by Jack Welch
We sympathize—but not totally. Yes, you may be an outlier, but in our experience, it is rare for an organization, especially its bosses, to reject a change initiative that improves performance and productivity. Very few people want to shoot a team member who is delivering results. They may be jealous, but they’re not stupid.
But even if you are working within a company where your plan is “outside the box,” don’t give up. Just move more judiciously. Make sure the reasons for your change initiative are transparent to everyone. Keep your bosses informed of where you are going, and your team even more so. And finally, don’t lose faith along the way. Some people will resist change. They always do. But as soon as results start rolling in, your new approach will make its own case, loud and clear.
WRESTLING WITH RESISTERS
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For eight months, I have been running a company with enormous growth prospects, but now find myself facing a real barrier to progress. Certain members of my team, ten years older than me and with fifteen years seniority, are unwilling to change. In fact, it has taken me more than four months to get some of them to accept different ways of doing things. What should I do?
—MEXICO CITY, MEXICO
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First off, you can slow down a bit. Four months is too short a time to convince most people to change their morning coffee routine, let alone how to do work they think they’re very good at already.
But that doesn’t mean you stop pushing for change. In fact, even as you recalibrate your timing, be certain you really have a “wow” vision of the future to sell your team. By “wow,” we mean a vision that is inspirational from a business perspective, but as important, one that speaks to the real question on everyone’s mind during any change program: “Hey, what’s in this for me?” The answer could be increased job security, or more money, or better opportunities for promotions down the road—or all three. Just make sure that every time you mention the company’s need for strategic change, you include a subtle (or not-so-subtle) message about the positive personal outcomes. Even if people are older and more senior, they will hear it.
And then, as soon as the change program’s early wins start occurring, perhaps in the form of higher margins or more customers, deliver on your promises. That is, increase salaries, give extra bonuses, or promote people more quickly. Nothing overcomes resistance to change faster than success, especially if that success improves the lives and careers of the team who made it happen.
That said, there are simply some people who constitutionally cannot stomach change. You’ll never be able to sell them your vision, convince them that there’s something in it for them, or reward them enough when it occurs. Luckily, these diehard resisters are actually few in number. We figure that about 10 percent of employees are born “change agents,” embracing the new with energy and optimism. Another 75 percent or so may not lead the charge, but once they are persuaded change is necessary, say, “OK already, let’s get on with it.” The remainder are resisters, who are just so entrenched in the the old way, either emotionally, intellectually, or politically, that they will fight change until the bitter end.
These people usually have to go. And when they do, you have a big responsibility not to let them quietly depart “for personal reasons.” That phony pabulum does the organization no good whatsoever. When hard-core resisters depart, you need to let everyone know they had to leave because they did not buy into the new vision. Yes, wish them well, and even help them find another job where their approach fits. But don’t pretend that people who do not accept the future can stay in the fold. They can’t.
Most change programs usually take about a year to get traction—that is, before people start to feel any impact and know the change is for real. If you have a persuasive case and lots of positive energy, most of your team will come with you, even some of the “older and wiser” ones who seem so resistant today.
BUILDING TRUST FROM THE TOP DOWN
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Is there a short answer for building trust in the workplace?
—JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA
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Yes, very short: Say what you mean, and do what you say!
Trust fritters and dies two ways. First, when people aren’t candid with one another. They sugarcoat tough messages. They use jargon and baloney to purposely make matters obscure and, therefore, themselves less accountable. The only way to get candor into an organization is for the bosses to identify it as a top value, consistently demonstrate it themselves, and reward those who follow their lead.
The second trust killer is when people say one thing and do another. Again, bosses are the main culprits. They tell people to take risks but excoriate them when they fail. They endorse stretch budgets and invite their people to dream big, but punish them if the numbers fall short, even at the end of a decent year. They proclaim a commitment to customer service, but let the factory ship less-than-perfect product to make the month’s sales quota. Or perhaps worst of all, they espouse the company’s values at the top of their lungs, but keep and reward people who don’t live those values simply because they make the numbers. All that tells the organization is, nothing I say means anything. Or put another way: don’t trust me.
Trust, ultimately, isn’t very complicated. It’s earned through words and actions—and integrity in both.
THE PERILOUS PROMOTION TRAP
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For four years, I ran a single store in a large national retail chain, but I was recently promoted to oversee multiple stores across two states. I am finding, however, old habits hard to break—in particular, I still worry more about the performance of one store (my old one!) than what’s going on at all my stores. Any advice?
