INTERNAL GOODWILL IS A QUANTIFIABLE ASSET TOO!


When you determine a valuation for your company "goodwill" is measured as a quantifiable asset of the established reputation of your enterprise over and above fair market value.

What about the internal goodwill of your company?
How much is the respectful, friendly, cooperative attitude of your work force worth?
What is the the worth of the reputation of your company to your associates?

I keep thinking in today's tough economic time that people at work will be self-centered and cynical and scared and not at all loyal.  AND they are.
BUT they don't want to be.  I have had conversations with retail workers in clothing and food recently.  Here are quotes:

I was not doing professional work when I had these conversations.

I was shopping.  I asked about merchandise and prices. 
When I smelled discontent or experienced sloppy service, I asked "Do you like working here?" 

'We don't know who we are anymore.
We don't know if we'll have jobs a year from now.
I'm selling stuff I don't care about anymore.  I don't get where we're going.
No one tells us about the future direction.
We used to be proud and know what we were about.
We want to be excited again.
It's sad that we are kind of lost.'

I was not doing professional work when I had these conversations.
I was shopping.  I asked about merchandise and prices. 
When I smelled discontent or experienced sloppy service, I asked "Do you like working here?"  Hourly people ready to express their pain about wanting to respect where they worked.  

There is good will out there waiting to be ignited.
Don't be blind to it.
It is a tangible asset or a tangible drag on the value of your company

OH, YES THERE IS!-

OH YES THERE IS!!

There really really is an X factor to a true team
As in exponential
As in magic multiplier

I've experience it as a team member
I've built it as a leader
I've seen what team does for results and a healthy company culture
And I've seen the opposite.
It can't be faked.
It is rare.
And it does make impossible things happen.

The Red Sox pennant of 2013 affirms it.
Evenly matched players
Each expert in their own role
Each needing the other to meet the goal
No super stars
All pulling on the same rope--their language
A steady at the rudder coach
Having fun
Blinking away set backs
One goal

Under tough economic duress--
With a world in turmoil--
With self-centered over paid leaders--
Team-ness  can be over looked as a luxury
It can be viewed as soft, indulgent and an unnecessary cost
Don't blind yourself to the results power of team

Not if you want to win a pennant.
Not, not, not, not, not.
Go team

DO YOU WANT YOUR EMPLOYEES TO LOVE YOUR COMPANY?

Do you actually want your associates to love the company?


I don't have the answer to that question.  
I know that I was and still am fond of the company I worked for the longest.

I must have been more than fond of it because:
I talked about it a great deal to people outside the company.
I thought about it when I wasn't at work.
I often sacrificed to give to it.
I could intuit its needs.
I was proud of it.
I wanted it to win. 
I wanted it to be healthy and worried when it wasn't.
Sounds like love to me.

And I am not that different from people who work in your company.  Many many people love their company.
Being asked to leave for a right sizing (there is no "right" word for this) is as disruptive as a divorce and just as jarring to self-esteem.
Seeing a company not live its value, as stated, is disappointing and upsetting.
Watching the erosion of trust is threatening.
People begin to learn to care less, love less.
And to leave. 
"The company's just not that into you."

That's when you begin to hear, "It's just business"-- code for "I'm going to hurt you and your loyalty but I'm not really the one doing it. Business is."

It's hard not to care for something you have given a lot of time and energy and caring.  Hard to be loyal and not love.

So it's not a cavalier question to ask, "Do you want your associates to love your company?"  Don't be blind to the fact that many do.  That's very valuable goodwill. 

But:
Would it be a good change to have people care less?
Would they work smarter and better--loyal to themselves but getting work for the company done?
Is loving your company an antiquated concept?
Can free agents be cohesive?
Can you get the x factor of performance without strong caring.
Can self interest run a company?

It's your call in many ways.  Do you want people to love your company?  

LOYAL TO WHAT?

LOYAL TO WHAT?

The easy answer to that question is, "Why, of course, loyal to the company and its mission."

What gets trickier is that loyalty to the company involves being loyal to the top leader.

What gets trickier is that there are usually people wanting to be the top leader next.

What gets trickier is there are usually only 2 or 3 people being considered to be the top leader next.

What gets trickier is that each of these possible successors tries to win the loyalty of "the people".  

What gets trickier is that each of these hopeful people want to win your loyalty  as the top leader and they are good at doing it.

What gets trickier is the whole company is trying to figure out who to be loyal to in order to get ahead or stay safe.

What gets trickier is that soon you have a company of divided loyalties

What gets trickier is trying to align that company 

What gets trickier is settling down the company after one person has been chosen next leader

Loyalty is tricky.