The Clifton Review
The Clifton Review is a tri-weekly column that examines the question of the Clifton project along with the evolution of the war between two billionaires. We covered the start of this war with articles describing the battle over easement rights, the mysterious burning of a home, the blocks to rebuilding, and countless questionable court filings.
While the 2018 series salutes fashion mogul Peter Nygård’s Golden Jubilee detailing his rags to riches story, his incredible business success over these past fifty years and an inside look at how he did it, The Clifton Review will also continue to address current affairs as they relate to the good of The Bahamas.
Setting The Right Foundation
By P.J. Malone
When organizational strategies, systems, processes, and human resources are not aligned not only can it result in lack of organizational effectiveness, it can cost a company money, just like in the following example with a financial services company.
An organization development consultant was called in to do a review of the organization because the executives felt like the company somehow was losing out on business opportunities. The organizational review discovered a number of problems impacting the business.
One of the discoveries made was that the company grew very quickly, in terms of adding new services and products, and they didn’t make it a point to ensure that all of the employees were aligned with even what the company was all about.
If a potential customer called the company to find out if the company offered a particular financial service, very often they were told “no” simply because those answering the telephones were not aware of the new services being added to the company’s list of financial products.
Clearly these employees were ‘heading to Miami’ while the company was trying to ‘go to New York’ (as discussed in a previous article).
Fundamental to the intent of aligning human resources with company strategies, objectives and processes is setting the right foundation. That means communicating to employees not just your company’s purpose, it’s goals and objectives and business strategies, but also what services are offered especially new ones being added.
One of the things fashion mogul Peter Nygard will tell you is that he often relied on his instincts when identifying strategies for achieving business objectives. When you assess his business, you’ll observe that this has worked really well for Nygard. He has instinctively implemented effective business strategies, which have created his phenomenal success.
Peter Nygard has created a system within his organization that ensures that the right foundation is set for new employees in their week-long orientations.
During their orientation, Nygard’s new employees learn about the history of the company, the company’s structure, purpose and goals, the company’s core values, and the development of its product lines; they are trained on its communication systems, processes and procedures and made aware of company policies. While we don’t know all of the details of their orientation process, suffice it to say that it is very detailed and covers all of the bases.
And Nygard doesn’t stop there: there are weekly ten to twenty-minute update meetings held by division to keep all employees informed about company news and developments including new staff joining their ranks. When there is no news, those sessions are used for short trainings as reminders to support employees in their job functions.
This explains why when asking any employee about the company’s purpose, they will each tell you that it is about making the woman feel beautiful from the inside out.
This is also smart strategy. Every employee in your company is a potential sale. Imagine the possibilities for increase in sales if employees always know what’s going on. They can and will excitedly tell friends and relatives of new products their company is producing, just like they were excitedly told about it in company updates.
One can only imagine the excitement and buzz in the NYGARD weekly updates once SLIMS came on the market. (SLIMS is the revolutionary pant designed by Peter Nygard that offers an Exclusive Slimcurve TechnologyTM with compression that lifts and curves the butt, eliminates muffin top and creates a slimmer look.) Employees, no doubt, spread the word on this revolutionary pant.
It doesn’t matter what your company’s purpose, mission, or goals are; as long as you work to ensure that everyone is singing from the same hymnal. Once that happens, your company is better aligned and more likely to achieve your business goals.
Next, we’ll discuss ways to set the right foundation.
