Creating a common language, mindset and approach can boost connection and productivity during a transformation. 

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Why should you spend 3 minutes reading this blog?

• You’ll discover the value of creating common ways of working and interacting to drive understanding and performance in the workplace.
• It’s written by someone with 12 years’ experience in business transformation and growth. 
• It’s way more beneficial than scrolling Instagram.

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Business capability covers a range of factors that set your organisation apart including your collective skills, expertise and abilities. While it’s not a tangible asset, it’s what helps you compete in a crowded marketplace. 

When people attempt to build their business capability, they often focus on extra staffing, training and compensation. Those are all great but during a business transformation you can extract a lot of value at a lot lower cost by creating common ways of working. 

Applying consistent concepts around how you do things in the workplace gives your organisation an identity, fosters a sense of unity, and increases productivity. 

Here are five ways to build your business capability through common ways of working. 

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1. Incentivise your people to perform. 

Incentives don’t have to be financial, they can come in the form of skills development, secondment or leadership opportunities, and/or praise and commendations from managers. 

Whether you choose financial or non-financial incentives, you need to ensure they are aligned to both your vision and the individual’s intrinsic motivation. Think about what type of incentive will plant a fire in that person’s belly and speak to that. If in doubt, ask. 

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2. Develop a common language.

Creating a common language around your transformation improves productivity because it helps people communicate their progress as well as the challenges they’re facing. 

For example, at McKinsey we ask, “What are your big rocks today?” which refers to the big tasks or topics that a person needs to prioritise. If the ‘rocks’ are compromising productivity, we look at aligning our rocks so we’re all pushing in the same direction.

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3. Put a structure or framework in place. 

How do we think about strategy? How do we remove roadblocks? How do we prepare for a particular challenge? When your people have a common framework or structure for answering these questions, they’re able to apply common principles that get quick results. 

If you want to build organisational capability, you need a structure around how your people prioritise, problem solve, delegate and communicate. When common processes and practices become ‘business and usual’ things start to flow and work gets completed quickly and efficiently.  

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4. Focus on continuous personal improvement.

Create a problem-solving culture – identify the problem, talk about what should be happening as opposed to what is currently happening, then move forward with an agreed commitment to avoid the problem in the future. 

Instead of jumping to conclusions, engage in empathetic conversations that lead to calm resolution and a culture of learning. Also provide your staff with opportunities to upskill and reach their full potential, both professionally and personally. 

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5. Reinforce desired behaviour through role-modelling. 

All of the above will fall flat if you and your leadership team don’t role model the behaviours you’re hoping to inspire. Once you set up your common ways of working, you need to reinforce them. 

If you have a process for running effective meetings, follow it. If you have a common language around prioritisation, use it. 

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Communication is also key to reinforcing your unique approach – add a digital module on problem solving to staff orientation, recruit a team of champions to share the methods with their peers, or create a business dictionary to explain your common language. These interventions will give you the best chance of creating a cohesive, engaged workforce who are fully invested in your ‘way of life’.