The upper three routes refer to mission/vision/values, business planning, and organizational planning; if you want to shape a culture, you must work in three ways, and no matter what you want, you must do.

This article comes from the WeChat public account "Chief Organization Officer" (ID: COO-STRATEGY), author: Fang Shengtao.

How to shape culture? We have summarized a simple method: the upper, middle and lower three-way method. The upper three routes refer to mission/vision/values, business planning, and organizational planning; the middle three routes refer to business management principles, process mechanisms, systems, and personnel capacity standards; the lower three routes refer to key performance indicators (KPIs), standard operating procedures (SOPs), systems, advocated and opposed behaviors.

If you want to shape a culture, you must work in three ways, and you must not miss it. There are nine ways to go up, middle and lower. The more you go up, the more abstract, the more conceptual, and the more you go down, the more concrete and the more action it is. In a company, the highest level and top are often attached to the wall, and it is easy to "seem to have it". The lower three routes are most closely related to the employee's movements, and they are all grasped, but it is easy to create various "strange tricks and tricks".

, and the three paths are often the easiest to be missing.

does not have the middle three paths, there is no real connection between the upper three paths and the lower three paths, and the culture the company hopes cannot be realized. Just as the fitness coach focuses on you to exercise the core strength of your waist and back, the most important thing in shaping culture is the Zhongsan Road.

first talk about the most easily missing business management principles among the three ways.

Most companies do not have real business management principles.

What are the business management principles? Give some examples.

" Three major disciplines and eight points to pay attention to " are the principles: obey commands in all actions; do not take every needle and thread from the masses; and all seizures must be returned to the public. Such a few simple principles shape the culture and temperament of such a large army. Although these principles reflect values, they are not values ​​themselves. For the Communist Army and the National Army, the real difference in values ​​lies in "whether to pursue communism." These three disciplines are used to distinguish between regular troops and bandit troops. In fact, the National Army must also agree with the three major disciplines, but the implementation is definitely not as good as the Communist Army. In addition: eight points to note is the "advocacy and opposition" in the lower three ways.

The three principles of Confucianism are also principles: the king is the subject, the father is the subject, and the husband is the subject of the wife. These three simple points will "obey" China's huge agricultural society, no matter how the dynasty changes.

Article 1 to 10th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution , known as the " Bill of Rights ", is also a principle. For example, Article 1: Congress shall not enact laws on the following matters: establishing state religion or prohibiting freedom of religion; depriving freedom of speech or freedom of publication; or depriving people of the right to peacefully assemble and petition the government for justice. Article 2: Disciplined militias are necessary to ensure the security of the free state, and the people's right to possess and carry weapons is inviolable.

All principles are based on mission/vision/values, but principles are more specific than mission/vision/values, and have a direct guiding role in practical problems encountered in daily work and life.

principle can consolidate values, or distort and sell values. Confucius The eight-character policy of governing the country proposed to Qi Jinggong at that time is biased into values ​​and vision, and requires the monarch, minister, father and son to do what they should do, and they must meet the role requirements and norms. Are these the same meaning as the "Three Bonds" advocated by Dong Zhongshu later? I don't think so. Although the values/visions are higher and more correct, in the face of the extremely operational "Three Bonds", these higher and more correct values/visions are helpless. Confucius innocently blamed many infamous names, but he also has a responsibility: just talking about values/visions, without concreteness into principles, leaving others with the opportunity to explain arbitrarily.

Relatively speaking, the ten principles of the United States' Bill of Rights have a relatively positive protective effect on the values ​​of " natural human rights " advocated in the previous " Declaration of Independence ".

From a definition, values ​​are more of a "thing" that should be cherished. But the principle is more about action pointer. Using this standard, you can evaluate it: Is the "customer-centered and struggle-oriented" advocated by Huawei value-oriented or principled? I think these two are principled and are very action-oriented descriptions.

How to shape principles? It is not difficult in reality. You can start from "good people and good things" and create cases and stories at several practical work levels (client, employee side, partner side, investor side, social side). Case/stories can be divided into at least 5 levels: touching, surprise, satisfaction, complaining, and anger. When the touching and surprises you create are much more than complaining and anger, your principles will gradually be established and your culture will be gradually shaped.

