How do I keep the company values front and center in people’s mind?  Are there things I can be doing on a semi-regular basis to keep them thinking (and living) them?

It’s a smart question because once you’ve gone through the effort of identifying your values you MUST live them (see Collins’ book Good to Great).  Otherwise you are better off not capturing them because people can smell the difference between espoused values and lived values a mile away and you will lose their confidence (not to mention passion, loyalty and best effort).

1.    Advertise them.

You might be surprised at how many of your employees don’t even know the values.  So it doesn’t go without saying that you need to post them places, company newsletters, websites, cubicles, etc.

2.    Don’t make decisions without them.

Use your company values as a definitive guide for everything you do. Think of them as a decision filter for hiring, developing people, customer decisions, growth and strategic decisions, etc.

3.    See them as core to the business.

Think and talk about your company values (which define your culture) as a profit center because companies that manage people right outperform companies that don’t by 30-40% (Jeffrey Pfeffer, Harvard Business School Press, 1998).

4.    Tell stories about them.

Ask employees to tell a “values story” about another employee that they observed.  They should describe in detail how that person demonstrated a value(s).

5.    Celebrate them, specifically and often.

Every recognition of an employee is an opportunity to showcase the values and connect what they did to a specific company value.  Be deliberate about this.

6.    Drive everyone’s behavior and actions with the values.

Values can’t exist in a vacuum, they are either guiding how employees behave and act or they aren’t.  They can’t guide the staff but not the leaders and CEO, people will perceive that and the values become a farce.

7.    Reward them.

In my son’s school, when a child displays one of the core values and someone notices it, the child gets recognized.  Adults appreciate recognition too. Highlight examples of when people live a particular value, even small examples.  Do it in small conversations and in larger forums.  By focusing on employees who live the values, you are reinforcing that they are real and that they influence how you treat colleagues and customers.

Related posts:

1. Core Values Matter!
2. What Is Organizational Culture and Behavior?
3. The Right People are Critical

In a down market, why are some companies keeping existing clients and actually increasing sales with base accounts while others are barely hanging on?  One could argue that some are successful because their product or service offering is more attractive in today’s market.  Some services and products are more attractive than others, but there’s more to it then that.  In our work with clients, we’ve noticed that some have a robust account staff “sales engine” and others do not.

How Account People See Their Role

We have observed multiple clients in different divisions but in the same companies having widely different results with their existing accounts.  When we work with these people and discover where they are spending their time and energy we understand the varying results.   Some have put big numbers on the board while others are hoping to keep their jobs another year.  Unfortunately, most account/project operations people are not as well developed in sales competencies as they are in technical competencies.

Usually people on account/project teams are there for their technical or functional expertise.  They work day after day fulfilling the contractual requirements specified by the statement of work.  Their academic background is in computer science or business and their professional training is in a set of technologies and/or some business process philosophy.  That is where they are comfortable, that is what they believe they are paid to do for the most part and guess what, that is how they spend their time.  In the end, the client usually gets what they pay for, but the team has missed countless new business opportunities and has not taken full advantage of the opportunity to dramatically broaden it client contracts.

The Right Incentives

Many firms do not have effective incentives to entice their project/account people to go the extra mile to sell additional services to their client.  Most mid-level and functional operations professionals are evaluated and compensated primarily on their operational tasks. Energy, action and results follow incentives, so if your team is not putting numbers on the board, check to see if your incentives reflect your desired results.  Peter Senge, MIT Slone School of Business once told me “every system delivers the results it was designed to produce.”  That statement was never truer than in a sales environment.

Creating, Positioning and Communicating Value

Account/project operations people do want to sell new or follow-up business. In their minds they are always looking for opportunities to increase business.  The problem is they are not usually skilled at identifying, creating, positioning and/or communicating value to their clients effectively. Anyone that’s been in sales knows that it’s not lunches and golf dates that puts numbers on the board, but rather a skilled approach to creating, positioning and communicating value to the client.  When working with our business teams we hear or identify the following common reasons why sales activities into existing accounts don’t get more energy and attention:

• We are not sure where to begin.
• We spend too much time with unqualified prospects.
• We try to sell to people who have little or no influence.
• We don’t have enough time to do sales activities.
• We aren’t sure what to say.
• We don’t want to be perceived as a pushy salesperson.
• We don’t understand the politics of the client’s organization.
• We don’t know how to ask for the order.

