Corporate Character

In his book, What’s Your Corporate IQ?, Dr. Underwood presents Corporate Character as the “Sustainability Factor.”  Question for the day:  How would you describe your organization’s character? 

As you recall, the Corporate IQ model measures three broad areas of an enterprise:

• Strategy (the aggressiveness factors)
• Organization (the adaptive factors)
• Character (the sustainability factor)

This week we will focus on Corporate Character. 

Corporate Character: The Goal is 5.0

As you recall, an organization is challenged to match its Strategy and Organization to the Competitive Index in which it operates.  Thus, if your organization competes in an industry with a Competitive Index of 4.0, you must seek to match your Strategy and Organization to those elements identified as 4.0 (e.g.,4.0 would represent “FAST” if the element is “Speed of Decisions”). 

However, for each element of Corporate Character, the goal is not matching your Competitive Index, the goal is to maximize (pursue a 5.0 in every element).  The world is rapidly changing around you—your corporate character should be rock solid. 

Corporate character goes well beyond policies that deal with ethical behavior.  In the context of Corporate IQ, character involves the true heart and soul of the organization: 

• Its values
• Its ethics
• How it values people
• Its attitude toward excellence
• Its attitude toward quality and process

1. Values

In most cases, the firm’s values center around practices that deal with customers, vendors and employees. 

• Importance of stakeholders (from non-existent to critically important)
• Transparency (from deceptive to completely transparent)
• Practice (from none to a minimum expectation)

The interests of the stakeholders should firmly mesh with the interests of the organization.  Transparency involves every action being above board and direct.  Practice deals with how strong the organization’s culture enforces the firm’s values.

2. Ethics

Smart companies set clear, concise ethical standards.  When measuring this component of Corporate Character, one would measure: 

• Polices (from non-existent to unquestionable standards)
• Support (from none to uncompromising)

Here’s where we must “walk the talk” from the top of the organization to the bottom.  Ethical standards must be exact and the support must be uncompromising at all levels of the firm.  Otherwise, what do the ethical standards really mean? 

3. Value of People

Does your company hold supervisors accountable for how they treat their subordinates?  As W. Edwards Deming once said, “What gets measured gets done.”     

• Value of People (from abuse to exceptional)

Obviously those organizations that score low on this element have trouble finding and keeping talented people. 

4. Attitude toward Excellence

In Dr. Underwood’s view, excellence has to do with setting the highest of all possible goals.  Every member of your organization must be committed to excellence.   

• Attitude toward Excellence (from non-existent to exceptional)

How often do you hear informal discussions about excellence within your organization?  

5. Quality and Processes

Realize that excellent quality is the competitive minimum.  If you have great quality, you have potential customers—that is all—because today everyone expects great quality.  Question: Is quality a way of life in your organization or a program?  And when it comes to process, does your organization strive for continuous improvement? 

• Quality (from no standard to a total commitment)
• Process (from unchangeable to continual revision)

Conclusion

How would Dr. Underwood describe an excellent organization?

• Strategies that keeps the enterprise ahead of competitors
• An adaptable organization that responds effectively to uncertainty and surprises
• Corporate character that sustains the first two

I hope you have found these Weekly Insights on Corporate IQ helpful and stimulating.  Next week we’ll begin to look at Four Forces that are shaping the way we do business

• Globalization
• Information ubiquity
• “Always on” operations
• Shortage of top-shelf talent

Have a great week!