eKourier July 2010

2010 Culture Survey Results

Why Measure Our Company Culture?

The media now frequently reflects on the culture of organisations and sporting teams and suggest that it influences the successes or failures they experience. It is widely accepted that unwritten expectations and behavioural norms make a difference to an organisation or group. These intangible “rules” or expectations are quite powerful, often more powerful than the explicit documented ones. The penny dropped for me on this concept in 1997, with KSS suffering some ructions and explosive people issues that I could no longer explain away - these events compelled me to find out more. In 1998, we did our first culture survey and the result was not pretty. It confirmed that the team (if you could call it that) was not happy. It revealed that to be “safe” or “get-ahead” in KSS you had to display Passive Defensive (Green) and Aggressive Defensive (Red) behaviours. The 1998 OCI was enlightening for me personally. I engaged fully in change and renewal, starting with myself. We also challenged our systems and practices to remove any concepts that might be nurturing Red and Green behaviour. In subsequent years, we continued to measure and learn. We have enjoyed the feedback, soaked up the ideas and responded. We have not done everything right, but we continue to pursue ideas that might work. A constructive culture is important as it has proven to be the type that makes an organisation the most successfully durable, innovative and enjoyable to work in. Being Blue means we can be ourselves; share ideas openly; make a difference; feel that what we do matters and many other attributes that make our work enjoyable and customers pleased to deal with us. One example of the impact of Blue Culture was in 2004 it was fundamental in our strength and confidence to pursue the acquisition to buy Millers. I felt confident that our team had the capacity for the challenge and the change. Sam Kennard

Culture starts at the top, but it’s our entire team who live and breathe the culture everyday that has the greatest impact on culture in the business. The 2010 OCI results indicate strongly that our culture is being embraced and I believe this gives us a strong competitive advantage over our self storage rivals. A point of difference that cannot be replicated, imitated or achieved easily without commitment, investment, resources

T he results of the look very similar to the positive results achieved in 2009. But look closer and you will see improvements across all the behavioural styles. The Blue Constructive Styles have increased while the Red and Green Aggressive Defensive and Passive Defensive Styles have decreased. This is a remarkable result when you consider the wonderful outcome in 2009. The 2010 OCI, our 13th consecutive cultural survey is testament to the long running commitment Kennards has made to fostering and maintaining a constructive work environment and a commitment to be the best we can be. Creating a healthy, constructive work environment (being ‘Blue’ as we say) leads to better efficiencies, business processes and committed Team Members. When these combine, they encourage sustainable long term improved performance to the business. 2010 Cultural Survey are in, and at first glance they

and a drive to be an example of excellence.

“Creating a healthy, constructive work environment leads to better efficiencies, business processes and committed Team Members. ”

With a strong culture comes superior customer service, encouragement of ideas and innovation, improved systems and engaged teams. We can achieve this through a powerful message “have a go, make a decision” because it’s okay if you make a mistake. Human Synergistics the authorised agents of the OCI in Australia have nominated Kennards for an award recognising our achievements and long term commitment to culture. We should all be very proud of the result, because it reflects each and every one of us throughout our working day.

Darren Marshall

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Kennards Kourier July 2010