“That’s it, I’m through with this company!” One of the best Senior Marketing VPs I know glanced at her watch and realized she’d got up at 4 a.m. to complete some urgent work for her company, and that this was not the first time. She decided then and there that, once her annual bonus was paid in a few months, she was going to leave her company and take several months to decide on what to do next.
Why do successful people, being very well paid and doing work they really like decide to chuck it all in? The answer is almost always that they are working in an overly aggressive organizational culture. Do you recognize the following characteristics in your own employer, or one you have worked with or for?
The priority is given to short-term performance, as evidenced by focusing on this month’s or this quarter’s profits and share price.
Successful employees are ‘rewarded’ for meeting or exceeding their objectives by having new higher and frequently unrealistic objectives set for them.
Little or no regard is given for employees’ work/life balance.
When the boss says ‘jump’, employees are expected to ask ‘how high?’.
Many of your good colleagues have left, or are planning to, complaining of being ‘burnt out’.
These characteristics are very frequent in today’s business world. They very often lead to spectacular short-term results in terms of customer acquisition and profit growth. The problems arise in the medium- to long-term performance of the organization, frequently in its quality of service, especially to smaller clients, poor employee and customer retention and consequently, difficulty retaining a long-term reliable revenue and profit stream.
Can organizations change their culture? The answer is ‘yes’, and they often do. But, like any worthwhile effort, it’s not easy. The first step is to measure your current culture, which includes measuring causes, results and levers for change. Too often, organizations only skim the surface with ‘Satisfaction’ and ‘Engagement’ surveys. These are just results, not root causes. These surveys simply give the illusion of action.
This is why we use Human Synergistic’s Organizational Culture Inventory® (ICO®) which does a deep dive into our clients’ organizational culture. It is based on many decades of research. The ICO provides them with an in-depth understanding of the positive and negative factors at work in their culture, what problems and opportunities these factors are causing and, very importantly, what exactly to do to optimize their organizational culture for excellent long-term performance.
And what about our senior marketing VP? Her company is, as Bill Gates has said, ‘Blinded by its current success to the need to change’. She, and several top-quality contributors are actively planning to quit the organization within a few months. A great loss for the company.
Do you want to organize a culture survey in your organization? We can help you. Contact us at:
1-514-485-4900
Jack Welch: "Short-term thinking is not the answer. You have to invest in your business and your people."
Peter Drucker: "The purpose of a business is to create a customer. It is not to maximize profits in the short term."
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