Strategies for creating a partnership culture

By Amy Orchard

Doug Klein of Sirota Survey Intelligence, Purchase, N.Y., offers strategies for creating a partnership culture. He estimates that about 20 percent of companies currently operate this way.

1. Create a vision statement. Establish the policies you need—before a recession—as a ring of protection, making job cuts the last option.

2. Provide competitive compensation and benefits. Tie a portion of it to performance with a team-based approach.

3. Deal fairly and firmly with poor performers. The conclusion that employees draw from rampant under-performance is that management doesn’t care. The worst thing you can do to any employee, good or bad, is to ignore him or her.

4. Make management visible and accessible with lots of interactivity.

Amy Orchard is a writer and editor living in Dellwood, Minn.