The level of a leader's summary principle directly reflects his personal ability, because it can be seen from it whether he has handled challenging work tasks and whether he has seriously thought about summarizing and reflecting on it. For example, a boss emphasized scientific decision-making all day long, and had to make accurate data on everything. He was good at making subordinates speechless, but the effect was not good. Why?

Look at the summary and explanation made by another boss on the principle of "scientific decision-making": decision-making is based on data support and intuitive judgment; the cost of decision-making refers to the cost of the decision process + error correction cost + opportunity cost; good decisions are the minimum decision-making cost and the greatest benefit; when striving for the optimal solution leads to an increase in decision-making cost, satisfactory solution is better than the optimal solution.

Compare the two with each other, and the higher and lower levels appear immediately. The boss who hasn't done much practical work only knows how to yell the slogan "You can't be wrong", but he cannot provide others with guidance on how to "do it right". Only those who have truly practiced, had successful experiences and lessons from failure, thoughts, summary and reflection, and faced themselves with true self will summarize the true principles.

Do you think these business management principles are important in shaping culture? Without "management management principles", leaders are too likely to cover up their unintentional and inconsistent words and deeds with their noble mission/vision/values.

However, the business management principle is still on the road of the three paths. It is closely related to the upper three routes and is a bit empty. It must be further implemented in the process, mechanism, system and personnel capacity standards.

Next, let’s talk about the personnel capability standards in the three ways.

When talking about personnel ability standards, many people immediately thought of "professional and technical capabilities". Professional and technical abilities are neutral in terms of values ​​and it is difficult to truly connect with values. What can be organically connected with mission/vision/values ​​is "behavioral ability", such as the "quality ability" that is now widely used. Quality abilities can be divided into general quality abilities, functional abilities, job abilities, senior leadership, etc. Among them, the relationship between general qualities and abilities and senior leadership is the closest to mission/vision/values ​​and business management principles.

"General quality ability" and "high-level leadership" are relatively transferable abilities. For example, general qualities generally include sense of responsibility and initiative, systematic thinking and problem-solving ability, creative execution, communication and discussion ability, collaboration ability, influence and infection ability, learning and adaptability ability, ability to deal with fuzzy and chaos and changes, etc. Most senior leadership includes far-sightedness, motivation, empowerment, etc.How to define and describe the general qualities and abilities required by our company, and implement them in all aspects such as recruitment, training and development, performance management, appointment and elimination, etc., will directly affect the company's culture.

A requester tool for "handling fuzzy and chaos and change" and a company that does not realize this ability is very different in terms of cultural temperament. Many people find it difficult to understand, is “handling fuzzy and chaos and change” a ability? This is really an unusual general quality ability. People with similar professional and technical skills have the ability to "handle blur and chaos and change" and will have a huge contrast in their performance in a startup company. This ability cannot be trained in one or two days, and is gradually formed through long-term family education, school education, and work experience. This ability is the key to entrepreneurs' success.

How to evaluate this ability? Through careful observation and summary, we can level this ability.

• 1 points : See blur, confusion, and change to "wrong" things; cannot bear the changes brought about by blur, confusing changes.

• 2 points : barely accept the inevitability and legitimacy of blur, chaos and change; blur, chaos and change will bring a lot of anxiety and complaints, making it difficult to persist for a long time.

• 3 points: Accept the inevitability and legitimacy of blur, chaos and change (especially in the start-up stage, rapid growth stage, change stage, innovation stage); actively find this way to adapt to the environment.

• 4 points : Be able to maintain a positive attitude under uncertainty such as blur, chaos and changes; be able to actively embrace change; even under blur, chaos and changes, clear action instructions can be given.

• 5 points : Be able to maintain a relaxed attitude under uncertainties such as blur, chaos, and change; be able to discover opportunities to create value in blur, chaos, and changes; be able to drive others to deal with blur, chaos, and changes.

