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How to Transform Status Quo into World Class -
Negative Values Cost You Money
New and existing employees in an organization model what they
see. This is true with respect to what an employee values about a
company to his attitudes about his work to the behaviors he exhibits
regarding his daily routine. Whatever the leaders are doing gives
the other employees a free pass to emulate the same behavior. If a
manager breaks the dress code, that makes it OK. If a director
leaves at 4:30 p.m. even when a project is running behind schedule,
her staff isn’t going to work any later. If an administrator walks past
employees without saying hello, other will not feel compelled to be
friendly either. All of these things are part of corporate culture.
Poorly defined and reinforced values lead to mismanaged culture
and become silent killers of the corporate landscape.
Excellent business strategies can be sabotaged by an inattention to
the culture. Revenue which should have gone into expanding the
business instead goes to the costs of training and re-training and re-
re-training employees in key positions because of high turnover - an
indication that something is amiss in the culture.
Let’s start with Values. The values of an organization contribute to
its mission its vision and its purpose. But they are ultimately the
single driving factor to corporate culture. If the organization values
rules that are set by corporate leaders, employees will behave by
following them. If managers value being a productive member of a
team, they will behave by staying late if something needs to be
finished. If they value good relationships with their work colleagues,
they will be happy to greet them in the hall or at meetings.
And defining values and putting them on a piece of paper does not
automatically make them “so.” The organization has to live by those
values and the leaders have to demonstrate them everyday in
everything they do.
Examples of Strong Organization Values. The following list
contains examples of sound organizational values: Continuous
improvement, Compassion, Commitment, Accountability, Respect,
Adaptability, Can-do attitude, Information sharing, Efficiency,
Transparency, and Innovation. You can surely name many more.
Conversely, there are negative values that evolve when positive
vales are neither defined nor consistently reinforced. These
negative values take on a life of their own and contribute to the silent
but deadly death of morale. These need to be defused immediately
as they grow and multiply like a cancer. Once trust is lost it is hard
to rebuild.
Examples of Negative Values that evolve in the absence of
modeling strong values:
Personal Agendas usually arise when the team is not focused on
the mission of the organization but more on their own security. Turf
wars occur. Silos are formed. And people generally feel at war over
control issues. Leaders must have deeply rooted character traits to
model the way of change out of these situations. In a time of crisis
is not when you will develop character. It must be present going into
the crisis. So leaders need to be chosen wisely. You can
rehabilitate skill. But rarely can you rehabilitate character.
Bureaucracy is a form of institutionalized control. Too much
hierarchy in the decision making process stifles employee creativity
and entrepreneurial spirit. Ultimately it strips away trust and
empowerment. The control can halt innovation, creativity,
accountability and self-actuating behavior. Bureaucratic
organizations tend to lose their competitive-edge due to the lack of
trust in their people.
Politics is simply a form of personally driven agendas coming down
from leaders. Empire building creates internal competition and
information hoarding which prevents open problem solving between
various parts of the organization. This usually generates out of
insecurity and an overwhelming desire for power. Again, the leaders
are not aligned with the mission of the organization and are driven
by personal gain. When in doubt, revisit your values. There you will
find the focus of what decisions should be made. If that doesn’t
occur it might be time to find new leaders.
Long Hours are not something that should be expected – certainly
not in this day and age. People do not remain employed by the
same company for 20 and 30 years like they did 15 years ago.
Today the global market has made company’s much more
competitive, sadly resulting in many of them being less focused on
employee retention. Most employees today don’t even stay three
years with the same organization. The expectation that people
should work more than what is healthy shows disrespect for the
personal needs of the employees. Burnout and resentment become
by-products.
Short-term Management Focus is limiting when long-term growth
is compromised. Administrators may sometimes be brought in on
short-term contracts which may cause the perception that they will
manage differently than a longer tenured officer. A sales force or
directors with short-term goals must also have a stake in a long-
term strategy to balance their decisions so that there is buy-in to the
long-term goals of the corporation.
When leaders of an organization recognize that their current
organizational culture needs to transform to support the
organization's goals and progress, change can occur. But change is
not easy. A company’s executive team must understand the current
organizational culture then decide what the organizational culture
should look like to support success. Finally, the executives and
respected leaders in the organization must decide to change their
behavior to align with strong values of the desired organizational
culture. This is the hardest step in culture change. Start now!
Follow Mary Lee on Twitter at StartingOverNow.
For the FREE Worksheets: “Change – Here’s How!” and
“Overcoming Adversity is an Every Day Slice of Life?” go to Mary
Lee's web site at: http://www.startingovernow.com/Articles-and-Tip-
Sheets.html
Mary Lee Gannon is a cultural turnaround and leadership expert
who went from being a stay-at-home mother with four children and a
successful husband living a country club life to the reality of a difficult
marriage, divorce, homelessness, and welfare. As a national guest
speaker she demonstrates turn-around strategies that transform
corporate cultures and took her from an earning capacity of $27,000
to the president and CEO of a hospital foundation. Her book
“Starting Over – 25 Rules When You’ve Bottomed Out” offer hands-
on strategies to reroute your path. Visit her Web site for a free e-
book. Sign up for her free e-newsletter at info@startingovernow.com.
