{ COMPANY CULTURE }

The whyfactor iscrucial tosuccessBusinesses that put numbers beforepeople are making a mistake

PADMA IYER

ALAN PRYKE

‘Customers do not come first. People come first,’ says author and academic Simon Sinek

‘For the bestcompanies, hiring islike adopting a child’SIMON SINEKAUTHOR

IMAGINE three concentriccircles. The outermost is called the‘‘what’’ circle. The middle one is‘‘how’’. The innermost circle, thebullseye, is ‘‘why’’.

People who keep the ‘‘why’’ inview — why they do what they do— will be articulating their corevalues and beliefs. Their success islong-lasting and engages thosewho work with them.

Those who talk about the‘‘what’’ — for instance, ‘‘we are inthe business of making excellentwidgets’’ — will have troublegetting others to believe in thembecause no one knows what theybelieve in.

This is author Simon Sinek’ssimple framework for under-standing people and companies.His book Start with Why explainsmany concepts, companies andpeople using the three circles ofwhat, how and why.

If you don’t know why you aredoing what you are doing, you willtire of your work very soon.

Companies with a clear state-ment of ‘‘why’’ have a strong cul-ture that employees find easy to fitinto. The best run companies careabout people.

‘‘There are very few companiesthat are truly glamorous,’’ saysSinek. ‘‘Most industries are ratherboring. They might make nuts andbolts. And the functions we havein those companies are equallyboring. We are not all in advertis-ing or making Apple products. It is

the people. It is always the people.’’Employees find fulfilment in

connecting with people and solv-ing problems.

Finding a cultural fit with thecompany gives meaning to work.It enables us to define our work interms of why we do what we do.

‘‘For the founder of a company,the personal ‘why ‘and the com-pany ‘why’ are the same thing,’’ hesays. ‘‘Because the company is oneof the things they have done intheir lives to bring to life their owncore beliefs. Richard Branson isVirgin. His personality and thecompany personality are exactlythe same thing.

‘‘As individuals, what we wantis for our ‘why’ to be consistentwith or connected to the com-pany’s ‘why’. Just like we want our‘why’ to be closely related with ourfriend’s ‘why’. That’s why we getalong with them. They don’t haveto be the same, but they have to beco-operative. So understandingone’s own ‘why’ . . . makes it mucheasier to evaluate jobs, companiesand even others that come intoour lives.’’

Sinek, who teaches graduate-level strategic communications atColumbia University in New Yorkand who is an adjunct staff mem-ber of think tank Rand Corpor-ation, is passionate about his threecircles. It is his algorithm, his tax-onomy or philosophy for under-standing the successes and fail-ures that people and businesses go

through. His words resonate withunshakable belief in the validityand consistent applicability of hisconcepts. He uses the concept ofthe ‘‘golden circle’’ — his term forthe triple-circle framework — toanalyse the success of people andcompanies as diverse as MartinLuther King and Apple.

Sinek’s book gives the example

of 20th-century English explorerErnest Shackleton, who soughtfellow travellers to the Antarcticwith this ad: ‘‘Men wanted for haz-ardous journey. Small wages, bit-ter cold. Long months of completedarkness, constant danger, safereturn doubtful. Honour and rec-ognition in case of success.’’

Shackleton was looking for a

cultural fit with his co-travellers.The ad ensured every applicantbelieved in what he did.

Successful companies look fora similar cultural fit.

‘‘The best-run companies haveaveryclearunderstandingofwhattheir culture is and who makes agood fit,’’ says Sinek. ‘‘They are re-lentless about who they let in. Forthe best companies, hiring is likeadopting a child. You are going tolet that child live in your home bythemselves, and maybe even haveresponsibility to look after yourother children. You are going to becareful about who you let in.’’

When we join a company, weare joining a collection of people,says Sinek. ‘‘Just as the companyneeds to screen for the child theyareadopting,weneedtoscreen forthe family we are joining.’’

People don’t need to feel trap-ped in their jobs, especially if theyare no longer deriving any fulfil-ment. ‘‘Most of our careers areaccidents anyway,’’ he says. ‘‘Veryfew of us are living our childhooddreams.’’ Considering job skills aretransferable and the diversity ofskills can be useful in a new job,people should never feel stuck.

‘‘The most valuable thing in acompany is its people,’’ says Sinek.‘‘Companies don’t make decisions,people make decisions. Compan-ies don’t merge. It’s always peopledoing business with people. Sowhat fascinates me is the numberof companies who put numbersbefore people. Yet the numberswon’t help you in hard times. Thenumbers won’t innovate. Thenumbers won’t find solutions todifficult problems. And the num-

bers won’t keep your customershappy. Numbers are always a re-sult. So we cannot put them first.’’

Sinek finds it strange that manycompanies should declare theyputcustomers first. ‘‘Customersdonot come first,’’ he says. ‘‘Peoplecome first. Some of them buy fromyou, some of them work for you.’’

Company managers shouldlook after their people with thesame sense of responsibility thatparents have towards children,Sinek says. ‘‘We don’t want to doeverything for them. We wantthem to learn self-reliance. Wewant them to invest effort to getreward. We want them to dochores before they get their pock-et money, not just get it for free.We have to teach them to workhard and they will get the rewardat the end. And . . . we will protectthem and offer them safety. Andthis is why our children love us.’’

