TU relies on 'culture' to deliver its vision

But this is no ordinary vision. Successful achievement is not only hitting a business target of Bt280 billion by 2020, it is also contingent on contributing to environmental sustainability and building trust with customer, community and other key constituencies. It is about growing and giving back to a greater cause.

To drive this vision, Thai Union is banking on creating a responsible team culture, where individuals work together and are accountable for collective results. It is investing time and effort to ensure employees understand the vision, and how to make responsible decisions to preserve the environment.

Indeed, as companies in Thailand plot visions and competitive strategies, leaders are beginning to recognise the link between workplace culture and performance. They are finally heeding the advice of late management guru Peter Drucker, who said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”.

So what is workplace culture and how do you influence it? What benefits can Thai Union reap by tweaking its culture?

John Kotter, chief innovation officer at Kotter International consulting and former Harvard University management professor, referred to culture as “how people behave and the values they follow in an organisation”.

Yet shaping the culture and changing the way thousands of employees behave are a lot harder than describing a set of values. The ingredient for success is committed leadership, supported by some combination of human resources tools to reinforce desired behaviours. How leaders behave and what they do influence culture more than any other factor.

So, for example, if leaders are only interested in the bottom line and do not care about customer service, then people in the organisation will spend all their time finding ways to cut costs and operate efficiently, even at the expense of serving customers.

For Thai Union, its journey towards its vision has started by defining a set of six values. Three are “values of action” – responsibility, collaboration and innovation. These values are more or less about how people should work. 

The other three values are “values of attitude” – passion, being humble and being respectful. These values are more about how leaders manage themselves and treat others. 

On the surface, there is nothing unusual about these values. Most companies, especially those with matrix organisations, promote similar values as they struggle to keep people focused and working as a team.But what makes these values so impactful at Thai Union is chief executive officer Thiraphong Chansri’s personal commitment to prioritising them throughout the business. 

In fact, the action values have already been embedded into Thai Union’s strategy. For example, responsibility underpins its sustainability programmes, which in turn guide its operations. 

Being responsible for safeguarding the environments in which Thai Union operates is of paramount importance. Employees are taught to be accountable for the long-term consequences of their actions.

The toughest values to nurture are those of attitude, which govern how individuals behave and treat each other. Yet this is where Thiraphong excels. He is the role model for passion, being humble and respecting others. Through his day-to-day behaviour, he practices what he preaches. 

Ask any employee who in the organisation truly symbolises the company’s values, and more often than not, you will hear the CEO’s name.

Thiraphong also recognises that he cannot do it by himself, and must rely on his full leadership team to be 

 the standard-bearers for the company’s values. So he holds his direct reports accountable and encourages them to live these values in how they behave and act. 

As Thai Union moves forward, initiatives help employees understand and practice these values. But make no mistake about it. It is committed leadership that will set the tone, drive culture change and ensure Thai Union achieves the full intent of its vision by 2020.

 

Larry Chao, the author, is managing director of Chao Group, an |organisation change consultancy based in New York and Bangkok.