Who is reflected in Your Business?

Businesses and organizations are systems by definition whether functional or dysfunctional. The same can be said about marriages, they are system between two individuals and whole families. For families the system is different than a business but it is a system without a doubt.

Because businesses and organizations are systems the whole organization will be reflected in how the executives perform for the most part. There are exceptions of course but usually is goes like this. If the boss says “our client is stupid” all individuals in the organization will think or say “our client is stupid”. If customers are a pain to serve for the boss it will be a pain for the employee as well. If the owner is frantically running around all day doing mundane tasks and never stop to think where he wants his business to be in 5, 10…years that is exactly what the employees will be doing.

On the other hand, if the CEO of a company plans strategically and teaches his employees how to use the system he develops they will follow it (not to say that it will always be easy for the CEO or employees). Of course it is also important for the CEO to follow what he teaches. If employee retention is important to a President of a company he will provide adequate ongoing training and support for his employees so that will be more fulfill at work.

The challenge from being one to becoming the other (dysfunctional to functional) is and quest to learn and grow.

I’m currently exploring community in business. Having experience community on a personal level for two years now it can have a profound impact on people as it has for me. Recently I bought a book called, “Community Building: Renewing Spirit & Learning in Business” featuring 34 Essays by authors currently involved in community building in businesses. No essay suggests that building community in business is easy but all say that is it a rewarding experience.

An essay written by Beth Jarman and George Land and then say, “One of the assumptions that must be made in building new communities is that everyone is creative and that each person has a unique contribution to make to the whole. The rigid structure….assumes that people must be controlled and managed.” I have also seen where the last thing a manager wants to do is take responsibly for managing people. That is perhaps even worse then controlling and managing people.

I will continue writing what I’m learning about community in business and I’m also doing research right now in how I could bring community to businesses.