Relationships, Positioning And Problem Solving

As you can see from the above list, most of these issues or barriers go right back to “Sales 101.”  When we are engaged in either group or individual sales coaching with our business clients we start by showing them how to build relationships, become very knowledgeable about their client’s environment and to think of themselves as problem solvers.  We have found these three areas are the least threatening ways to get people in front of existing and potential clients. Relationships, positioning and problem solving provide a rich context for coaching them in basic and more advanced sales competencies.

Relationship Building 
 

If you already have an established base of business in one part of an organization, you have a wonderful opportunity, if not a license, to broaden the number of client relationships you have and to increase the visibility of your firm’s unique brand and or value.  Even if you have only marginal success in growing new business, the amount of information you will gain from broadening your relationships regarding competitors, organizational political dynamics, loyalties and functional operations will be invaluable in managing your existing projects.  All things being equal, people buy from people they know and trust.  By having established relationships and credibility you make it easier for your potential clients to select you over someone else.  Lastly, having relationships with the right people is critical.  We see a lot of account operations people that are uncomfortable developing relationships with key players.  We often hear they are intimidated by them, don’t know what to say etc.  These are all valid issues that must be overcome with development and practice.

Proactive Positioning 


Understanding the client’s market, organization and technology direction and pain is key to proactive positioning.  Proactive positioning your products and services is accomplished when you are able to translate for your clients how your products and or services will relieve their organizational, market and/or technology pain.  Too often account operational people focus too heavily on the technology and not enough on the market direction or political dynamics within the client organization.

 Problem Solving – Be a Pit Bull! 


Busy executives spend time with people that are instrumental in solving their problems and helping them achieve their goals.  All great sales people are tenacious problem solvers.  Many people have a hard time thinking of them selves as “sales people” or doing sales activities because of some negative perception.  If you share this mindset, then try thinking of yourself as a problem solver that is always on duty for your current and potential clients.  In this mode you may sometimes solve client problems or offer recommendations that don’t involve an immediate sale.  After a while you will develop a reputation as a pit bull problem solver and you will have clients calling you to ask for help and opinion. Once this has happened you will have your competitors frustrated, looking for new clients and/or crying foul over the favoritism that you enjoy.  This is a beautiful thing to watch!   

Strong relationships, deep client knowledge and a problem solving attitude will greatly help you expand sales deeper into your client accounts and increase the security of your existing base of business. 

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Leaders and organizations whose self-interest overshadows value creation are virtually guaranteed to get less of what they hope to reap. Internally focused political cultures inspire shallow relationships with clients, low innovative energy, and low client and employee loyalty.  So when we talk about “why” we are talking about how you intend to add value to your clients, not what you will get from your clients.

A clear, inspired organizational purpose attracts clients and employees who believe in what you believe in.

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Character is a pattern of behavior that harnesses respect, determines credibility and earns trust.

How a leader deals with circumstances tells you many things about their character.  Crisis does not make character but it certainly does reveal it.  Adversity makes a leader choose between optional paths forward: character or compromise.  Every time the leader chooses character he or she grows stronger.  Character doesn’t mean we don’t make mistakes, but it is demonstrated in how we handle the mistakes.

Leaders can’t rise above and sustain performance beyond the limitations of their character.  The pattern of a leader’s actions and words reveals what the leader values, what he is trying to accomplish and why he wants to accomplish it.   This pattern of behavior reveals if she is playing solely for her own interests or playing for the advancement of the team or organization.

There is so substitute for solid character.

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1. Very smart and/or productive people who are disruptive to team cohesiveness, collaboration and trust. There is no room for individuals who repeatedly demonstrate a pattern of disrespectful and abusive behavior.  If you don’t remove this type of person you demonstrate that the core values are a charade.
2. People who repeatedly do not perform because of a poor work ethic, competency deficiency or because they don’t buy into the business model or culture.  It doesn’t matter why, it only matters that they don’t.
3. People who repeatedly demonstrate that they are not committed to the team, core values (especially integrity) or organizational direction.  It is a big world out there and if an individual can’t be productive and or happy within your organization, it is not your job to try to convince them to be happy or productive.

The majority of leaders do well identifying and developing the high potential professionals.  It is also true that most leaders are slow to remove poor performers and even slower to remove behavior problems that hurt team cohesion, trust and overall performance.

