john f. barnes, iv, mba, sphr director of human resources southwest foundation for biomedical...

John F. Barnes, IV, MBA, SPHRDirector of Human Resources

Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research

High Performance Organizations: Programming Organizational DNA for Success

October 17, 208

© 2008 iNQUATE Corporation

The Objectives – Our Agenda

• Identify Five Characteristics of a High Performance Organization– Weave these characteristics with the building blocks

of organizational DNA

• Four Questions to Ask Before Starting an High Performance Organization Initiative

• Four Common Approaches to Talent Management Decisions and Which is the Best to Create a High Performance Organization

But first, let’s define a High Performance Organization and

Organizational DNA.

But first, let’s define a High Performance Organization and

Organizational DNA.


High Performance Organizations

• HPO – High Performance Organization– An organization that concentrates on bringing

out the best in people. – An HPO embraces a perception that their

employees as assets; they find their employees are happier, more productive and want to succeed in their jobs.

– HPOs give employees the tools to empower themselves and make valuable contributions to the organization.

Organizations who strive to maintain being an HPO also respect and

encourage diversity. They recognize diversity is also an asset and the differences in backgrounds foster

innovation and creativity, adding value.

Organizations who strive to maintain being an HPO also respect and

encourage diversity. They recognize diversity is also an asset and the differences in backgrounds foster

innovation and creativity, adding value.


High Performance Organizations (cont’d)

• Mobilize teams– A hierarchal structure can still be present, but

emphasis is not put on title or prestige, but rather on the good of the organization and the value each member can contribute.

• Integrate the newest technologies– Technology greatly enhances productivity to

free up employees to focus on other important tasks.


High Performance Organizations (again)

• Focus on growth and development – Organizational studies show that employees who are

given levels of autonomy with room to grow in their professional position are happier and show better performance than those that are micro-managed and not given any latitude in terms of growth.

• Orient to achieve– The TQM philosophy promotes continuous

improvement and a complete dedication to achieve strong quality results.


Organizational DNA

• Biological DNA – Inherited at birth – Doesn’t change

• Organizational DNA– Inherited early in life– Does change

Organizational DNA is:• Policies and procedures• Hiring and promotion• Leadership styles• Planning processes• Performance measures• Reporting arrangements• Formal and informal power

structure• Relationships between groups• How individuals are awarded• Core values

Organizational DNA is:• Policies and procedures• Hiring and promotion• Leadership styles• Planning processes• Performance measures• Reporting arrangements• Formal and informal power

structure• Relationships between groups• How individuals are awarded• Core values


So…


DNA – Decision Rights

• Consensus + Management Hierarchy = Poor Decision Making

• Who decides what?

• How many people does it take to make a decision?

• Where does one person’s decision making authority end and another begin?


HPO – Decision Rights


HPO Characteristic #1

• An organization that is aligned behind its strategy will execute and achieve results

• However, individual counterproductive behaviors that take root can impede a company’s strategy and ultimately its success.

• Strong organizations make teamwork and collaboration top priorities

First Characteristic:First Characteristic:

Organizations that empower people and give them Organizations that empower people and give them the freedom to decide and act are High Performing the freedom to decide and act are High Performing

Organizations.Organizations.

First Characteristic:First Characteristic:

Organizations that empower people and give them Organizations that empower people and give them the freedom to decide and act are High Performing the freedom to decide and act are High Performing

Organizations.Organizations.


The First Building Block of Organizational DNA


Direction & Communication

• If you don’t know where you are going, how are you going to get there?

• How is performance measured?

• How are expectations and progress communicated?

• Who knows what?

• Who needs to know what?

2007 Corporate Issues Survey, The Ken Blanchard Companies

How does information get from the people who have it to the people who require it?

How does information get from the people who have it to the people who require it?


Communication and Engagement

• The Conference Board’s studies

THEME

Information!

THEME

Information!


HPO Characteristic #2

SENIOR MANAGER THINKS EMPLOYEES THINK

It's too early to tell them. Silence must mean it's pretty bad.

This news is too frightening— we'd better wait.

They're moving the company to Panama.

I'm afraid if we tell them, productivity will drop.

The company's going belly-up. Where else can I get a job?

Second Characteristic:Second Characteristic:

Organizations that foster organization-wide sharing Organizations that foster organization-wide sharing of information, knowledge and best practices are of information, knowledge and best practices are

High Performing Organizations.High Performing Organizations.

Second Characteristic:Second Characteristic:

Organizations that foster organization-wide sharing Organizations that foster organization-wide sharing of information, knowledge and best practices are of information, knowledge and best practices are



The Second Building Block of Organizational DNA


One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees?

• In the January-February 1968 issue of the Harvard Business Review, Frederick Herzberg published his classic article “One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees?”