• 6 points: Have practical cases of creating value in uncertainties such as blur, chaos, and change; be good at creating constructive blur, chaos and change to promote innovation and change (but not overuse, such as not creating meaningless chaos all day long); be able to guide others to deal with blur, chaos, and change.

It is qualified to reach 3 points; it is good to reach 4 points; it is excellent to reach 5 points; it is outstanding to 6 points.

describes and applies personnel ability standards to this extent. Have you seen the relationship between personnel ability standards and culture?

The same direction of ability, using different names, will have a very different impact on company culture. For example, employees are required to have "communication and discussion skills" rather than "communication skills", employees are required to have "creative execution skills" rather than "execution skills", and senior management is required to have "learning and self-breakthrough skills" rather than "learning skills". These differences seem small but will lead to significant cultural differences.

Also, adding the requirement of "igniting oneself" to senior leadership is very different from only requiring "foresight, motivation, and empowerment". This "ignite yourself" is the core difference between "englished professional manager " and "professional manager".

Even if the ability name is the same, how to define and describe it will have a direct impact on the behavior of employees.For example, two companies that both need to emphasize "learning ability". One company that is biased towards traditional industries will emphasize more on "review and analysis of typical cases", "actively seeking role models (existing or dead) to help themselves learn and improve", "happy to apply and copy effective methods that others have done" and other behaviors; while another company that is in the stage of finding a business model will emphasize more on "learning from the future". They may refer more to some practices in U-shaped theory, such as advocating behaviors such as "removing the voice of judgment, ridicule, fear", "opening the mind, opening the mind, opening the will", and "creating a field of co-generated". The company cultural atmosphere corresponding to these two learning abilities is very different.

Through the above examples, I believe readers will have a little feeling about the relationship between personnel ability standards and shaping culture.

We can also explain the impact of personnel ability standards on shaping culture from another perspective. When many companies set personnel ability standards, if they lack the two elements of "general quality ability" and "high-level leadership" in methodology, it is difficult to "recruit people for the company" first and then "recruit people for functions/positions" in recruitment practice. It is easy to just recruit people for "recruit people for positions/functions" and "recruit people for a certain leader", and ignore "recruiting people for the company". The people recruited are very different in terms of foundation. It is very difficult to unite everyone by relying on cultural publicity or value assessment in the future.

Some people will also ask, will these general quality and ability requirements be similar to each company? For most private enterprises in the founder stage, each company is very different. The most important factor in determining a company's personnel ability standards is the founder's unique talent aesthetic. In many cases, the industry characteristics, strategies, and company development stages can only be used as supporting roles.

Summary: The personnel ability standards in the three routes, especially the general quality ability standards and high-level leadership standards, play a key role in shaping culture. The mission/vision/values, business planning, organizational planning, and business management principles in the upper three routes must be reflected in the personnel ability standards. Without this flesh-and-blood connection, the culture the company wants to shape is a castle in the air.

personnel ability standards are the lowest among the three routes and the closest connection with people.

Finally, let’s talk about the most closely related business path among the three routes: processes, mechanisms and systems. Process, mechanism and system can also be regarded as the Zhongsan three-way

Let me briefly talk about the relationship between the three concepts of process, mechanism and system: processes and mechanism are all components of the system; process reorganization and mechanism design are important means of system evolution.

culture is easy to misunderstand, as if it is more inclined to manage people's thoughts and behaviors. In fact, for enterprises, the most important thing in shaping culture is the setting of business processes, mechanisms and systems. If you only understand culture as something about internal employees, it is easy to indulge yourself and collectively self-interest. Culture must be integrated with the success of the company's business and customer satisfaction to be vital.

For example, if you go to Xibei Younian Village for dining, the service staff will promise you that you will "send a table of good dishes in 25 minutes." If the timeout is exceeded, the waiters will give you order yogurt or drinks to apologize. In addition, if you say that a dish is not delicious, this dish can be returned. The returned dishes must be put into the "red refrigerator", and the employees will analyze the reasons and make improvements afterwards. These business processes and mechanism settings are directly related to the "business management principle" behind it: "Happy Customers: We promise to stick to the sincere and sincere Xibei hospitality method, try every means to create surprises for customers, close your eyes and order them all delicious."This business management principle is closely linked to the mission of "creating a happy life" of Xibei , and "Every city and every street in the world have Xibei, which is the favorite dining place for customers. Because Xibei, life is joyful." This vision is closely linked. Can "extreme customer experience" be achieved without any settings in terms of processes and mechanisms? If that is the case, it would be a bit too "Boiler Rebellion". A table of good dishes was served in 25 minutes, and behind it was a complete system, including dish research, central kitchen, employee training, performance management, etc.

