top of page

Every business wants to be a high performer - and every business owner is looking for the magic bullet to make it happen. There is no shortage of quick-fix solutions in the market to make businesses appear high-performing, and there is also no shortage of business failures due to these quick-fix solutions. If the business solutions were easy, we would all get them right all the time - but it's just not that easy.

​

Last year, HR Coach's research identified what separates high-performing businesses from the pack. It looked at the data of more than 700 small to medium Australasian businesses that had completed a valid and reliable business assessment. The numbers were then analysed across a range of cross-referenced measures to ensure that the real anchors and gems could be found.

​

This year, the data forced the analysis to go deeper, specifically on business culture (including the behaviour of the business owner), as this ultimately drives employee culture and, subsequently, business performance.

​

Culture Drives Performance

​

Intuitively, we know that culture drives performance. We can all identify businesses that have a ' good' culture and those that have a ' bad' culture - and this assessment is often based on single points of interaction with people from a business. i . e the behaviour of anyone/ everyone in a business who we deal with, helps us to assess the culture of that business.

​

HR Coach also knows from its own work with more than 4,000 small to medium enterprises (SMEs) in the market over the last 14 years, that most business owners and managers struggle to identify or articulate what their core cultural drivers are for their business. More disturbingly, they also can't tell whether their own cultural drivers actually help or hinder their business's performance and/ or success.

​

HR Coach has been researching the culture drivers of SMEs since 2003 and has identified some key management culture drivers and employee culture drivers that are relevant to all businesses. The latest research has now identified how significant these culture drivers are for company performance - and helps to realise where businesses need to invest time and effort if they are seeking to lift their company performance.

​

So, let's look at what the numbers tell us about management and employee culture.
 

image.png

Focusing on the data since 2015:

 

  • There was a 17 % gap between low and high-performing businesses in terms of strategic alignment and company performance.

  • There was a similar 17 % gap in management culture results between low and high-performing businesses - which indicates that if businesses want to improve their strategic alignment and performance, they need to l i f t management culture/ performance.

  • Workplace culture results trended consistently above management culture results, i . e. Some teams work well, despite their managers - but great team results only exist when there are great managers. Lifting manager and employee culture results will improve labour performance and return in the business while reducing wastage and turnover.

  • Employers in high-performing businesses are 29 % more satisfied with the strategic alignment and performance of their business, showing that there is a positive exponential return for businesses if they can get the management culture right.

  • Business owners need to lead by example in changing and improving the management culture of the business, as i t is core to the sustainability and profitability of their business.

image.png

Management Culture Counts!

​

The Australasian research shows that there are significant gaps between high and low-performing businesses ( as shown in the graph above) in the following specific areas.

​

  • Self Motivation ( Low Performing 71 % v High Performing 83 %)

  • Good Quality Communicators ( Low Performing 61 % v High Performing 77 %)

  • Team Leadership ( Low Performing 66 % v High Performing 80 %)

  • Business Acumen ( Low Performing 64 % v High Performing 79 %)

  • Quality of Planning and Being Organised ( Low Performing 59 % v High Performing 76 %)

Measures In Detail

 

Let's look at each of these measures in more detail. 

​

Self Motivation

Most managers are self-motivated consistent with their own natural management style. Many managers would benefit from understanding what their own management style is and what the style is of other managers and or business owners that they work with - as these need to be complimentary rather than competitive to maximise positive outcomes for the business.

​

Self-motivation is a key culture driver for managers, as managers frequently determine the priorities and resource allocation for the business to achieve its strategic outcomes. However, some managers are so self-motivated ( moving at such a fast pace) and are so focused on leading from the front that they can often find themselves way out in front, with no one behind. They can then find themselves having to do all of the work/ tasks while getting frustrated that they are the only ones working hard for the business. If you find yourself in this situation, you need to reduce your speed and allocate time and effort to create an environment that motivates other people in your team to do the work/ tasks.

​

Good Quality Communicators

Managers need to improve their questioning, listening, reflecting and communication skills, and reduce

their directing/ demanding communication skills. Learning how to build a coaching connection (openness/ commitment/trust) with every communication event/ task has improved communication outcomes every time.

 

By improving their questioning and listening skills, managers will find that they don't know everything about everything, reflecting the complexity and reality of business these days. If managers can improve their communication outcomes, it will lead to improved decision-making and leadership performance, which are other core culture measures of management.

​

Team Leadership

Managers are expected to provide ongoing leadership to their teams, which is becoming more and more

challenging for many reasons. There are now four generations in the workforce, the labour market has high levels of mobility, customers are becoming more demanding and cost-conscious, and technology and competition are changing regularly. In this environment of ongoing and significant change, leadership styles have to adapt to respond more effectively to the challenges - and one size/ style does not work for all.

​

Managers need to understand their own natural leadership style and then learn to modify it to be more effective across all environments they face.

 

Businesses don't make decisions; people do, and leadership styles have to change to improve the speed and quality of decision-making across and throughout every business by improving the leadership of people.

​

Business Acumen

Managers make decisions every day that have a financial impact on a business. The allocation of resources, the prioritising of work tasks, and the focus on quality and customer service all have a cost and potential return - while rework, missed deadlines, and wastage all have a negative cost on a business.

 

Managers need to communicate and explain the constraints that impact their decision-making so that their work teams are better informed and motivated to propose and support solutions that will deliver a better outcome for the business. Communication is again core to Managers being able to demonstrate their business acumen and arrive at solutions that ensure the sustainability and profitability of the business.

​

Quality of Planning and Being Organised

This measure is the one that Managers score worst on, primarily because it requires good performance on all other measures to demonstrate to the team that the Manager has a good plan and is organised - as all managers are operating in a changing environment. Being organised and getting team members to buy into the plan requires good time management skills, in addition to the other Manager culture measures.

​

bottom of page