2-4 Page-Organizational Vision

  

Final Project Milestone #3: Organizational Vision

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What Is on the Mind of Great Companies?

In a wiki post titled 3-2: Organizational Vision, explain the following in regard to the company you have chosen:

• Describe past and present stages of development of the organization.
• How has the company developed? Has the development been positive or negative? Explain why you think this is the case.
• How has the company’s stage of development been reflected in its vision and value statements over time?

Will rovide the name of the company withthe handshake.

 

Must be:

 

APA format with references

Receieved on or before the deadline.

Written in American English

NTHE
MIND OF GREAT

COMPANIES?
By Scott Blanchard

T
he old saying, “money isn’t
everything,” rings hollow in
today’s business world.
where rninute-by-minute
stock quotes scroll across
our computer monitors, and
careers are won or lost based
on Wall Street’s analysis of a

company’s perforniance. Throw in giob-
al competition, outdated products and
services, increased costs, corporate silos
and other business challenges, and it’s
no wonder that tnatiy of today’s compa-
nies focus solely on their bottom line,
ofteti at the expense of customer service
and employee satisfaction.

It need not be this way. Great compa
nies focus on more than one bottom
line when gauging their perforniance.
Ttiey choose to be not only the invest-
ment of choice, but also the provider of
choice for their products or services, as
well as the employer of choice for work-
ers in their industry. By looking beyond
immediate, short term results and focus-
ing on strategies to make their compa-
nies successful for the long-term, they

recognize challenges sooner, identify
solutions more quickly and deliver re-
sults ahead of their competitors. In short,
they learn to lead at a higher level.

A clear warning sign that your busi-
ness is trapped in a short-term mindset
is the presence of an “either/or” philoso-
phy. Managers either believe they can
achieve profitability or they can develop
a great workplace, but not both. These
leaders don’t always take morale and job
satisfaction into consideration. Their
focus is only their financial bottom line.
From there, it’s a short leap to the false
notion tlrat making money is the sole
reason to be in business.

A NEW APPROACH
Contrary to the either/or philosophy,
leading at a higher level requires man-
agers to embrace a “both/and” approach.
In great companies, the development of
people is of equal importance to finan-
cial performance. As a result, the focus
is on long-term results and human satis-
faction. Accordingly, great companies
begin by both creating and nurturing a

vision of the future, and then measuring
progress against that vision.

There are three questions to ask,
which represent the main components
of a corporate vision. By focusing on
these questions, companies are more
likely to ensure they don’t lose sight of
their path to success. They are:
• What business are you in? This will
help you identify your company’s signif-
icant purpose.
• What will the future look like if you
are successful?
• What guides your behavior and deci-
sions on a daily basis? This will help
you identify clear values.

Great companies keep al! three of
these ideas clearly in mind and make
necessary course corrections when they
realize they are off track.

The next step is to create a corporate
culture that both reflects and reinforces
the corporate vision. The culture con-
sists of the values, attitudes, beliefs,
behaviors and practices of the organiza-
tion’s members. Culture is an organiza-
tion’s personality, and it can help or hin-

der an organization looking to achieve
greatness.

Many companies develop a corporate
culture over time, but if it wasn’t active-
ly sculpted wilh the company’s long-
term vision in mind, it may not reflect
tlie company’s ultimate mission. When
organizations seek greatness, they often
find that aspects of their organizational
culture need to be changed.

Certainly, values are an important part
of the company s corporate culture, but it
is not enough to simply identify what
those values are. Great companies zero in
on their top three or four values and rank
them to help botli management and the
work force make the right decisions.
Ranking the list is essential, because val-
ues are sometimes in conflict. Wben con-
flicts arise, people need to know which
value should take priority. For example, if
you value financial growth, but integrity
is your core value, any activities that
could lead to financial gain must first be
checked against your integrity value.

