HR Tips From Our CEO
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 How
to Become a Destination Workplace
People will want to work for you when you create the right
corporate culture.
Every
business should strive to create a positive corporate culture.
But developing a culture that attracts, retains
and motivates quality employees doesn't just happen by accident—it
requires a plan. You can start by asking yourself what kind
of workplace you want. To help you define your desired workplace
and shape your corporate culture, focus on these four points:
1. Mission: Your mission answers the question, "What
are we here for?" Your response should include your
primary product or service, your target market and key elements
of your service model (such as the importance of creativity,
technology, a team approach and so on). Every business should
have an up-to-date, well-structured mission statement that's
understood and embraced by its employees. I also recommend
that you communicate your mission statement in appropriate
ways to your clients, customers, prospects, potential employees
and other interested parties. Doing so sends an important "who,
what, when, where and how" message about your enterprise
to those most important to your business, beginning with
your employees.
2.
Values: Values convey what's really important to you.
We heard a lot about values during the last election, and
it should come as no surprise that values are important to
people in all areas of life, including business. Three commonly
shared values that resonate with most people are: honesty,
integrity and treating others with respect. Take some time
to identify and define the values that are important to you
and your company. They are key statements in their own right
and are essential in formulating your beliefs and standards.
3.
Beliefs: Beliefs are a natural extension of our values and help
answer the
question, "How do we make decisions?" For
example, one of our foundational beliefs at Administaff,
the Houston-based professional employer organization where
I am chairman and CEO, is that our greatest asset is our
people. This belief has its roots in our value of respect
for the worth of each person. In fact, we believe that a
company is its people. This principle guides our recruiting
strategy and helps us attract and retain quality workers
that are hired for their input more than their output.
Another foundational belief is that of maintaining a proper
work-life balance. We don't live to work, but rather work
to live. While there will be occasions when we all have to
put in some extra hours, those instances really should be
occasional and not typical. Accordingly, we make decisions
to provide employees with the tools, training and support
they need to accomplish their tasks in a normal workday.
These beliefs are even factored into our decisions about
organizational structure, so that our growth doesn't overburden
our employees and disrupt their work-life balance. We've
also learned that becoming a better person at work can help
you become a better person at home.
4.
Standards: Standards provide clear statements about how
people are expected to behave, interact, resolve conflicts
and relate to each other. Standards are essential to any
successful undertaking, whether you're an organization of
one or 1,000. If you don't follow commonly accepted guidelines
of respectful behavior and productivity, you'll never get
anything done and you'll alienate most of your support team
in the process. We all do better when we know what is expected
of us and how we are to manage interpersonal relations. Conflicts
and disagreements are inevitable, but they can be either
constructive or destructive, depending on how they're handled.
A company handbook like we provide our clients is an essential
tool for capturing and conveying company standards. Couple
the handbook with periodic training to remind and reinforce
your corporate standards and exhibit top-down exemplary behavior
(practice what you preach), and you'll find that your employees
will adhere to those standards in their daily work with very
positive results.
Developing the corporate culture of a destination workplace
happens by design, not default. Too many companies fail to
give human resource management the time and attention it
deserves. Also, a positive corporate culture is the foundational
component of a comprehensive people strategy that will enable
you to leverage your human capital into a competitive advantage.
Just as you need solid strategies for sales, finance and
operations, you need a human resources strategy. Use the
elements outlined above to structure your corporate culture
strategy, and you will have taken a significant first step
toward developing a winning people strategy.
Originally published December 13, 2004 by Entreprenuer.com
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