The leadership team has to be completely committed to team success, core operating values and client-inspired objectives. The key to getting the leadership team on board is through significant dialogue to identify the cultural aspirations and core values.  Once the leaders have identified the business model they want to build, the core operating values they want to live by and the client inspired objectives they want to drive them, then it has to be determined if all the current key players are committed to the whole package.  The CEO can’t force commitment, and can’t be successful with leaders who are not completely committed.  Some on the team may say they are not committed to the organizations intentions. Others will say they are committed but nothing about their attitudes and actions demonstrates commitment.  In both cases these people need to find new professional opportunities outside of the organization.

The most extensive research on this topic comes from Jim Collins in Good To Great. Collins found that: “First get the right people on the bus and the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats.”  As Collins puts it, “People are not your most important asset.  The right people are.” Our experience confirms these findings and unless you get the right leaders in key positions, this misalignment of commitment and objectives will create significant drag on the progress of the organization.

Related posts:

1. The Right People are Critical

Leaders will find consistent performance elusive if they do not have the right people on the team.  Getting the right people on the team and the wrong people off the team is the first step.  Until the right team has been assembled, the situation can be very tenuous and requires a cool head, courage and a commitment to a set of clear yet simple principles and objectives.  Who are the right people?  The right people are a combination of the 12 characteristics listed below combined with a total commitment to the team and the success of their peers and staff.

The Right People:

1. Work effectively with and through others – the ability to form strong and trusting relationships and inspire greatness at the individual, team and enterprise levels.  They are highly self-aware and adept at negotiating their social/political business landscape.
2. Impeccable integrity – people trust in their words, intentions and actions.
3. Adaptable and constantly growing – they quickly cycle new information and adapt themselves and their business to reflect the needs of the business.
4. Driven to succeed and highly resilient – they never give up and are almost impossible to discourage.
5. Humble temperament – they don’t have or pretend to have all the answers.  They are self-aware of their strengths and weaknesses.  They are open to constructive feedback and are the first to admit their mistakes.
6. Deal with reality – They tell themselves the truth and own their problems no matter how ugly they are. They are relentless when it comes to resolving performance problems, political dysfunction and business challenges.
7. Lead the business – They stay close to the needs of their customers and continuously evolve their strategy, products, services and organizations to reflect those needs.  They effectively communicate a vision and drive the organization forward.
8. Create energy – they seek to limit bureaucracy and political infighting, empower people and nurture an entrepreneurial spirit throughout the organization.
9. Solid judgment – They exercise solid judgment backed by the appropriate business and mental models.  They listen to the opinions of trusted sources and diligently collect relevant information regarding strategic decisions.  As a result, they consistently get strategic decisions correct and avoid costly missteps.
10. Appropriate focus – They focus on the appropriate level of work and problem solving while effectively delegating, empowering and hold others accountable for driving tactical decisions, action and outcomes at subordinate levels.
11. Act like owners – They make decisions based on the long-term health and success of the business.  They are transparent in their decision-making and those decisions reflect the care and concern for the business first, the team second and their own interests last.
12. Build executive bench strength – They carefully select and develop the best team available.  It is a central duty of the high performance executive to develop deep executive bench strength in key positions through coaching, experiential learning and regular feedback.  They continuously challenge, encourage and push people out of their comfort zones to raise their games.  Conversely they are quick to deal with poor performers and individuals who do not operate within the core values.

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1. Leadership Team Development: “C” Level Talent will not Produce “A” Level Results

• Can voice and are empowered to exercise an appropriate level of creativity and control over their work
• Are invested in the organization’s success and future
• Believe they are valued and respected for their contributions
• Trust that the leadership team is not saying and playing two different games
• Believe the leaders are competent to lead the organization forward

Being a participative leader means involving your team in the decision making process.  Fundamentally participatory leadership involves the selective sharing of power and control to optimize decision-making and performance.  In some cases leaders will leave a key decision to his or her subordinates to make.  In other decisions the leader may only solicit ideas before making a decision herself.  Sharing power and control with mature, competent, skilled, and trustworthy people:

• Builds community
• Increases accountability
• Deepens commitment
• Demonstrates respect

There is simply no better way to make people feel valued and respected than to ask them, genuinely, for their advice and or letting them make a key decision. You can pat people on the back and recognize their efforts but this is not as effective in motivating people as involving them in important decisions. The second main reason to be participative is a corollary of the first. Employees who play a part in deciding what to do feel a much greater degree of ownership over making it happen.

