Amazing Workplace
Suppose you want to design the best company to work for. What would it be like?
After researching various parameters we came to the conclusion that underlying the differences of circumstance, industry, and individual ambition, an organization that operates at its fullest potential by allowing people to do their best work has six common imperatives.
These parameters help you create an “Amazing Workplace.” In a nutshell, it’s a company where individual differences are nurtured; information is not suppressed or spun; the company adds value to employees, rather than merely extracting it from them; the organization stands for something meaningful; the work itself is intrinsically rewarding, and there are no illogical rules.
Features of an Amazing Workplace
LET PEOPLE BE THEMSELVES
The ideal organization is aware of dominant currents in its culture, work habits, dress code, traditions, and governing assumptions but, makes explicit efforts to transcend them. We are talking not just about the buttoned-down financial services company that embraces the IT guys in shorts and sandals, but also the hipster organization that doesn’t look surprised when someone wears a suit. Or the place where nearly everyone comes in at odd hours but that accommodates the one or two people who prefer a 9-to-5 schedule.
UNLEASH THE FLOW OF INFORMATION
The organization of your dreams recognizes that in the age of Facebook, WikiLeaks, and Twitter, you’re better off telling people the truth before someone else does. It respects its employees’ need to know what’s really going on so that they can do their jobs, particularly in volatile environments. Radical honesty is not easy to implement. It requires opening many different communication channels, which can be time-consuming to maintain. Particularly today, when trust levels among both employees and customers are so low and background noise is so high, organizations must work very hard to communicate what’s going on if they are to be heard and believed.
MAGNIFY PEOPLE’S STRENGTHS
The ideal company makes its best employees even better — and the least of them better than they ever thought they could be. In robust economies, when competition for talent is fierce, it’s easy to see that the benefits of developing existing staff outweigh the costs of finding new workers. The employee-employer relationship is shifting in many industries from how much value can be extracted from workers to how much can be instilled in them. At heart, that’s what productivity improvement really means.
Continue reading What is an Amazing Workplace?
