|
|
Like this article? PLEASE +1 it! |  |
|
A HEALTHY COMPANY CULTURE FOR A HEALTHY BOTTOM-LINE
Written by: Terri BenincasaArticle Overview: So, you want to: • get and stay ahead of your closest competitor; • outpace your industry’s growth trend; and • position yourself for your most profitable year yet as the benchmark for years to come. Easier said than done, yes? Actually, it’s easier to do than you may think.
 |
Free Download - "Bottom-line" Culture vs. a Healthy One? By Terri Benincasa |
A HEALTHY COMPANY CULTURE FOR A HEALTHY BOTTOM-LINE
Companies making the greatest strides in the three major success areas - competitiveness, profits, growth - know something that struggling ones seem to ignore or refuse to tackle – they have dedicated time and resources to creating and maintaining a healthy organizational culture.
So, what exactly is an “organizational culture” – sounds like something growing on your walls – and why is it the key to business success?
Your organizational, or company culture, is in essence the foundation upon which you operate, and the deal breaker for young talent seeking the right professional fit. It includes such things as:
• the way you make decisions;
• what you reward and how you do it;
• how and what you communicate;
• whether you operational structure is rigid or flexible;
• how you problem-solve (top-down or horizontally?).
Companies still operating in “last century” mode – what’s called the “Autocratic-Bureaucratic” design – will experience
• high turn-over (a terrible waste of company resources),
• poor customer service performance, and
• heightened risk through constant, unresolved conflict and a fear-based mentality, just to name a few maladies responsible for poor business outcomes.
Companies operating from “Collaborative-Democratic” design principles now emphasized in all the best Schools of Management, will experience the opposite –
• staff loyalty for low turn-over (a huge boon to the bottom-line right there),
• thorough and inspired service performance, and
• reduced liability risk from increased ethical behavior and healthy problem-solving.
Just the names of the design principles alone tell you much about the difference between the two approaches, but here’s where it gets a little tricky. Many companies think they’ve created a great work environment, just to learn with a little surface-scratching that they are unwittingly undermining their own efforts through such culture-busters as
• insufficient use of best-practices for enhanced staff performance;
• poorly developed policies & procedures and/or operational systems/tools, and
• a lack of actual knowledge about what motivates their employees vs. what they think will do the trick.
If you’re serious about stepping ahead in your competitiveness, making significant strides in growth, and sustaining consistent profitability, invest in assessing – and if need be, changing – your company culture, to one that has been proven to best reap these results. Look at it this way, if it’s right for the likes of Whirlpool, Lenscrafters, and Coca-Cola, it will serve you well, too.
Create an Outrageously Healthy Environment at Home
Feeding Your Mind Outrageously Healthy Thoughts
The Keys to Outrageous Healthiness
What's Getting in Your way to feeling outrageously healthy Today?
Eating Healthy Can Save Your Life and Money
Article Tags: boon, business outcomes, business success, company culture, company resources, competitiveness, customer service performance, design principles, healthy organizational culture, liability risk, maintaining a healthy organizational culture, mentality, operational structure, poor business, poor customer service, schools of management, strides, success areas, unresolved conflict, work environment
|
About the Author: Terri Benincasa RSS for Terri's articles - Visit Terri's website  Terri holds a double Masters in Counseling Psychology from Columbia University, thus is clinically trained in the art/science of human behavior, has been a stage and commercial actress for 25 years, and has over 20 years of senior management/business ownership experience. She has spent the last 10 years (and counting) studying the charactistics, research, and trends of her generation, giving her a unique knowlege base, and insight, into what Boomers need, want, and respond to in both business and life (including what business need to do to handle both cross generational discord, and the mass exodus of Boomers as they retire, taking with them their vast knowledge and skill base). She has been seen on the Tampa Bay NBC affiliate's ‘Daytime' Show, on PAX-TV's 'The Hayward Henson Show', and is authoring her first (and soon to be released) book, Is That My Light at the End of the Tunnel, chronicling how her generation "got lost" (abandoned the ideals of their youth that brough about some of the greatest societal changes in history), and what they can do to regain their greatness. Click here to visit Terri's website   Does Your Company Suffer from CrossGenerational Crankiness Millennials Cant Work With EmCant Work Without Em So whats a company to do Older Employees in Big Demand Boomer Retirement Planning Its Not Just for the Retirees According to Market Watch |
Related Forum Posts
Top 50 Entrepreneurs Ever!
