INTOUCH : Relationships Essential to Success

High-performing organisations are distinguished by the attention they pay to critical business relationships.
“Top performers do much more than focus on the maximisation of shareholder value. They pay close attention to their relationships with customers, suppliers and employees,” David Coats, associate director of research at not-for-profit The Work Foundation in the UK, said at recent Auckland University Business School seminar, “Cracking the Performance Code – Building innovative and productive workplaces”.
“High-performing organisations also place high priority on building their capabilities for innovation and creativity. Processes are simple and informality is more common. Information is widely shared, transparency is priority, and leaders are both visible and accessible.”
Coats said that making more organisations high-performing organisations was the best route to improving national prosperity and the quality of working life – view endorsed by Professor Nigel Haworth of the Business School’s Department of Management and International Business.
“Government, employers and trade unions share common view that, if the New Zealand economy is to perform better, and if, as result of improved performance, standards of living for New Zealanders are to improve, we have to work smarter,” Haworth said.
“In particular, workplaces must be able to take advantage of new skills and technology, and new ways of thinking about work organisation. Above all, we have to understand better the circumstances in which people will be prepared to go the extra mile in the workplace and contribute to sustainable performance improvement.”