Corporate Civil War

There is a battle going on inside each company.  It is waged between cost centers and profit centers, or those units which are perceived to be…

Human resources and marketing departments, for example, are infamous for being a drain on profitability (hence a “cost center”) what with all those events and gifts and benefits while the departments which house product development, engineers and service personnel are renowned for generating revenue (which can be turned into profit (hence a “profit center”)).

But the apparent black and white difference is actually a multitude of grays.

Take the sales department. It is generally accepted that sales is vital to the existence/continuation of a firm so the sales department and its members must be a profit center, yes? Perhaps. But if the sales person is not closing deals, then it’s possible the sales department is a cost center.

The same is true for other customer-interfacing functions which are supposed to generate revenue but may not always succeed in doing so.  For example, if a lawyer is disliked by clients once, it’s coincidence; twice, it’s happenstance and thrice it usually reflects a significant amount of potential revenue that has been lost.

Nevertheless, salespeople have an advantage over those of us in finance, marketing, operations and the like because they can almost prove their contribution to the top line. We have a harder sell (pun intended) because we need to prove a negative- that things work less well if we’re not around,

The corporate civil war stems from this inherent conflict and because no function (or individual) perceives itself as being a burden (read: cost center).

My understanding of both sides results from my unplanned career trajectory which included working on both “sides.”  My first role was in an Israeli start-up firm as  a typical Assistant to the CEO position; from there I was promoted to Director of Human Resources, Global VP of HR and then to a Managing Director role.  Because I was interested and kept my mouth shut, the first role exposed me to C-level thinking from Day 1 and to how board members thought, talked and evaluated success. 

So as a “child,” so-to-speak, I learned the language of corporate viability.

I heard deliberations around giving raises (and reducing pay), around hiring (and firing), around increasing visibility in the marketplace (and correlated quantitative success parameters).  Acronyms like EBIDTA, ROI and DSO were part of my vocabulary. Words like efficiency, redundancy and strategy were part of my vernacular.  I heard viewpoints from managers and employees alike (the CEO had an open-door policy)- what they thought, why they thought it.  I heard what needed to be done and the many methods of execution (one last time… pun intended).

I learned two invaluable lessons:

First, as Bob Metcalfe reminded attendees at the 2013 Georgia Technology Summit, a company does not exist to create jobs.  It exists to make money! If it succeeds in making money, that means there is demand for the product/service which means there will be growth and as a result, jobs.  Accordingly, every function and every process exists to facilitate the creation of revenue.

Everyone- from the receptionist, who creates the first impression, to the CEO- needs to be attuned to customer needs.     Walmart founder Sam Walton brilliantly noted that “There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.”

So, Lesson Number 1: If a person or process does not contribute to the revenue stream, they should be changed.

Lesson Number 2 is best understood by quoting actress Mae West.  She reminded us that it’s not just what we do but how we do it and it’s not just what we say but how we say it. This is important because often a company makes money through its people.

And so, my guiding philosophy throughout the years has been that happy people are productive people and productive people make the client happy. This, in turn, should make the company money. It’s then up to effective management to make it profitable.  A bit simplistic, yes, but provided the product/service is viable, it is ultimately true.  Understanding both lessons is better than declaring a truce- it’s a breakthrough which enables true partnership between cost and profit centers, and improves the top and bottom lines. 

I’m Walking On Sunshine…

Dedicated to NWA.

When you walk the corridors at work, do you look your colleagues in the eye and acknowledge their existence? 

You should.

Two of the five tiers in Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Needs” address our human desire to belong and feel recognized. 

A 2012 article in Scientific Mind magazine goes so far as to claim that the stress generated by unpleasant colleagues- and I believe that ignoring people can be classified as “unpleasant” -  stretches as far as the spouse’s work place.  “Being treated unkindly by a colleague can cause loss of self-esteem, anxiety and depression, which undermines your happiness outside of work.”

Year after year studies affirm that recognition in the workplace is one of the top three reasons people stay. One of the ways I cultivate an engaged workforce is by eliciting input from administrative assistants and others during the hiring process. This is doubly beneficial: it underscores their sense of belonging to and ownership of their workplace and reveals how that person behaves when they think they’re not on stage.

If you’re not buying into the above argument, here’s another, more compelling reason to acknowledge the individuals around us.  Every person with whom we interact in a workplace defines our image of that company. This, in turn, drives business and revenue.

During a recent office visit, I came across a woman with a beautiful fifth floor office overlooking midtown Manhattan who has positioned her desk so that it faces the wall (!). I feel sorry for her and those who need to work with her as this arrangement has clearly illustrated her preference to be left alone. More significant, it has me concerned about how good the company who employs her can be, if this is the sort of person they put in a position of power.

For all the "Horrible Bosses" out there, there are wonderful ones too, ones who walk the halls and greet everyone warmly, even on days of frantic activity and tremendous pressure.  We all have choices- the manager chooses to keep us, the employee chooses to stay. There must be some redeeming quality that can bring a smile to our face in the workplace, even if it’s just a paycheck.  This doesn’t mean there aren’t bad days or annoying colleagues out there but we can choose to be- and to surround ourselves with- the persons who engender a work place of joy. Yes, it is possible to have fun while working hard, and our work space factors into this.

