1. TheWhitePaper*
ISSUE 5 FEBRUARY 2008
Designing Your Company’s
Social Architecture:
Five Steps to Build a Culture of Appreciation across Borders
2. TheWhitePaper*
In today’s work environment where people spend more time with their work
colleagues than with friends and family, the organization they work for is a
significant part of their social fabric. In any situation where people are grouped
together to achieve a purpose, individuals want to know they belong. Further,
they want to know they belong to a “winning team” – a group that has either
proven their success in the past or has clearly defined strategies to do so in the
future. On an individual level, employees need an understanding of the value
they personally bring to the organization and they need to know they are making
a valuable contribution to the team, the company, and its customers.
In their groundbreaking people manage- social architecture, which is the method by
ment book First, Break All the Rules, Marcus which companies enable collaboration, build
Buckingham and Curt Coffman of the Gallup relationships and coordinate communica-
Organization discussed human nature as the tion between people, across teams and even
last reserve of value to remain untapped by around the world.
the vast majority of companies today. How-
So, how do you design your company’s social
ever, the power of human nature is unlike
architecture to foster a culture in which your
any other force of nature because “…each
employees will accomplish what you need
human’s nature is different. If companies
while avoiding the pitfalls that are so com-
want to use this power, they must first find a
mon in a global workforce of multiple cultures
mechanism to unleash each human’s nature,
and social standards that now also spans six
not constrain it.”
generations? In working with the world’s larg-
The mechanism to unleashing each per- est and most complex companies, we have
son’s best lies within your company’s cul- discovered there are five critical steps to build
ture – the outward manifestation of your a culture leading to success every time.
How to Build a Culture of Appreciation
1. Determine what your culture is today
2. Cultivate a global culture of appreciation
3. Evolve your social architecture
4. Communicate consistently and constantly
5. Eliminate borders through a culture of appreciation
3. TheWhitePaper*
1 DETERMINE WHAT YOUR
CULTURE IS TODAY
As in any social group, a company’s culture What is your company’s culture today? After
is defined by the people in it. The culture spending so much time and effort developing a
is the shared ways employees think and strategy, mission and values, company leaders
act, often learned over time and heavily hope those values become the basis for the
influenced by their peers and managers. company culture, but that is not always the
Yet organizational culture is a significant case. Unless the values are visibly and quanti-
driver of employee engagement, which in fiably reinforced on a daily basis, they become
turn determines how productive a person nothing more than an engraved plaque hanging
or working group is – all of which impact on the wall. Instead, the culture derives from
bottom-line results. perceptions and attitudes – the human nature
– of highly differentiated individuals.
The Results of a Solid Foundation
Increased
Bottom Line
Productivity
Employee Engagement
Culture of Appreciation
Social Architecture
4. TheWhitePaper*
A Global or Imperialist Culture? A Culture of Intimidation
Is your culture truly global or imperialistic or Appreciation?
and imposed from the country where your
Is your culture based on intimidation or on
headquarters are located? We have repeat-
recognition? The unintentional consequence
edly heard from our clients about the pain
of many productivity or quality improve-
of past “global” initiatives in the company,
ment initiatives is the creation of a culture
whether they were HR programs intended to
of intimidation to achieve goals – or else.
inspire or software systems intended to sim-
In such an environment, employees tend
plify and streamline production. In nearly ev-
to disengage from the company and their
ery case companies have first deployed in the
work, negatively affecting productivity and
headquarter’s country with eventual roll-out
performance in a potentially devastating way.
to outlying divisions with little consideration
Gallup conducted a study in 2004 finding if
given to local languages, cultural norms, or
a manager ignores an employee, the chances
work processes.
of employee disengagement are 40%. If the
In a truly global culture all divisions in all manager focuses on employee weaknesses,
areas of the world believe themselves to be the chances of disengagement are 22%. And
equally valuable to delivering on the com- if the manager focuses on an employee’s
pany’s stated mission. In this culture, all strengths, the chances of the employee being
employees perceive their contributions to be disengaged drops to just 1%. In a subse-
critical to meeting and exceeding customer quent study in 2007, Gallup found it to be
needs, thereby growing the customer base not uncommon for between one-fifth and
and increasing the bottom line. one-third of employees to say, “Not only have
I not received any praise recently, my best
efforts are routinely ignored.”
