Culture
WORKPLACE PRINCIPLES Liam Glover shares business principles he has implemented, particularly in taking over leadership and merging two great organizations
Many businesses celebrate increase in revenues, increase in customers or clients and increase in market presence. I know I am believing for increase in these areas as I assume leadership for the new organization, bringing together Arrow Leadership Australia and Australian Marketplace Connections (AMC). With the application of faith, belief in the staff and belief in the services we contribute to Christians in Australia, there are for us, some exciting opportunities for growth and development in the coming years. However, commensurate with growth and development, some enterprises (for profit and not for profit) can experience growth pains. The energy that is created by newness can sometimes mask strains on systems not necessarily designed for continued expansion. When working as Chief Finance Officer a number of years ago, I joined an organization almost from start-up (in its second year of operation). We had revenues of under $500,000 and three staff members I was charged with the responsibility of leading, and a client base of around one hundred. Over the four year period I served in this role, we expanded rapidly, engaging in significant capital and operational expenditure and experiencing substantial growth in revenues.
During this period I oversaw the construction of facilities valued over $11 million, developed joint venture agreements, negotiated land acquisitions with three land developers, sourced funds for long and short term projects totalling over $30 million, oversaw the growth of the client base of the company by over 800% and recruited staff to sustain growth. Many celebrations were enjoyed over the four year period I served the company. Many flat whites were consumed! However, there were many challenges accompanying the celebrations. Upon reflection, a few lessons were discovered. Culture Whilst sometimes intangible, difficult to articulate and financially quantify, culture is an absolute distinctive of all organizations. It is what makes us special, bordering on unique. For example, there is a vibe when one walks into an Apple Store. A sense of bouyedness, fun, spontaneity and quality are issued through the space by most staff. You can feel it. My three sons like to hang out in the Apple Store, I think because of the technology with which they can play, but also because of the culture that permeates through the store. With rapid expansion comes the challenge of maintaining a healthy
culture. Every new staff member brings with her or him perspectives about how office communications are effected, what’s appropriate and not so, how we celebrate and what makes every staff contribution unique yet symbiotically complementary to each other, resulting in outstanding organizational results. To use a phrase we often shared around recruitment times, “We are going to water down the gene pool.” This is not designed as a derogatory message, but a statement of fact. With each new staff member (and client and supplier), the culture we want to maintain will be diluted, until the new additions are ready reflectors of the culture they experienced when they first joined. Some staff slipped through the recruitment process, arriving with the attitude that they were going to change our culture – who we were as an organization and what made us distinct. Thankfully, these staff members unsuccessfully attempted to convert others to their cultures and self-excluded after a short period. Our culture was maintained. However, when there were multiple staff recruitments in a short period of time, creating consonancy with existing culture was difficult, requiring intentional allocation of time, resources and systems. Sometimes it went well. Other times,
Inspired Business Issue 3 May 2012 | 25