Dr. Herzberg identified two types of motivational factors: factors that prevent dissatisfaction on the job and factors that enhance satisfaction. His study suggested that the factors resulting in job satisfaction were different from

the factors that lead to job dissatisfaction.

Dr. Herzberg identified two types of motivational factors: factors that prevent dissatisfaction on the job and factors that enhance satisfaction. His study suggested that the factors resulting in job satisfaction were different from

the factors that lead to job dissatisfaction.


Managers Don’t Know What Motivates Employees

• If you truly want to motivate workers you must go beyond just preventing dissatisfaction and actively promote satisfaction on the job.

© The Ken Blanchard Companies, 11/2004


So, What Motivates Employees?

• What are you looking for from your workforce?– People who are merely satisfied with their

work environment, or;– People who are truly charged up by their work

environment?

• Varied and interesting work - perhaps giving the opportunity to travel• High-quality training and development - e.g. encouragement to study

for professional qualifications• An "open door" culture in which managers are approachable• Respect for a good work-life balance - for example offering the

opportunity for flexible working• Fairness at work, including equal opportunities• Proactive and regular communication• Regular appraisal and positive feedback - restating business

objectives and recognizing your staff's contribution• Requests for feedback, either in person or via staff surveys, on how

employees feel about their roles, the support they get, and improvements to the business

• The chance to socialize with colleagues at organized events• Recognition and reward for ideas or competitive intelligence

• Varied and interesting work - perhaps giving the opportunity to travel• High-quality training and development - e.g. encouragement to study

for professional qualifications• An "open door" culture in which managers are approachable• Respect for a good work-life balance - for example offering the

opportunity for flexible working• Fairness at work, including equal opportunities• Proactive and regular communication• Regular appraisal and positive feedback - restating business

objectives and recognizing your staff's contribution• Requests for feedback, either in person or via staff surveys, on how

employees feel about their roles, the support they get, and improvements to the business

• The chance to socialize with colleagues at organized events• Recognition and reward for ideas or competitive intelligence


HPO Characteristic #3(Cash is Still the King)

• Money motivates almost everyone, employer and employee alike.

• According to Michael LeBoeuf, author of The Greatest Management Principle in the World, the No. 1 work-related reward is money.

• The challenge is to use the money motivator in ways that get the desired result

Third Characteristic:Third Characteristic:

Organizations that have designed and are using a Organizations that have designed and are using a good and fair reward and incentive structure are good and fair reward and incentive structure are


Third Characteristic:Third Characteristic:

Organizations that have designed and are using a Organizations that have designed and are using a good and fair reward and incentive structure are good and fair reward and incentive structure are


Steve Strauss, USA Today, 5/21/07


The Third Building Block of Organizational DNA


Flatten The Organization - Bill Gates Says:

• Keep a flat organization in which all issues are discussed openly.

• Empower teams to do their own thing.

Innovation Management Policies for Large Corporations, William Gates

“One key to successful business evolution and growth in today's rapidly changing economy driven

by knowledge and innovation is to let go of centralized control. People who stay closer to

customers know better the market needs and can respond faster to rapidly changing customer

requirements. In flat organizations, decisions are made faster, entrepreneurial creativity of employees

is released, and ideas are managed better.”

“One key to successful business evolution and growth in today's rapidly changing economy driven

by knowledge and innovation is to let go of centralized control. People who stay closer to

customers know better the market needs and can respond faster to rapidly changing customer

requirements. In flat organizations, decisions are made faster, entrepreneurial creativity of employees

is released, and ideas are managed better.”


How Bad is it?From the Blog World

• “Tonight I went completely berserk. I shouted so loud, I am certain every single person in that lost street of London heard me.”

• “All because of a Line Manager digging at me all day, all week, all month, all year round, before I can no longer hold it, hold to my last shred of sanity.”

• “This is the result of the American Corporate Management structure, now common place all over England, Canada, Australia, and the whole of the Commonwealth.”

Bullying Tactics of Corporate Hierarchies Breed Insanity, Roland Michel Tremblay

“I sincerely believe, without being able to prove it, that most crimes, most domestic violence, most murders, can be derived from the alienation and insanity resulting from

management hierarchies mind games.”

“I sincerely believe, without being able to prove it, that most crimes, most domestic violence, most murders, can be derived from the alienation and insanity resulting from

management hierarchies mind games.”


Lead Then Get Out of the Way

• Jim Collins in Good to Great

• “Level Five Leadership is based on the idea that respect towards people, selflessness by the leader, and a strong powerful commitment to achieve results, bring out the best in subordinates."


