Creating a Culture of Winning™
Webinar Presented by:
Brad Douglas, COOEric Gregory, SVP
Welcome to Today’s Webinar
Webinar Overview
What do we mean by “culture”?
Key elements of culture
How does “winning business” fit with culture?
10 principles (steps) that support creating a culture of winning
Questions and Answers
Culture: What is it?
“…the shared values, traditions, customs, philosophy, and policies of a corporation; also, the professional atmosphere that grows from this and affects behavior and performance.”
‐World English Dictionary
“Organizational culture includes an organization's expectations, experiences, philosophy, and values that hold it together, and is expressed in its self‐image, inner workings, interactions with the outside world, and future expectations.”
‐ BusinessDictionary.com
The acknowledged and accepted expectations, values, attitudes, beliefs, rituals, symbols, actions, tools, education, and reinforcements enabling a group to sustain itself and prosper in the face of adversity and competition.
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Culture: Thrive (Win) or Die
Shawn Parr, Fast Company, Culture Eats Strategy For Lunch, Jan 2012
Culture: Thrive (Win) or Die
FOCUS: Aligns the entire company towards achieving its vision, mission, and goals.
MOTIVATION: Builds higher employee motivation and loyalty.
CONNECTION: Builds team cohesiveness among the company’s various departments and divisions.
COHESION: Builds consistency and encourages coordination and control within the company.
SPIRIT: Shapes employee behavior at work, enabling the organization to be more efficient and alive.
Shawn Parr, Fast Company, Culture Eats Strategy For Lunch, Jan 2012
Synthesis Critical to a Culture of Winning
Equip
Train
OperateEmotion Win!
Leadership
Capability
Vision
Roles Must Be Defined in a Culture of Winning
Culture requires specific talents for success.
Win!
Creators
Teachers Sustainers
Importance of Culture Roles
Creators: Bring fire. The Prometheans. Sweet Medicine (Cheyenne)
Teachers: Bring knowledge. Confucius.
Sustainers: Act. Suleiman the Magnificent.
To create a winning culture requires leaders in each role who commit to the greater organization and its success.
A Culture Must Evolve
Integrate facts, legends, art, and heroes into the organization’s social fabric.
History Win!
Stories
Visual
Exemplars
A Culture of Winning™• ClearExpectations
• LivedAttitudes
• TransmittedBeliefs
• PracticedRituals
• ObservedSymbols
• DefinedActions
• Available and usedTools
• Formal and mentoringEducation
• PositiveReinforcements
The First Step: Expect to Win!
The First Step: Expect to Win!
Set win rate and capture ratios reasonably high but not impossible
Expect everybody to contribute to winning new business in well‐defined roles
Have a “no excuses for losing” mindset (we blew it!)
Have leaders set the tone
Publish metrics and results frequently
Concepts and Lessons
The Second Step: Align Values with Winning
The Second Step: Align ValuesEstablish the Values of a Culture of Winning™
Teamwork
Discipline
Excellence
Accountability
Communication
Commitment
Innovation
Perseverance
Concepts and Lessons
The Third Step: Reinforce a Winning Attitude
The Third Step: Attitude of Winning
Attitudes often determine outcomes
Never accept a losing or neutral attitude from an individual or the
team
Generate enthusiasm, create confidence, engender
competitiveness, demand urgency
Choose attitude over skill in all cases—skills can be improved.
Attitude is fixed
Concepts and Lessons
The Fourth Step: Establish Beliefs
The Fourth Step: Beliefs
Bid less, win more!
Win early. Bid to win, not to bid
Customer knowledge trumps solution every time
The competition is always ahead until you win. Enemy gets a vote
Strategy revolves around action
You can win in the capture and lose in the proposal
Concepts and Lessons
The Fifth Step: Recognize Rituals
The Fifth Step: Rituals
Gate reviews are rituals that cement the belief structure
Color team reviews are rite of passage rituals for capture teams demonstrating maturity and
competitiveness
Kickoffs are rituals in preparation for tribal warfare
Win parties are rituals celebrating and acknowledging victory
Concepts and Lessons
The Sixth Step: Create Symbols of Success
The Sixth Step: Symbols
Capture and Proposal logos could be powerful symbols for
power and effect
Winning covers become symbols for capture and proposal
aspirants
Numbers become powerful and inspiring symbols. 60% Capture
Ratio
Colors become powerful symbols of the pursuit of
excellence. BLUE
Concepts and Lessons
The Seventh Step: Assign Action Tasks
The Seventh Step: Actions
Define the 10 actions that must be accomplished on every capture
effort to increase Pwin
Score actions at every gate review and capture meeting
Ensure each action has an accountable leader
Review each action separately with the leader once a week
Concepts and Lessons
The Eighth Step: Provide Tools
The Eighth Step: Tools
Make tools and tool experts readily available
Define and perfect your tools
Make tool use mandatory, not optional
Adapt tools, as required, to make them better
Concepts and Lessons
The Ninth Step: Educate and Train
The Ninth Step: Education and Training
Education must become win culture immersion
Must have formal and informal education
Successful capture mentor invaluable
Keepers of the flame must educate the next generation
Practical application of skill supervised by the experienced‐the only way to
achieve excellence
Concepts and Lessons
The Last Step: Reinforcements
The Last Step: Reinforce and Recognize
Reinforcements should accentuate the positive and success and help eliminate the negative and failure
Recognition should be rewards, not punishments
Reinforce with praise, tangible gifts, and setting of examples
Recognition from known “heroes” may be the greatest reinforcement
available
Concepts and Lessons
Summary: Creating a Culture of Winning™
Not optional in today’s competitive market
Knowing who you are and how you will succeed as an entity binds
people (culture)
A culture of winning has a clear advantage over a neutral culture
Vision, energy, innovation, competitiveness, are cultural
attributes
Summary: Creating a Culture of Winning™
Must be a clear objective of the organization
Can be planned, developed, and sustained
Identify your creators, teachers, and sustainers
Live your culture through every competition
When people lose their culture, they die
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Creating a Culture of Winning™
“A vibrant culture provides a cooperative and collaborative environment for a brand to thrive in. Your brand is the single most important asset to differentiate you consistently over time, and it needs to be nurtured, evolved, and invigorated by the people entrusted to keep it true and alive.”
‐Shawn Parr
Questions and Discussion