What would you accomplish if you.were ceo for a day

We recently held a workshop in Amsterdam on Bringing Corporate Culture to Life in Reporting where we took the opportunity to ask this question to representatives from over 25 international companies such as ABN Amro, Aegon, ING and NN Group.

Culture seems to be the hottest trend in business today, and, for good reason, one of the most important words in corporate board rooms. With trust in business at an all-time low, culture, engagement and employee retention are now top challenges facing business leaders. So when we asked the question, 'If you were CEO for the day what are the five most important things you would do to drive a positive culture to support of long term value creation?’, although there were many different views of what exactly culture is, the views were surprisingly similar and I was inspired by the enthusiasm, personal experiences and stories shared.

Here’s the top 5 drivers of a positive culture:

Lead by example

Every day. Employees are constantly watching their leaders to see if what they do and say are the same. Walking the talk gains the trust and confidence of employees. 'Think of yourself as a parent', said one participant, because your behaviours and attitudes will be copied and shared throughout your organisation. If your actions are aligned with what you say, you become a person your employees want to follow. So don’t just talk the talk but walk the walk.

Make it yours

Every company has their own unique culture and it is important to take time to understand the one already in place. Sure, take inspiration from others - lots of it, but then make sure you step back, reflect and then do what is right for your organisation. Be genuine. Employees want to understand how they contribute to the long term success of the company. However, in order for them to be fully engaged they need to believe it. So make it meaningful, make it unique and ensure that it’s tied to your purpose, vision and values. The more employees understand the roles they play in a company’s success, the more engaged they will be. 

Communicate, communicate, communicate

Internal communication needs to be at the top of the agenda. Use tools, like an intranet, to increase dialogue and engagement across the business. Make sure that you are consistently reminding people what they are aiming towards, bringing them together and creating a sense of coherence. Use your intranet as an opportunity to share knowledge, insights and updates but also don’t forget to ask questions, gather opinions and to recognise achievements. A fundamental truth about human nature is that most of us like to have the opportunity to express ourselves and be praised. In many companies everyday opportunities are overlooked. So ensure you think about putting the ability for greater engagement where it belongs, with your employees, so they feel they have a voice. 

Listen and learn

Break down silos. Make sure you look across the entire organisation and define what it looks like from a variety of perspectives – sales, marketing, customer service, procurement, finance or by business division or geographical region. Ask yourself these questions, ‘how do you relate employees from these different perspectives? How do you motivate someone that does something completely different than you or is much older or younger than you? And what can you do to encourage employees to share their knowledge and work together? By listening to your people’s views you are able to make more insightful decisions.

Celebrate and share

Celebrate success. This injects life into your organisation, making it worthwhile for employees to contribute to the long term success of the company. Share both big and small achievements, it’s important to take the time to celebrate because acknowledging people’s hard work boosts morale and keeps up the momentum. Do it soon, make it public, be authentic. If you want something to grow, water it. 

And finally, remember company culture is not just created from the ‘tone at the top’. It must be shared, lived and developed through all the employees in a company. We all need to be sending the right signals - both through words and actions.

 Want to find out more? Join one of our upcoming events which explores this topic and many other in more detail:

From passive to productive - the Future of intranets, with insights on communications solution for the modern workplace

Bringing values to life through communications, with Rank Group, ODEON & UCI Cinemas and Amazon sharing their experiences

Bringing corporate culture to life in reporting, with Deborah Gilshan, investor from RPMI Railpen sharing her views

Looking forward to seeing you there.

These are extremely captivating and challenging times for most companies. Everyone faces the same challenge: doing more with fewer resources. Furthermore most CEOs I meet want to manage their company in a positive and conversation-worthy way. Well, they want to, but they are often faced with the difficulty to get the momentum going and to align all collaborators.

