In today’s NY Times, Tom Friedman wrote a compelling piece
“Start Up the Risk-Takers” in which he advocates that, “when it comes to helping companies, precious public money should focus on start-ups, not bailouts.” (e.g., GM, Chrysler). As is often the case, Mr. Friedman is on point, both about the general target for the stimulus money, and his recommendation that Chrysler and GM be allowed to go through bankruptcy rather than continue on life support infinitum at public expense.

In our 1987 book, Contented Cows Give Better Milk, we were among the first to suggest that GM’s troubles had less to do with strategy and talent than with effort, specifically discretionary effort. “The problems at GM had far more to do with the attitudes and commitment level of its workforce (demoralized by an inattentive and uncaring management) than with engineering, design, marketing, finance, or manufacturing processes. Think about it: GM enjoyed a huge brand name advantage, employed some of the best designers and marketing minds on the planet, had spent enough of their capital reserves on technological improvement to have bought Toyota outright, and yet they were still making crummy cars!” Now, twelve years later, as GM and Chrysler are back at the welfare window again, with hat in hand, I really wish that we had been proven wrong in that assessment. But there’s a lesson here:

Contrary to the opinions of some, demonstrating that you care about your workforce… A. Is important, especially today. Minds that are frozen by fear or otherwise self-absorbed don’t work very fast, generate many ideas, or respond to customers very well.

B. Does not involve lavishing people with money and expensive benefits which they haven’t earned, the market doesn’t require, and you can’t afford. Though a lot has changed about “the deal” in the workplace in the last 20 years, when it comes to the basics of motivation, nobody has moved the cheese. To wit, among a short list of other important factors (e.g., trust), people are still looking for the opportunity to do meaningful work, and the freedom to pursue it. They want to be in the game, not on the bench. Witness the kids at Cirque du Soleil who leave it all in the arena every night. If GM had 100,000 of those folks on the payroll, Toyota would be nothing but a speed bump in a Detroit parking lot.

A thought leader in the arena of leadership and employee engagement, Bill Catlette is a seminar leader, keynote speaker, and executive coach. He helps individuals and organizations improve business outcomes by having a focused, engaged, capably led workforce. For more information about Bill, his partner Richard Hadden, and their work, please visit their website at www.contentedcows.com

Well, now that the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has been signed into law, the heavy lifting begins, amidst the hoopla and controversy over who has the most “shovel ready” projects worthy of public financing.

In that vein there was an excellent piece (Smart Roads, Smart Bridges. Smart Grids.) by Michael Totty in today’s WSJ. In well-written, compelling fashion, Mr. Totty advocates  using currently available technology and good engineering methods to leave us with “highways that alert motorists of a traffic jam before it forms; bridges that report when they’re at risk of collapse; or an electric grid that fixes itself when blackouts hit.”  In other words, as long as we’re at it, let’s use some smart data gathering and design methods to yield much better outcomes.

In similar fashion, we have long called attention to the fact that smart, well-run organizations make it a point to regularly (no, constantly) sample the ebb and flow of worker morale using well constructed surveys. They do it not out of some socialistic bent, but because they know that to a great degree, today’s morale drives tomorrow’s customer experience, and next month’s earnings. In other words, it pays to do it. This is not something where they turn the spigot on when times are good and shut it off when things get tough. Rather, they take pains to listen and respond to their workers whether the wind is in their face or at their backs.

