Winning, Always

No one can argue that people want to be adequately compensated for their work. It places a tangible and comparable value on their contribution. It is also, some would say, a measure of individual success: after all, the higher paid you are, the more valuable you must be.

Cristiano Ronaldo, the Real Madrid goal machine is arguably the best footballer in the world; and possibly the highest paid. The correlation between performance and remuneration is, by and large, true in competitive endeavours, including professional sport. It is also true that in most cases, top talent demands top remuneration.

Are top professionals driven solely by financial incentives? Despite all his financial riches, why does Ronaldo still practice harder and work longer than his team mates?

To my mind, what drives top professionals, whether they are in sport, education or business is something more intangible: the thrill that comes from competing to win. The accumulation of awards and titles is often a more important force: the gold medal at The Olympics or the winner’s title at Wimbledon. In Ronaldo’s case it is the Ballon d’ Or, the recognition as the best footballer in the world.

Even if companies do not play for annual titles, how can business leaders inspire their people to achieve great things? How do companies create a winning culture? In my experience, there are three necessary ingredients of a winning company.

Dreaming big with purpose

Winning companies and teams all have a shared and inspiring purpose. The Greek philosopher Aristotle said that you cannot inspire people using just ’logos’ or logic. You need ’pathos’ or emotional appeal to make them go the extra mile, but it is only with ’ethos’ (or ethical appeal or purpose) that you can have a lasting impact.

It is important not to confuse a purpose with a goal. A goal, or an objective, can change while a purpose is timeless, it inspires change. This is why RB has created a simple yet powerful purpose to deliver “innovative solutions for healthier lives and happier homes”. Our purpose shapes our portfolio strategy to drive faster growth in Health and Hygiene categories. We also use our purpose to drive focus on our social programmes. We have pledged 100 crores (￡10m) to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Banega Swachh India” (Clean India) programme. This is the single largest pledge from any company and makes RB people proud because we are contributing to a bigger purpose: helping people lead healthier lives through improved sanitation.

Purpose also creates an environment where our people can achieve outstanding results. We often challenge our R&D teams to innovate for the lower end of the ’pyramid’. A successful “Banega Swachh India” programme does not just need more toilets, it needs affordable toilet cleaning solutions and hygiene education. RB can make a contribution to “Swachh India” beyond money if we could design hygiene products for those that need them the most. Although finding a low cost technology solution at an acceptable margin is not easy, RB scientists have recently invented products that achieve this extremely difficult trade off. Purpose driven companies can inspire people when it is not just about doing good business, but also about business doing good.

However, a ‘big purpose’ without a ‘big dream’ does not really work. Winners need a “Big, Hairy, Audacious” dream to reach higher. RB’s ‘big dream’ is to be the leading consumer health company in the world. This means that we need to at least double the size of our consumer health business versus where we are today.

And we are in good company. We compete against world class companies like J&J, Pfizer, GSK, Bayer. So this is no ordinary goal, because ordinary goals do not motivate extraordinary people.

Foster a winning culture

A winning team is built on a winning culture. Many companies have great sounding words describing their culture on their websites and in their corporate offices. Integrity. Respect. Excellence. Trusted Partner.

These are the values from a few well known and respected banks. One of them no longer exists! Culture is not what you say on your website, or what you hang in your office reception. The real barometer is how you behave. How you make decisions. How you treat people.

Many companies have an ethos where they believe in treating people fairly; treating them the same. In my view, this is a mistake. Winners do not want to be treated fairly. They want to be treated differently. Treating all our people the same dis-incentivises extraordinary performance and encourages mediocrity.

RB treats people fairly by telling them honestly what we think. Adequate performance is not good enough. We don’t pat each other on the back when we achieve our plan. Recognition in RB comes from achieving outstanding results. This works in two ways: first, people who are recognised are motivated to do even better because they know the sincerity of the recognition. Second, others have a clear benchmark of what extraordinary looks like and understand what is needed for their own performance.

Winning companies are never satisfied with the status quo. They continually reinvent themselves; identify what they can do better, how to improve. They invest their energies looking forward to the next challenge, not back at past successes.

Create a meritocracy

A winning company is obsessive about talent. RB has started using a simple system called the ‘leavers’ test’ inspired by Netflix and GE.

Each year leaders are asked to create a list of people they would fight to retain. This becomes RB’s talent roadmap and thus one of the most important strategic exercises we do each year.

Even the best teams in the world change their composition. They know they have to improve to have any chance of retaining their title. A company with a winning culture knows that without constantly upgrading their talent, they will fall behind.

At RB, we create a meritocracy by rewarding, recognising and promoting people based on the what (results) and the how these results were achieved. It’s really that simple, and at the same time that hard. Outperformance matters, talent matters. Above all, winning matters!

RB is driven by the thrill that comes from competing to win. Our big dream can only be delivered because it has a purpose. We believe that we can both win and have a positive impact on society. Our culture is not shaped by words but by our actions. This is what makes RB so demanding, and also exhilarating.

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Recently, RB was recognized as one of Britain’s Most Admired Companies 2014, coming top of our sector in Health and Home sectors. This award was based on being voted by our peer group of companies. Separately, for the first time, RB has been named in the top 20 organisations by reputation in Britain.