- And the Top 50 Entrepreneurs of all time are…
(In no particular order)
Hugh Hefner – Obvious.
Oprah – Born to a single mother in rural Mississippi, did what she loved and never let up. Popularized and revolutionized the tabloid talk show genre.
Simon Cowell – Guy made millions off Karaoke.
Jenna Jameson – Worth $70 million using only what god gave her.
Henry Ford – Standardized efficiency.
Thomas Edison – Numerous failures on the road to success. Perseverance!
Adrian Block - 1612 establish the first known brewery in the New World on the southern tip of New Amsterdam (Manhattan). I live in a city with more than 30 breweries operating in the city limits…think these guys were onto something.
Hans Christiansen – Partners with Adrian Block.
Adam Osborne – Creator of the 1st personal computer.
Howard Hughes – Say what you want about him the man had a vision and stuck to it.
Madame C.J. Walker – 1st Female African American Millionaire…and she did it in early 1900’s. Safe to say she had a lot of obstacles, but persevered and prospered. If you think you have more working against you than Madame C.J. Walker did, think again.
Mary Kay Ash – The woman behind Mary Kay cosmetics. Redefined affiliate marketing.
Howard Schultz – Who’s gonna’ pay $4.00 for a cup of coffee? With $2.5 billion plus in total revenue the answer at Starbuck’s is a lot!
Alexander Graham Bell – Inventing the telephone in 1876 was about as wacky an idea as teleportation is today…did that stop him?
King Croesus – Minted the world’s first coin in 6th century.
Benjamin Franklin – Author, printer, inventor, businessman.
Ray Croc – Where do you go for dinner when you spent all your money on $4.00 Starbuck’s coffee? McDonald’s! Franchising and national expansion (both stores and waistlines) would never be the same.
Sam Walton – Speaking of saving money and expanding like crazy. Sam Walton found a niche and filled it, regardless of what you think of the extra traffic Wal-Mart brings to your neighborhood.
Ernest Gallo – Took what was once an exclusive product and repackaged it for the masses. I was 20 years old before I knew wine came in anything but a “jug”.
William Middlebrook – Giving William the nod for inventing the paper clip, although some debate remains. However, you have to include the inventor of the paper clip in this list since we’ve all said, at one time or another, “and whoever invented the paperclip is rich, and I’m still working in this crappy office!”
Bill Gates – Took a risk and was a first mover in a market that exploded.
Steve Jobs – Make your products easy and people will love to use them…making a dead sexy laptop doesn’t hurt either.
Mayer Amschel Rothschild – Started the world’s first international bank in the mid 1700’s. What did you do today?
Scrooge McDuck - Scrooge has emerged from being a mere supporting character to a major figure of the Duck universe. Parlayed early success into his own comic book series, television appearances, films, and video games. As big as David Hasselhoff in Europe, he seized opportunity when it arose.
Russell Simmons – Worth $325 million, and started as a teen street hustler. A hip hop pioneer and visionary who has shaped the hip-hop scene of the early 80’s, has branched off into fashion, television and film. And I don’t care if you grew up in Brooklyn or Beverly Hills you remember “Russell Simmons Def Comedy Jam”.
Ron Popeil – Net worth in excess of $100 million dollars. A consummate salesman, he had us believing we NEEDED a food dehydrator and spray paint to cover our bald spot!
The Phoenicians – Inventors of the sail boat, and could be credited then with giving our early explorers the means to take over the western hemisphere.
H. Ross Perot – Used a $1,000 loan from his wife in 1962 to start Electronic Data Systems. Became a billionaire as computer systems drove the need for electronic data storage.
