Human nature being what it is, we all want to win. The big question is… What is winning, and how do we know when we are winning? In business, like sports, the scoreboard is easily visible and clearly defined. Success is measured in terms of consistently making our business plan or budget on a quarterly and annual basis. But beyond the numbers, how can we look deeper into the reasons we are winning consistently, or are inconsistent in achieving our goals?
I think I know the answer. It’s culture. “Culture versus Scheme” is a hotly debated topic in both sports and business. “Culture eats strategy for lunch.” Is talent the only reason a business or team succeeds? Clearly not! Look around and you will see evidence of wasted talent every day, in individuals and on display in some organizations. Apathy, greed, pettiness, anger, carelessness and disrespect are all symptoms, not of a lack of talent, but of a lack of character.
Back to winning, it’s not a result of just big ideas or smart strategies. Rather it’s about all the small, seemingly inconsequential building blocks of our daily actions. It’s the small routine activities that create habits. Over time, our habits and our attitude define our character. Our character creates the consistency, good or bad, that defines us as an individual, and as a group, creates our business culture.
- Consistency is predictable
- Consistency creates trust
- Relationships are built on trust
- Trust creates speed and value
Trust is truly the unique competitive cultural advantage we are committed to achieving for our customers. Let’s look at where it begins and how our corporate culture creates value over time, to a much greater level than any one of us can generate independently. Our value proposition begins with great people committed to core values and a shared common vision. The cornerstone to all of this is Promise Keeping.
Promise Keeping is simply our daily commitment to keep our word to internal and external customers. We track our deliveries to Promise Date as a key quality metric, but it’s much more than a single business metric. Promise-keeping is essential to building trust. Trust builds relationships, and relationships build a growing, thriving business capable of retaining customers and profitability.
One essential key aspect of promise-keeping is timely and proactive responsiveness. When we respond promptly and effectively, we establish our trust factor. Over time, responsiveness becomes a bond creating value for both internal and external customers alike. Think about a recent, essential communication you have had personally. Did you feel a sense of urgency and commitment from your interaction? It’s binary, a yes or no! Each personal transaction either increases your relationship and trust factor with someone or it doesn’t.
Silence is Deafening!! Ask yourself, did your communication increase your trust with a colleague or vendor, or did you feel a lack of concern for the outcome?
Silence or no response is a killer in this era of instant communication and social media. Just a simple acknowledgement of “I got your email/call and trust me, I’m on it” will instill a sense of relief in today’s hectic workplace. It will make all the difference in the world in our customer experience, if we do it consistently.
As we continue to compete in a global market with the RG Group brand promise of trusted expertise, responsiveness and communication will continue to be critical to our culture. RG Group associates collectively strive to raise the bar for our internal customers. As a result, we will be capable of providing our external customers with the best customer experience in the industry.
Building a responsive culture requires commitment from all team members, but like Albert Einstein once said, “Setting an example is not the main means of influencing others, it is the only means.” A responsive culture starts and ends with leadership; as such, we as leaders in the organization commit to each of you that we will also hold ourselves accountable to our corporate standard of responsiveness.
Let’s win together!
Rich Freeh