Excellence requires commitment

TORONTO BUSINESS By Michael Rock

QUESTION: We, as a company, have been quite aware of the books and talks on "excellence" over the past three years. We have had discussions every now and then on what excellence means to us, but we have not really gone beyond that stage. We have about 250 employees. What can we do to develop ourselves in this area? RESPONSE: You are quite correct in saying that "excellence" is being talked about a lot these days. Some managers have told me that it is just another "in thing," or "buzzword." I think that we have to admit that the word "excellence" itself did catch on very emotionally with companies, employees, and the public in general. It seemed like the right time for this word. The concluding chapter in my book, Reflections: The Human Journey, is called "The Human Journey: Developing Personal Excellence." I go into an etymological search for how the word "excellence" developed. It means going beyond ourselves, reaching for the heights. It is a desire and a willingness to communicate; it is the search for identity and uniqueness; it means setting aside what interferes with our dream. Excellence is to be the very best. When we take this into our business world, excellence becomes the drive and commitment to be the best, to treat employees with dignity, and always to remember that the prime motivation for any company is the customer's needs. Excellent companies are responsive companies; excellent companies are passionate companies; and excellent companies are mainly driven by shared values. I personally disagree with the critics who think that "excellence" is just an "in thing" now. I think the recession has kicked everyone in the pants: emotionally and financially. It was the one factor that opened up the eyes of many of us. We saw that, unless we are to increase productivity, we shall lose -- at home and on world markets. What has been obvious as a result is that excellent companies are also productive companies. Why? Because they have a values-oriented culture! They believe passionately in certain values (e.g. customer service, quality) and employees know this. The company is driven by these values. These values draw out the very best from employees. Excellent companies have been around a long time. They have been excellent before the books were written and talks given! For those companies, excellence is the only measuring stick. In short, excellent companies have vision, develop their people, and serve their customers! Productivity and profit are the result of that formula. I began my response with these preliminary remarks because I feel that when companies believe passionately in excellence, then it will happen. In my work with companies over the past couple of years, I have seen a definite swing to this "soft stuff" in managing. Excellent companies, though, are very clear about attention to detail and a sound financial basis. I have always maintained that "soft is really hard in the short strokes!" When problems arise, 90 percent of these problems will usually involve people and/or relationship issues. Many companies have neglected this "people" aspect for too long, and erroneously thought that better technology or more highly trained technicians were just what was needed. But this did not boost productivity in many cases. Productivity and people go hand-in-hand -- an obvious insight but one which companies have ignored and neglected for too long. The recession, from this perspective, was very timely. Now that companies are realizing the important relationship between excellence and corporate culture (i.e. a values-driven culture) they are trying to enhance their corporate culture. Dr. Tom Janz, an organizational psychologist from the University of Calgary, has developed a software package called "Corporate Culture Checkup." I'm working with this research now in companies, and the response is overwhelming. Dr. Janz has statistically shown the high relationship between excellent culture and bottom-line results. In addition, Dr. Janz has researched the very definite relationship between a low excellence culture and high stress burnout among employees. Not having excellence can be very expensive. The consultant's fee is negligible compared to the cost of a poor or negative culture. What can you do? Perhaps it would help if I mentioned what I do, as a consultant, in helping companies develop excellence and corporate culture. First, I take what I call the corporate x-ray (the Corporate Culture Checkup by Dr. Janz). This tells you how fit your company is. Next, I get employees to write out for me specific reactions and suggestions around the Checkup results. These written comments and Checkup profile results are then tabulated together. At this point, I arrange a goal-setting session with the supervisor-manager and a couple of the employees in the appropriate section or department. This is a time where we can do a cost/benefit analysis on corporate culture results, and set realistic and measurable goals for the next six months. The company is usually stunned to see how much money can be saved (and conversely, how much it has cost the company) by developing an excellent corporate culture. The final step here is to develop or set up training/development programs for employees to reach the targeted goals. In six months or nine time, the Checkup can be taken again. If the company has been sincere and committed to excellence, and if the appropriate training and monitoring has been done, then the goals will be reached. The result is a significant increase in bottom-line results, as well as healthy and involved employees. The company has to want excellence passionately; there has to be an emotional commitment from top management for this process, but it is worth it.

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