Keith Coates discusses the importance of organisational culture and how this effects strategy. Explaining that organisational culture is now as important as the vision, mission and other key measurements used in business today.

 

Keith provides insight on how you, as a leader, can begin to assess and formulate your own organisations culture.

Leaders have many important responsibilities in the exercising of their leadership practice – vision, decision-making, strategy, team building and PR immediately spring to mind; yet there is a ‘hidden’ responsibility that might just be the most important of all: company culture.

 

The term ‘culture’ has two sides: one being the ‘cross-cultural’ nature of things. The cultural diversity that is part of every leader’s portfolio whether they like it or not; the coming together of people of different cultural backgrounds, bonded by geography, generations or a shared world-view. The other side of ‘culture’ refers to ‘the way things are done around here’ – in other words, the way in which people within your organization behave. This is the ‘culture’ that we are talking about here.

 

Pieter Koerstenbaum’s organisational model suggests that culture is the leader’s primary focus. This makes total sense yet is seldom the reality. Most leaders focus on strategic formation and execution of strategy, a topic that forms a core part of any leadership development programme and is central to leadership education. Leaders are raised believing that strategy is their main focus and along with strategy comes vision. Of course strategy is important but research has shown that the majority of strategic initiatives fail to deliver on the intended outcomes. Research suggests that only between 10-30% of strategies are ‘successful’ which, given the investment that underpins most strategies, is a very poor return on investment! These are good strategies put together by smart people that raise the obvious question: how then does one account for the failure of these strategies?

 

From the various research conducted into this area, the biggest reason found for this delivery failure is that the company culture doesn’t support the changes envisaged and embedded in the strategy. In other words the people either unwilling or are unable to support the changes being implemented. The strategy might need to change but if the company culture doesn’t make the necessary changes, the strategy will fail.

Given that the sole differentiator for most companies today is customer service, staff must be any organisation’s most important asset and ‘employee engagement’ the most critical term today’s CEOs need to get to grips with.

 

This is the opinion of Talk2Us director and founder, Linda Hamman.

What is your ‘next move’ as a leader? Well, of course that would depend exactly on what it is we are talking about, but here would be a variety of topics – and some suggestions as to your ‘next move’.

Whenever we think of ‘ethics in the workplace’, we inevitably think of all the things we could possibly do wrong at work. In the workplace, ethics seems to be about not committing fraud, theft or corruption. It is about not sexually harassing colleagues or discriminating unfairly. What ethics in the workplace requires also depends on who you ask. For those in management, it is about getting everyone to toe the line – not to loaf, not to steal, not to accept gifts or bribes in return for preferential treatment, and not to use company resources for private gain. For employees, on the other hand, it is all about unfairness – in treatment, in workload, and in remuneration.

Talent management adds strategic value to a business and if implemented correctly will help a company to achieve its business goals. In a nutshell it is all about placing the ‘right people in the right role’ for current and future business plans.

 

A company’s talent management strategy should form part of the overall HR strategy and in the end align with the company’s overall business plan. For example, if the company is building a brand of confidence for the external customers; this confidence will have to be demonstrated by the leaders inside the business. Creating a leadership brand is therefore central in supporting the brand internally. This will help the leaders to focus not only on achieving financial targets but also think of how to motivate and engage employees to achieve these financial goals.

 

Company culture, forms an integral part of talent management and will attract the right talent for future success. For instance, if you work towards being an employer of choice, your employees are more likely to be loyal, and in the end this will make you as a company a favourable option for the people you want to attract. A company’s culture is not established overnight and links in strongly with the behaviours of the business leaders, the way decisions are taken, the processes and the day to day running of a business.

 

In Sage VIP, we have found great value in conducting anonymous employee surveys. In these surveys, employees had the opportunity to tell us how they rate certain dimensions in the business, but more importantly indicate which dimensions will make them more loyal towards the company. This formed the foundation in our journey on becoming an employer of choice and we are fortunate to be in a position where talented graduates approach us and want to work at our company.

