Every business has a culture of some kind. But you can't change your culture any more than you can change your brand by just talking about it, or even teaching it. You have to make systemic changes in your organization that transform the way people think and behave. People are deeply influenced by their work environment. Weaker people can become highly productive and stronger people can lose their edge, depending on your company culture. The magic really begins to happen when the right people come together with remarkable business systems to create a culture of results through discipline, enthusiasm and high performance. It is the primary concern, and responsibility, of every business owner, manager or executive to create a culture of results inside their company. This is created and maintained through disciplined adherence by every employee to ensure profitability and continuance of the company’s operation. ((Efficient People + Motivation) * Accountability) = Effective Team Results Where does it start? HIRE THE RIGHT BEST PEOPLE Let me repeat from author Jim Collins,  "Those who build great companies understand that the ultimate throttle on growth for any great company is not markets, or technology, or competition, or products. It is one thing above all others: the ability to get and keep enough of the right people. GET THE RIGHT PEOPLE ON THE BUS FIRST, AND THE WRONG PEOPLE OFF THE BUS, THEN FIGURE OUT WHAT DIRECTION TO DRIVE THE COMPANY" (Good to Great). Only hire "A" employees. These people have a history of getting results. They aren’t afraid of accountability and scorekeeping. They are self-confident and able to apply past successes to new assignments, but they are also teachable and eager to learn. "A" employees make good things happen, especially when their personal goals are in line with your company goals. Keep in mind: You always pay for the "A" employee. The lesser cost of a "C" employee, plus the hidden cost of lower performance, poor decisions, and costly mistakes, is equal to or greater than the higher cost of the "A" employee. Replace "C" employees with "A" employees to improve performance and get results. Take Away:  Hire and empower goal-oriented people. Tell them why the system was created, how it works, and why it will benefit them. Enlist their knowledge, talents, energy and resources to improve the system and raise the bar on performance standards. As people achieve results, their self-esteem and sense of value to the company will go up. They will set new performance records. When they create greater value, compensate appropriately. MOTIVATE YOUR PEOPLE Inspired and motivated workers, that know how their contribution helps, make well-designed systems hum!  Results are a natural and ever-increasing outcome of understanding this concept. Motivation is the drive that moves people to action. People are motivated when they feel they are doing something in their best interest. Because motives come from feelings, you can't directly motivate others; you can only influence their feelings about the work they do. You can create an environment or culture of results that…

All along I had a strong feeling that with these lockdowns, the rate of domestic violence and crimes would go up. To my surprise, I recently found that this wave of interrelation conflicts didn’t just strike homes but also the business world. Visiting two of my clients with whom we had established harmonized teams before lockdown, I noticed a change in behavior and performance as some employees seemed to be stressed by this pandemic situation. As employees try to live with the constant uncertainty and the continuous requirement to adapt to new conditions, tensions in relationships become more prominent, and mismatches in personality become more visible. The team members who don’t take full responsibility for their functions create friction and frustrations for those who have to cover for them, which leads to loss of motivation and an unpleasant working atmosphere. On top of that, working remotely demands a higher level of communication. In a normal face to face meeting without masks, one might easily notice when a point is not well understood and address the issue with minimum damage. However, in a remote working situation, one idea that is poorly communicated through email or any other platform might cause latent conflicts or frustrations. And indeed just like a virus, the consequences of conflicts can also be rampant. A poor organization in one company affects other companies working on the same project. This amplifies tensions in the companies causing ineffectiveness and unproductiveness. Fortunately, by walking along and working with managers, some have now been able to get back to their driver’s seat. Solving problems and situations that were pulling them down and making the horizon even clearer. Thus, understanding that employees’ engagement has been shaken by this crisis is key to restoring a clean-cut path to a company’s recovery. The commitment of the business owner to employees remains essential. Surely support within the company should be offered to solve the collateral damages caused by the lockdown but also supporting other companies with which one works with shouldn’t be ignored. No Peace – No Business To read more about business recovery click here

A Google search for the word "uncertainty" in 2017 gave 0.6 million results. For the first ten months of 2018, the same search gave 2.5 million results. On May 11, 2020, I did the same search and had 188 million results. On July 25, I had 209 million. Although uncertainty has been rising over the years, it has worsened with the Covid-19 pandemic. The changes we are experiencing are not a walk in the park for business owners, governments and scientists. For a business to survive, an entrepreneur needs personal clarity, tools for observation and agile actions. This is the approach that will allow him to regain a healthy mindset and thereby certainty. The cost of uncertainty is too high a risk to bear. Let's avoid it. We must do everything to ensure that our businesses are not swept away by this dwindling spiral of uncertainty due to a lack of understanding or even action. I am convinced that the way forward for entrepreneurs should include: - A change in attitude, and to strongly disagree with the growing uncertainty. - Keeping in mind that certainty is something you look forward to, and not something you wait for. Let's plan for a better future. If you are an entrepreneur and you want to plan for a better future for your business, let's meet! (Send me a message or tweet me @SenameAgbossou)