Moving From Good to Great —
Building A High-Performance Organizational Culture
by Steve Gravenkemper
Auto Dealer Alert, 2007 Volume 3    

“Culture” is often defined as a shared set of beliefs, values, and expectations developed over time and passed down through generations of management. It defines how things get done in organizations, and it’s the organization’s people that propel it forward. High-performance organizations are defined by agility, understanding that culture must align with marketplace factors as much as with an organization’s mission or vision and a willingness to embrace change. In a high-performance culture, staff move together in the same direction to attain clearly defined, shared goals.

Developing a high-performance organizational culture is essential to future organizational success. When creating a high-performance culture in your dealership, consider these five best practices.

1. Define a winning strategy. Providing an effective blueprint for capitalizing on marketplace opportunities and existing organizational competencies is an important first step before turning attention to “people” issues. In his book, Good to Great, Jim Collins likens a journey on a bus to traveling toward organizational greatness. But before you load up the bus, you’ve got to determine your destination.
   

2. Get the right people on the bus. Create a leadership success template that accurately describes behaviors, communication, and leadership styles needed to move your dealership forward. Then identify and select the right people and place them in roles that best utilize their abilities. This is one of the most important decisions to make when building high-performance organizational cultures.
   
   Rather than leaving these decisions to chance or a “gut” reaction, consider using objective assessments to complement internal knowledge. Such executive and personnel assessments utilize a blend of skills and abilities testing, personality and leadership instruments, interest inventories, and structured interviews to identify strengths and target areas for professional development.
   

3. Communicate effectively at all levels. Too often, although senior management can clearly and specifically discuss the future state of the dealership, the rest of the dealership remains puzzled and confused. Two key challenges critical to communication are:

   • Effective communication of the “future state” of the dealership, including a compelling description of why the dealership is moving in that direction.

   • Clearly explaining what the dealership wants individuals to do differently.
     This ability to clearly define what individuals are expected to do differently is typically a major stumbling block to effective execution.
     

4. Engage your people. A famous newscaster once interviewed a custodial worker at the Kennedy Space Center. “What do you do?” he asked. “I helped put a man on the moon!” replied the custodian. This illustrates the feel and energy of high-performance cultures.
   
   It’s crucial that the entire dealership is actively engaged. Incorporating input from people at all levels increases engagement and buy-in throughout. In addition, engaging formal and informal leaders at all levels accelerates the movement from good to great, as suggestions from those closest to the customer enhance implementation and execution.
   

5. Align reward systems with strategy. High-performance cultures are successful in creating an environment where everyone is pulling in the same direction for the common good of the dealership. Ensuring that reward systems (compensation, promotions, etc.) support the business objectives of the dealership is a key component in successfully aligning behaviors with desired outcomes. Systems that reward old behaviors, while expecting different results, create a recipe for frustration and failure.

In high-performance cultures, there’s a positive energy that pulses through the dealership. That energy is as far-reaching as it is contagious, and it’s not achieved overnight. However, by developing a winning strategy, selecting the right staff, and aligning them in the pursuit of clearly communicated, common goals, you can increase bottom-line results. For more information on how to transform your dealership into a high-performance organization, please contact Steve Gravenkemper at 248.223.3699.