Monday, August 14, 2006

Do you have principles like these?

Tech Data Corp. is barely 30 years old, but the Florida-based IT products distributor is now ranked No. 107 on the Fortune 500.

On the assumption that they know something about successful growth, I went trolling their website and came across the following Guiding Principles. I doubt the company's success stems from them directly, but I admire any organization that can express its values and expectations so clearly and openly.

Wouldn't your company benefit by coming up with a similar list of what matters most to you?

Tech Data's Guiding Principles

* Hiring the right people is the most important decision we make. We hire and retain smart people who are passionate team players.
* We honor commitments and respect our team members by being on time, responding to requests in a timely fashion and delivering quality work.
* We are part of the solution – not part of the problem. We continually seek to improve our individual skills.
* We are driven to deliver results by setting priorities and achieving aggressive goals.
* We treat the dollars we spend as if they were our own.
* We recognize and reward team members for achievement.
* Relentless continuous improvement for every business process is a key to our success.

(Click here for more on Tech Data's mission and principles)

Of course, every organization has to act on its principles, and learn to execute on fine-sounding words such as these.

But surely the first step is identifying your principles, and then making sure that people inside and outside your organization know what they are.

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