in : Why Ararat?
There has been a philosophical shift with employee priorities and belief systems in the 21st century, a shift which is vastly different from the traditional mindsets and work ethics of the last half of the 20th century. This should not be surprising: as time changes, people change and society changes.
Since 2009, Ararat Consulting has been involved with ongoing sociological and socio-economic research with respect to the intergenerational problems faced between Baby Boomer management and the Millennial workforce.
Those corporations wanting to ascend to the pinnacle of their field will want to learn how to get "in step" with the sociological and psychological changes in the 21st century workers' mentality — especially with the Millennials. For many in executive or management positions, this will require a new form of thinking, or a new school of thought, as it relates to how to manage people in a new and changing economy. The first step is to ask which school of thought you subscribe to when it comes to managing the people who can either make or break your business. Is your management model settled in the 20th century or are you stepping (either boldly or tentatively) into the 21st century?
Employees have a function. They are there to perform. They are paid to do tasks. As a manager or business owner, it's your job to keep them on task, on time and on target. The measure of your success is the profit picture — the corporate ethos is focused purely on the bottom line. The priority is maximizing dividends for share holders which may include cutting jobs even if the company is making a profit. Ararat calls this school of thought "profits before people".
This is the mindset of the Millennials. Any 21st century corporation that hopes to create employee engagement with Millennials will need to understand, for better or worse, the tenets behind this generational mindset. In essence, the Millennial mindset and workplace philosophy is that employees are people first, employees second. Millennials think that they work with you, rather than working for you. Studies show that Millennials are most supportive of a corporation's way of thinking, if that way of thinking is to maximize the potential of your people, through the power of synergy.
Synergy is the process by which you transform your corporate culture such that everybody is focused on meeting the needs of everybody else. Synergy emphasizes community, and this strikes a chord in the parts and minds of Millennials. Synergy prioritizes the customer first, the co-workers second, the corporation third and the individual fourth.
Many of our 20th century traditional thinking clients have questioned why the employee is ranked higher than the company in Ararat's priority system — until they discover (happily) that when everybody is focused on first satisfying the needs of the customer and then on the needs of their co-workers, that the corporation always achieves an increase in profitability.
An abundant increase.
When the corporate leadership team creates a culture of synergy, then everyone in the company is on the same page, connected by a unified vision and purpose, to achieve mutually beneficial goals.
Which is when everyone benefits.
Especially the corporation.
Abundantly.
For those managers and executives who were trained in 20th century management models, the foundational philosophy behind creating a culture of synergy may seem counter-intuitive, and even paradoxical. How can a philosophy that prioritizes people before profits be beneficial to the corporation's bottom line?
It is.
Just look at Walmart.
Or Apple.
Or Microsoft.
Or Google (aka Alphabet).
And Disney.
All of this corporations have one thing in common; they prioritize the importance of their people and invest in their people accordingly.
The sociological and psychological realities of managing a 21st century workforce have changed the traditional models of managing human dynamics. You invest in your people first, and then once your people feel safe and secure - they reciprocate.
Abundantly.
They become more engaged. They become focused on others before self. They extend themselves to extraordinary levels of customers service. They begin to complement (and compliment) the performance of their fellow workers rather than compete against them. And they become committed to the corporation's goals.
Including the corporation's profits.
That's the return-on-investment when corporations invest in creating a culture of synergy.
What Ararat Consulting does - is create synergy.
Through Ararat's training in human dynamics, your people will learn to create synergy, practice conflict resolution, provide superior customer service, and put the health and welfare of your company in its proper place.
Your people will learn to appreciate and value that the only way they can be safe and secure in their job, is by making the company safe and secure.
Your people will learn that any action or behavior that works against serving the needs of their customers, their co-workers and their company's welfare, works against them.
This is how Ararat "cures" people suffering from apathy, complacency and despondency.
Through Ararat's training, your people will learn to work together in harmony of mind and purpose, because they'll also learn how to soberly appreciate that in the stormy economic seas of the 21st century, no one can afford to tolerate dysfunctional mindsets in their crew mates that can threaten to capsize the ship.
There can be no attitudes of mutiny amongst the crew because everyone's personal safety and security relies on having a new attitude of
Through Ararat's training, your people will learn to respect the authority of your corporate "officers" and become the tight-knit crew you've always dreamed of.