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Humanocracy

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palle-ellemann's picture

Hack:
Making people hooked on business - your business

By Palle Ellemann - Owner at Palle Ellemann Consulting
February 4, 2011 at 5:43am
Connecting people to success
recognition
profit sharing
performance culture
HR and business
Summary 
If you manage to connect people with the business success of the organization, then the success in itself will be creating more movitation for employees, which again will have a positive impact on business.
Problem 
In too many organizations HR and business are disconnected. Creating a great workplace is something the HR department is working with and the rest of the management group works with business. The main problem is that HR doesn't really speak the language of business and cannot show the ROI of HR. In this case the business leaders will look at HR as a "soft" issue that the company will invest in when it can afford to. This kind of attitude will never bring the company to its full potential.
Solution 
What companies need to do is to connect people with the business and in particular the success that the organization achieves. There are many layers to what you can do to create this connection and the keyword is consistency. Consistency creates credibility and builds the foundation of trust for connection.

FIRST, BUILD THE STRUCTURE: Make sure your mission and vision statement and the value system reflect a belief in people being the key to your success. Talk about it and use the structure and messages for the internal management training.

PLAN FOR SUCCESS: When setting goals for the company and each department, it is crucial that each individual employee has personal goals that are fully aligned with the direction and goals of the company. Only this way the employee will be connected with the success of the organization and build loyalty with the long term development of the company. You also need to ensure that every employee really understands the business and what are the key drivers for success at the organization. Make sure that each department regularly talks about the business.

CREATE A CULTURE OF RECOGNITION: Do not only focus on creating systems of regular recognitions and awards, but build a culture of recognition, where you create lots of opportunities for every manager and every employee to recognize colleagues horizontally and vertically. Spontaneous recognition from your colleagues is very powerful for motivation.

SHARE THE SUCCESS OF THE COMPANY: Every profit made by an organization is built on small contributions from individuals, but if all that comes out is that the owners appreciate your effort and by the way they are taking out the profit, then it doesn't really make people connect with the success. If you cannot create a system for employee ownership, even a small percentage of profitsharing is very powerful for creating a collective ownership of the success of the company. If you have made your homework to connect people to the success of the organization from the beginning, you don't have to make a big pay-out at the end, the connection is already there.

Practical Impact 
Connecting people to your business will create a positive dynamic, where the success in itself will be motivating for people to give more to the organization and grow together with the organization. Everybody wants to be part of something bigger than themselves and part of a winning team, so it also builds loyalty.

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