Peeling Back the Onion on the Best-Run Companies

By Lee Froschheiser, President and CEO, MAP

Highly successful companies have the basic components that you would expect: strong financial foundations and the usual sturdy pillars: Effective leaders. Competent managers. A motivated staff. Clear plans and strategies. Concrete goals. Quality control. Attractive, reliable goods or services. And solid financial management. No surprises there.

But there is something else: these highly successful companies have not unearthed any magic formulas for success. To the contrary they simply focus tightly on their business fundamentals, not only mastering them but also weaving them deeply into their daily operations. They do the big things well and they did the little things well. Day in, day out. Year in, year out. The results are plain to see. The best-run companies, no matter what their field of endeavor, usually display a common set of attributes and virtues:

Their business goals are clear, specific, and measurable.
Their supporting values are clear, written down-and unbendable.
Internal communication is clear, up and down the company.
There is alignment: everyone understands and supports the company's mission, vision, values, and strategic objectives.
Roles are clear: everyone has a written job description, with precisely defined duties and responsibilities.
Individual goals are clear: each person has specific goals to meet, including measurable benchmarks for evaluating performance.
There are controls: everyone's performance is measured and evaluated on a consistent basis-managers and executives included.
There are incentives: people who consistently meet their goals are properly rewarded and groomed for greater responsibility.
There are consequences: people who consistently fail to meet their goals are given training, a different assignment, or if all else fails, they are given an honest appraisal and asked to leave.
There is candor: it serves no one's purpose to hide the truth or shy away from confrontation. In matters small and large, people in highly successful companies work hard to uphold the highest standards of openness, honesty, and fairness.
And their No.1 priority, always? People. The best-run companies understand, deep in their marrow, that their most important resource is not new technology, clever marketing, canny pricing strategies, or astute financial planning. No. Their most important resource, what makes them winners, is people. First and always and never any confusion about it.
Training and personal growth, therefore, are bedrock essentials. To succeed in business you need to recruit and hire the best people, train them, keep them motivated and challenged, give them the tools and incentives they needed to succeed, and do everything in your power to help them grow as individuals, managers, and leaders.

These attributes and virtues, when set down in an orderly fashion, suggest a formula, a blueprint for success, a set of ideals and practices that could lead any company or organization to growth and prosperity.