THE ROLE OF TRAINING
Once great companies establish a long-
term corporate vision and have identi-
fied and ranked the three or four values
that help make up corporate culture, the
next step is to develop and implement a
comprehensive, integrated training pro-
gram. Businesses that consistently invest
in training outperform their competitors
in both good and bad times.

Without committed and empowered
employees, companies can never achieve
greatness. Employees learn by example.
Managers can’t treat their employees
poorly and expect them to treat cus-
tomers well. Part of treating employees
well means providing them with high-
impact training programs. These need to
be aligned with specific, measurable
goals that are fully supported and in
alignment with organizational objectives.
Without this continuous learning, em-
ployees cannot develop tbe skills and atti-
tudes needed to succeed.

A successful training program has the
following components:
• Top management buy-in – Nothing

derails a performance-improvement ini-
tiative faster than a lack of support from
the leaders in an organization. However,
getting this support means convincing
executives of the return on investment
of the training.

• Demonstrated tangible value – Senior
leaders (and training parti( ipants) want
evidence that any new training initiative is
going to result in new skills tbat positive-
ly impact the organization’s bottom line.
• Follow-up/reinforcement – The compa-
nies tbat are the most successful spend
lo times tbe amount of effort reinforcing
the training they deliver as opposed to
moving on to the next initiative.

LEAP TO GREATNESS
A segment of RR Donnelley’s business
that was, until recently, known as Banta
provides an excellent case study ot a
company that made the leap to great-
ness by following the steps outlined
above. The Minneapolis-based business
provides catalog production services
including prepress, printing, binding, list-
processing services and distribution.

In 2004, tbe organization found itself
challenged witb issues of overcapacity
in an uncertain market and an industry
that was shifting from traditional offset
printing to digital and Web-based solu-
tions. In addition, margin pressures,
increased costs, competition and a silo-
structure mentality amplified the organi-
zation’s problems and prevented team-
ing, process improvement, innovation
and customer focus.

The company assembled a team ot
consultants and trainers to provide solu-
tions for its situation. An analysis soon
revealed Banta’s employees couldn’t d e
scribe the company’s core business beyond
“printing catalogs” or “making a profit.”
Furthermore, tbey were out of touch witb
their role in the company and that of oth-
ers. The solution was to create a corporate
culture in which every employee’s action
was guided by a set of shared values.

Management crafted a new corporate
vision: “To deliver quality, on-time mer-
chandising solutions that drive our cus-
tomers’ success.” It incorporated new val-

ues into the employee-evaluation sys-
tem, and developed slide shows and a
brochure to show examples of behaviors
that supported Banta’s stated values.

“These values became our compass,”
former Banta President Mark Deterding
said. “They needed to guide each and
every decision we made and every
action we took. No matter how tough it
was some days, we knew it was essential
that senior leadership set the tone and
walked the talk. And we asked every
individual to hold us to these values.”

The company also conducted training
that supported and reinforced the appli-
cation of its values in the day-to-day
business of the company, It asked each
department to relate bow its work sup-
ported the overall mission of the compa-
ny and contributed to its success. Com-
pany leaders participated in special
training to help them get the most from
themselves and their employees.

THE PAYOFF
The results were impressive. Soon after
completing its organizational assessment
and training, profitability had increased
36 percent and employee retention had
improved 17 percent. Recruiting and
training costs for new employees de-
creased. Surveys also showed employee
engagement improved 20 percent in the
first six months, and employees actively
looked for ways to cut costs and improve
the work environment.

It’s hard to argue with numbers like this.
Banta truly made a commitment to a both/
and proposition – that it could combine
profitability with a long term corporate
vision and an investment in people. Busi-
ness leaders should take a close look at
their own companies to see whether their
visions need correcting, or if they’re tnily
on the path to long-term greatness,

Scott Blanchard is executive vice presi-
dent of client solutions with The Ken
Blanchard Cos. He is also a co-author of
Leading at a Higher Level: Blanchard on
Leadership and Creating High Performing
Organizations. For more information, visit
vmw.kenblanchard.com or call 800-728-6000.