Business Fleet Africa spoke to Brand Pretorius, doyen of the
Motor Industry in South Africa and author of In the Driving
Seat, to get practical steps on speeding-up efficiency in
organisations.
Global scientific research proves that organisations in all eco-
nomic sectors suffer from wasted effort. Precious resources are
not deployed optimally because of a lack of focus and synergy,
which undermines effectiveness because there is no alignment
between corporate and personal objectives. So how does a
business leader act to correct this?
Compliance versus commitment
Often, staff do not identify with their employers’ mission, strate-
gy or objectives and fail to see how their contributions affect the
overall vision. They work because of their financial needs, and
there is no commitment, only compliance.
How can effectiveness be accelerated?
Organisational effectiveness is a prerequisite for sustained
profitability, high employee and customer satisfaction levels,
and market share growth.
“During my business career spanning almost 50 years, I
experienced first-hand the positive impact of a high level of
organisational effectiveness. Two case studies come to mind.
Firstly, the significant increase in Toyota’s market share from
12% in 1975 to 30% in 1995. Simultaneously Toyota moved
from number seven in customer satisfaction to number
one. The second case study is McCarthy Retail. It was
declared technically insolvent in February 2001 and
successfully turned around over three years,” explains
Pretorius.
“In both cases, a critical success factor was a
substantial improvement in organisational effec-
tiveness. The methodology I developed over the
years is illustrated in Figure 1, titled The pyramid
of organisational effectiveness,” says Pretorius.
Eleven practical steps to make a giant leap
Pretorius explains the essence of these
leadership steps in organisational
effectiveness.
Step 1 – A unifying, compelling
and inspirational vision
“The following truth can be found in
the Bible: ‘Without vision, people
perish’. It also applies to organ-
isations. The best definition
of vision I have come across
is ‘seeing victory before it
exists’,” says Pretorius.
A prerequisite for a vision to inspire universal commitment is
that the realisation of the vision should deliver meaningful ben-
efits to the people who have to make it happen. He continues
to say that during the early eighties, the vision at Toyota SA was
market leadership through satisfaction for all.
“We knew that ‘best in class’ stakeholder satisfaction lev-
els would, over time, deliver market leadership. At McCarthy,
when we were staring bankruptcy in the face, our vision was
‘Save McCarthy’. Failure would have meant thousands of job
losses, leading virtually all 10 000 employees to embrace
the vision”.
The vision should be ambitious and inspirational. Steve Jobs,
the late founder of Apple, provided the world with an outstand-
ing example of such a vision: “We are going to make a dent in
the Universe!”
Subhead: Step 2 – A mission must create the context
that gives meaning, direction and coherence
“The mission should provide a platform for organisational
effectiveness and efficiency. It should give unity of purpose
and encourage team members to fly in the same direction and
in formation. It should prevent a lack of focus and fragmented
effort. In my experience, mission statements should be short
and straightforward so people can memorise and internalise
them,” elaborates Pretorius.
The value created in the different stakeholder categories
should be defined and explained to all staff. Mission ac-
complished will only happen should success be achieved
on a ‘balanced scorecard’ basis,” says Pretorius.
Step 3 – Inculcate shared values
Pretorius says that values determine behaviour and
lay the foundation and glue that keeps people
together. “Values that become ingrained shape
the organisation’s culture, and are far more
powerful than stacks of policies, rules and
regulations”.
“Examples of values I believe in are
honesty, sincerity, caring, respect for all
people, acceptance of responsibility,
teamwork and excellence in everything
you do. Organisational leaders should
personify these values. Their example
has to shine the light of value-based
behaviour as values are the soul of
an organisation. The right values
should seep into the organisa-
tion’s bloodstream and become
part of the organisation’s DNA.
Successful businesses are
vision-led and values-driven”.
BUSINESS FLEET AFRICA | February 2023
WWW.BUSINESSFLEETAFRICA.CO.ZA
BUSINESS
Turbocharging organisational effectiveness
The Pyramid of Organisational Effectiveness
Fair rewards
Results
Behaviour and Action
Performance Management
Policies, systems and processes
Aligned Personal Objectives
Corporate Objectives
Right Strategy
Shared Values
Mission
Vision