What counts is what you count.

Among the CEO’s I work with, getting people to work together across functions and departments is one of the top issues. Why then, do others guard turf and focus only on their department, business unit, function or geographic area, which is often at the expense of the company’s overall health?

With the assumption that few if any of us get up in the morning relishing another emotionally-draining day of battle with our teammates, I believe we aren’t willingly creating the silos. Systems create them and they usually start within the goal setting and reward systems. These two systems communicate what’s expected in a powerful way.

If you want integration, check to see if your leaders have shared goals. The way I do it is to use a simple Excel spreadsheet, listing the leaders down the left column and company goals across the top. Fill in each leader’s goals and weightings. You should be able to see quickly if you have a problem. The goals will be out of whack at a glance.

Here’s what you should focus on:

• Keep the number of goals to a minimum—the critical numbers. Having a small number of goals clarify priorities. Having many goals confuse people as to what’s important.
• Company-related goals should be shared by the leaders and weighted heavily.  This makes it clear what’s important and creates interdependencies among the leaders. That is, the goals should be set so that individual member rewards come as a result of the entire team winning.
• Business unit or functional goals should be secondary, so they should receive lighter weightings. They should drive the overall corporate goals.

If you’re trying to integrate your organization, start with the exercise I use and see what it tells you.  Then, if necessary, modify the goals and weightings to eliminate silos, integrate the organization and improve overall results.

Let’s assume you and I are looking at the resume I was reviewing last week. It was a model background, great college, lots of impressive activities and internships during school and between semesters. Call it the model background for a college kid.

Content was strong but the packaging was deficient. Call it an iPod in a crummy box, which Steve Jobs would never permit.  The primary packaging deficiency? Lack of differentiation. His model background did not sell him over all the other model backgrounds out there.

Here’s what I told a young neighbor who was seeking my “business advice” about her resume and job search just recently.

“You and others with model backgrounds are competing for a finite number of jobs. Think of yourself and your competition (i.e., those with other model backgrounds) as boxes of cereal on a supermarket shelf. You’re all sitting there with very model backgrounds that are waiting to be purchased. If I’m a recruiter or a hiring manager at Name Your Company and I have a pile of model backgrounds from people coming out of school (I’ve thrown away the ones from people with average backgrounds), why should I hire you? What is it about your resume that makes you more special than those other boxes of cereal on the shelves?

“Think of your resume as packaging, not a list of activities. There’s a reason Apple is obsessed with design and packaging. Sure, people buy the results that an iPod or Mac Pro delivers. But the cool packaging helps make Apple products further stand out—and sell.

One way to differentiate is to turn activities into results where you can.  I realize that a 21 year old has a smaller list of accomplishments than someone older.  But, try your best to explain not just what you did but why it mattered. If your competitors have lists of activities and you have even a small list of results, you may have a point of differentiation that will represent a tipping point for your customer.

A good hiring manager has choices (lots of them these days).  She will decide on the candidate that stands out above the crowd.

What will make you stand out and, in turn, make the hiring manager look good to her boss?

• Strong operational hydraulics
• Rewards for performance, not mediocrity
• Core values with teeth
• The right conversations
• Adventurous leaders in key positions
• Constant pressure versus heroic efforts

It uses a straightforward and useful checklist of questions you can ask yourself.