The MindSet
Thinking Makes It So
How do you satisfy a plenitude of diverse customer needs while still maintaining and improving production efficiency and keep aftermarket costs at bay? How do you engage all people in the organization to systematically improve toward a common goal? By focusing on nurturing a common way of thinking you will exceed your expectations.
An organization is like an organism. It functions a conscious level as well as on an unconscious level, by reflex one might say. Much of the output and results are dependent on the reflexes or habits we have or do. The output from an organization is the result of how everyone acts and behave in the organization. How we as individuals are acting consciously or unconsciously will affect the performance of the organization and ultimately the customer satisfaction.
Looking at successful companies that have stayed prosperous over time there is a factor more important than others, the company culture.
All companies talk about company culture, but what is it? The company culture is the sum of all individual behaviors and reflexes among people in the organization that has been developed over years in conjunction with company strategies and the impact those have had and will have on the organization. Considering that an organization consists of a number of individuals the company culture is a complex entity both to affect and to master. Successful companies have indeed managed to master and affect the company culture.
We at SAM consider company culture as a common company-wide mindset. A successful organization has a well-defined and communicated mindset, often by values and/or principles that guide actions and strategies.
A common mindset allows the people in the organization to function more appropriate toward the common achievements and goals. Having expressed the will of the organization gives the people and the teams the opportunity to perform improvement work that will benefit the whole organization by being aligned with all other teams, also working toward the same goals.
The importance of a common mindset cannot be underestimated. If not already defined, it should be a top priority for any company management. It is, however, a continuous exercise in which the mindset is constantly developed and reflected upon. Top management is responsible for the company culture, as being the carrier as well as being the head coach.
New people in an organization need coaching in the mindset. One might say that people need to be molded into the company culture. Unless we are shaped in the same mold, which we are not, we need to be reshaped in a company consciousness, ie the mindset. We come in as individuals but in an organization we need to function as one organism, thus remaining as individuals with unique ideas.