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CEO links company's growth to degree of workplace democracy
The more democratic we have become, the faster we are growing and the more profitable we have become: CEO
Thursday October 23, 2008 -- Michelle Strutzenberger
NEW YORK — “The more democratic we have become, the faster we are growing and the more profitable we have become,” says Mike Reining, CEO of MindValley, a software company based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
At MindValley, employees are free to execute their ideas and free to fail — “We celebrate our failures as much as our successes,” says Reining — learning is an ongoing process, and individuals are free to make choices about their personal work and time.
While the five-year-old company has operated on democratic workplace principles since its inception, it recently took those principles up a notch when it initiated a bonus program, which distributes 10 per cent of the company’s monthly profits to all of its employees.
“We absolutely want to and need to share the upside (with our employees),” Reining told participants at the WorldBlu LIVE conference October 16-17, an event that brought together more than a hundred leaders in organizational democracy.
“The only way we can thrive is with all the people we have at MindValley.”
The last three months have been the company’s most profitable to date, according to Reining, who contends who can’t speak to all the contributing factors but he does know one thing: “Everybody that works at MindValley is really happy.”
Alexander Kjerulf, another WorldBlu LIVE speaker, also made the point that happy workplaces yield more successful employees and make more money.
He said democratic organizations are happier “because they give people great results and great relationships and they give people meaningful results.
“Democratic organizations realize the full potential of people,” he said, adding that this is what leads to profitability.
Kjerulf, who is author of the book, “Happy Hour is 9 to 5 — How to Love Your Job, Love Your Life and Kick Butt at Work,” referred to Southwest Airlines as an example of an organization which offers its employees a great workplace and large degrees of freedom and is the only major airline to profit annually in an industry in which other companies are losing billions of dollars.
According to the research and experience of the WorldBlu organization, embracing organizational democracy not only has ramifications for attracting and retaining top talent and increasing employee engagement, it also has the potential to provide:
- increases in productivity, profitability, sales and efficiency
- improvements in customer service ratings
- steady growth rates
- increases in market share.
If you have feedback on this article, please contact michelle(at)axiomnews.ca or 800-294-0051.
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