| Making Believers Out of People |
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VANCOUVER BUSINESS JOURNAL November, 2000 Essential Management Concepts JONNIE MARTIN Sometimes owners and managers complain to me that they cannot get their workers to respond — they won’t carry out certain portions of their job descriptions or comply with new procedures or follow direct instructions. The manager feels ignored and frustrated, usually allowing the problem to fester until enough emotional heat generates an explosion. “Why do people act this way,” one exasperated manager asked me, and I wasn’t able to provide a simple answer. Sometimes employees are confused and that leads to inaction. Sometimes they are overworked and they use some kind of internal system to decide what is important. Sometimes they don’t agree with a new policy and have no constructive way to deal with their own frustration. Sometimes they forget or don’t care. There are many answers, some more palatable than others. Even when you have good employees, committed employees, you may find this dynamic at work in your organization. There always seem to be pieces falling off the table. As managers we can’t seem to get our team to approach perfection and it is irksome at best and damaging to the company at worst. Solving the problem takes action however; steady, studied action. You cannot simply ignore it and hope it gets better on its own. As with most management issues, there is a process that needs to be followed to improve performance and response in a team. You have to make believers out of people — to get their attention and let them know that you mean business. In the old, top-down, aggressive management hierarchy, you simply threatened people with their jobs. That worked alright in the short run, didn’t work very well in the long run. Some years ago I was hired as an operations and compliance officer to lead the turnaround of a struggling brokerage firm. When I arrived, I found that many of the brokers were not following the procedures required under securities laws. I sent out a memo to remind them of the legal requirements and many of the brokers began to comply immediately. For those who did not, I began a campaign to correct the problem. At first infraction, there was a friendly reminder note. At second infraction, I made a less-friendly telephone call. At third infraction, I sent a stern note and held back their commissions until the paperwork was complete. I was prepared to fire wayward brokers if they continued, but none did. I had made believers out of all of them! In the new, flatter teaming model, you use a different approach. You make believers out of people by shaping them into participatory team members. You begin by making sure all of your employees understand the greater goals of the company and their own contribution to that ends. You provide support systems that allow them to succeed, such as good job descriptions, effective training, task manuals, daily coaching, useful reviews. You include them in brainstorming and strategic planning sessions, have open-door policies, and otherwise give them avenues for communication (up, down and diagonally). You teach employees to think like business owners and talk about those behaviors and attitudes that move individuals, teams and the company toward its ultimate goals. When you are effective in creating a participatory environment, your employees become your business partners. A high performance business team is made up of believers — people who believe in the company and its mission, believe in their own contribution to the goals, and believe in each other. They actively work to keep each other on target and the mangers don’t have to work nearly so hard to move people to action. That’s not to say that you will no longer need systems and procedures and standards and deadlines and other organizational structures. It just means that the people within the system will more easily understand the importance of the work that is being done and the necessity of structure, and will themselves support and constantly improve these systems. There are many different systems that help everyone on the team stay focused on what is important and helps them to avoid errors and omissions: check lists, tickler systems, forms, published deadlines, report dates and so on. I recall a very simple system used by one of my former CEO’s, John Scott. Scotty was a very sophisticated guy — former Chairman of the Albertson companies, on the Bendix and Morrison-Knudsen Boards, and on the cover of Time Magazine— but he used a rudimentary system to ensure that his projects were completed on time. When Scotty made an assignment he wrote it down on a yellow pad, jotting down the due date and responsible party. If you did not complete your assignment by the deadline, you felt a little unsettled to be called into the CEO’s office for a friendly but direct confrontation. Even in a participatory and cooperative teaming environment, people need to be reminded of what is important and held accountable for their assignments. The difference I have found in flat organizations is that the members themselves welcome the support structures of all kinds because they understand the system is there to help them — and the organization — to succeed. One of my financial planning clients uses a very successful teaming model in their organization but because of the extensive liability in that industry, they cannot afford to let an error slip through. To ensure a high level of safety, the organization invites me to perform an annual audit of all of their operations. In a hierarchical organization, this would be frightening to people; in a flat organization, the extra surveillance is welcomed. This team is so committed that they eagerly remind me when it is time to audit — and take joy in the fact that I have a difficult time finding even minor infractions! |