How do we create a success culture? How do we sustain the successful organization and make it ever more successful?

First, we must maximize and make fully understandable these existing fundamentals in your organization: Mission Values eliefs !tandards"

#t is not our intent here to create a business $lan, to write sam$le mission statements, or to $rovide a $rimer about values, etc" %our organization, and the reader, understands these things and their im$ortance in defining and sustaining the organization and its conduct of business" &ather, it is our duty here to re'examine the (obvious) * what reflection is there in these areas regarding success? For, in looking at the loose standards of some of those around us, in looking at the mistake'$rone organizations, or the hierarchies with their ethically challenged re$utations, we realize that we have to make a conscious decision to be different" +hose others certainly have missions, values, beliefs, and standards" ut if they see value in cutting corners, if they have a belief that inflating $rofits will yield $ositive business outcomes, if their standards are ill'defined or deliberately loose, then there is no service to the mission" +here is no true accommodation for the idea of success" !ustained, long' term success ,the only kind that counts- is achieved by being honest and in matching actions to realities" +he success culture starts with this honesty, which ins$ires trust, coo$eration, and good faith activity" +his is critically im$ortant when usiness and #+ engage within the organization" .e therefore need to groom ,mentor, coach, train- so that no one has to assume anything regarding the culture * they willknow" /s things stand now, how many $eo$le can you scratch in your organization * 0uerying them on matters of business culture * to yield a res$onse with some semblance of: (.e have a culture of success)? +ry it" #f your leadershi$ is not biasing the organization for success * what is it doing? Further, our stated mission, values, beliefs and standards will ensure that, if and when a gray area leads someone to wonder what a standard is, or be left to $onder what they (might get away with,) we have in $lace a culture that will groom them to know that excellence is the bar" +hat the 1ob, large or small, is to be done right" +hey will disabuse themselves ' and they will dissuade others ' of any notion of entertaining an im$ro$riety" +his is where you achieve true strength: From the bottom up as individuals self'regulate2 from the top down as exam$le'setting, ethical leaders manage, mentor and train2 and across the organization * or across organizations ' as de$artments and agencies engage in good faith activity by virtue of solid re$utations and trust" 3et4s look at some su$$orts to this: SUPPORTING SUCCESS: MISSION; VALUES; BELIEFS; STANDARDS

Mission: +he idea of a mission would seem to be $retty obvious" However, if you ask $eo$le on a random basis to articulate their organization4s mission, you may be sur$rised at the result" +here will be a degree of struggle in ex$ressing the mission with accuracy and brevity" Forget about any degree of com$rehensiveness" 5ven usiness $eo$le can have trouble * but for su$$ort elements such as #+, there may be many $eo$le who fail to understand, or even care about, the overarching business mission" 5very organization has a mission, and every reader4s organization has a mission statement" +he mission $rovides the answer as to why the organization is here" /n organization4s stated mission should include $rimary $roducts and services, your service model ,such as the im$ortance of excellence, creativity, results, success, etc"-, and markets" 5veryone in an organization should know what the organization4s mission is, understand it, and su$$ort it" &emember that the mission statement is a ready handle in defining who you are * after the organization4s name, it is often the first ex$osure someone has to anything about your organization" #t communicates essential information to $eo$le, beginning with the $eo$le right in the organization the employees" #t is the definition of your organization seen by clients, customers, members, $ros$ects, $otential em$loyees, vendors, contractors, business $artners, and any other interested $arty" Ensure your people know, understand, and support the mission. Values: / value is a belief, a $rinci$le, a 0uality, or a $hiloso$hy that has meaning and worth to the organization" #t also must have meaning and worth to the individual" #t is im$ortant to note that any organization will have formally defined values * but it will also have informal values" #n recent surveys of business, the identification and im$lementation of values has been cited as the one of the greatest keys in the success of those organizations that thrive" Values lead to direct action, 0uality of action, and a$$ro$riate treatment of $eo$le" .hen looking at most successful organizations, we find that values are directly linked to their success" For exam$le, !ears $laces a high value on customer trust * in the 67th 8entury, customers in rural areas en1oyed a money'back guarantee on any returned $roduct" 8an you imagine the comfort that that sort of trust engendered when ordering from a remote organization through a catalog in those days? !ears, unlike many com$anies from that era, continues to exist and thrive today9 +he Marriott4s value of standardization enabled it to efficiently du$licate its standard model hotel all across the country" :eo$le on the road ex$erienced a welcome familiarity" 8oca'8ola4s value of their customers4 o$inion and satisfaction allowed it to 0uickly recover from the wrong turn that (;ew 8oke) re$resented" %our organization has a set of values in $lace * make certain that those values are effective, known, and understood" +he trick is not in (having) values: the trick is to