JP Morgan – How many people get credited with having saved or rescued the U.S. national economy in general—and the federal government in particular—on two separate occasions? Not many, and JP was a merger monger legend in his time.
Charles Schwab – Founder and CEO of the Schwab Corporation, made having a broker cool and accessible. Worth $5.5 billion for his efforts.
Larry Page – Google, need we say more?
Sergey Brin - Google, need we say more?
Philip Knight – In partnership with Bill Bowerman created Nike. What’s the reward for taking a product everyone uses and making it functional and fashionable? Try a net worth in excess of $9 billion dollars.
George Lucas – Start with a vision, add some talent, and never waiver. Stars Wars is as well known on this planet as Coca-Cola, and Lucas is worth a cool $3.6 billion.
Doctor John Pemberton – Pharmacist who in 1886 invented Coca Cola. Forced to change his formula from including wine due to prohibition his elixir with “tonic and nerve stimulant properties of the coca plant and cola nuts sweetened with sugar” became a sensation.
Eberhand Anheuser- Founder of Anheuser Busch Brewing and Budweiser beer…thank you sir for the many mornings where I regretted the night before.
Adolphus Busch - Founder of Anheuser Busch Brewing and Budweiser beer…bless you for allowing me to think I am funny, great looking, and a fabulous dancer for a few hours every Saturday night.
Jeff Bezos – Founded Amazon.com in 1994, and wrote up the business plan for his company on a cross country drive from New York to Seattle. Was a .com entrepreneur before there was even a term for it.
Thomas Kinkade - Americas most collected living artist. Marketing works people.
Erno Rubik - Invented a puzzle only .000001% of the world population could solve without cheating, and sold millions! Marketing works people.
Alex Tew - 21 year old entrepreneur made $1,000,000 off the “Million Dollar Homepage”. Adding him to the list to illustrate that great ideas are sometimes in plain sight. Didn’t we all think, “I wish I had thought of that”?
Henry Hassenfeld - Owner of a textile plant in 1923 his company struck gold when they developed a way for kids to play doctor. The first toy the plant ever produced led the way for the likes of Mr Potato Head, GI Joe, Life, Yatzee, Candyland, and just about any other game we played as kids. Partners with his brother Helal Hassenfeld.
Helal Hassenfeld - Thanks for the memories man, I still get misty eyed thinking about Cobra Comander and the words “YO Joe” will live with me forever.
Rollin King - In 1965 started a regional airline serving 3 Texas cities. 40 years later Southwest Airlines has 3500 flights a day and is the number one airline in the United States and the World by number of passengers carried.
Herb Kelleher - Partnered with Rollin King to start Southwest Airlines. The guy started an AIRLINE COMPANY for crying out loud, that’s ballsy.
Guy Laliberte - Made the circus cool again. Founder and CEO of Canda’s Cirque du Soleil, Laliberte founded Cirque in 1984, and revolutionized the idea of what a circus could be. Cirque du Soleil has toured more than 100 cities around the world.
Admiral Zheng He - Built the vaunted Treasure Fleets, comprising dozens of ships and tens of thousands of sailors, and led them in trade missions across south Asia and as far west as Africa and the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf. In seven voyages from 1405 to 1433, Zheng He spread China’s goods across the world and returned with treasures for the Ming Dynasty.
Andrew Carnegie - The Scottish immigrant and weaver’s son built a steel empire whose mills churned out the railroads, ships, and structures of post-Civil War America.
Milton Hershey - In 1905 built the worlds largest chocolate factory. His name has become synonymous with chocolate, which Americans consume more than 11 pounds of each year.
Gary Dahl - A millionaire for selling rocks, pet rocks, enough said.
Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.
Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.
by: Milly Sonneman, Effective Presentation Skills Training
February 2012 Top 100 Leadership Experts to Follow on Twitter
Please Stop Calling it Coaching!
Measuring the Quality of Your Hires
The fine line 
Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!
Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.