Ah, cubicles! Their gray and gloom is usually compounded being situated in rooms where there is no sunlight; how de-motivating. Open space on the other hand, the common set-up for advertising agencies and Google-esque offices, is usually freer and brighter although for those of us who are easily distracted, it is also not ideal.  But with handheld devices, who is truly without distraction today?  But I digress.

No matter what the set-up, “employees perform best when they are encouraged to decorate their surroundings as they see fit… it [ownership of their work space] influences how much they accomplish, how much initiative they take and their overall professional satisfaction” says another Scientific Mind magazine article.

Ownership of our workspace spills over into our corridor interaction.  Nowadays, “corridors” frequently virtual and paths are crossed via email.  In these virtual corridors, acknowledgement often comes in the form of replying.  It should be simple: someone took the time to compose, let’s have the courtesy to respond. Failure to do so indicates a lack of caring and/or interest in the topic which may, at some point, indicate to the writer that what they do is unimportant and that they are, by association, similarly perceived. [Email etiquette is worthy of its own posting so stay tuned…]

We also “decorate our surroundings” through non-verbal cues, like our aura, facial expressions, body language and yes, even the placement of our furnishings (or feng shui as some like to call it). We also adorn our area with what we say and how we say it.  A delightful friend introduced me to a revolutionary maxim. Instead of the trite, complacent “have a nice day,” she proposes “make it a great day!” What power, what decisiveness, what joy to determine the tone of our days.

When I was a tween, my best friend and I used to walk on a bike path in Bergen County, New Jersey.  I remember looking at the adults who were walking and thinking how solemn they were. I determinedly told her that I was going to say hello and smile at those whose path we crossed; she thought I was weird but was willing to try.  I wish I could say I changed lives by doing this, and maybe I did.  We never know how much a smile and acknowledgement can brighten a day.

 

So come, join me in decreeing a new world order. Let's make our days great and... in the corridors of life, walk on sunshine.

Liar, Liar, When To Fire?

Written by Mika Liss on February 10, 2013

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens,” even for involuntary termination of employment more commonly referred to as being fired or, depending on your viewpoint, freed.

One of my golden rules echoes the Biblical sentiment.  Do not fire on or around birthdays or major holidays. This seemingly simple guideline of compassion is mutually beneficial.  Aside from saving the employee from indelible, horrible associations with what should otherwise be a happy day, this prevents a significant disservice to the company.  Persons who are fired proximate to a day which is supposed to be celebratory are likely to forever hold the “terminator” and company in ill-will and share it very loudly with family and friends as they gather on those holidays. 

Timing is also factor even with employees who are suspected of or known to be lying, cheating and/or stealing because the company needs to prepare appropriately, i.e. have security notified, minimize disruption to the work day, make sure all relevant systems are backed up and the like.  Every employer should have an “exit checklist” to prepare, at least logistically, for the execution (pun intended). [ I know too many firms which still do not know that they’ve lost equipment to former employees.]

And timing is again a factor because it helps us solidify why we’re taking this step and what we want its aftermath to be.  Here’s my checklist:

·         Look inwards. Look in the mirror. Understand the real reasons behind the decision and understand the emotional implications, on ourselves and the person we’re putting out of work.  Have all viable courses of action been explored? For example, in the case of an underperformer or disgruntled employee, has a meeting which opens with a genuine inquiry into the employee’s happiness occurred? I like to inquire “Do you like what you’re doing? How can I help you do your job better?”  Is it possible the employee is not productive because, for example, they don’t know what’s expected of them? Perhaps someone or something is inhibiting their progress and they can’t get past it on their own. Perhaps they are passionate about something else and would prefer to be doing that (and likely be fantastically more productive at it).

I promise these conversations are worthwhile.  Some of the sincere, gentle-yet-probing discussions I’ve had have yielded insights that utterly changed my perception and enabled me to improve entire units and ways of working.  It’s also been a pleasant surprise to see how working to resolve initial personality clashes at work has sometimes led to stronger, superior working relationships; in fact, these are the relationships that usually continue even when the individuals are at separate places of work .

 

Always, always, always remember to summarize in writing these conversations which ensures the re-alignment of expectations and, if relevant, offers an opportunity for repentance. This ties into another of my golden rules: The End should not come as a surprise.  As good managers, our practice should be to share our feelings about our subordinates’ success (or lack thereof) on a regular basis such that if/when The Break Up occurs, it is not a surprise. [If it is, we need to work on our management skills.]

·         Look outwards. What do our trusted advisors recommend? What are the mumblings from the field? In “How To Become A Great Boss,” a must-read book for all managers and aspiring managers, Jeffrey Fox insists that “everyone that works with the underperformer [or insert the appropriate descriptive here] knows it. The longer the boss delays in taking action, the more the other employees question the boss’s competency.” Accordingly, a good manager understands that this course of action is best for all involved- the employee in question who will hopefully move onto better pastures, the other employees, the company, the client and, of course, the manager, who will then have a more cohesive, happy and productive team.

·         Look onwards. Negative people are like cancer.  They insidiously overtake and destroy their surroundings.  A manager has a duty to keep his/her employees happy (read: motivated and therefore productive) and the reverse is equally applicable! A good employee should delight in pleasing the boss.  A timely termination can facilitate a return to a positive, productive work environment.

And a positive, productive work environment is what we all want, yes? So whether it be “a time to keep” or “a time to throw away,” check your list twice and if an execution is in order, plan accordingly.