by Lionesses of Africa Operations Department
The self made billionaire J.D.Rockefeller, who some consider the richest man ever (we don’t, for us Mansa Musa, Mali’s ancient ruler covers that accolade and ticks our ‘Africa is best’ box - just saying!), was obsessed with rules and habits that drove his own demeanour (always punctual, always well dressed, even in the early days when he was starting out with nothing), that drove how he ran his huge company, and also drove his dealings with others.
No surprise - trust was central to this dealings with others. He truly believed that if you don’t trust others, you will find it very hard in turn to gain their trust. He also had a set of rules or habits for his business and thanks to a recent webinar from HealthCap, one of our fave VC firms led by a truly inspirational Lioness, Dr Ola Brown, (well worth following both HealthCap and the great Dr Ola on LinkedIn, given the huge amount of fabulous business knowledge they freely and generously give), we learnt more about Rockefeller’s habits.
He starts with the health and alignment of his executives. This was top for him. They have to truly understand each other and in meetings everyone must feel safe to voice their own opinions allowing all to drive the company in the same direction.
His number two is the most interesting for us. “Everyone is aligned with the number 1 thing that needs to be accomplished this quarter to move the company forward.” Creating a larger focus on something of a decent size for the next quarter that can actually be accomplished and reached that in turn will drive the results to the much larger end goal. Below that of course one would look at what is required to accomplish this number 1 thing, such as priorities that certain departments need to cover to reach this. This creates a sharp focus on execution by everyone.
Three is easy - it is one of the most common issues within all organisations - that of communication. “Communication rhythm is established and information moves through the organisation quickly.” Where are or who are creating the bottlenecks. Teams not talking? People not talking? Information that does not move well or quickly through to where it is needed encourages rumours and misinformation. Poor communication within results in poor communication back to customers, suggesting inefficiencies to the outside world. Bang heads together (er…not literally we hope!) to get teams working together. This is essential!
Four: “Every facet of the organisation has a person assigned with accountability for ensuring goals are met.” If people within your company feel that they are not accountable, or fear that the person in charge of a project or department will not be held accountable and will be able to palm off any blame when something goes wrong (you know the types), this destroys trust and encourages no one to take responsibility. Not good. Be clear, be very clear as to who is in charge and what their responsibilities and obligations are - and then please hold them accountable if things go wrong.
“Ongoing employee input is collected to identify obstacles and opportunities.” The best way to learn about bottlenecks, or issues that could blow up or even ways to create greater efficiency? Ask those closest to the action. All employees views must be listened to and valued, this builds not only deep trust within an organisation, it makes employees feel 10 feet tall, but also highlights potential problems. Who knows, they might have a better, more efficient way of doing things! The person who spends all day just turning a handle on a factory machine has all day to think of a better way of doing this, or of using the machine more efficiently!
So…What should we start doing?
What should we stop doing?
What should we keep doing (more of)?
How is your company doing? What's going on in your industry/region/neighbourhood? What do you hear about our competitors? How are we doing?” These are what’s called the ‘4Qs’. Questions that Rockefeller would have approved of as his 6th habit was “Reporting and analysis of customer feedback data is as frequent and accurate as financial data.” This once a week call in with at least one customer becomes a great habit to build and when coupled with a more formal questionnaire sent out annually will give you and your team a great insight and understanding of your marketplace and your abilities.
Bain & Co., found that high growth companies spent approximately 20% of their leadership team’s meeting time discussing customer feedback. These firms were growing revenue more than twice as fast as other companies in the same sector than those spending no time proactively discussing customer feedback. What’s not to love about this 6th habit!
‘Lucky 7’ is where you strengthen the entire core and being of your company. At all stages of your business growth, you must link your values with your purpose: “Core values and purpose are ‘alive’ in the organisation.” Yes ALIVE. By bringing these alive your entire company will be genuine, be authentic. Employees must truly relate to the values of the company - this is not an elevator pitch to learn off by heart. What are our values and how does that feed into our purpose? If given even a bit of thought, your purpose must be aligned with your values, if you want your purpose to mean anything. And your values must be aligned with your purpose, if you want your values to mean anything.
Eight is interesting as it brings all employees onside (again), this time with the company’s strategy. Rockefeller wanted everyone engaged and so included all wherever he could - that is especially true of strategy. Sometimes certain decisions made by the executive seems crazy, but by bringing all inside, there is more light shown. So what is the ‘Big Hairy Audacious Goal’ of the company? Who are the company’s core customers - for that matter, what is the company’s elevator pitch? Why not bring everyone in on that, you can guarantee that all employees have been asked many times what they do and who they work for at parties, social events and school meetings. What a great opportunity to make that employee feel proud as they say: “We solve problems for ‘x’ industry by…”, rather than: “…er…we make widgets.”
Nine: “Did you have a good week or day?”, no seriously - did you? This is linked through into the KPIs for each employee, which links into quarterly priorities that in turn links into the one thing that needs to be accomplished this quarter (see no.2). Managers can’t escape this either as they are of course being held accountable (see no.4).
Last but certainly not least at no.10, again Mr Rockefeller brings everyone in with: “The company's plans and performance are visible to everyone.”
Obviously this does not include all plans such as “Tomorrow and with just enough time for you to call your broker, we are going to launch a takeover of our nearest competitor…”, obviously the SEC might have something to say about that kind of openness…, but Rockefeller strongly believed in all knowing the core values, priorities, and how well each department was doing via scorecards to show progress, in turn creating a great sense of community. Sharing is caring.
Ultimately the habits that Rockefeller used are there to focus the company on moving ever onward and upward. You have built your company up to a certain level and you are starting to feel like there is a bit of a momentum drop. Given momentum is one of if not the strongest energy in the business world (when you have it, you know it, when you don’t - you certainly know it!), if you feel that this is starting to slip, these habits are a brilliant way of regaining focus for your entire team, and the major theme flowing through these is bringing your employees in with you. You don’t even have to bring all in at once, start by picking out your core ones…
Whichever you choose, ‘Lucky number 7’ as above has to be at the core of all you do. Your values aligned with your purpose and visa versa.
Here is the amazing and totally inspirational Sara Blakely of Spanx showing you why values aligned with your purpose is sooooo important. Although she is not talking exactly about values and purpose, her values and her purpose shine through and from this short clip showing the alternative. I think we can all agree who we would rather do business with!
Stay Safe.