I mentioned in my last post how we in leadership would be better off if, after setting them up to succeed, we then let employees “do their job.”
Seems this article about Marvin Ellison at Home Depot agrees with that sentiment. (I love being vindicated by others…!)
“Leadership as a Human Buffer…” HD’s Ellison says to senior managers: “Leave ’em alone and let them do their job.” “If you have issues, take ’em up with me.” (more…)
Anytime a man (and I ‘are’ one) attempts to discuss the challenges faced by women in leadership, it’s a risky proposition.
What the hell… I’ve never been much for dancing around an issue, and this one presents a legitimate question:
To achieve professional success, must women learn — and get better at — networking “like a man,” or should a woman’s approach differ significantly solely because she’s a women? (more…)
“That generation just doesn’t have a work ethic.”
“They always want things handed to them…”
Blah, blah, blah… we’ve all heard it, right?
All in all, I think the whole “work ethic” debate is a bunch of bunk.
In my experience, people really define “work ethic” as “works as hard as I do.” So, if someone has a “good” work ethic, then they meet my standard of effort; if they don’t, they don’t. This is easily exemplified when people will disagree over a particular coworker’s “work ethic.” (more…)
Short answer, yes, I believe he can.
Here’s the deal: yesterday, Chrysler filed the papers to enter Chapter 11 protection under the U.S. Bankruptcy code. President Obama believes we can fast-track them in less than 60 days… I doubt that, but we’ll see. If it were that simple, creditors would have agreed to a non-bankruptcy settlement(s).
Today/tomorrow should yield the judge’s “first day orders,’ which allow the company to continue operating. Essential since operations must continue — with some gusto — for a company to successfully emerge from bankruptcy protection.
I’ve worked with many organizations, both as the in-house compensation expert as well as an outside consultant, and determining the economic return for incentive plans is clearly a significant effort – and there’s sometimes nothing simple about it.
Incentive plans do not work in a vacuum; even with potentially great compensation plans, outside forces can be such that the results are almost anecdotal. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t make every effort to measure the results, but it does mean that any specific measurements will have “assumptions” built in to the equation.
Some client examples:
I implemented an extensive gainsharing plan for a $100M division of a $1B manufacturer/smelter of zinc ingot. In less than 18 months, we reduced the average production cost per pound by well over 35%, and split the dollar savings evenly with employees, some of them nearly doubling their typical hourly wage. Now, was it simply the incentive plan? Well, as part of that effort, we conducted extensive training, constant follow-up, intense metric evaluation and trending… in short, we implemented a process “around” that incentive effort.
So, did the gainsharing “cause” the improved performance?
It certainly played a significant part.
With a small, fast-growing bio-tech firm, we implemented significant incentives for management’s leadership in driving research & development and time-to-market. The incentives paid out fairly handsomely, and time-to-market for new products was reduced by almost 15% in less than 12 months.
Was that caused entirely by incentives?
Hard to say; time-to-market had become an incredible focus before implementing the incentives, and was reflected in many management efforts, hiring, etc. Clearly, the incentives played a part, but how much?
Finally, with a $120M industrial services firm, we implemented sales incentives that had the most generous “upside” in the industry. 12 months later, we realized an increase in revenue of almost 15%, with margins equal to or better than before. Yet the company still entered into Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and the strategic buyers immediately discontinued the plan, saying it was too “rich.”
Did it play a part in the company’s slide into Chapter 11, or did it stave off that bankruptcy for several more months? Again, it’s difficult to determine, given the pressures on the entire organization at the time to reduce costs, increase revenues, and bolster margins. It certainly made more in earnings than it cost in incentives, by a factor of almost 13x.
Again, these plans don’t work in a vacuum, and are usually part of an organization’s current strategic focus. As such, measuring ROI aimed squarely and solely at a particular incentive plan will always be difficult.
Can we measure the total impact of the effort, INCLUDING incentive plans? Of course, and that’s likely the most successful way to run a railroad anyway.
Years ago, I worked for a USAF Colonel named Scott Atkins. He would tell me frequently that, “If 25% of your decisions aren’t wrong, you simply aren’t making enough decisions.”
Action — well thought, purposeful action — must always be rewarded over inaction.
Regarding action and failure, I always remember a couple of things:
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