As members of such team, we, together with our colleagues, are expected, in varying degrees, to help nurture operations, handle day-to-day problems and opportunities, and plan and control the demands and challenges of our work with great passion and commitment. We are challenged to get our work done and manage our own selves.
Several characteristics distinguish an independent-minded, self-directed business team from other types of teams. First, it works on an ongoing basis to deliver its respective mandates armed with the zeal for excellence. Second, it works to give team members "ownership" of a program. This "ownership" requires broader definition of job categories. It expands the area where people can share work assignments, where each member is expected at various times to perform all the jobs of the team which include planning, scheduling, decision-making, taking action to solve identified problems and sharing of leadership roles.
The intensification of empowered teams is the primary element of a competitive strategy for business. It is a line of attack that is reinforced by a set of values evolved over the years. These values have to be thoroughly and carefully crafted, fine-tuned and cascaded to all members of the organization for fuller understanding and appreciation. Once understood and appreciated they should be lived out.
One such value is meritocracy. It is all about granting commensurate rewards at the right time for good performance, rather than entitlement. It gives opportunities and advantages to people on the basis of their ability rather than wealth and seniority. It covers taking quick and appropriate action on failure committed by the members of the organization, either by omission, repetition of the same mistake, or willful violation. It revolves around the values of praise and recognition, where reward is not withheld to those who deserve it, and punishment to those who do not learn from past mistakes.
Teamwork in business is a key value. It allows the organization to gain strength because every member exerts effort towards efficiency and optimum result. Specialists usually populate big companies. This, however, should not disable both managers and staff from being able to work together with a singular focus, each team making a specific contribution, each team moving towards the same direction. Teamwork can be measured by how everyone puts the good of the company over personal interests; taking accountability for individual roles, outputs and decisions; taking action based on an assessment that opportunities and rewards are worth the risks; and confronting conflict when necessary. Teamwork is a stark reminder of the adage, "The more strands an organization has, the stronger the rope."
Passion for excellence is critical in business. Everyone in the organization should always strive for excellence in doing individual work. We may not often be capable of perfection, but we owe it to ourselves, to our families, and to our co-workers to constantly endeavor to do our best and incessantly seek for improvement. To achieve breakthroughs and unending growth, we should embrace change, explore new ways as we challenge old ways, including past successes. Think of what can be achieved and contributed to our public if everyone in the organization focuses on excellence. This formula, without a doubt, can generate prosperity and success.
Teaching and learning is basic in business. This covers the job of mentoring other members of the team to become better than ourselves, or in the work we do. It is taking the initiative for learning by defining our development areas and compelling to fill our own knowledge and skill gaps. It encourages analysis of our own failures and derive lessons from them. Teaching and learning is a win-win situation. Both parties in the process get to receive positive outcomes. It brings us to a realization that the desire to learn must be ingrained in our hearts, and that the urge to teach allows our hearts to reach out and help others.
Honesty and integrity are vital cogs in business. To paraphrase an old cliché, a man is only as good as his word. Standing behind our word is every bit as relevant today as it was when a handshake was all that it took to seal a business deal. A good company is expected to deliver on commitments. The words of its members should be matched by their actions. We should walk our talk. No matter how fiercely competitive the business is, personal values should never be put aside nor should standards be lowered to the level of the unscrupulous.
Corporate reputation is a most valued asset, and one to be treasured. Our collective goal is to continually cultivate the operation to benefit current and future employees. With this end, greater success in the coming years should rest, in part, on the foundation of honesty and integrity we continue to build and rear.
Spirituality must be ingrained in business. It will be helpful for members of the organization to recognize that there is a higher being greater than us, and that our human efforts have limits. We should trust in the guidance and will of a higher being. We should be reminded that our business started with faith. Then we let go and let God.
The singular meaning behind all these values is that we are in business to serve our public. Impeccable service must be our corporate philosophy. It may be altered, dimensionalized and expressed in varying consumer-oriented communications executions but it must remain to be oriented towards the very public that grew and sustained us. As Eugenio Lopez Jr. (the distinguished Kapitan of ABS-CBN) said, "Public service is doing well by doing good. It may sound incredible, or worse still, just an ingenious public relations line. But I see it as the single compelling reason I still go to work each day."
The spirit or soul of business, Lopez underscored, "is found in the way our activities improve the quality of life of others. We consider that as a very important aspect of our social responsibility." One of the advantages of being successful in business, he added "is in the opportunity it presents to render public service without being in public office."