The Power of Words
Starting Each Day With A Little Thinking...Values: Teamwork
Let’s review. So far we have covered integrity and excellence: surround yourself with people who you know will always do the right thing and make sure that they do those things very well.
What Caterpillar refers to as “The Power of Working Together”. Hopefully the puzzle is coming together / the picture is coming in to focus. If you have the right people, who do the right things AND you make sure that they work together on these things, you have a much higher probability of success.
With that in mind:
Are you working WITH those folks around you to achieve more together than you could on your own?
As always, thanks for the time
Values: Excellence
Next up on the list of the four values that Caterpillar identified is excellence.
What Caterpillar refers to as “The Power of Quality”. So if you start with folks that an organization which is full of people who you can count on to do the right thing regardless of the situation (people of integrity); and, then you make sure that they all are focused on delivering high quality work products, you’ve got the foundation for a powerful organization. The importance of the second value comes through even more clearly if you turn things around: what if you’ve got a bunch of great people and they produce a product of abysmal quality? It’s pretty clear when you put it in this context that without an emphasis on excellence, an organization will not have a long term future. With that in mind:
Does the quality of the work you produce demonstrate your ability to deliver excellence?
As always, thanks for the time.
Values: Commitment
The last of Caterpillar’s four values is Commitment. What Caterpillar refers to as “The Power of Responsibility”.
Our equation so far is Integrity + Excellence + Teamwork = The right people, who do things right AND you make sure that they work together on these things. When we add in commitment we get: The right people, who do things right, work together, and have the shared responsibility to see that these objectives are fully accomplished. Kudos go to the folks who pulled these four values (integrity, excellence, teamwork, and commitment) together. In my opinion they establish a reference set that individuals in the organization can use to assess their behaviors.
With that in mind:
Are you taking responsibility to ensure that those things important to you are being accomplished?
What As always, thanks for the time.
Values: Integrity
For 18 years I was fortunate to have worked for Caterpillar. The company consistently spoke of four values: integrity, excellence, teamwork, and commitment. For the next few days, I’m going to provide some perspectives on what I honestly believe is one of the best approaches to values that you will see anywhere in the world. The company took a few simple ideas and combined them to build a framework that is powerful, sustainable, and acts as a great lens through which to view one’s behaviors.
First on the list is integrity. What Caterpillar refers to as “The Power of Honesty”. Simple. Easy to understand. Impactful.
It also provides the foundation of HOW to build an organization. While I never saw this written down, I always spoke to people about integrity as follows: you need to make sure that you are building an organization which is full of people who you can count on to do the right thing regardless of the situation. People of integrity.
As I go through the other values, you’ll see how they weave together to define an organization that is top notch. With that in mind:
Is the organization that you are part of composed of people who you can count on to do the right thing?
As always, thanks for the time.
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