A thought leader in the arena of leadership and employee engagement, Bill Catlette is a seminar leader, keynote speaker, and executive coach. He helps individuals and organizations improve business outcomes by having a focused, engaged, capably led workforce. For more information about Bill, his partner Richard Hadden, and their work, please visit their website at www.contentedcows.com

Some great insight on work and management…

Bob Sutton’s 15 “Things I Believe” on work and management:

1. Sometimes the best management is no management at all — first do no harm!
2. Indifference is as important as passion.
3. In organizational life, you can have influence over others or you can have freedom from others, but you can’t have both at the same time.
4. Saying smart things and giving smart answers are important. Learning to listen to others and to ask smart questions is more important.
5. Learn how to fight as if you are right and listen as if you are wrong: It helps you develop strong opinions that are weakly held.
6. You get what you expect from people. This is especially true when it comes to selfish behavior; unvarnished self-interest is a learned social norm, not an unwavering feature of human behavior.
7. Getting a little power can turn you into an insensitive self-centered jerk.
8. Avoid pompous jerks whenever possible. They not only can make you feel bad about yourself, chances are that you will eventually start acting like them.
9. The best test of a person’s character is how he or she treats those with less power.
10. The best single question for testing an organization’s character is: What happens when people make mistakes?
11. The best people and organizations have the attitude of wisdom: The courage to act on what they know right now and the humility to change course when they find bee best tter evidence.
12. The quest for management magic and breakthrough ideas is overrated; being a master of the obvious is underrated.
13. Err on the side of optimism and positive energy in all things.
14. It is good to ask yourself, do I have enough? Do you really need more money, power, prestige, or stuff?
15. Jim Maloney is right: Work is an overrated activity.

It is no accident that, in the past few weeks, it feels as though we’re being bombarded by television ads promoting the so called, “Employee Free Choice Act” (EFCA). We are. Big Labor has launched a multi-million dollar ad campaign to stir up interest and support for “card check” legislation that would make it far easier to organize employees, and thus secure new dues paying members.

The ads cleverly capitalize on President Obama’s twin campaign mantras of “hope” and “change”, and the growing resentment of fat cats who continue to pay themselves outsized bonuses while dining at the public trough. The clear implication is that the time has come for America’s workers to level the playing field.

As currently conceived, EFCA would replace a scrupulously fair secret ballot representation election process overseen by federal agents, with a procedure in which union organizers would collect “authorization cards” directly from employees (no secret ballot, no federal oversight.) Collect enough signed cards and it’s all over. Indeed, no less a friend of organized labor than former US Senator, George McGovern has gone on record suggesting that the proposed legislation is harmful to worker interests.

Sadly, a lot of managements fail to appreciate the danger that EFCA presents to them. Recent conversations with the general counsels of two corporations revealed a completely nonchalant attitude about the threat. According to one, “we’re (a $400 million company) too small for unions to bother with.” The other asserted that, by virtue of having the majority of its workers in the south, “it is not likely they will come after us.” Wrong, on both counts. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and just as businesses around the globe are seeking new markets and customers, so are the labor unions that would represent their workers.

Under EFCA, the easiest way for organized labor to to get its foot in the door of one of these companies would be to have an organizer quietly chat up and then collect signed authorization cards from a dozen employees at a small, twenty person plant.Under the proposed legislation, it would then be game over, and the company could be compelled to accept contract terms. In other words, a group of housekeepers in your Santa Fe hotel property or international customer service agents in your Memphis call center could be union members before you even know there is a problem.

Some suggestions:

1. Keep your finger on the pulse of employees throughout your organization. If you’ve not yet made the results of employee opinion surveys part of your business metrics, do so without delay. See to it that the results are attributed by manager, and that they are listened to and acted upon.

2. Learn more about the EFCA and once you have an informed opinion, make sure that your management team, industry associations, and elected representatives know what that opinion is.

3. Develop plans now for how your organization would respond to an organizing campaign. As the U.S. Airways flight crew demonstrated recently, the time to think about the procedures for pulling off a down wind water landing is not when you’re at 1800 feet over the Hudson River with two cold engines.

A thought leader in the arena of leadership and employee engagement, Bill Catlette is a seminar leader, keynote speaker, and executive coach. He helps individuals and organizations improve business outcomes by having a focused, engaged, capably led workforce. For more information about Bill, his partner Richard Hadden, and their work, please visit their website at www.contentedcows.com