Embracing Change Exercise of individual initiative underpins corporate success by Mary Luk Entrepreneurial culture points the way to prosperity in a fast-moving industry To maintain a competitive edge in today's business environment, many organisations are turning away from more traditional forms of management and opting instead for a model which emphasises individual initiative and accountability at all levels. Some companies, though, have championed this approach for many years, realising that employees respond positively to the chance to contribute and are invariably the best source of new ideas. For instance, with its leading position in the highly competitive logistics market, DHL International Limited is a business which has always stressed innovation. Po Chung, the company's founder and long regarded as an outstanding entrepreneur, has devoted himself to building and promoting a corporate culture which values creativity. "The formula is very simple: give people something within their ability to decide and the power to do it. Make this part of their daily life," Mr Chung explains. Give people something within their ability to decide and the power to do it. Make this part of their daily life This approach is exemplified in DHL's bottom-up culture, by means of which the company delegates decision-making to lower levels of the management hierarchy. Less senior personnel are given the authority to exercise initiative and are expected to take key decisions as part of their day-to-day responsibilities. To make this possible, the company provides training in strategic thinking and advocates the concept of "redesign and implement" in a way which everyone can understand. Core philosophies This is in line with DHL's aim of being one of the best learning organisations in the world and includes the belief that its own corporate values can be an extension of more general family values. "Our staff should not be worried about making mistakes. The important thing is that the individual, as well as other people, have the chance to learn from them, so that the error is not repeated," Mr Chung says. This broad-minded attitude has been one of the keys to building an entrepreneurial culture, because one of the major difficulties in getting staff to experiment with new ideas is their fear of the possible consequences of mistakes. "It is not always easy to get people to make decisions without referring to their boss first, and it can be especially difficult for new staff whose decisions turn out to be wrong," Mr Chung adds. "However, our goal is to get everyone to practise this culture and to grow as a result, since we believe the best way to learn is through personal experience." He adds that, in the face of intense competition, it is essential to be ever alert to challenges and to embrace change in order to survive. Mr Chung notes that the value of change cannot be underestimated in an entrepreneurial culture. The company therefore holds to the view that "innovation is not everything; it is the only thing". In terms of importance, it is ranked alongside overall profitability and is also an effective tool for maintaining staff satisfaction. "It helps build employee morale when everyone has the opportunity to contribute to the company everyday," he says. Constant improvement While DHL has made a point of instilling an entrepreneurial spirit in all members of staff, the process begins with selecting the right candidates. "The challenge is to appoint people who are confident, but who do not start managing top-down," Mr Chung says, adding that this is monitored during the regular reviews of policies and processes, which are part of the company's constant drive for improvement. The prevailing culture of entrepreneurship has come to define a period of continuous business success. According to Mr Chung, in its first 15 years, DHL opened an office in a new country on average every five weeks and a new station every eight days, and is still actively expanding. This has largely happened thanks to the high level of staff motivation, their willingness to take the initiative, and their determination to excel at their work and contribute to the company's continued growth. "At the same time, we are the most global and the most local of all the major international companies," Mr Chung asserts. "In every country our customers deal with DHL as if we are a local company. This has been possible because every courier, supervisor and manager exercises the right of entrepreneurship we give them, and they all work together to consolidate our position as a world leader." Salient points Push responsibility to the lowest level by giving people the power to make decisions Make the exercise of authority part of their daily life Ensure that employees can see how their work relates to the rest of the company Be prepared to design and implement new strategies whenever necessary Allow people to take risks and learn from any mistakes that are made Aim to be a learning organisation which is ready for change Taken from Career Times 18 November 2005 Your comments are welcome at [email protected]