“If done well, effective recognition can develop Focusing on their weaknesses or ignor-
an international cadre of engaged employees ing employees altogether will only serve
who help drive the company’s long-term goals.” to foster a culture of intimidation. Giving
Workforce Management, Sept. 2007 them work that draws on their strengths and
then encouraging them builds a far more
productive environment. In the same 2007
study, Gallup found the average benefit of
a 10% increase in recognition to be 6.5%
greater productivity and 2% higher customer
engagement where each percentage point
equates to hundreds of millions of dollars in
sales for a Fortune 500 company.
5. TheWhitePaper*
2 CULTIVATE A GLOBAL CULTURE
OF APPRECIATION
Many studies have been conducted to try to categorize what type of culture a
company has and which is the most effective at accomplishing that company’s
priorities. Pundits seem to think that some combination of competition, coop-
eration and even aggression helps companies deliver the goods.
Our global clients have proven differently, “Companies are realizing that culture is as im-
repeatedly realizing that a culture of appre- portant as strategy and that they can’t just look
ciation that reinforces the company’s stated at the short term anymore.”
values is the best strategy to achieve the
– Barbara Bilodeau
company’s mission. A culture of apprecia-
Director of Market Research and Analysis, Bain & Co.
tion allows for individualism in approach to
accomplishing tasks, but unites employees
across geographical and divisional boundaries
need for community in their workplace and
through a common attitude of recognition for
positive relationships with high-performing
tasks well done and goals achieved. It creates
peers and managers, a need to be recognized
opportunities and a desire to say “thank you”
as individuals and to gain prestige for their
throughout the day, month and year.
contributions. In a study of more than 1,000
The leaders of globally influential compa- international executives conducted in 2007,
nies are now feeling an urgency to develop Bain & Co. found nine out of 10 executives
a company culture appealing to employees’ believe corporate culture is important today
need for a sense of belonging and value, a as a strategy for success.
This executive buy-in is critical for the success
of a strategic recognition program that fosters
Dow’s Culture of Appreciation a culture of appreciation. To perpetuate an ef-
*Recognition is a strategic project. fective culture of appreciation, employees need
to receive relevant and valuable rewards that
*200,000 “Thank You” moments
meet their need for psychic income – social ac-
*90% of all global employees recognized ceptance, increased self-esteem and self real-
someone in first year. ization. And such a recognition program should
*87% of employees agree the culture of ap- be driven by a core, in house program manage-
preciation has improved. ment team that encourages employees to make
*Employee satisfaction scores rose from ap- recognition part of their daily work. Senior-level
proximately 65% to approximately 85% validation of the recognition program and the
program management team is essential, prefer-
ably through an executive champion respon-
sible for driving global program awareness.
6. TheWhitePaper*
3 EVOLVE YOUR SOCIAL ARCHITECTURE
Bring Your Company Values to Life “Effective recognition initiatives are operated as
part of a larger system designed to reinforce the
Once a culture of appreciation has been estab-
key values of the organization.”
lished through the use of a strategic recognition – The Corporate Leadership Council:
program, it becomes possible to bring your What Do World-Class Companies Do?
company values to life. An absolutely critical
step in taking the values off the wall plaque
and instilling them in the every day actions
of the employees is to ensure all actions or
The Economics of Strategic
behaviors nominated for recognition are tied to Recognition
a corporate value. In many companies, recogni-
Once rewarded actions and behaviors are tied
tion happens on a one-on-one basis between
to values, it becomes possible to report on the
a manager and an employee with no clear
traction specific values have in the organiza-
rationale behind the reward. For example, if a
tion. Much like lagging indicators show where
manager chose to reward a staff member for
trouble lies ahead for economists, values not
organizing a team morale boosting activity, then
frequently rewarded become an indicator of
other team members may assume that making
where management may need to intervene.
