Amongst the barrage of uncontrollable events affecting organisational sustainability and growth such as technological disruption, changing world markets, increased competition, the Covid19 pandemic and evolving social paradigms, there is one constant – the people that make your organisation thrive.
The pivotal role of people in a company’s success has been recognised but not acted upon for far too long. Now, research studies and scientific evidence are prompting leaders to increase their focus on harnessing workforce human potential.
Today’s top leaders identify culture as the true frontier for real organisational greatness.
In 2016, the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University in North Carolina, USA surveyed nearly 2000 CEOs and CFOs in companies that together represent 20% of the market capitalisation of American companies.
Corporate Culture
The most important value driver
In the Duke University survey, 50% of the companies identified corporate culture as their most important value driver. Almost 70% of those surveyed said that culture in their business was very important.
One respondent wrote that “Culture allows you to execute. Culture is like the tendons and ligaments that hold the body together and allow it to be healthy as a body and execute daily.”
Chris White, former Managing Director of the Center for Positive Organisations at the University of Michigan says “we need our people to bring their whole self to work.”
If a company is going to thrive and lead their industry, they need a continual flow of creativity, innovation, agility, a reservoir of trust, leading to high productivity – a peak performance design. They need to create an extraordinary culture that will flourish in the 4th Industrial Revolution and beyond.
One Cornerstone Value
Paul O’Neill, appointed CEO of Alcoa in April 1987, created what is now one of the most renowned corporate success stories where their organisational culture was built on one cornerstone value. From day one, Paul nominated ‘safety’ as the single driver, a pre-condition to the entire matrix of organisational strategy, characteristics and consequences.
Off the back of this one cornerstone value, Paul built a culture of excellence throughout the entire organisation across 43 countries and safety became a ‘norm’. “Excellence at its best is habitual,” Paul said during a speech about leadership concepts he gave to the Health and Medical Care industry in the US in 2012.
The company’s turnover multiplied five times during Paul’s 13-year tenure and its market capitalisation had increased by $27 billion. That is an extraordinary culture driven success story!
Being in the Zone
Zone Culture’s Cornerstone Value
You can unleash Zone Culture and utilise Being in the Zone as a cornerstone value, a powerful pre-condition to drive your organisation’s objectives and consequences in the same way that Paul O’Neill did with safety, in order to achieve outstanding success.
Zone Culture engenders a uniquely positive environment that stimulates creativity, adaptability and collaboration, resulting in people who love coming to work, experiencing a sense of belonging and having a meaningful purpose in life. Altogether it creates extraordinary outcomes for your organisation, through your people.
Eliminate Roadblocks
Human Constraints
What steps can you take now to eliminate roadblocks and create an extraordinary culture at your organisation?
In a series of blogs, we will explore the core human constraints that can significantly hinder your organisation’s progress. These blogs will be in the ‘Human Constraints’ category that you can select at the top of each blog page.
By lifting these constraints and eliminating roadblocks, you empower your people to Get in the Zone to access all of their universal human values for success.