 

Building a talent pipeline

One of the main responsibilities for any manager is to ensure a strong talent pipeline.  They have to identify critical skills and competencies required for current and future business goals. In addition to this, the manager also has to identify critical positions and determine which individuals will be capable of taking up these key positions in future.

 

An analysis of your current talent can be based on discussions with individuals, the output from assessment tools and evaluating the performance of employees over the last few years.

 

The following should be taken into consideration when determining an employee’s potential:

• The ability to easily progress to higher and more complex levels
• Displaying learning agility and is readily adaptable
• The ability to perform cross-functional assignments and not be limited to geographical or functional discipline
• Personal aspiration and commitment to succeed

 

This evaluation process is followed by developing people according to a structured plan, based on the gaps identified between the business plan and the current talent available. It is also referred to as a succession plan.

 

In any organisation, there will always be employees with a specific talent or critical ‘know how’, on which the company relies heavily. If these employees should exit the business, the impact is usually huge because the skill is not always easy to replace. Managers should aim to reduce the dependency on these critical workers as far as possible.

The succession plan will help to reduce the business risk and the company should have a supply of talent ready to fill this role or be capable of doing broader roles. Replacement plans should be reviewed annually and action plans followed up rigorously – particularly in areas where there are critical gaps.

 

Talent management and confidentiality

A question regularly asked is, is whether an employee should know if they have been identified as “high potential?” It is important to encourage an open and honest approach with the employee at all times and to communicate with employees where they are in the talent pipeline and what it means to them.

 

Talent management is not just another HR process. It is important to the survival of any business and managers have a responsibility to ensure talent is managed, effectively and continuously.

Most accountants and auditors know the “fraud triangle”, the combination of incentive, opportunity and rationalisation that creates a risk that an employee will attempt to defraud their company.

 

But the fraud triangle alone isn’t enough. In the wake of Enron and other high-profile corporate disasters of the past decade, there has been a new focus on how factors at the organisational level, not just the individual level, can increase the risk of fraud. Chief among these is that nebulous thing called “organisational culture”.

Helene Vermaak, partner and clinical psychologist at corporate training company, The Human Edge says that culture is one of the most important factors that regulates individual performance. She says that many companies are closing their books for the financial year end in April, and parallel to this, annual performance appraisals are undertaken. “The culture, values, and belief system of a company may drive or limit performance based on how the organisation conducts daily business.”

Change is both terrifying and exciting…but most importantly, it’s inevitable. It is the driving force behind the growth that allows brands to capitalise on current and future market opportunities. But for marketers, change can be a tough task to tackle, especially when it comes to rebranding.

 

Here’s how you can tell whether it’s time for a rebrand:

 

1. Market Moving –has your brand stayed the same in a changing market?

 

Fifteen years ago, who would have thought that Apple would challenge the industry leader at the time, Microsoft? Over the past couple of years, Microsoft has found itself in a very difficult place trying to regain its lost market share, and has recently rebranded in an attempt to revitalise the company. Microsoft’s rebrand is most certainly linked to the launch of the new Windows 8 OS and will perhaps aid Microsoft in attracting a more dynamic youth market. It might be too soon to tell the efficacy of the rebrand, but it is still an important step forward.

 

2. Culture Clashing –does the internal culture of your brand no longer match what your brand stands for?

 

When a brand’s internal culture does not align with the brand values and external face of the organisation, this is a clear sign that change is needed. When we look at the likes of Vodacom, in the process of aligning themselves to their UK-based parent brand Vodafone, the brand personality was reformed. This rebrand was a much-needed change to embody the corporate culture of the Vodacom organisation.

           

3. Over Offering –has your brand diversified?

 

Brands that start out with a single offering and only later begin to diversify their portfolio frequently forget to alter their positioning to encompass all the new products and services. If we were to look at the likes of Woolworths, the retail brand successfully extended into liquor, linen, loans and more. With so many new offerings, consumers might have become confused. However, with their new brand essence of “quality”, and their contemporary monolithic brand architecture(i.e. Woolworths Food, Woolworths Beauty, Woolworths Home etc.), Woolworths has been able to extend into various markets without deviating from their brand essence.