It works the same way in com-panies. ‘‘We want to give our peo-ple skills, we want to give themopportunity, we want them to tryfor themselves, but we will pickthem up when they fall over. Man-agers should think of themselvesas parents. Not in the sense of you-do-as-I-say parents but in thesense of I love you uncondition-ally and I want to see you succeedand I want to be proud of youwhen you grow up.Ten years fromnow, I want to say: That was myemployee and I am so proud, lookwhere he or she has gone on to.’’

Start With Why: How GreatLeaders Inspire Everyoneto Take Action, by Simon Sinek(Portfolio Penguin).

WORKOUT

Size doesn’t matterwith social mediaYOU don’t need to be a big,powerful organisation to utilisesocial media and get results, saysGreg Savage, CEO and founderof Firebrand Talent.

Savage says his company hasgained scores of new clients andgenerated client fees worthhundreds of thousands of dollarsover the past year through anintegrated social recruitmentstrategy.

‘‘Using a mix of social mediachannels, our website, blog, anonline survey and marketingtools that don’t cost the earth,we’re now generating a directflow of candidates fromuntapped talent pools anddeveloping broader clientnetworks. We’ve been able toreduce our traditional sourcingexpenses, such as on job boards,by 90 per cent ,’’ Savage says.

‘‘For a business of only 80staff, it goes to show that anyonecan reap the benefits of socialmedia to create a competitiveedge, but you need to be ready toaccept a degree of trial and error.

‘‘We work in a world that ismore transparent, with fewerdegrees of separation, andwhere people want fasterresponse times. Recruitersneed to stay relevant and aheadof the game.’’

Savage says the key is to havean authentic presence onlineand to recognise that with theright training and resources,your employees can be yourbiggest brand advocates.

Greg Savage will be a speaker atthe May 22-24 AustralasianTalent Conference in Sydney.

PROFESSIONALWEEKEND

COST OFE-HEALTHTaxpayers in pain (HEALTH, BACK PAGE)

MAY 12-13 , 2012

NEGOTIATEFAIR PAYValue a vexing issue(EMPLOYEE PROFILE, P2)

TALENTSEARCHBP tackles growth(EMPLOYER STRATEGY, P3)

MORE THAN35,600 JOBSACROSSAUSTRALIA

How to pitch fora higher salary

WE are pitching for a highersalary wrongly, says authorSimon Sinek.

‘‘The mistake we all make isthat we attempt to make arational case for an increasedsalary. We write down all thethings we have accomplished,and we bring this list ofaccomplishments. We expectthat it will convince someoneto pay us more. It is the samelogic when companies arelooking to fire someone: theywill list the things they havedone badly. The problem is, forevery list of good and bad thereis the opposite list . . .

‘‘Every time we are askingfor something, we are selling

. . . We want them to give ussomething. In return we willgive them something. Yougive me money, I will give youhard work.

‘‘Selling is the wrong word.We are helping them buy.We want our companies tobuy more of us. So we have toput into words what they willbe buying, not what they havealready got . . . They are goingto pay for something they aregoing to get later.

‘‘We always make the casethat I should be paid more forwhat I have already done.’’Instead, we should be makinga case for what companiescan look forward to.

‘‘Nobody wants to buy thepast, they want to buy thefuture,’’ Sinek says.

PADMA IYER

Ngaanyatjarra Health Service is currently seeking a

General Practitioner(4 weeks on / 4 weeks off)Up to $267,000 per annum

Based in Western Australia you will provide optimum primary healthcare to the 11 communities with an emphasis on health promotion, infectious and lifestyle related diseases, and participate in other programs when required.

A Ngaanyatjarra Health Service General Practitioner is an integral component of a comprehensive trans disciplinary primary health care mode. There is a supportive work environment with Remote Area Nurses and health workers.

An attractive salary package will be negotiated with the successful applicant.

Qualifi cations: Medical practitioner registered to practice independently in Western Australia.

The job application packs and closing dates are available at www.nghealth.org.auApplicants must address the selection criteria listed in the job description.For further information, please contact Mr Brett Cowling on 0439 267 215.

Photography by Marcel Campbell

Centacare is a leading faith and values based provider of social care services in NSW – an

agency of the Catholic Diocese of Broken Bay. Our programs directly assist over 15,000

people each year. With 400+ employees, a skilled and experienced Senior Manager in the

human resources field is now needed.

As a member of the Senior Management Team you will offer guidance and support

regarding all HR matters and have a strong grasp on IR issues. Previous experience

working in Award based environments and negotiating EBA’s will be key to this position.

This role offers an excellent opportunity to demonstrate strategic thinking and

leadership skills.

To express interest, contact Carole Sequeira at:

carole.sequeira@dbb.org.au or (02) 9481 2604

www.centacarebrokenbay.org.au

Centacare is a child-safe and child-friendly organisation – as such all staff must comply

with our child-safe child-friendly policy and code of conduct. All staff appointments are

subject to a satisfactory Working with Children Check in accordance with the Commission

for Children and Young People Act 1998

SENIOR MANAGER,PEOPLE AND CULTURELEADERSHIP AND CAPACITY TO INFLUENCE