A quick and easy lesson
A client of mine was frustrated by the lack of real initiative shown by his senior staff and the absence of useful feedback from ‘the floor’ – plenty of complaints but little or no constructive input.
- Senior management lived they were responsible for ‘solutions’
- Supervisors, leading hands were responsible for initiating senior management decisions
- Works were responsible for following instructions
This is not an uncommon situation even though, most companies would deny it -“oh no, we consult and value employees’ input”. Do we include, do we work with the ideas, do we include the employee in the discussion – probably not because after all, we are the management.
CASE STUDY
Private company
Manufacture and sell through agents to end users.
Turn over four to eight million dollars PA depending on season
Personnel – 55 – CEO, CFO, Manufacturing Manager, Production Manager, Sales Manager.
CEO and CFO make most decisions
Costs up, Missing delivery deadlines, inventory out of control, staff turnover high, losing clients, cash flow disjointed and insufficient.
First impressions – people blaming each other and the market, the economy, govenrment.
No real identification of what was working and what wasn’t.
No feeling of empowerment – actually, a feeling of disempowerment brought about by the blaming mechanism.
Our action
Interview all staff – everyone – starting with those on the ‘floor’, and support people.
This wasn’t received well by the CEO (owner) of the CFO – the other managers had long lost their sense of self-worth or respect – long serving – looking to either their long service leave or retirement.
Outcome – ‘no one ever asks us or listens to us – we know their policies are not working, we could see what was happening and we know what to do. Management is running around like their heads are cut off – blaming everyone and everything and not open to new input.
Listening to this and with our own experience AND the approval from the owner/CEO (who was facing calls on the loans and potential disaster) we introduced
- The concept of Intelligent Disobedience
- The inclusion of all managers and supervisory staff in ALL meetings – weekly for the first 2 months – sensitive information tabled
- Strict adherence to the Intelligent Disobedience – a bit like the old brainstorming (no bad ideas, let people talk, don’t interrupt, value and extend thoughts)
- Minutes taken, actions identified and implemented by ‘the floor staff with managers’.
- Managers spending time on the floor undertaking those ‘menial tasks’ – getting their hands dirty, and understanding their business.
OUTCOME –
Floor people talking to customers floor people
Suppliers and customers talking to each other
Sales talking to production
Skills matrix developed for all staff alongside career planning
Clear objectives across various areas of the business developed right through the the floor
OUTCOME –
Excess stock found homes with current clients and the reason new clients came on board
Contracts with suppliers initiated and forward planning put into place (and some excess stock taken back)
The layout of the manufacturing floor adjusted for maximum efficiency (something this new Vietnamese employee had been talking about for 9 months) resulting ion 30% more productivity
Sale of excess property leading to full repayment of bank loan – something initiated by the young, 6-month employed female, first job receptionist.(Apparently, she was getting suppliers asking for payment and she was complaining to her dad who commented, “they seem to have spare land they don’t use, why don’t they sell and gain some cashflow).
This was something the sales manager had suggested several times and even went as far as getting some indicative pricing – but not listened to.
OUTCOME – the business is in a much more sound position, the people of the business are enthused, clients are being excited, the production manager was changed to be sales manager and the sales manager took on production – wrong people in wrong jobs.
These outcomes were always available if management got out of its way and effectively interacted with ALL of its people. Intelligent disobedience helps managers be leaders, functionaries be leaders, customers be leaders, and suppliers be leaders when a business is confident enough to be truthful, upfront and open.