CORPORATE THINKING

My HubPages friend from Florida, Tim Bryce, seems to be able to find those subjects that stir my thought processes. I don’t disagree with him, in fact, we probably agree on 99.9% of those things that he writes about.  The part that stirs me is that he comes up with those subjects that hit me in my tender spots and incite me to rant a bit on things that I probably should not have to say anything about if we in corporate America approached things differently. So, here’s to ya Tim….thanks for helping me put together another hub!

Having worked in various aspects of the large corporate environment for more than 30 years, I have seen my share of the coming and going of programs designed to yield improvement in the masses who are employed there.  Conceptually, some of these are good ideas at least in theory. The danger usually shows up when companies begin to implement these concepts without the understanding, dedication, and long term outlook to achieve the desired result.  When that happens, these companies from an employee perspective are looked upon much like the citizens of this country look at the federal government…sometimes things work best when the government does nothing at all!

Over the years, I have seen programs come and go.  To mention a few there was “employee empowerment”, “individual achievement recognition”, “teamwork”, and “diversity”.  Now, don’t get me wrong here.  All of the aforementioned concepts have some merit in theory but in practice they are either poorly understood at the outset and/or poorly implemented.  In many cases, the poor understanding and implementations overshadows anything that is good about the concept.

Now, this is not the forum to get into a lengthy discussion of the pros and cons of these methodologies.  My point here is the dangers associated with them in corporate America when they are poorly implemented in companies.  When that happens, the average employee starts to feel that the concept is overshadowing the basic task of doing their jobs.  In some cases, the concept becomes more important than the job.  In other cases, the concept seems to promote needless visually activity that somehow is measured as progress or productivity because someone is now actually counting the events. This environment can be a big turnoff for far too many employees.

So where does that leave us if I am saying stop all of this?  Well, I am glad you ask!  Actually, I am not saying ‘stop all of this.’  What I am saying is, let’s put it into the proper perspective in the corporate environment, and, like any tool, let’s use it when it makes sense rather than waving it around on a daily basis hour by hour to show everyone that we have one.  That is my point here.  Far too many companies in America seem to be willing to jump on any concept that is “well-packaged” and promoted to them with buzzwords and phrases.  The sad part is that once the wrappers are off most employees recognize that the company just paid an outside vendor far too much money for nothing but common-sense with a different label.

Companies must have real leadership to survive.  Real leadership is far more than something ordered via the Internet, pulled out of the box, and placed into operation.  Real leadership creates a corporate culture.  It also protects that culture from influences that damage it in terms of clarity for the employee.  Real leadership has a natural feel to it for those who are watching, i.e., the employee.  People want to follow real leaders.  People want to embrace the beliefs and concepts of those who can explain the depth of a concept and demonstrate the value of it in practical application.  Real leaders gain buy-in from the majority of employees.  They bring awareness to the employee that the company and its ability to perform depend greatly on their efforts and how they contribute to the success.  Real leaders not only create this culture, they nurture it.

Time and again, I hear companies make public claims of their “leadership in the industry” or their “examples to America” only to see the same companies run out and attempt to copy the success pattern of a similar company without really understanding it…a rather dangerous practice. General Electric was recognized for many years as a leader in creating unique corporate environments and cultures.  GE was so recognized in fact, that many companies who otherwise should have been focused on creating their own culture, quickly tried to embrace that of GE only to see the concepts fail miserably.

Senior managers in today’s corporate world are accountable not only to their stockholders and customers but also to their employees for the corporate cultures they create.  Now, you can head down to the bookstore and find shelf after shelf of books on leadership and business practices. There is a wealth of information out there.  But here is the thing.  A leader who has to run to the bookshelf and embrace someone else’s philosophy as the basis of his/her passion is not much of a leader.  Leaders already have ideas.  What they really need is effective methodology to implement them in most cases.

As a manager and as a parent, over the years, I have asked myself questions.  “What makes a good leader?”  “What makes a good parent?”  Ask those questions and you will get a broad mix of answers ranging from simple to complex and covering every conceivable concept. In essence the answer is the same for both and it is relatively simple when it comes to either children or employees.  Good parents, good managers, good leaders have two distinct qualities.  They are predictable.  They are consistent.  If you want to add a third to that, they are sincere.  Read all the books you want and you will find those characteristics. They won’t be labeled as such but that is what they are.

You don’t buy it huh?  Too simple you say?   That is the beauty of it…the simplicity.  People, for example, employees, understand passion.  They recognize it.  When they see that it is sincere, they want to feel that same passion as well.  If you are consistent, they expect you to have it tomorrow.  If you are predictable, they expect you to have it tomorrow.  When you don’t it confuses them, disappoints them and sends them looking in new directions for something they can buy into.  I always said that I don’t mind working for a S.O.B. as long as he is an S.O.B. on a consistent basis. Then, I can structure my response to his behavior or passion, if you will.

Too many companies lack originality.  Too many companies depend on outsiders to design their culture.  Here’s an example for you.  For many, many, decades, Delta Air Lines was a darling in the airline industry.  Their service was good, clean airplanes, reliable service, and a true realism in their approach.  They operated for years in this culture.  Somewhere along the way in the 90’s someone decided that Delta was “in-breeding” too much.  Delta needed new blood, new leadership and a new approach if it was to grow in the marketplace of aviation.  So, for the first time in the company’s history, they bring in a CEO from the outside world. The company was soon turned upside down and saddled with huge debt.  That CEO was followed by yet another outsider who continued the process to extreme before he too left.

 In the end, Delta lost its culture, a true southern-hospitality flavored culture that was evident to their customer and one that truly made the employee proud to work there.  In the end, the outsider had no regard for the existing culture.  The board of directors betrayed the customer and the employee in a move to gain market share. Ultimately, Delta already had a culture for success in the long run. They paid someone big bucks to ruin it for them.

Great leaders have a lot of instinctive intuition about their business whether it is a general on the battlefield or the leader of the smallest corporation in the world.  When they relinquish that instinctive ability and attempt to embrace every concept that comes down the road, they lose much of their leadership ability in the process.  Sometimes, the best leadership one can provide is to simply say “no, that is not the best I can do for my people.”

Companies follow a cycle much like that of life.  In their infancy, they struggle just to survive and gain name recognition.  Beyond that stage, they are focused and eager to grow until one day they achieve enough growth to be labeled as significant in their industry or even in the global business economy.  Somewhere in that process lurks the need to indoctrinate, to educate, to shape, form and mold the employee.  Yes, standardization sounds great but do we really want all employees to look alike, sound alike, think alike, and approach their work in the exact same manner?  If that is the case, why are we so eager to teach “diversity” and “diversity appreciation” in the corporate environment?  If that is the case, why are we worried about empowering the employee?

Companies achieve greatness for various reasons over time.  The ones that achieve it best and sustain it the longest have leaders who create and nurture a strong positive culture of employee involvement and ownership. They also have employees who have bought in to the process, appreciate the culture, and recognize the passion, the consistency, the predictability, and sincerity. They see all of it as both good and realistic. These are companies who have indeed mastered the process of training and developing their people as individuals who feel empowered, who work together well, and who achieve consistent desired results because it makes sense to them that it is the logical thing to do.

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