make certain they ex$and and occu$y every corner and crevice of your o$erations, your su$$orts, your management, your $roducts, and your services" #n the case of our .eave, we can see that business values occu$y the u$$er, overarching agenda" #+ values need to su$$ort and hel$ fulfill business ob1ectives" <ne of the most obvious values today is the sustaining of continuous im$rovement" =enerally, the identification of an im$ortant value leads to discovery, and discussion, of other su$$orting values: innovation, reliability, trust, confidence, truthfulness, and so forth" /t the same time, a discussion of values needs to identify ga$s, or divides, between stated organizational values, and the full em$loy of those values in leveraging them to the ultimate mission" Beliefs: eliefs su$$ort values" #f your organization wants to value excellence, for exam$le, $eo$le need to believe that excellence is worth striving for, is recognized, and is rewarded" Further, it will be believed that excellence is a$$reciated by the customer, client, member, etc" Vendors will acclimate 0uickly to your culture of excellence, and they will $artner according to their natural sense of your ex$ectation for excellence" eliefs yield confidence and trust ,desirable values in and of themselves-" .hen $eo$le believe that others engage in good faith, and that the organization itself behaves in, and su$$orts, good faith, we build value" .e begin to build a collective mental acce$tance of truths, and conviction in them" /gain, think about defining your culture through mission, values, beliefs and standards: don4t let it default to something you don4t want" eliefs directly su$$ort your mission" /n im$ortant belief is that an organization is a team, rather than a collected set of com$eting silos2 each com$lete with their own selfish agendas, com$etition for resources, negative belief'set, and $oor ex$ectations of the other (silos") y extension, allied organizations that have been tasked with a common mission must ac0uire the belief that they are a team in order to be at their united best" 8onsider what your organization believes * truly believes" #s your organization4s belief'set acce$table to you? 8onsider the beliefs that you would like to instill in your organization, and the reality necessary to em$lace and sustain those beliefs" Standards: / standard is a re0uirement, a level, or a degree of something" !tandards define and guide conduct" +hey set benchmarks in the $erformance of systems and $eo$le" +hey hel$ to $rovide com$arisons and measures in order to evaluate levels of things that lead to success" !tandards hel$ to measure >success4 itself" Harboring a res$ect for standards is a value" %ou value a degree, or level, of $erformance from em$loyees * and from yourself" %ou must meet and ho$efully exceed a standard in order to certify the value of that $erformance" <verall, your organization has a re0uirement of conduct * the level of conduct you re0uire is a standard" .e manage and $erform according to standards" !tandards should be a clear ex$ression of our ex$ectations: .e should know how our organization ex$ects us to behave and interact with each other" .e should know how to resolve conflict" .e should have standards that su$$ort growth and $rogression for the

right $eo$le" :ro$er standards hel$ us to leverage (human ca$ital) to com$etitive advantage" !tandards also hel$ us to establish commonly acce$ted guides to $roductivity and 0uality" / review of standard (best $ractices) in any field of endeavor will $resent essential standards for success" / success culture both yields, and de$ends on, $roductivity" 5fficient and effective ,0uality- $roduction of anything re$resents success: whether it is $roduction of new designs, $roduction of out$ut goods, $roducing better service, $roducing more satisfied customers, $roducing more accurate $erformance a$$raisals ' these all re$resentsuccess" #n'turn, success ,successful $roductivity- yields $ride in the organization, $ride in what you do, confidence in a 1ob well done, and it yields a $ositive model for future success" 8onsider the business traveler4s la$to$ as an exam$le: the true standard is not to issue the la$to$ in a timely fashion ,im$ortant enough, but easily done-, it is not to vet the la$to$ as functional ,also im$ortant-, but rather the standard is to meet the business tra eler!s need to access the organi"ation!s network in order to successfully accomplish online work" #f you meet the truestandard, the others are met" +he ultimate standard $ulls everything else up" +his is why you have to solidify in your mind, and the minds of your staff, the ultimate, true standards to be met ,and as necessary, exceeded- in each task, $ro1ect, and endeavor" +he identification of ultimate business standards does not mean that you don4t need checklists or interim 0ualifiers?standards" #ndeed true standards su$$ort and lead to the establishment of those things: (Hmm, if us+raveler >/4 has ultimate need to work from 8ity >@4, then # need to test a la$to$, issue it, and certify that us+raveler >/4 knows how to use it") &ecognize here that standards beget success" /ll of these things in your success culture hel$ you develo$ a winning ($eo$le strategy) * which in turn hel$s your organization develo$ an overall com$etitive advantage" #n your usiness'+echnology .eave, maker certain that both the usiness and #+ folks have a clear articulation of Mission, Values, !tandards and eliefs"