This is not an easy first step.  Sure we all know that it’s a good thing to help the people in need.  Supporting our community is easy to discuss and believe.  No matter what we hear, in our heart, we all know that we need to protect the ecology.

Major corporations such as Canon have made this philosophy part of their culture and address changing the world for the better.  While a global company can implement on a global level, I recommend that you begin with your community.

The difference between knowing and putting into action is huge.  It’s an amazing endeavor to bring your company and its employees, vendors and customers into an environment  of mutual benefit.  If you’re up to it, I will discuss the steps necessary to begin this amazing journey for you, your family, your community and your business.

Step One – you must develop a corporate vision that gives your employees the ability to be confident and secure, knowing that their job is safe, as long as they perform the activities you have clearly communicated.  Knowing that they are doing what is best for the company, you and the other employees will take care of them, and this is considered to be collective responsibility.  Your vision statement must convey the feeling that we’re all in one boat and our fortunes rise together and they fall together.  The vision statement must communicate through collective responsibility that we can bring about a more stable company that allows the individual to reach their maximum potential.

Step Two – The vision must be applied to every employee through the entrepreneurial principle.  This principle has its roots in ancient history and it encourages each employee to behave in a responsible way, exercise self-discipline and to strive to maintain a high level of ethics and compliance with company policy and the laws of humanity and nature.  The following five fundamental attitudes must be present in all employees:

1. self-motivation – be proactive in everything you do
2. self-management- conduct yourself responsibly
3. self-awareness – understand the situation you find yourself in and your role in the situation
4. mutual benefit – always be aware of how your actions will affect you, your co-workers and your customer
5. collective responsibility – take actions that will guarantee the well being of the group as well as yourself

Step Three – Review your business processes and identify areas of variation and deviation from your vision statement.  You will not be able to change the culture overnight…it will be a marathon not a sprint!  As part of your process review, you should conduct roundtable discussions to identify how to make your new vision a reality.  Send out surveys that allow employees, customers and vendors to answer truthfully without retribution for negative comments.  In addition to the process analysis, you must develop a simple training program for conveying your new vision and how you expect it to affect the company and the individual.

Step Four – Implement the changes that you and your team have identified.  At this point it is important that each of the components of all the various systems (see posts in July & August 2016 for details) work on improving inefficiencies and adjusting expectations.  This will involve utilizing tradition tools such as project management, change management, and quality improvement methodologies such as Six Sigma.  It is critical to understand that implementing a mutual benefit philosophy is an overlay to traditional process improvement methodologies.

Step Five – Continuous improvement of your organization.  This step requires the understand that the only way to have sustainability of the benefits of a mutual benefit philosophy is by continually experiencing a creative destruction which leads to a creative transformation of your company (explained in posts August and September 2016).

This may seem like a lot of work, however, the benefits are well worth the effort.  As you read through this blog, you will be taken down a path of implementing this within your company.

You can send your questions, road blocks and successes to me by using the form on the side of this blog.  The editor will forward me the information and I will get back to you.