Culture Shock
3/26/2007
by Leslie A. Rodriguez, Contributing Writer

Nancy Stampahar, founder of Silver Lining Solutions, recently spoke at Seton Hill University's E-Magnify® “Building A World-Class Business" conference on March 20, 2007. Stampahar’s workshop entitled “Culture Shock: Surviving Change to Make the Big Bucks” gave tips to business owners about how to achieve financial success at a higher level with employees that may be stuck with a start-up mentality.

According to Stampahar, a business owner can begin the process of taking their business to the next level by implementing organizational development practices to address change within the business. It is important to understand that 20% of revenue is lost by reworking mistakes made within a company. For that reason organization is key for business owners. She suggests that business owners do the following:

• Re-evaluate and clarify the business plan.
• Define working expectations for employees.
• Don’t become a task master.
• Take risks because leadership comes from the top.

Working with existing business strategies is another way in which business owners can turn their human capital from being an expense into an asset. Many times problems within a business come from the top and trickle down. Keeping this concept in mind, imitative and hard work from the top will also trickle down and be emulated by employees. Stampahar suggests that business owners:

• Implement strategies for crisis management to save time and money.
• Build a culture based on imitative and innovation.
• Lead employees by example.
• Reach for a new level above average.

Owning a values driven business means that the employees need to be decision makers as well and that everyone in the organization is involved. According to Stampahar, applied knowledge is power and the better informed an employee is the better they can serve the customer’s needs. Some ways that business owners might serve the needs of customers include:

• Turn employees from simply bodies into assets.
• Stress communication and accountability in the workplace.
• Provide a working environment that supports leadership competency growth.

Stampahar stresses that in order to retain business the investment of time and money is very important. She firmly believes in the motto “hire later, fire now” which emphasizes the idea of getting rid of the problematic employees at a business and worrying about filling their positions later. In regard to hiring, there are three suggestions to consider:

1.  Hire on the basis of behavior based interviews.
2.  Ask future employees to share past work stories to gain a sense of their work performances.
3.  Align people with the best position based on their strengths and interests.

For more information on Nancy Stampahar and Silver Lining Solutions visit: http://www.silverliningsolutions.com/

About the Author: Leslie A. Rodriguez is a student at Seton Hill University.

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