With our granddaughter Maya already seven months old, she is growing up quickly 5,400 miles away in Germany. Our visits with Maya are tremendous but all too often, short; so earlier this fall, we traveled as a family to Florence, Italy for quality downtime together; Jessie and I flew from Las Vegas and our son Chris, his wife Petra and our granddaughter Maya, traveled from Germany. We then drove down into Tuscany where we rented a villa for us to enjoy our time together. Free from the routines of our daily lives, we enjoyed cooking, eating meals as a family and simply talking. The house allowed us the opportunity to not only accommodate Maya’s schedule but the flexibility to take day trips to the many beautiful cities that dot the Tuscan countryside; with each community’s rich cultural, culinary, and local tradition(s) creating its’ own unique way of living.
Italy’s serene countryside showcases the beautiful vineyards that produce wine and olive oil; several still operating as family-run businesses dating back 400+ years; passed on from generation to generation.
Travelling abroad and stepping away from our day to day lives offers an opportunity to be inspired by the wider world and a more balanced perspective on life by seeing how other cultures’ values impact how others live. As a leader of a global enterprise, I have seen first hand how rich diversity of thinking and unique perspective(s) can positively impact on a business.
Global Culture
With advances in technology and communication, companies are increasingly operating cross-border teams. As we move towards a more global economy, a culture of diverse thinking, motivation(s), and competencies emerge. The diverse viewpoints offer a unique perspective(s) to solutions to problems that may not have been considered while maximizing people’s unique experience(s) and talent for increased adaptability.
A corporate culture represents how individuals view the world and how they react to situations. Something seemingly innocent like a hand gesture or using corporate jargon can cause a misunderstanding. With team members in different locations, neither body language or subtle meanings are able to be picked up.
As corporate operations become more distributed and move to a structure of “networks of teams,” culture serves to bind people together and helps people communicate and collaborate. When managed well, culture can drive execution and ensure business consistency around the world.
Several studies including Deloitte’s 2016 Global Human Capital Trends report found that culture is a potential competitive advantage. 82% of the respondents found few factors contribute more to business success than culture.
Unlike the years in the past, the 2016 Global Human Capital Trends report treated culture and engagement as two distinct topics. Why? Because, while the two issues are intimately connected, the differences between them are significant, and the importance of each has risen to justify a separate treatment and a separate, well-defined approach to tackling it.
Culture describes “the way things work around here.” Specifically, it includes the values, beliefs, behaviors, artifacts, and reward systems that influence people’s behavior on a day-to-day basis. It is driven by top leadership and becomes deeply embedded in the company through a myriad of processes, reward systems, and behaviors. Culture includes all the behaviors that may or may not improve business performance.
Engagement, in contrast, describes “how people feel about the way things work around here.” It is a way of describing employees’ level of commitment to the company and to their work.
Culture and engagement are connected. When a company’s culture is clearly aligned with business strategy, it attracts people who feel comfortable in it, which in turn should produce a high level of engagement. Conversely, programs to improve engagement often discover cultural issues, forcing the company and its leadership to question and change its values, incentives, programs, and structure.
Fostering inclusion and collaboration between various team members is needed to ensure the long-term scalability and sustainability for running a successful global enterprise.
RMS Automotive Culture
It’s been just over three years since RMS Automotive was relaunched in the United States and became a part of the Cox Automotive family. What began as a modest startup is now a global enterprise with over 100+ team members in six countriesaround the world.
People are at the center of what we do
Our talented team members play a critical role in driving our business forward and have allowed us to grow to 100+ team members in 6 countries across the globe. With offices around the world including the US, Europe, and Asia, clearly defined roles are essential for success. Our team members know what they are responsible for and the impact their work has on other people across the company. What one team member does in the Leeds UK office may impact the work of someone in Atlanta.
We unite our global team by mentioning or celebrating meaningful holidays to our team members around the world.
We want our new team members to feel as welcome as possible through our new team member introduction and spotlight(s).
We bridge the physical distance leveraging state of the art technology to engage on a more personal level.
The communities where we work are also the communities where we live and play. They are a part of our family. We are passionate about making a positive difference in each and everyone.
Our innovative spirit has always driven our progress. Today, we have:
- Processed 3.8M+ vehicles
- Sold 1MK+ vehicles
- Handle 40+ currencies
- Supporting 29+ languages
Innovative thinking will continue to drive us into the future.
RMS Automotive
Transacting vehicles in multiple countries and growing, RMS Automotive, a Cox Automotive Brand, delivers a global enterprise software solution that enables its’ commercial clients to manage their portfolio(s) across the complete vehicle lifecycle from new car build to used car sale. Through automation and data science, RMS Automotive provides VIN-specific recommendations for accurate vehicle pricing, as well as optimal reconditioning and inventory distribution. These services deliver real-time integration with a client’s platform, faster remarketing time, reduced depreciation, cost of capital, improved residuals and reduction in wholesale losses. For more information about RMS Automotive, visit www.rmsautomotive.com or http://rmsautomotive.eu
About Cox Automotive
Cox Automotive Inc. is transforming the way the world buys, sells and owns cars with industry-leading digital marketing, software, financial, wholesale and e-commerce solutions for consumers, dealers, manufacturers and the overall automotive ecosystem worldwide. Committed to open choice and dedicated to strong partnerships, the Cox Automotive family includes Autotrader®, Dealer.com®, Dealertrack®, Kelley Blue Book®, Manheim®, NextGear Capital®, vAuto®, Xtime® and a host of other brands. The global company has 33,000 team members in more than 200 locations and is a partner to more than 40,000 auto dealers, as well as most major automobile manufacturers, while engaging U.S. consumer car buyers with the most recognized media brands in the industry. Cox Automotive is a subsidiary of Cox Enterprises Inc., an Atlanta-based company with revenues exceeding $20 billion and approximately 60,000 employees. Cox Enterprises’ other major operating subsidiaries include Cox Communications and Cox Media Group. For more information about Cox Automotive, visit www.coxautoinc.com.
Originally published at medium.com