Week 6r: The freeway of companies' prosperity -the satisfaction of employees

Plenty of corporate CEOs say they want employees who know how to have fun. However,Anheuser-Busch InBev NV chief Carlos Brito said that: "I like people at the company to have fun, sure, plus passion,plus commitment, plus energy, plus lots of other things. Fun is too weak if you want to be best at what we do."

When asking CEO of the world's largest beer marketer about the way to success of a corporation, Brito's main message: Regardless of industry, the success of a corporation hinges in large part on hiring high-performing individuals, bringing passion and commitment to the job, and on building a company culture that keeps them. 

From chapter 11 the groundswell inside your company, the author gives us three cases to show how Best Buy connecting far-flung sales associates, how wikis create a full-fledged collaboration environment for employees, and also how Bell canada using innovative strategies to energize staffs from the bottom up. It shows the power of social network to help spark employees communication. 

Great companies are formed by great people not by popular products, cash flow, or assets. The bigger a company is, the more internal problems will have. How to make employees work together in the same way is the core of a company's success. It requires a company to have certain cultural traits, such as allowing and encouraging individuals to speak up. Just as Brito said managers don't have private offices but share large tables to facilitate easy information flow in AB InBev offices. By doing so, it gets people connected with each other even in just one or two minutes everyday. 

Also, best employees themselves could respond actively to influence the corporate culture. Just like Ashley Hemsath (on page215 Groundswell book), she dedicated herself into her job in Best Buy and she got achievements there. Everyday she post on Blue Shirt Nation to share her thoughts about how to fix company and communicate with other employees there. Blue Shirt Nation becomes a platform for employees to feel empowered, connected and more committed on a day-to-day basis. Employees ideas and thoughts could help companies improve their management system to better control its staff. It is a mutually benefited process. 

In the process of making employees satisfied with management and working in the same direction, the key -all measures companies take, is that in creating a collaboration tool, that is a communication channel to follow employees hearts. Wiki did an excellent job by using blogs for communication to talking and listening to employees. Through understanding what employees are concerned about, and what they are working on, as well as where they are focused, the manager could control the whole situation well and put all their energy together to work for the company.

What I learn from this chapter is that: on one hand, companies should spend a lot of time and energy in embracing customers. On the other hand, the internal harmony is the spirit and soul of a company which employers could not ignore even a little.  Employees in a company is just like the bricks in a skyscraper. 

Only if every bricks are in order, the whole skyscraper could be stable.