—HUNTINGTON STATION, NEW YORK
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You’ve nailed it—and bravo for that. Most people in your position don’t have the self-confidence to realize that they have fallen into one of the most common traps of moving up, that is, excitedly taking on a new job but keeping one foot in the old.
The facts are, with your promotion, two people got new jobs: you and the person who replaced you. As a leader now, your task is to unleash the innovative new ideas both of you have. You can’t do that—and neither can your replacement—if you are spending your energy “going home” all the time.
Instead, spend your energy getting to know your expanded new world—and raising the bar across it.
How?
Start by thinking of all your stores as laboratories. Yes, they all do roughly the same thing, but certainly some of them have unique methods or procedures that are more effective. Your job is to spot those best practices and champion them as if they were the best things since oxygen and hydrogen. In your new role, you want everyone in all your stores talking about one another’s best ideas, adopting them, and improving them. That will add a lot more value than you looking over someone’s shoulder.
Transparency is another great tool you can use to raise the bar. You already know which metrics drive performance in your business—inventory turns, sales per square foot, or some key measure of customer satisfaction. If those metrics aren’t already disseminated on a regular basis, fix that right away. Make sure every store sees the comparative ratings, ranked from best to worst. Such clarity works wonders. It’s a very motivating form of public recognition for top-performing stores, and it also signals to poor performers exactly where they can look for new and more effective approaches to the work. In other words, it supports and expedites continuous learning and improvement.
A final way to raise the bar and avoid the “foot in the old” trap is to move quickly to conduct regular, rigorous performance evaluations of all your managers. Your qualitative assessments will be based on how well people demonstrate the desired values (that is, behaviors) you have laid out—such as transferring and adopting good new ideas—and your quantitative assessment will be based on the transparent metrics system you’re driving. The assessments together give you a real opportunity to
reward and celebrate your best people, support and coach your middle group, and weed out underperformers. The outcome: higher performance standards for everyone.
Your new job is bigger than your old one, but more important, it is different. You’ve got a lot to do now, but it doesn’t include what you used to do. Leave that to the person in your old office, who can get busy reinventing the “perfect situation” you left behind!
KEEPING YOUR PEOPLE PUMPED
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In our business, the biggest challenge we have today is motivating our people. What’s the best way to do that?
—GABORONE, BOTSWANA
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Besides money, you mean?
We’re assuming you do, because as a boss, you surely have seen how effective money is in lighting a motivational fire—even in your employees who claim that money really doesn’t matter to them! Indeed, money’s power to energize people is so tried-and-true we won’t dwell on it. Nor will we talk about two other well-established motivators: interesting work content and enjoyable coworkers. You already know how effective these conditions are in getting your people to invest heart and soul in their jobs. Like money, they’re motivational no-brainers.
But if three no-brainers were all that motivation took, it wouldn’t be, as you correctly note, the huge challenge it is.
So, what else can you do? Fortunately, there are four other motivational tools you can unleash, all nonmonetary and each very effective.
The first of them is easy: recognition. When an individual or a team does something notable, make a big deal of it. Announce it publicly, talk about it at every chance. Hand out awards.
Now, when we make this suggestion to business groups, almost inevitably someone expresses concern for the people not being recognized. They might be hurt, they say, or demotivated by such a display. This is nonsense; it’s indulging the wrong crowd! If you have the right people in your company—that is, competitive and upbeat team players—public recognition only raises the bar for everyone.
One more note on recognition, in particular when it comes in the form of an engraved doodad. These types of items are all well and good, but remember, they can never be given in lieu of money. They are an addendum. Plaques gather dust; checks can be cashed.
The second tool should be easy, but apparently it’s not: celebration. We say that because everywhere we go, we ask audiences if they think their companies celebrate success enough, and we typically get no more than 10 percent of the crowd saying yes. What a lost opportunity! Celebrating victories along the way is an amazingly effective way to keep people engaged in the whole journey. And we’re not talking about celebrating just the big wins—we’re talking about marking milestones like a big order or a new way of doing things that increases productivity or customer satisfaction. You name it—all these small successes are chances to congratulate the team and boost their spirits for the challenges ahead.
Celebrations don’t need to be fancy or expensive; after all, a celebration is really just another form of recognition, but with more fun involved. It can be throwing a surprise barbecue one afternoon. It can be tickets to a ball game or a movie. It can be sending a couple of high performers and their families to Disney World, or the San Diego Zoo, or the Rose Bowl parade, or whatever happens to turn their crank.