“Everything I Thought I Knew about Leadership Is Wrong”- Mort Meyerson, CEO of EDS, 1979-1986

• Three Jobs of the Leader– “Make sure that the organization knows itself.”– “Pick the right people to be part of the

organization and to create an environment where those people can succeed.”

– “Be accessible.”

Fourth Characteristic:Fourth Characteristic:

Organizations that simplify and flatten the Organizations that simplify and flatten the organization by reducing boundaries and barriers organization by reducing boundaries and barriers

between and around units and by removing between and around units and by removing hierarchial layers and vertical boundaries are High hierarchial layers and vertical boundaries are High

Performing Organizations.Performing Organizations.

Fourth Characteristic:Fourth Characteristic:

Organizations that simplify and flatten the Organizations that simplify and flatten the organization by reducing boundaries and barriers organization by reducing boundaries and barriers

between and around units and by removing between and around units and by removing hierarchial layers and vertical boundaries are High hierarchial layers and vertical boundaries are High

Performing Organizations.Performing Organizations.


The Fourth Building Block of Organizational DNA


Vision

• In the Book of Proverbs it is said, "Where there is no vision, the people perish.“

• Organizations whose leaders have no vision are doomed to work under the burden of mere tradition.

• They cannot prosper and grow because they are reduced to keeping things the way they have always been; they are guided by the saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Business Horizons, Neil H. Snyder and Michelle Graves, Jan 2004

True leaders see things differently. They are guided by another belief more in keeping with the competitive world in which we live. They believe, "If it ain't broke, you're not looking hard enough."

True leaders see things differently. They are guided by another belief more in keeping with the competitive world in which we live. They believe, "If it ain't broke, you're not looking hard enough."


What is Vision?

• The ability to see the present as it is and formulate a future that grows out of and improves upon the present.

• An idea of the future; an image, a strongly felt wish.

• A target toward which a leader aims her energy and resources.

Business Horizons, Neil H. Snyder and Michelle Graves, Jan 2004


The Essential “Something”

• Peter Kreeft, a professor of philosophy at Boston College, says that "to be a leader you have to lead people to a goal worth having--something that's really good and really there" (Stewart 1991). That essential "something" is the vision.


Vision = Strategy = Goals & Objectives

SMARTSpecific

Measurable

Achievable

Realistic

Time-related


Strategy Characteristics

• Set clear, ambitious, measurable and achievable goals which raise levels of aspiration and thereby create a sense of stretch.

• Set “outrageous” targets without creating de-motivation.

• Weed out everything which distracts from the focus of these goals.

Fifth Characteristic:Fifth Characteristic:

Organizations that define a strong vision that Organizations that define a strong vision that excites and challenges by developing an excites and challenges by developing an

envisioned, meaningful, compelling and persuasive envisioned, meaningful, compelling and persuasive vision are High Performing Organizations.vision are High Performing Organizations.

Fifth Characteristic:Fifth Characteristic:

Organizations that define a strong vision that Organizations that define a strong vision that excites and challenges by developing an excites and challenges by developing an

envisioned, meaningful, compelling and persuasive envisioned, meaningful, compelling and persuasive vision are High Performing Organizations.vision are High Performing Organizations.


Organizational DNA The Puzzle is Complete


Four Questions to Ask

1. Do employees have the power and the information to be actively involved in making a difference?

2. Do employees understand how specifically they contribute to the bottom line, why they are important, how they create value?

3. Is our organization - who we are, what we do and how we do it - worthy of pride and passion? If we were a volunteer organization, would anyone join?

4. Is your organization ready to turn the pyramid upside down?


Is the Culture Ready to Change?


Four Common Approaches to Talent Management Decisions

1. Is HR integrated within the department?– Talent management formally integrates people

management programs and functions so that they work as a continuous process.

2. Can people processes be integrated into standard business processes?– Talent management goes the next step and

further repositions people management programs and processes into the company’s standard business processes, such as the corporate strategic planning process, budgeting, mergers, and new product development.


Four Common Approaches to Talent Management Decisions (cont’d)

3. Can responsibility be shifted to managers?– Talent management pushes the accountability

and the responsibility for executing people management down to the line management levels.

4. Can success be measured with productivity?– Talent management shifts the success measures

from the more traditional HR and recruiting functional metrics towards measuring the overall productivity of the workforce.

Which is the approach is most likely to lead to the

development of a High Performance Organization?

Which is the approach is most likely to lead to the

development of a High Performance Organization?


Wrapping Up

If we don't change direction soon, we'll end up where we're going.

Professor Irwin CoreyAmerican vaudeville comic and actor (1914 – STILL with us!)


Conclusion

Thank youThank you

For a copy of this presentation, please visit www.inquate.com

john f. barnes, iv, mba, sphr director of human resources southwest foundation for biomedical...

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