work more fun is a value to be rewarded when
in fact that has nothing to do with the firm’s Our global clients use dashboards and value-
stated values. adoption charts not only to track rewards
system usage, but to target values adoption
When all nominated activities or behaviors are
company-wide or even at the division or unit
tied to a company value, then at least two peo-
level. By targeting lagging values, managers
ple – the nominator and the recipient – must
can work with specific employee groups or
think about the values during the process. If
divisions to bring everyone to the same level
such nominations require approval, then even
of understanding and acceptance of all of
more people are reminded of the values. And
the values.
if all recognitions within a set time period are
then announced in a monthly team meeting,
then entire teams or divisions will be reminded “I believe that we need to become a much
of the values and how to demonstrate and more competitive company, a more efficient
achieve them in every day tasks. In large, glob- company, a more service-oriented company,
ally distributed companies this is virtually the and a more aggressive company. However, it is
only way to make the company values come much more than just changing our products or
alive for every employee at all levels. changing the architecture: it means changing
the Reuters culture as well.”
– Tom Glocer
CEO, Reuters
7. TheWhitePaper*
Penetrate the Entire
Organization to Gain Knowledge
This level of insight into company culture is For the same reason, the frequency of awards
not possible, however, in recognition pro- must also be significantly higher than is
grams where only the top 10% of employees typical to achieve the level of knowledge on
are involved. At least 80% of employees in values penetration necessary to evolve a so-
all locations must participate in the strategic cial architecture. Globoforce’s model encour-
recognition program for enough knowledge ages a high frequency of low-value awards
to be gathered on which values are not being to foster a culture of appreciation. Once a
selected as a reason for recognition. It is high frequency of awards to at least 80% of
only when values adoption at every level of the employee base is reached, the strategic
an organization is fully understood that the recognition program will market itself. As the
company culture can be manipulated by ad- Corporate Leadership Council recently noted,
dressing those lagging values and influencing “If someone doesn’t feel appreciated, they
employees to improve in those areas. can’t appreciate others.”
Daily
Weekly
Elitist Recognition Program Strategic Recognition Program
No values adoption Social architecture evolved
or manipulation companywide Culture of appreciation established
Frequency of Reward
Monthly
Bi-Annual
Tactical Recognition Program Infrequent Recognition Program
Little to no impact Low Psychic Income
on company culture value to participants
Annual
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Percentage of Employees Recognized
8. TheWhitePaper*
4 COMMUNICATE CONSISTENTLY
AND CONSTANTLY
Once your strategic recognition program has week, then the program needs no further inter-
at least 80% of employees nominating for and nal marketing or communications “push.” And
receiving rewards, then the communication companies do not need to invest additionally to
begins to self-perpetuate. We have seen con- achieve these returns. Lower value awards will
sistently across clients who have the highest generate the same sense of goodwill in a much
employee satisfaction scores that when 5-8% broader audience for the same budget as far
of employees are nominated for rewards every fewer high-value awards targeted to the elite.
“Getting employees to be part of the communication process is more than a one-way cascade of informa-
tion flowing from management. It’s about creating a culture where employees help lead the process.”
– Melcrum Report, October 2007
Communicating a Company’s Importance of Consistent
Culture Employee Communication
Northwestern University’s Forum for People Several research studies during the last
Performance Management & Measure- decade have shown the lack of effective
ment found in a recent study that achieving communication deep into an organization
a motivated workforce is only possible if is a major reason why people leave. This
employees are satisfied, which can only be is largely because people need a sense of
accomplished through the development of an belonging and an understanding of how their
effective communication environment, both jobs fit into the company’s mission. In es-
up and down the organization. sence, they need a social architecture.
To effectively communicate, a common lan- A lack of consistency in communication can
guage is needed. In the case of your company’s lead to confusion about goals, priorities and
culture, the common language should be even company performance. A manager cannot
based on a brand consistent with your compa- only inform an employee of their tasks, but also
ny’s market brand, but unique to the strategic must tie those tasks to the company’s strategy
recognition program. Then, as discussed above, and success. Then the manager must take it a
it should incorporate your company’s values step further to show the employee how he will
and strategy into every level of communication, too benefit from the success.
from recommendation, to award types, to ap-
Only when employees can make this leap
proval process, to receipt and redemption – all
from the personal benefit to the corporate
translated into the local languages of employ-
benefit will they become fully engaged,
ees around the world. With this type of unifying
allowing the organization to achieve a full re-
recognition language, the culture of apprecia-
turn on the compensation, training and other
tion will cascade throughout the organization.
investments made in that employee.
