The most focused, most well-defined winning culture I’ve seen is the
Navy SEALS culture, and at our company we try hard every day to
replicate that personality. This is how we go about building a winning
culture.
- Define values and ingrain them in everything you do. Instilling
company core values takes communication and repetition. It also takes
action and leading by example. The values and guiding principles of any
company should be so important that without them the organization would
fail. To create and build a winning team, you need to clearly define the
values, partner with team members and clients that share the same
values, and live them every day. Also, set values-based performance
measurement systems and reward success publicly. Always reference values
when doing so.
- Team members, not employees. Navy SEALs refer to
the community as “The Teams.” We refer to ourselves as “Team-guys.” That
is how team-oriented the culture is. At IMI, we never refer to team
members as employees. In a winning culture, everyone shares a common
goal and understands how their role affects mission success. All team
members are aligned, engaged, and focused on achieving goals rather than
performing activities.
- Create an environment of trust. Many organizations
believe internal trust is nice to have but not a key factor for bottom
line profitability. That simply isn’t true. Trust directly affects speed
and cost. When trust diminishes, speed goes down and costs go up. These
economic factors are usually disguised as other things, but when there
isn’t trust between team members, or between the company and its
customers, it is impossible to achieve real success. The myths are that
trust is built solely on integrity, that you either have it or you
don’t, that if lost it can’t be restored, and that it can’t be taught.
The realities are that trust is a function of both character and
competency, it can be both created and destroyed, it can be restored (in
most cases), and be taught and developed into a measurable strategic
advantage.
- Set the right goals and constantly raise the bar. You
can’t win without setting goals and defining the path to success. It is
critical to set both attainable goals and lofty, seemingly unattainable
goals in order to drive a business forward. While celebrating the small
wins is important and keeps people engaged, we don’t want to get too
hung up on the little achievements. If this is done too frequently, we
start to master mediocrity and spend less time on working towards the
tougher goals. We need to get out of our comfort zones and push our
organizations hard. The more we do this, the larger that comfort zone
becomes and goals that used to seem far reaching will then be just
another simple win.
- Focus on results and build accountability. A
winning culture is not just about setting the right goals and pushing
hard toward milestones. It is about measuring performance, learning from
mistakes, and holding every stakeholder accountable. Accountability can
come in many forms, but in a truly winning culture that has the right
people doing the right things, people hold themselves accountable. There
is no better system for accountability than that.
Michael Wagner Vero Beach Florida Chief Marketing Officer
Highly accomplished, visionary executive manager with proven ability to impact financial, social, and political goals through commitment to global issues, innovation, and diversity. Results-oriented, decisive leader offering 15+ years of success in sales, operations, and marketing. Deliver excellence in training and service, utilizing international / multicultural experience to provide unique perspective and creative solutions, achieving high performance within diverse organizational cultures. Demonstrate rapid advancement based on high performance, with the ability to quickly transfer skills across industries. Self-starter with strong entrepreneurial spirit, high integrity, and solid work ethic; creative, highly analytical, and able to successfully manage multiple concurrent projects with keen attention to detail, excellent organization, and outstanding persuasive skills. Able to skillfully inspire, motivate, and lead teams for consistently winning outcomes.
Core Competencies
• Strategic Planning
• Operations Acumen
• Analysis & Problem Solving
• Market Research & Trend Spotting
• High-level Negotiations
• Coaching & Development
• Project Management
• P&L / Budgeting / Forecasting
• Ability to Influence & Lead
727-557-9993
