Staying On Top
By Mark David
Originally published in Executive Excellence
October 2000
What is the competitive edge? Who has it? How do you attain
it? Once you gain your edge, how do you stay on top?
Companies must constantly reinvent themselves to maintain their
edge by nurturing creativity and innovation. Through my experience
as manager and executive coach, I have discovered 10 easy steps of
creating a culture that encourages innovation.
Step 1: Broadcast your Vision to the team. Start each
fiscal year with a Vision in mind. To help your team understand
your Vision, clearly communicate it often. Your people will "be on
the same page" when everyone understands the Vision and his or her
part in achieving it. Broadcast your Vision by pre-planning a
Vision marketing campaign.
Step 2: Create a culture of "no fear." This means
having the freedom to bring forth ideas and honesty in an
environment of structure, discipline, and support. This will open
the door to creativity, innovation, and high-performance. Team
members will take more calculate risks to move your business
forward.
Step 3: Build communication on a foundation of professional
relationships where everyone accepts responsibility for clarity and
honesty. Coach your team members to express their thoughts
and opinions. When you observe behavior that needs to be addressed,
talk to the team member in private. When there are no hidden
agendas, everyone knows where he or she stands. As a result, team
members feel safe to take risks and learn.
Step 4: Teach your team to be self-sufficient by showing them
how to achieve their goals. Show team members how to
perform their jobs and solve problems so you have the time to
strategize, lead, and gain your desired market position.
Step 5: Create "People Power." People Power can only
happen when two or more people work in the same direction toward a
common vision or goal. You can see ideas come alive as team members
tap into a rich source of energy and ideas - each other's
experience.
Step 6: Know your competition. This information
enables you to highlight your strengths and take advantage of what
your company does best to gain competitive advantage. Build a team
of experts.
Step 7: Praise progress. To motivate team members,
praise progress as it occurs. Praise them for accomplishments that
have a positive impact. Pass on what co-workers, vendors, and
clients say. Praise and positive recognition are rewarding.
Step 8: Understand that people do things for their reasons,
not yours. People work for themselves first. If you know
what your team members want in the future, you can show them how
the company can help them achieve their goals. This creates
powerful alignment and increases job satisfaction and productivity.
Step 9: Exercise patience in achieving goals.
Patience acts as an accelerator to achieving your goals. When you
act patiently, you build confidence and security among team
members. There are no shortcuts to staying on top. Know your
desired result will materialize over time.
Step 10: Hold people accountable. Take responsibility
for your actions and your company's market position, communicate
expectations to your team, and hold team members accountable for
achieving agreed-upon goals. Confront employees who are not meeting
goals. Once you allow anyone to go below agreed-upon expectations,
everyone will test the boundaries, and you lose credibility.
If you hope to get on top and stay there, follow these steps. |