9. TheWhitePaper*
5 ELIMINATE BORDERS THROUGH A
CULTURE OF APPRECIATION
When borders exist in an organization, whether they be geographic, divisional
or because of position, progress slows. Nothing should impede the sharing of
ideas or the flow of talent. Most importantly, however, nothing should stand in
the way of well-deserved recognition.
Geographic Borders Division Borders
A culture of appreciation can break down Within global organizations, it is not uncom-
the boundaries of country, continent, and mon for divisions to share best practices,
language. In today’s multi-national corpora- research, or even team members. An orga-
tions where a functional team or a division nization-wide recognition program branded
includes team members spread across mul- with the company’s values and delivering a
tiple countries, it is critical to give employ- single consistent message on the company’s
ees the ability to interact with the system in strategy and vision acts as the bridge be-
their own language to ensure the spread of tween divisions. All employees everywhere,
a culture of appreciation doesn’t stop at the regardless of divisional reporting structure,
border. With more than a dozen language share a common language of recognition,
options in a Globoforce strategic recognition and a common culture of appreciation.
program it is possible, for example, for an
In today’s hyper-active mergers and acquisi-
employee in Beijing to view the portal in Chi-
tions environment, companies also need
nese, but nominate a team member in Tokyo
a way to excite newly acquired employees
such that the recipient receives the reward
about the company’s values and strategy, to
in Japanese, while the manager located in
involve them in their new company’s culture,
Paris receives and approves the nomination
and to integrate them fully into the social
in French, the reward is issued in Japanese
architecture. A strategic recognition program
yen, and the client is invoiced in pesos at
that employees want to participate in, that
company headquarters in Mexico City.
recognizes employees – new and old – fre-
quently and consistently, and that embeds
the brand and the values into every day
“No successful organization can have even one
activities is a powerful tool to increase the
spectator. Instead, there needs to be a culture
momentum of the integration process.
shift so that every leader and employee recog-
nizes that they have a responsibility to the pro-
cess. Engagement and collaboration must hap-
pen between departments and between levels
(i.e., horizontally as well as vertically).”
– Melcrum Report, October 2007
10. TheWhitePaper*
Employee Borders
As recognition evolves a company’s social tance, employee engagement, and bottom
architecture, a global culture of apprecia- line results. When employees are given the
tion becomes woven in the very fabric of power to thank their colleagues regularly and
a company. Manager-to-peer, peer-to-peer, frequently – in the local language and cur-
team-to-team – all are powerful recognition rency – it unleashes a company’s latent power
options, but too often companies limit their in its people to unite the workforce, energize
programs to the classic manager-to-peer a recognition program and drive productivity
model. While recognition from the manager across the organization.
is always valuable, a 2007 Gallup survey
Gallup found in their 2007 study that recog-
found positive words from any source acti-
nition activates regions of the brain related
vate regions of the brain related to reward,
to reward. One employee Gallup interviewed
“Creating an internal reward system that
explained: “For me, receiving praise and
makes employees want to repeat behavior
recognition kind of sets off a little explo-
that the company needs, if doing the right
sion inside. It’s kind of like, ‘Oh, that was
thing earns them recognition.”
good, but you know what? I can do better.’ It
Peer-to-peer recognition is one of the most helps give you that drive to want to continue
powerful methods for driving strategic rec- achieving, doing yourself one better.”
ognition program penetration and accep-
Are you in need of a social architecture that inspires your employees
to be more productive? Are you prepared for the growth a culture of
appreciation can bring to your employees? Our consultants are ready
to help you build a strategic recognition program that fosters a cul-
ture of appreciation based on your company’s mission and values.
Visit us on the web at www.globoforce.com or email us at
corporate@globoforce.com. To speak to one of our global consultants
immediately, please call: +1 888-7-GFORCE.