Which brings us to what celebration is not. Celebration is not going out to dinner with you. Almost nothing strikes darkness in the hearts of employees more than a boss saying, “Great job! I’m taking everyone to Mama Maria’s tonight!” Look, your people spend all day with you, and they may like you very much. But it is not motivating to be rewarded by a forced march to an after-hours affair, even if the food is great.
The next motivational tool is really powerful, but it can be used only if you’re absolutely clear about your mission. Now, you may be thinking, “Aren’t all bosses clear about the mission?” But too often they’re not. In fact, in the course of our travels over the past several years, we’ve discovered that many leaders are so busy with the daily grind that their missions fall by the wayside.
It is inevitable, of course, that crises will divert attention from your mission on occasion, but to move forward, a team has to understand and buy into where it’s going. It needs a shared goal, a collective sense of purpose. And that’s exactly what a great mission gives you: a bold, inspirational creed to capture the hearts and souls of your people. A mission allows bosses to say, “There’s the hill. Let’s take it together!”—a motivating rallying cry if there ever was one.
The final motivational tool we’ll mention here is probably the most difficult to implement. Yes, many great leaders have it as part of their “touch,” but for those less seasoned, it’s pretty hard to pull off.
We’re talking about creating a work environment with just the right balance of achievement and challenge. People need a feeling of success to be excited about work. But they get bored if they are not being tested too—that is, if they are not learning and growing. In other words, people are motivated when they feel as if they are at the top of the mountain and as if they are still climbing it.
Simply put, bosses who create jobs with this kind of built-in push and pull have a real competitive advantage. Their people are motivated that extra degree, and it really shows in performance.
Now, back to money.
Of course there are people who aren’t moved by financial rewards, but they rarely gravitate toward business careers. That’s why when you think about motivation, you need to think about financial rewards first.
But remember, it’s not always how much you give people, sometimes, it’s how much you give them relative to their peers. We were recently talking with an investment banker we know well, and we asked him how his year went. He was obviously pleased with the amount of his bonus, but he was just as excited by how it measured up to the other top rainmakers in his firm. Money is a way of keeping score, and the question “Who’s better or best?” seems to keep a lot of people stretching.
That said, even investment bankers (at least, some of them) care about more than money. In fact, very few good people will stay in a job where money is the only thing going for it. They want money plus a certain feeling—a feeling that they matter. Basically, people want to know that what they do eight hours a day, and usually much more, means something. Fortunately, you can show them that with open appreciation, a sense of fun, an exciting shared goal, and individual attention to the challenge of each job.
Those are a lot for any boss to give, but they’re free and the returns incalculable.
HOW TO GET ELECTED BOSS
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I was just promoted and will now become the manager of the team I once belonged to. Any advice on how to make a successful transition?
—FOLSOM, CALIFORNIA
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Yes—start campaigning. The company’s higher-ups have just appointed you boss. Congratulations. Now comes the hard part: you need to go out and get elected by your former peers.
And this part is not just hard, it’s very hard. In fact, the transition from peer to manager is one of the most delicate and complicated organizational situations you will ever experience. For months or even years, you have been in the trenches with your coworkers as a friend, confidant, and (probably) fellow grouser. You’ve heard secrets and told a few. You know about every little feud and grudge. You’ve sat around in airport waiting rooms and at weekend barbecues with your closest colleagues and ranked everyone else on the team. You’ve pontificated about who would go, who would stay, and generally what you would do if you ran the group.
And now you do.
Surely, some of your former peers are cheering your promotion and are eager to fall in line. That will feel very good to you, but don’t let their support lead you to do something disastrous—namely, come out of the gate with guns blazing. No, keep them firmly in your holster.
Why? Because just as surely as some are cheering, others are not. No matter how sure you are
that you are right for the job or how popular you once were as a member of the team, some of your former peers are uncomfortable with your promotion. A couple may have wanted the job themselves and thought they deserved it, so they’re feeling anything from hurt to bitter. Others will simply have some level of anxiety about you going from “one of us” to “one of them”—especially with what you know, not to mention your opinions (known or suspected) about certain people and the way things are done. Either way, these former peers are in a holding pattern right now, checking you out.
And that’s where you should be too—in a holding pattern, checking them out. In fact, checking everything out.
Which is why you need to start campaigning, that is, winning them over. You need to create an atmosphere of stability and cohesion where sound judgments about the future can be made—by everyone.
Look, the last thing you want in your new role is a revolution or an exodus or even low-level disgruntlement. You want people settled down and functioning. The reason is straightforward enough. When and if there are changes down the road, you want to make them on your terms.
In other words, you want to make changes amid strong buy-in from a team of engaged supporters—not despite the resistance or over the nattering of a confused or chaotic crew.
