The Core Values of Success
Patrick M. Anderson
In 2004 I was shown a path to incredible success in business and have implemented it multiple times. It works for all types of organizations—profit, nonprofit, tribal and government organizations. It’s guided by 2 core values, respect for people and continuous improvement. But the path to that success is obscured by many obstacles—daily chaos, numerous demands, too much price, lack of resources, a culture of blame, lack of knowledge and others. Knowing your strengths and weaknesses, understanding the playing field you are on, putting together a team that is willing to follow a game plan and execute with strategies that are understood and practiced every day helps you achieve the success you want.
The path focuses on the 2 core values every day—respect for people and continuous improvement. While it sounds simple and easy to implement, the “Brutal Truth” shows us that it is not. Research shows many employees hate their jobs and are looking for the next opportunity for personal advancement and individual recognition. Developing a team where employees feel safe, valued for their contributions, and achieve a balance between work and personal lives eliminates a lot of the chaos. Learning to acknowledge the positive in your coworkers and collectively work on the flow between your jobs reduces a lot of the tension. Becoming a team that knows what to do and delivers every day eliminates a lot of conflict.
A team that respects each other, eliminates blaming others for problems and defects in the workplace and focuses daily on recognizing problems and applying the principles and tools of continuous improvement enjoy their work. Continuous improvement starts with the ability to recognize and acknowledge a problem. If you take the time to solve as much of the problem as you can immediately, your output improves. When you do it as a team, everyone’s output improves.
The future state I want businesses that I work with to achieve is to have satisfied customers served by happy, healthy employees who are empowered daily with ongoing education, training, acknowledgement for their place among a team of teams and able to go home at night with work responsibilities parked at the door. They come back the next day eager to improve and serve.
The stories told throughout this website have positive outcomes achieved with respect and continuous improvement. Not every story has a happy ending. I acknowledge a lesson taught to us by Jim Collins, author of the Good to Great series of books. We should recognize the Brutal Truth, but not become brutal in telling it. Businesses fail, problems occur, defects slip through. If we acknowledge these truths, but resolve to overcome them, we are on the pathway to continued success.