In the process, mechanism and system, the most difficult thing is the system, especially the organizational system. What is a system? A system is an organic whole (set) with specific functions formed by a combination of several interconnected and mutually restricted components. What is an organizational system? Our summary is: when several tasks, values, behaviors, and abilities are combined to jointly complete a specific continuous organizational function, the organizational system is formed. The keywords of the

process are output, the keywords of the mechanism are the goal, but the keywords of the system are the functions.

What is the relationship between the organizational system and the company culture? Simply put, whether a functional organizational system can be formed is the most important criterion for whether the mission/vision/values ​​and business management principles advocated by the company are truly implemented.

The values, principles, personnel ability standards, certain fragment process, and small-scale mechanism mentioned above are relatively easy to stand as independent entries. But in one system, all of these things need to be integrated. Sometimes, we are customer-centric, but sacrifice our commitment to our employees; we treat our fellow travelers well, but may not be good enough to investors. A system will test whether these missions, visions, values, principles, processes, and mechanisms are inherently matched.

personnel selection system to illustrate, its functions and goals are: find, attract and retain talents suitable for the development stage of the enterprise; efficient transformation and integration; allocate talents to suitable positions; and leave in time for unsuitable people.

To implement such a function, a company and organization have to do a lot of things. For example, the personnel selection system generally has the following typical and relevant subsystems: personnel standards (general quality ability; leadership; functional/job quality ability; professional ability); recruitment and integration of middle and grassroots talents; recruitment and early development of management trainees; recruitment and early development of specific categories of personnel such as sales representatives; personnel allocation; occupational sequence and grade; cadre selection and appointment; personnel establishment; talent inventory; promotion, demotion and dismissal; rotation; successor planning; comprehensive evaluation of performance + potential; etc.

We can often observe that a company has done a lot of things, such as the personnel ability standards are defined very deeply, the talent inventory procedures are done very rigorously, and there are also clear systems for cadre selection and appointment, etc. But the whole thing is just not connected and cannot form the desired function. It is one thing to define these standards, procedures, and systems, and it is another thing to turn these things into habits and functions of organizations. The gap between the two is the system. Why can't

be connected into a whole? Behind this is a place where values ​​and principles fight each other. If these things are fighting, do you think the company's culture has been shaped?

We have summarized the top ten general organizational systems, including personnel selection, strategic coordination, comprehensive returns, etc. Interested readers can read the relevant articles of this official account "What "systems" are an organization composed of? How to see an organization with the eyes of a "system"? 》. It is already challenging to achieve the required functions in a personnel selection system, and the challenges of further integration on ten organizational systems are even greater.

In addition, establishing an organizational system itself is a very test of values.Our cultural tradition has a strong vertical leadership tradition of "the ruler is the leader of the minister". However, establishing an organizational system requires horizontal leadership and network leadership. It must be achieved more through consultation, persuasion and participation, and cannot be achieved through strong leadership requirements, process sorting, and policy regulations. Therefore, in the dimension of establishing an organizational system, it not only tests whether the company has values ​​and principles, but also tests what values ​​and principles you have. Certain values ​​and principles are themselves inconsistent with the establishment of an organization.

So, if a company does not have a smooth organizational system, the mission/vision/values ​​and business management principles it promotes will definitely be just superficial.

The above briefly introduces the three ways of shaping culture, hoping to inspire readers. Our core point is: if you want to shape culture, the three ways of doing things are the key. Of course, we are definitely not ignoring the value of the upper three and lower three. Without the guidance of the upper three routes and the protection of the lower three routes, it is easy to be embarrassing whether the middle three routes are up or down.