6, I listed people (i.e., players) as one of the businessdrivers In the example I cited Rosenbluth Travel as an employee-driven organization Logic would dictate that a natural philosophyfor that company might be, “Take care of employees and they take

care of customers.” See how the philosophy fits nicely with the cept of a player focus? This is an example of the close fit and simi-larities of parts of the integrated planning model

con-Other examples of good, solid philosophy statements takenfrom actual business plans illustrate the range of philosophy state-ments:

■ Give people simple software that they can use

■ We will serve no wine before its time

■ Nothing gets between a billable day and me

■ Build it and they will come

■ Cash is king

■ We don’t give away our services

■ We believe in understated elegance in our designs

■ Our products will overperform a customer’s requirements,every time

The importance of a well-crafted philosophy statement is that

it puts pressure on both the management and employees First,managers must take care of all the hygiene factors found in busi-ness If you think I’m talking about clean rest rooms, then you areoff base by miles I’m talking about all the little irritants that seem

to distract employees from full-time focus on taking care of tomers Enough distractions exist to interfere with getting the jobdone

cus-Employees also must buy into the philosophy statement Ifthey have other ideas then problems occur A propane companycannot survive if its employees have the philosophy that the com-pany is rich and can afford to give away tankloads of products One

of the reasons the philosophy is captured in print in the businessplan is to ensure everyone understands, buys into, and executesbusiness in line with the intent of the philosophy

M AKE S URE W HAT Y OU S AY I S W HAT Y OU

D O

When you have determined your philosophy statement, you mustanalyze the concept to determine if a gap exists between what yousay and what you do, as shown in Figure 7-2 As with the valuestatements, this gap is subjectively labeled small, medium, or large.Determine the size and then the importance It may be large butnot important Or it may be large and very critical to your organi-zational well-being Once the gap is identified you may need todesign actions to correct the problem or problems These actionsbecome part of your quick-fix plan Finally, the actions must becommunicated to employees in an appropriate manner to prevent

a backlash in your story

Figure 7-2 The foundation of your story is in danger when a gap exists

in your philosophy because your story loses operational alignment.

T HE S EVEN K EY O PERATING P RINCIPLES T HAT

G UIDE S UCCESSFUL B USINESSES

Another key piece of the soft side of your story is your principles.These are “laws of business” by which you must operate as a busi-ness All organizations must operate from a set of guidelines or prin-ciples They are the governing forces in the business universe.Principles become the benchmark through which you pass the planbefore it is published for your employees (see Figure 7-3) This pro-motes consistency and provides one more way to validate theauthenticity and believability of your story

Figure 7-3 Principles are the cross-check you filter the business plan through to ensure nothing is missing.

When I went into private practice in the early 1980s, a clientasked me for a copy of the business principles taught in graduateschool In other words, what was the textbook solution? As westarted digging though the literature on what we thought shouldhave been an easy task, we found many examples of principles but

no consolidated list of the fundamental principles of how anyorganization must function to survive As I began examining thefew client documents I again found no consistent theme or list.What I observed were statements such as, “A principle of selling is

to stop selling when you’ve made the sale.” That is great as a salesprinciple, but what about the higher-order principles that governthe basic functions of the business?

As a subsequent task my clients and I began to develop a list ofprinciples common to any business We approached the task using

a large system theory Over a ten-year period I had asked the samequestion of 125 presidents, hundreds of management teams, andthousands of managers in management seminars These represent-

ed a cross-section of organizational levels and industries I asked thesame question in at least ten countries The question was, “Whatprinciples do you use to guide your business?” Here is the consoli-dated and refined list of the seven principles that emerged:

1 The Principle of Products You must have a steady stream of

viable products, goods, or services

2 The Principle of Profit Except for unusual situations, all

organizations need financial viability

3 The Principle of Customer You need a constantly

replen-ished customer base

4 The Principle of Direction You need some form of path to

travel

5 The Principle of Structure You need an organizing force for

your resources for mission accomplishment

6 The Principle of People Most organizations need human

elements to make them work