Evidently such challenges are not solved in a flash. My experience tells me that a company often feels that there is a new dynamic by changing several small aspects. After a captivating meeting I thought: what would I do if I were the CEO of a large company tomorrow? Not taking into account all important responsibilities and the time-consuming matters which fill a company leader's agenda, I would add these six things to my personal agenda:

1. Searching for small factors of irritation in my company
Customer satisfaction is too often seen as a school result. However the challenge is to understand the story behind the numbers. Some top managers do not understand that their clients are dissatisfied. Some are not involved sufficiently, or sometimes they no longer spot the obvious improvements or mistakes after a while. I think dissatisfaction is often caused by small things. Clients are sometimes frustrated by a detail. If I were CEO, I would like to map those sources of irritation and check what I can do to solve or avoid them in the short term, without too much extra cost. It would increase client satisfaction, but would also give the collaborators the message that all details are important when dealing with clients.

2. Random acts of kindness to top collaborators
Nothing is more motivating than a pat on the back by the big boss! Collaborators are dedicating themselves on a daily basis for their company. When they have the impression that the company leader notices and appreciates it, their self-confidence and motivation rise. As CEO I think it would be a splendid idea to get into the habit of surprising a collaborator every day with a sincere and honest pat on the shoulder. If your company employs 1,000 people, you can send 3 mails of the kind per day. And if someone did something really extraordinary, you can put the spotlight on that person and make sure that everyone notices him / her. Don't forget to mention why that person deserves the public appraisal!

3. Aligning internal and external communication
If the internal and external communications are different, it must be very confusing for collaborators. The only types of relevant internal communication are several operational matters. Content news or the company strategy seems to me to be something which should be communicated both internally and externally. When talking about transparency, this also implies sharing the communications with both collaborators and clients.

Furthermore it seems like a great idea to change the classic patters of internal communication. A CEO usually sends a monthly update of the state of affairs. There is also a once-a-year speech to the staff, evaluating the past year and looking forward to the coming year. Why would we not change these fixed habits and send more regular updates and share knowledge with clients and collaborators more frequently? The practical elaboration is described further (see point 5).

4. Doing customer service towards some clients
Being customer-oriented is evident, but we too often make decisions without totally realising what the impact on the client will be. In order to sense what the clients want and need, there is no better way than to get direct feedback from them. As CEO it seems extremely relevant to me that you are the main contact for certain clients, and it will also be a strong signal to your collaborators. Even in a large company you can be pragmatic about this. Choose a group of x clients and send them a personal mail that they can address you for all their problems. Many people shy away from the extra work this will entail, but it's only a matter of coming up with a good structure to make it feasible. Furthermore not every client will mail every day to communicate a problem. In the end the client won't believe what he is reading when he directly and personally gets a mail from a large company's CEO, right?

5. Content: Managing my own blog and Twitter account
I would also like to Twitter myself and manage my own blog. As CEO I think it is a brilliant mindset to share your vision with everyone and to tell them what you are working on. Many collaborators see the role of a CEO as something intangible. Make it tangible, and thus become a 'person' rather than simply the big boss. People are milder to people than they are to functions. Research has shown that CEOs on Twitter can count on more empathy and sympathy than those who are absent. It makes a CEO very accessible and it immediately shows his/her opinions on certain topics. A blog is an extra interesting way to give a detailed description of the company's history to collaborators and clients.

6. Frequently being present on the workfloor
I realise that, because of function level and work experience, a CEO is often different from the average collaborator, and I think many became CEO because they have certain capacities which others in their company do not have. However I know that many companies send their new managers onto the shop floor during their first months as newbies. At AHOLD they participate in the Albert Heijn shop life (grocery store), at Praxis (Dutch DIY chain) the managers also work as shop operators in their first months. I think a CEO should do that also, but more frequently and not incognito.

So just to be sure: I realise these things do not fill or determine a company strategy. I just consider it to be six minor tactical moves which may just have a major impact on the elaboration of the strategy. What do you think? Would you choose the same 5 minor changes, or would you choose a different path? I'm curious to read what you think!