Teryl @ Work

Three favourite business words that open up lots of discussion. And so important in running the Accsys business, because they come up every single day, in one way or another. Principles Like many businesses, we built up a set of Policies and Procedures, trying to clearly define the principles by which we run our business.   Much as I loved the Nordstrom model (see below), we realised it was necessary. Then once we started using them every day, we recognised that they were simply guidelines, needed constant updating and were almost impossible to seamlessly implement. We found that almost everybody believes that the rules are for other people and their circumstances are the exception that proves the rule. Precedents In South Africa, the Family Responsibility rule is very clear, and yet we are constantly asked to expand the rule.  We recently had one staff member ask to take 10 years of Family Responsibility in one as he had never used it before....

Is fitting in with the corporate culture important?  Of course.  Do all effective and productive employees do so?   Of course not. A few years ago,  +Accsys (PTY) Ltd  celebrated 30 years in business.  In keeping with traditional thinking around anniversaries, we used the pearl as a symbol for the year. A key message for us was that the pearl is formed from a piece of grit that irritates the oyster, and the oyster slowly covers the grit with nacre, until a beautiful gem is formed. So, as an IT company, we accepted that high productivity, creative people are not always aligned with the culture, but can add enormously to the growth and success of the business.  But we found that the reverse was also true, if they are too high maintenance, they can drain the energy levels of both their management and their colleagues, to such a level, that their nett impact is negative. We have put a strong focus on a 3 month probation period, in assessing for att...