Be A Value Creator In 2015 I was at Starbucks last week, actually in the drive-thru line. When I pulled up to the window, the barista told me that the car in front of me-a perfect stranger-had paid for my vanilla mocha. Why? It doesnt matter, said the barista, just pay it forward. This is an example of value creating ―doing a favor for the good without expecting anything in return. Managers who adopt a mindset to create value hold the key to becoming truly successful leaders, says Brian Hall, professor at Harvard Business School. Promotional Consultant Today shares these insights from Hall on how to create value as you kick off 2015. More Pie For Everyone. In general, value creators work cooperatively with others to make the corporate pie bigger for all, whereas value claimers focus on taking more of the pie for themselves-the way a thief steals for personal gain. The business world is filled with value claimers, and this all-for-me attitude becomes apparent in a variety of ways. For example, during internal corporate budget disputes, some executives focus only on their own needs without considering the requirements of other departments or individuals. And then there are workers who hoard information, believing that guarding certain company know-how gives them more power. Rather than sharing customer lists that might give another department a hand in making sales, for instance, they squirrel those names away. People want to increase their power by keeping that information confidential, Hall says. But you have to make sure you cc the right people. Its important to keep in mind which people need the information in order [for them] to do their job better. A Bad Habit. Most people dont look to become value claimers, but rather just fall into it as a way of protecting their own corporate turf. Eventually, it ends up becoming a habit that sticks. The instinct to claim is strong, so everybody will naturally be a little bit both a value claimer and a value creator. But an executive can actively choose to be a value creator, someone who always looks for the win-win, leaving enough room for both sides to benefit from a deal without feeling the need to swipe every last penny. One way to be a good value creator is to give coworkers credit where credit is due. The need to appear smart can lead managers to cast blame on others for missteps or to claim an employees idea as their own when speaking before their bosses or boards-the kind of thing that can be terribly demotivating to the person who had the idea. The purpose of business is simple and well-defined, Hall says: Its to make the world a better place, to create value. After all, companies that make their purpose just about profit often do poorly because both their customers and their employees sense this quest for the almighty dollar, which makes them feel as if they are being squeezed rather than served. Source: Dina Gerdeman is a writer based in Mansfield, Massachusetts.
Posted on: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 16:29:22 +0000
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