A Book Review from

October 1996

Allan Cox with Julie Liesse

Redefining Corporate Soul: Linking Purpose & People

Irwin Professional Publishing, 1996.

—reviewed by Fran Sayers, Ph.D.

A clearly defined purpose pursued with passion is a hallmark of long-term profitable companies. Corporate soul is linked with purpose or mission and derives principally from the company’s leaders and their influence on staff, customers and community.

In a company with corporate soul, excitement bubbles to the surface over solving a client’s problem and learning new ways to do what the company does best.

The company knows clearly what they do best and pursues excellence in that product with evangelistic fervor. They make it safe for employees to learn by trial and they live what many organizations say, “People are our greatest asset.”

The company with corporate soul does not make deals--buying, selling, merging- -just to get bigger. They keep their root values clearly in focus and deal only with others with similar values.

The company with corporate soul creates effective ongoing renewal. Renewal programs, no matter under what set of jargon, often fail to change the organization because:

• The would-be changers never knew or failed to rediscover the organization’s purpose.

• Leadership failed to work on the knowledge and attitudes of individuals.

• Top management attempted to impose radical change from the top.

• Many executives equate new words with real change.

Cox recommends a seven-step renewal process:

• Discover and establish hidden organizational purpose as the engine of renewal.

• Win support of the renewal effort by building a case for it with all employees through courses, workshops and regular communication.

• Mobilize the plan around departments and other existing groups and their leaders.

• Design the organization.

• Top team generates a broad template; other teams fill in details.

• Consolidate gains by responding to solutions from the units.

• Fine-tune performance. Walk around where people are working. Talk and ask questions. Review communication practices.

• Renew the renewed organizations. Allow teams freedom to act on their purpose.

• And, remember change is continuous; renewal is never finished; treat it as a journey.

Cox urges companies to go on from renewal to resonance; he defines resonance as renewal that is authentic in every part and every action of the company and that shines into the community. To achieve resonance, a company must:

• Eliminate the gaps between what they say and what they do. [overå ]

• Capture and savor the flashes those brilliant moments in corporate life when everything fits together and everyone seems truly alive, productive and delighted to be a part.

• Foster an attitude of habitual opportunism. Welcome every bit of information that you can use to improve, even in small ways.

• Work toward an overlap between corporate and individual purposes. Workers do not want to be nameless, faceless, They want to play a part, make a difference and think of their work as bigger than their jobs.

• Be a caring organization. Care about everybody’s well-being including the CEO. A frazzled, grossly overworked CEO cannot impart vision, cultivate purpose and set the pace for renewal.

Spread the gospel of team values. Start by recognizing that teamwork is natural to most people; we have been introduced to teams in our personal lives. Effective teams illustrate nature’s tendency to entrainment, meaning systems and organisms get themselves in sync naturally. People have a natural desire to cooperate. Reward team behaviors to foster more team work. Teams need three values

• Authenticity,

• Primacy of good of team, and

• Collaborative style.

"Collaboration without consensus is the soul of organizational advantage." Consensus is defined as an effort to get everyone to agree, in most cases quickly. Collaboration, on the other hand, is healthy, hearty discussion of issues: a meeting of keen minds. Thus, a team is a place where pretense is stripped away and people can state honest views safely and debate their merit. Teams in a renewed organization provide a place where a variety of view points and lively discussion including dissent are all valued. Team members do not have to give up their individualism; they only give up phony parts of themselves and become more real and distinctive.

A team member’s creed appropriately includes a belief in: involvement, collaboration, soliciting opinions, questioning, admitting the unknown, frankness, authority as trust to be delegated, the boss(who’s there for a good reason) lifelong learning, deeper wisdom than charisma, clarity of options and consequences, and team vision.

Always take the long view and the high road. Look for what your organization will be in the future. Do everything to the highest standard.

Information technology (IT) can save your corporate soul. Modern technology can keep you in touch with more people and with greater ease than ever before. Using well-chosen equipment enables us to achieve our goals. In addition to the 100 year old telephone, we have rich resources in: e-mail, video conferencing and computer networking to name just a few. Key questions to ponder in making sense of IT include:

• How does information keep people apart? How can it bring people together?

• How does and should IT influence organizational development? relationships?

• Can IT facilitate purpose, renewal and resonance?

• Is technology fighting for the soul of your corporation? Or are you using it to redefine your soul?

Three points to keep in your thinking:

• IT will not solve your cultural problems.

• People don’t deal well with uncertainty and will react to the changes of technology with resistance, mistrust, etc.

• The past 20 years have brought less resistance to technology.

To use technology as a force for entrainment:

• Introduce new technology systems to realize purpose not just improve efficiency and monitor how adding electronic links among people and units will change organization’s design.

• Although IT comes from natural sciences, it is applied in the social sciences. Expect the unexpected--humans are involved!

• Anticipate changes IT will effect in hierarchy and focus on the positive.

• Put comfort and clarity of communication first. Consider impact on the recipient of a message.

• In concern for computer links, don’t neglect the face-to-face link.

• Provide the right equipment and the right information for teams to succeed.

• Pay more attention to the information than to the technology.

• In the face of turbulence and uncertainty, don’t rely on technology as a panacea. Sometimes old-fashioned ways of problem solving are best.

• Keep your equipment inventory growing and your people learning.

Above all, use IT to discover, clarify, and elaborate your corporate soul. Stick to what you know, what you do best with unflagging zeal. ¨