People make up a company, and what they believe about work shows up in what they do
By Gail Flower
There are so many ways that you communicate your company’s core values in the work that you do every day, that it’s difficult to put it into words sometimes. And in the long run, it’s what we do that identifies who we are rather than what we say, of course. Usually at most printing operations we see a one-sentence mission statement printed on a wall that management designed along with a current safety record, and pictures of the latest group picnic. But surely there’s more than a sentence, a graph, and a social gathering that makes your company really great.
I just read a news report on International ARC Awards in New York City. Neenah Paper Inc. won an award for their 2009 annual report titled, What We Believe. It won the overall Best of Show Award. Why was this one chosen?
It starts out by saying that that the company believes in its employees, in service, in product performance, in social responsibility, and in challenges. In a severe economic downturn, Neenah turned to employees to explain their beliefs and how they were putting them into action to implement solutions to increase the value of their services and products to their customers.
Here are a few of their core beliefs and how they implemented actions based on these beliefs to increase their value and improve the bottom line in tough times: One employee came up with cash-forecasting models for various scenarios so that the company could respond to liquidity needs quickly. In R&D, a staff member developed a large-scale air filter with nanofibers to broaden Neenah’s products into heavy-duty filters for manufacturers. Another employee wrote a software program on his own time for reducing setup time for slitter knives used in the production of filter media, saving an estimated €39,000 annually.
I tested this out on our staff to see what we believed in and to see expressions of those work ethics in action. Here are a few that we came up with. We believe in hard work. There’s no such thing as standing still when producing a really great magazine—you’re either sinking or rising. We will do the best every day to find sources of information to write interesting copy, to design the most attractive layouts, and to make learning about the industry an enjoyable activity for the reader. We pay sincere attention and really listen to all people in the industry. We meet all deadlines.
People make up a company, and what they believe about work shows up in what they do. You might try this same informal activity with your employees just to see whether you’re all playing the same game.
In a recent online survey, we asked printers about the most difficult part of customer satisfaction. Buyers of industrial printing are most concerned about the speed of production followed by the low cost for a printed product. But in a discerning world, for supplies and equipment, from which type of company would you rather buy: a company that gives the lowest price bottom-line product or one that manages to control the price of a best-in-class product by using quantity buys, the latest equipment, the best software, and the fastest response from trained employees? Given the choice, it seems we all want the best. It’s a lot easier to buy from a company with similar core values—one that knows why and how to deliver the best quickly. A company with smart employees. These are the people whose actions give your mission statement meaning.
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