Will your company stay competitive in 2014 and beyond? After all, increasing profit margins through efficiency-based techniques–process improvements like Six Sigma, downsizing, and other structural changes—have been done to death. Often at great cost…both literally and figuratively.
Today’s workplace means dealing with uncertainty, urgency, and high stakes situations on a regular basis. No amount of process can solve those problems. It’s time to focus on effectiveness. More specifically leadership accountability for creating and sustaining a great culture.
Over 30 years of research has shown that high trust company cultures provide tangible business benefits. According to the Great Place to Work Institute, companies on the “100 Best Places to Work” lists provide:
• 2X the stock market returns
• 65% less turnover
• 2X better performance
versus the general market. The research is clear.
“A great workplace culture is often preserved by the behaviors exhibited by those at the top,” China Gorman, US and Global CEO, says in US News and World Report’s Top 10 Workplace Trends for 2014. “More and more companies are coming up with leadership standards and behavior and values training for executives, recognizing the critical role leaders play in maintaining a great workplace.”
Wouldn’t it be great if leaders were held accountable for values performance as well as company financials?
It certainly would go a long way towards addressing the cynicism created as those who led the financial companies that wreaked havoc on the US economy made big bucks personally while apparently suffering no downside. I look forward to the advent of values-based behaviors from everyone in the workplace. That will truly be a big step forward in eliminating corporate suffering.