Negative Values Cost You Money
New and existing employees in an organization model what they
see. This is true with respect to what an employee values about a
company to his attitudes about his work to the behaviors he exhibits
regarding his daily routine. Whatever the leaders are doing gives
the other employees a free pass to emulate the same behavior. If a
manager breaks the dress code, that makes it OK. If a director
leaves at 4:30 p.m. even when a project is running behind schedule,
her staff isn’t going to work any later. If an administrator walks past
employees without saying hello, other will not feel compelled to be
friendly either. All of these things are part of corporate culture.
Poorly defined and reinforced values lead to mismanaged culture
and become silent killers of the corporate landscape.
Excellent business strategies can be sabotaged by an inattention to
the culture. Revenue which should have gone into expanding the
business instead goes to the costs of training and re-training and re-
re-training employees in key positions because of high turnover - an
indication that something is amiss in the culture.
Let’s start with Values. The values of an organization contribute to
its mission its vision and its purpose. But they are ultimately the
single driving factor to corporate culture. If the organization values
rules that are set by corporate leaders, employees will behave by
following them. If managers value being a productive member of a
team, they will behave by staying late if something needs to be
finished. If they value good relationships with their work colleagues,
they will be happy to greet them in the hall or at meetings.
And defining values and putting them on a piece of paper does not
automatically make them “so.” The organization has to live by those
values and the leaders have to demonstrate them everyday in
everything they do.
Examples of Strong Organization Values. The following list
contains examples of sound organizational values: Continuous
improvement, Compassion, Commitment, Accountability, Respect,
Adaptability, Can-do attitude, Information sharing, Efficiency,
Transparency, and Innovation. You can surely name many more.
Conversely, there are negative values that evolve when positive
vales are neither defined nor consistently reinforced. These
negative values take on a life of their own and contribute to the silent
but deadly death of morale. These need to be defused immediately
as they grow and multiply like a cancer. Once trust is lost it is hard
to rebuild.
Examples of Negative Values that evolve in the absence of
modeling strong values:
Personal Agendas usually arise when the team is not focused on
the mission of the organization but more on their own security. Turf
wars occur. Silos are formed. And people generally feel at war over
control issues. Leaders must have deeply rooted character traits to
model the way of change out of these situations. In a time of crisis
is not when you will develop character. It must be present going into
the crisis. So leaders need to be chosen wisely. You can
rehabilitate skill. But rarely can you rehabilitate character.
Bureaucracy is a form of institutionalized control. Too much
hierarchy in the decision making process stifles employee creativity
and entrepreneurial spirit. Ultimately it strips away trust and
empowerment. The control can halt innovation, creativity,
accountability and self-actuating behavior. Bureaucratic
organizations tend to lose their competitive-edge due to the lack of
trust in their people.
Politics is simply a form of personally driven agendas coming down
from leaders. Empire building creates internal competition and
information hoarding which prevents open problem solving between
various parts of the organization. This usually generates out of
insecurity and an overwhelming desire for power. Again, the leaders
are not aligned with the mission of the organization and are driven
by personal gain. When in doubt, revisit your values. There you will
find the focus of what decisions should be made. If that doesn’t
occur it might be time to find new leaders.
Long Hours are not something that should be expected – certainly
not in this day and age. People do not remain employed by the
same company for 20 and 30 years like they did 15 years ago.
Today the global market has made company’s much more
competitive, sadly resulting in many of them being less focused on
employee retention. Most employees today don’t even stay three
years with the same organization. The expectation that people
should work more than what is healthy shows disrespect for the
personal needs of the employees. Burnout and resentment become
by-products.
Short-term Management Focus is limiting when long-term growth
is compromised. Administrators may sometimes be brought in on
short-term contracts which may cause the perception that they will
manage differently than a longer tenured officer. A sales force or
directors with short-term goals must also have a stake in a long-
term strategy to balance their decisions so that there is buy-in to the
long-term goals of the corporation.
When leaders of an organization recognize that their current
organizational culture needs to transform to support the
organization's goals and progress, change can occur. But change is
not easy. A company’s executive team must understand the current
organizational culture then decide what the organizational culture
should look like to support success. Finally, the executives and
respected leaders in the organization must decide to change their
behavior to align with strong values of the desired organizational
culture. This is the hardest step in culture change. Start now!
Follow Mary Lee on Twitter at StartingOverNow.
For the FREE Worksheets: “Change – Here’s How!” and
“Overcoming Adversity is an Every Day Slice of Life?” go to Mary
Lee's web site at: http://www.startingovernow.com/Articles-and-Tip-
Sheets.html
Mary Lee Gannon is a cultural turnaround and leadership expert
who went from being a stay-at-home mother with four children and a
successful husband living a country club life to the reality of a difficult
marriage, divorce, homelessness, and welfare. As a national guest
speaker she demonstrates turn-around strategies that transform
corporate cultures and took her from an earning capacity of $27,000
to the president and CEO of a hospital foundation. Her book
“Starting Over – 25 Rules When You’ve Bottomed Out” offer hands-
on strategies to reroute your path. Visit her Web site for a free e-
book. Sign up for her free e-newsletter at info@startingovernow.com.
