Culture Is A Strategic Assets

Culture is a Strategic Asset

"We hire for 'attitude,' knowing we can train to develop technical skill," says Keith Jones, President & CEO, Executrack. "Collaboration is the most important attribute we want in our culture."

CEOs are learning to refine their process for developing their cultures so that they are able to attract and keep their most qualified employees. They know the culture must be strong to attract the best of the best in a fluctuating labor market to meet their ever changing business needs. Their attention to their culture includes designing succession plans and hiring practices that position them for the future.

Regardless of the economic outlook, recruitment and retention of valuable employees is now recognized as one of the most important cultural issues facing corporations globally. As businesses struggle with layoffs, lower consumer confidence, softening commercial investment, and a volatile stock market, building effective cultures has moved from the responsibility of Human Resources to that of the Boardroom. With a sharp focus on human capital, developing a strong culture is now a key investment.

Corporate executive officers are expected to present a clear strategy so that employees know what to do to execute - all while attracting the industry's best talent to get it done. Their own value to their organization is, in part, measured by how skilled they are at leading, recruiting, and retaining key talent who are enthusiastic about their work environment.

As Linda Rabbit, Chairman and CEO, Rand Construction stated, "I had a vision that we could have a culture where employees would enjoy their jobs and could get fulfillment out of what they're doing. And, I have spent most of my time trying to make that happen. TPC assessed our culture, and we could see clearly what key behaviors needed to be reinforced to achieve high degrees of productivity. Don't make it harder than it needs to be. Communicate everything, listen constantly, roll your sleeves up, and work alongside your people if you want them to know how much they mean to your company's success," she states.

The desire to pass on a successful business was Larry Janesky's incentive to investigate the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence. "Once we got involved with the Criteria, we became more passionate about having the best culture to become more competitive, " says Larry. Organizations most committed to earning money for their shareholders have leaders who state that their culture is its most important asset. Great cultures breed attraction to and retention of talent - it is the key factor to their future success as an industry winner.

Why bother? The best effective recruiting tool is the reputation a company enjoys in a community. Turnover of employees is both bad PR and very expensive. Shareholders should know exactly what the turnover costs are, because they know that it is a business imperative to do everything possible to recruit exactly the right people while providing the right work environment to keep them. To retain great talent, develop a culture where employees are enthusiastic about executing the strategy - where leaders provide the vision and the long-term goals, i.e. where we are going and how we are going to get there.

Juli Ann Reynolds, President and CEO
Tom Peters Company