In addition, much of today’s work has a high knowledge component that requires people to think and solve problems. Our work is increasingly mental work. Leadership is often described as getting work done through others.  At one time, much of that work involved tasks, doing things that had a greater physical than mental component. With such work, delegation is the key means of getting work done through others. But when a team needs to think creatively to solve complex problems, improve productivity or develop a new service/product, the best way to get such knowledge work done through people is to engage their full capacity. This switch to knowledge work makes the leaders job one of engaging and shepherding the talents of highly skilled people rather than telling them what to do.  If the work you manage has a high mental component, you simply can’t get it done without involving people in decisions.

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1. People above you
2. People below you
3. Your peers

Of the three groups, I see the peer group neglected the most often.  It’s understandable.  You have to focus on your direct reports to get the work done and you certainly can’t neglect your management, so the peers get put on the back burner.

The peer group is critical to your success, especially in matrixed, collaborative environments, where peer reviews and opinions have heavy weight.

Peer relationships must be developed and given attention or they can deteriorate and derail your career.  This can be an informal coffee meeting, a more formal agenda meeting, whatever makes sense – but make it regular. That way, when an issue comes up (and it will) you have already invested in the relationship and resolving the issue will be easier, quicker and less wear and tear on both of you.

I have seen clients start out with good peer relationships and then take them for granted because they were busy with everything else.  Over time, the relationships eroded almost imperceptibly until they were tested.  By that time, you have to invest more time to get them back on track, if you can.  Make sure you aren’t surprised in a peer review.  Compared to the time it takes to repair a damaged relationship, it doesn’t take much time to keep peer relationships humming along – you will find it well worth it.

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It is our experience that too many executives do not realistically and accurately assess the talent of the immediate team below them.  I believe the following five factors to be the most common causes for incorrectly judging subordinate talent:

1. Personal relationships – the leader has known the subordinate for a long time and finds it difficult to separate personal relationships from professional relationships.
2. Inability to deal with conflict  – the leader believes that asking a leader to raise his/her game will cause a conflict.
3. Inability to deal with change – the leader does not want to deal with change even though the subordinate is not performing.
4. Inability to effectively recruit top talent – the leader is unwilling or unable to recruit talent that will upgrade performance.
5. Executive lacks sound judgment – the leader falsely thinks the subordinate is better than they are.

Leadership team development begins with taking an objective inventory of what talent you need and what talent you have.  In a fairly stable environment, executive leaders have the following two core strategies for leading the organization forward and continuously improving performance:

1. Continue to grow your top performers – this is the path of least resistance for most leaders because they can put off the tough conversation/decision with lesser performers for a later day.  We call this the “lie and deny” strategy.
2. Upgrade the talent on the team – here you are culling the lowest performers and bringing in or promoting fresh new talent.

First, you have to make sure each leader below you is all that she/he can be.  To do this you have to have a well-written and regularly reviewed personal development plan that grows the competencies and capacities of each executive/manager.  A personal development plan continuously pushes people out of their comfort zone and challenges them to take on more complex leadership, management and business assignments.  Ultimately, the plan identifies who can and/or is willing to grow and who is not.

If you choose tell yourself you have better talent than you do, understand that in most cases you are not fooling anyone but yourself.  The team you build is a reflection of your ability to successfully lead an organization.

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Organizational culture can be observed in what people and organizations produce and how they produce it. Organizational culture and behavior is the integration and intersection of the practiced core values, mission, business strategy, hiring, development, performance, compensation and promotion models. Ideally these various components work in concert to support and add leverage to one another.

Working together they are the whole, not just separate necessary functions. Unfortunately, too many business leaders don’t systemically see the importance or value of intentionally creating a culture to drive business performance. Typically they don’t see the interdependent relational dimensions and the effects of organizational culture and behavior. For many leaders the topic of culture is often seen as being too “warm and fuzzy” or “touchy feely” to deal with and in some cases they just don’t see value in pursuing it.

In most cases, if culture is recognized at all within an organization, it is usually not well thought out, poorly aligned, inconsistently applied and lacking discipline.

Why is this the case? It’s much easier to focus on sales, revenue, margins, expenses, signed contracts, and ratios. While these metrics are a critical dimension to managing a business, they are at best rear view indicators that provide little or no insight as to what is really going on inside the organization. These metrics say nothing about how the various functions and/or individuals within the organization operate to produce those results, and furthermore how to more effectively operate in the future to improve results.

Some people will argue that strategy, brand and/or some other variable is the most important factor in determining business performance. Without an organizational culture that is properly engineered and operating, the best strategy will not be fully optimized or consistently executed and the best brand will be diminished or ruined by poor quality, delivery or customer service issues. In short, the effects of organizational culture and behavior affect every part of your organization’s operations and performance.

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