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Corporate Culture: Shared Values
ØDon't focus too much on numbers. Management is about people, not numbers. Numbers aren't the vision. In the GE's values guide there is no direct reference to the numbers part of the business. Talk numbers less. Focus more on the key behaviors and actions that will help company grow, delight customers and win new business. If you can get your people to come up with the right business values – and integrate them into their behavior – your financial record will be fine.
ØLet
values rule. "Let it be known that values will play a
vital role in hiring and promoting at your company. Support and
encourage those employees who typify the most important values
of the company."
ØLive
values. "Walk the talk." Live up to the company values
and let others around you know what's most important. It is
absolutely essential for a leader to buy into the company's
'soft stuff' – value scheme and corporate culture – and be able
to sell those values to everyone else.
ØEmphasize
your company's values and culture. Urge employees to
face reality; to lead, not manage; to change before it's
necessary; to be boundaryless; to pursue simplicity; to be
self-confident. Leaders who adhere to your corporate values
should be expected to create a clear, simple, reality-based,
customer-focused vision; they should be supposed to have a
passion for excellence; to stimulate and relish change; to have
enormous energy and energize others. Anyone at your company who
adheres to these values is going to automatically help in the
overall effort to produce the good numbers that you strive for.
ØPart
your company with those who don't live the values of your
company. Playing up the soft stuff is a key to taking
your company to even greater heights in the future. For a
business leader, getting numbers up or coming up with a strong,
market leading product is crucial. So is knowing how to market
than product. But it is absolutely essential for a leader to buy
into the company's value scheme and its corporate culture, and
to be able to sell those values to everyone else. Delivering the
numbers is simply not enough. Business leaders who bring home
the numbers but fall short in living up to the company's values
and walking their talk should be removed to support your
corporate values.
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