 

4. Audience Adding –is your brand serving new target markets?

 

When brands open themselves up to new target markets, they need to ensure they start conversations with their new consumers. This can be challenging if your brand is not geared to connect with this new segment. It does not mean that you need to change your brand entirely, but rather reengineer what it is you stand for to make it more impactful to all audience groups. An example of a brand that has managed to do this particularly well is Old Spice, having been around since 1938, Old Spice appealed predominantly to “old men”. With a booming male-care market they needed to open their brand up to a larger audience group to fully capitalise on market opportunities. Through their rebrand, Old Spice has enjoyed enormous success and is now the number one deodorant brand in the United States.

 

In short, you need to find a balance between keeping up with the times, and being consistent so as to not confuse what you stand for in the minds of consumers. As Michael Eisner, CEO of Disney once said "A brand is a living entity - and it is enriched or undermined cumulatively over time, the product of a thousand small gestures".

A new survey conducted by South Africa’s top executive search firm, Jack Hammer Executive Headhunters, shows that the issue of polygraph or lie detector testing is splitting the country’s blue-chip employers. While the banking sector generally and firmly rejected the veracity of polygraph tests, employees within the insurance, FMCG and retail industries could find themselves wired up and their bodily responses scrutinised for evidence of dishonesty. And, says Debbie Goodman-Bhyat of Jack Hammer, they need to be aware that there is currently no legislation covering polygraph testing, which could see some employees on the back foot in a crisis.

 

Those in the “pro-polygraph” camp point out that lie detector tests are another weapon in a company’s arsenal if an employee is accused of a serious offence. One respondent from the retail sector indicated that not only would they subject employees to polygraph tests but also to simultaneous “lifestyle audits” in the case of financial mismanagement charges. Others indicated that such tests are a good way of indicating whether employees share the company’s values and whether they have integrity, especially when handling substantial amounts of money.

 

The banking sector came down sharply against such tests, with respondents indicating that they rely on stringent recruitment procedures to ensure that only individuals with integrity are hired. Some felt that the tests were “not an exact science” and “irrelevant to a white-collar environment”, while stating a preference for “hard evidence”.

 

“The old saying, ‘Prevention is better than cure’, is true,” Goodman-Bhyat says. “Once the crime – usually fraud or theft – has been committed, you cannot go back and ‘undo’ it. A polygraph test may help you uncover the guilty party in a crisis but the possible damage to your corporate reputation and staff morale has already been incurred. It is surely better to hire exemplary employees and minimise the chances of crime than to ‘lock the stable door after the horse has bolted’, so to speak.”

 

There is currently no legislation covering lie detector tests in South Africa, and both the CCMA and courts of law will only consider polygraph evidence in conjunction with other evidence.

 

“This means that no employee can be compelled to take a polygraph test and that failing one is not an automatic indication of guilt. Employees who find themselves in a situation where they may have to take a test must give their consent in writing,” says Goodman-Bhyat.

 

According to polygraphic best practices, HR managers and employees should abide by certain guidelines, for the protection of all parties.

“HR managers have to inform the individual that the examination is voluntary, and that only issues discussed prior to the test will be examined – i.e. an examiner investigating a fraud charge can’t spring a ‘gotcha’ or ‘surprise’ question about an unrelated suspected crime on the employee. In addition, employees have the right to an interpreter and the right to have another party present, provided that person does not interfere with the investigation”.

 

Even with all these parameters in place, polygraph evidence alone is not a basis for finding guilt when the case is put before the CCMA.

“An in-depth recruitment process should help weed out untrustworthy individuals who are likely to go against the prevailing corporate culture and thus commit acts such as theft, fraud or others that have a negative impact on the company’s and their own job performance, such as habitual dishonesty or narcotics abuse.

“Ideally, I would prefer to see more sectors screening potential employees more stringently than hoping for the best and having to do damage control and resorting to measures such as lie detector tests in a crisis,” notes Goodman-Bhyat.