The success of your business hinges on the prevailing company culture, especially one that is results-driven. Every business inherently possesses a culture, whether by design or happenstance. From my own experience, I’ve come to understand that establishing a results-driven company culture for entrepreneurs necessitates more than mere instruction or discussion; it requires a fundamental shift in the mindset and behaviors of individuals within the organization.
Creating a culture requires systemic organizational changes transforming how people think and behave. In this article, I will share my discovery on developing and cultivating a culture of results to improve performance in your organization.
The work environment greatly influences people. Company culture can make weak people highly productive, and the stronger lose their edge. It is the primary concern and responsibility of every business owner, manager, or executive to create a culture of results inside their company. Every employee makes and maintains this through disciplined adherence to ensure profitability and continuance of the company’s operation.
Getting the right people that can come together with unique business systems to create a culture of results through discipline, enthusiasm, and high productivity is not easy. The magic begins once you find the right team, and performance shoots up the roof.
((Efficient People + Motivation) * Accountability) = Effective Team Results
HIRE THE RIGHT BEST PEOPLE
The only proven way of getting good results is to ensure you have the right people to drive your dream. No matter how good your ideas are, you’ll have difficulty getting the expected deliverables if you don’t have the right people to actualize them.
“Those who build great companies understand that the ultimate throttle on growth for any great company is not markets, technology, competition, or products. It is one thing above all others: getting and keeping 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” – Jim Collins, Good to Great.
Results depend on employee performance, which is why every business owner or manager should only hire Top performers. Top performers have a history of getting results and are unafraid of accountability and scorekeeping. They are self-confident, can apply past successes to new assignments, and are teachable and eager to learn. Top performers make good things happen, especially when their personal goals align with your company goals.
Note that you always pay less cost for the Top performer as compared to what you pay for the Poor performer. The Poor performer comes with a hidden cost of lower performance, poor decisions, and costly mistakes, which in the long run, eclipse the cost of keeping the Top performer. It would be best if you always went for the Top performer for effective performance and results.
Take Away: Hire and empower goal-oriented people. To achieve better results, you must ensure the team understands why you created the system, how it works, and how it will benefit them. Enlist their knowledge, talents, energy, and resources to improve the design and raise the bar on performance standards for better results. When people achieve results, their self-esteem and sense of company value increase. This leads to breaking past performance records, which creates excellent value for the company. A good entrepreneur ensures his employees grow with the company; therefore, as results improve, he compensates them appropriately so that he doesn’t lose them.
MOTIVATE YOUR PEOPLE
Inspired and motivated workers understand their contribution is key to making well-designed systems hum! When you know this concept, your company results will always take an upward trajectory.
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 their work. You can create an environment or culture of results that encourage them to positive action.
Sometimes fear can be a motivating factor; however, fear doesn’t work as a motivator for long. Incentives and rewards can be effective if administered properly. Opportunities for personal growth and advancement are among the best motivators in business. This is because when people trust that you are giving them a legitimate chance for a better future and feel that you care about their welfare, they want to perform better to please you. It’s human nature to reciprocate in kind.
DEVELOP OWNERSHIP AND ACCOUNTABILITY
Ownership of a task, objective, or result unlocks the inherent power of motivation. This happens when the “right people” are allowed to influence goals, participate in the development and improvement of the systems, and choose their rewards.
Team goals shape personal goals. Personal goals are the foundation of all achievements. Goals must answer the questions of how many (or how much), by when, and by whom.
- “How many” is the desired result.
- “By when” is the adrenaline-boosting deadline.
- “By whom” indicates ownership and accountability for the result.
It is important to note that Individual capability and willingness determine performance. Remember, people perform at their highest potential only when focusing on the most valuable use of their time. Personal goals must fit within the prescribed organization boundaries and be consistent with team goals. When a person chooses a goal, they simultaneously choose to pay the price to attain it and the payoff for its accomplishment.
MEASURE YOUR RESULTS
Measuring your results is key to determining the performance for purposes of improvement. If you don’t measure your results, you won’t be able to manage and control them. To control something, you need to have a reference point; this means you need to measure. Effective teams continually measure performance and compare current results to past results and expected outcomes (e.g., performance standards; Balance Scorecard targets). Information from company financial statements also provides lagging performance indicators and can expose weaknesses within the business or team.
“When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported, the rate of improvement accelerates.” – Thomas Monson.
Conclusion
Factors like market trends, technologies, or products influence the overall performance of your business. Above all this, company culture comes first. To successfully create a culture of results, the following four points are essential:
- Hiring the right best people
- Motivating your people
- Developing ownership and accountability
- Measuring your results
The above can help you build a culture of results that will enhance performance and the well-being of your team members.
Try them out, and let me know how they work for you.
