Most organisations have at least two contexts - employer and employee. A few achieve one, shared context, in which both employer and employee see themselves as being on the same side, with the same interests, focussing on growing the company through customer focus.
Yell, the publisher of business telephone directories that has just expanded from the UK into the US, appears to have achieved this much-talked about but rarely achieved state.
Yell is big - £1.18 billion turnover (approaching $2billion US) and it's been in the FTSE 100 for two years now. It employs 3,750 people and is the only company to have won the European Quality Award (the equivalent of the Malcolm Baldrige Award in the US) twice. A central category in the award is customer focus.
It scores way above its peers on employee satisfaction and employ buy-in. If 'a cause' is something you belong to and believe in, then Yell has achieved that kind of status among its employees without the ideological trappings of some companies.
And this is the recipe that achieves that, says its External Relations Director, Richard Duggleby:
1. TOP TEAM LEAD KEY PROGRAMMES
They don't launch them then drop in three months later for a progress report. They get their hands dirty, take chances, make mistakes by openly leading change programmes
2. RECOGNITION
Nothing to do with reward. It's well-researched that 96% of any recognition programme will be thanking people and acknowledging their contribution to the organisation's overall purpose.
3. INVOLVEMENT & COMMUNICATIONS
The CEO meets all 3,750 people in the company at least once a year. He holds a gruelling but rewarding round of Q&A sessions.
In the annual staff attitude survey, 95% of employees say they know they will be listened to.
The key group objectives are put in a booklet and given out by managers who hold sessions discussing it with staff. Key number targets are in it and targets and results from last year.
Crucially, every single one of the 3,750 staff is named in a role call through the booklet. The first thing many people do when they receive the booklet is comb through to find their name.
The night they receive it, many go home and say to their partner or parent: "Look: That's me".
The CEO constantly describes his vision to the workforce as being a jigsaw puzzle of 3,750 pieces, all displaying a passion for excellence. One missing piece - one person not pursuing the company's goals with passion - spoils the whole.
4. COMMUNITY
Schools initiatives to recycle directories (1,000 tons recycled through this route last year) and longterm support for charities such as Marie Curie reinforce the employees' sense that this is a company worth working for.
5. ROLE MODEL LEADERSHIPbr>
"This is the only way to make a difference in a company. I can't stress it enough".
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