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FREE resources on
this site are:
* Starting over in
their career or
personal life
* Empty nesters
* Entrepreneurs
* Networking
* Job Seekers
* Starting all over
again
* Going through a
divorce
* Looking for career
opportunities
* Seeking FREE
career advice and
education
* Finding mentors
* Setting new life
goals
To chart your road
map to success
click here for FREE
"Worksheets and
Articles."
Turnaround Solutions for People & Organizations
Whether you are an executive who is "stuck," your company needs
better productivity, or you are in a life transition you represent the
people and organizations Executive Leadership Coach Mary Lee has
helped. Learn how to clarify direction, create strategy, upgrade skills,
optimize your environment and wipe out fear and doubt. Make it fun =
get more done!
Mary Lee’s strategies from her book “Starting Over” helped her in her
own transformation from stay-at-home mother with four children living
a country club life to the reality of a difficult marriage, divorce, poverty,
welfare and then on to president and CEO. Eliminate self doubt, under-
performance, money fears, relationships woes, and negative influence
so that you may soar. Then lead others to improve their lives and your
business. Start now! For a FREE introductory coaching session via
phone contact info@startingovernow.com.
Whether you are an executive who is "stuck," your company needs
better productivity, or you are in a life transition you represent the
people and organizations Executive Leadership Coach Mary Lee has
helped. Learn how to clarify direction, create strategy, upgrade skills,
optimize your environment and wipe out fear and doubt. Make it fun =
get more done!
Mary Lee’s strategies from her book “Starting Over” helped her in her
own transformation from stay-at-home mother with four children living
a country club life to the reality of a difficult marriage, divorce, poverty,
welfare and then on to president and CEO. Eliminate self doubt, under-
performance, money fears, relationships woes, and negative influence
so that you may soar. Then lead others to improve their lives and your
business. Start now! For a FREE introductory coaching session via
phone contact info@startingovernow.com.
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FREE Resources
to help you:
1. United States of America's
primary source on career
information:
www.onetcenter.org
2. Wage Estimates
www.salary.com and Bureau of
Labor and Statistics
3. Organize Your Job Search -
Post a Question etc.:
www.cvtips.com
4. Starting Over After Divorce:
www.womansdivorce.com
5. Starting Over for Women:
www.makingbreadmagazine.co
m
6. Self Improvement:
www.selfgrowth.com.
7. Job Postings, Resume
Advice and Resources:
www.careerbuiler.com
8. Templates for: business
plans, competitive analysis,
start up costs and more:
www.score.org/business_toolbox
.html
9. Federal/Sate/Local
Government jobs:
www.USAJOBS.com
10. U.S. Government's Free
online courses, webinars and
podcasts for workforce
development:
www.onetacademy.com.
11. Occupational Outlook
Handbok 2008-09 by Bureau of
Labor and Statistics:
http://www.bls.gov/oco/home.ht
m
to help you:
1. United States of America's
primary source on career
information:
www.onetcenter.org
2. Wage Estimates
www.salary.com and Bureau of
Labor and Statistics
3. Organize Your Job Search -
Post a Question etc.:
www.cvtips.com
4. Starting Over After Divorce:
www.womansdivorce.com
5. Starting Over for Women:
www.makingbreadmagazine.co
m
6. Self Improvement:
www.selfgrowth.com.
7. Job Postings, Resume
Advice and Resources:
www.careerbuiler.com
8. Templates for: business
plans, competitive analysis,
start up costs and more:
www.score.org/business_toolbox
.html
9. Federal/Sate/Local
Government jobs:
www.USAJOBS.com
10. U.S. Government's Free
online courses, webinars and
podcasts for workforce
development:
www.onetacademy.com.
11. Occupational Outlook
Handbok 2008-09 by Bureau of
Labor and Statistics:
http://www.bls.gov/oco/home.ht
m
| Mary Lee Gannon is interviewed on Mind Your BIZness |
Listen to Mary
Lee's interview
"From Welfare
to CEO" on the
Renee Bobb
Show on
BlogTalk
Radio.com.
Lee's interview
"From Welfare
to CEO" on the
Renee Bobb
Show on
BlogTalk
Radio.com.
Gannon Group/StartingOverNow.com
Executive Leadership Coaching - Productivity Solutions for People and Organizations
Executive Leadership Coaching - Productivity Solutions for People and Organizations
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Team with Values and Watch
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Team with Values and Watch
Productivity Grow - A
Manager's Toolbox"
and the Executive Coaching Newsletter
.
Mary Lee Gannon's
Book "Starting Over" is
available in bookstores
everywhere or at
Amazon.com - 5 Stars!
Book "Starting Over" is
available in bookstores
everywhere or at
Amazon.com - 5 Stars!
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