Ways to Screw up Your Organization - Rank Employees

by Don Harkey

On our continuing series on how to really screw up an organization, we will now discuss the practice of ranking employees. Again, I want to stress to the reader, this is another way to MESS UP your organization.

Jack Welsh is considered by many to be a legendary CEO. Having lead GE for many years, Jack's philosophy earned him the nickname "Neutron Jack". By the turn of the century, he was considered by many to be one of the greatest CEO's of all time. (Jack's stock has dropped considerably since)

One of Jack's philosophies is to be #1 or #2 in your market or get out of the market. He applied this base philosophy to employees. Jack new that some of his employees were more effective than others. He thought about how to rank those employees. Sure, it is hard to distinguish between employee #20,568 and #20,569, but you sure can put employees into broad classifications. So GE set out to identify the top 10% of employees and the bottom 10% of employees. The top 10% earned promotions or bonuses. The bottom 10% were put on corrective action and often fired.

The idea is that if you clean out the "bottom feeders" every year, you improve the organization for everyone. As an employee, have you ever worked with that one person who doesn't carry their own weight? Frustrating, isn't it. Well, Neutron Jack had the answer and many companies jumped on it.

So how does one accomplish identifying the top and bottom 10% of employees within an organization. If your company is small, it is relatively easy. If you have 10 employees, promote one of them and fire another! Easy! The other 9 employees will thank you (although they will be watching with great interest as you hire a replacement for ole' #10 to see if they might be better then they are, lest they end up in the bottom spot the next year). It really keeps your employees on their toes.

If you are in a bigger organization, you will have to use the bell curve. Each supervisor will need to pick their top and bottom people. The supervisors will then need to get together and share stories about how great or terrible their people are. The larger the company, the longer this process will take, but it is worth it. If you are stuck in a stalemate in the meeting, make sure to barter with each other. "If you put Marsha on the top list, I will put Pete on the bottom". It is a common phenomena in these meetings that supervisors will want to promote all of their people and not fire any of them. Don't let them get away with that!

You might be thinking about the accuracy of the employee ranking system. How do you know you are truly getting rid of the "worst" employees and rewarding the "best" employees? The best advice I can give is to not worry about it. If a person ends up in the bottom 10% who should have been ranked in the bottom 30%, is it really such a terrible loss?

What about variation in employees between supervisors? Could their be bad managers whose employee's are less motivated than others? Nope. People are completely self motivated. A "go-getter" would fight through bad management and rise to the top (and "fighting through" management would surely make a good impression on their supervisor during the ranking process!).

I know what you're thinking... doesn't this discourage teamwork amongst your employees. I point you to the show Survivor. Those people compete with each other every day and it surely brings out the best in them! Right?!?

The lessons learned here are simple. Cut out your weakest employees regularly. Instill fear to the masses and ignore management's impact on their employees. Convert your entire HR system in a series of meetings with backroom bargaining and people trading. All of these things will come together to ensure bad management, employee competition, and most of all, fear within the organization. Oh... and your supervisors will HATE it! What a great way to destroy an organization from within!

THANKS JACK!

Ways to Screw up your Organization - the Cycle of Metrics

by Don Harkey

Are you trying to build a culture of corruption within your business? Here's a great way to do it! (note: IF you are trying to build a culture of corruption, which I do NOT recommend... just wanted to be clear)

Make sure you measure everything and hold your employees to those measurements. Do not accept excuses. The message should be "hit your numbers... or else!". How does this build corruption?

Let's say I have a delivery driver. I want to set some metrics for the driver. First of all, the delivery needs to be "on time". Next, the load needs to get to the client in good condition. Finally, the drive needs to be safe. Good news (for those seeking corruption)... I can measure all 3 of these conditions. Furthermore, I can hold the employees accountable to these metrics!

I will set a target for 95% on time delivery, zero customer complaints, no speeding tickets, and no accidents. Brilliant!

Driver #1 is an ethical, hard working individual. She delivers her loads quickly and efficiently, but always follows the speed limit and is careful to avoid accidents. She records her times accurately and reports all damaged loads and complaints from customers.

Driver #2 is a go-getter. He works hard, but also sees how he will be judged. He speeds when he can get away with it and "settled" with a person he accidentally rear ended by giving the old lady a $100 bill to "fix her bumper". He fudges on his time reports (he is on time most of time anyway, so what's the big deal?) and has been known to even repackage a load to hide damage from the customer. When customers complain to him, he sympathizes with them and tells them that he would get into trouble if they call the office, but that he would be "glad to report the complaint" (he never does).

At the end of the year, which driver will LOOK better to management? Driver #2! Who will management promote for the new supervisor position? Driver #2! BLAMMO! We now have a corrupt supervisor who will continue to manipulate the system promoting more like him (to help make him look good) and getting more promotions himself.

Measure. Rinse. Repeat.

10 Ways to Screw up an Organization

by Don Harkey

I spend a lot of time talking about ways to make an organization better. I talk about leadership, tapping into the talents of your people, and even talk about using social media for business networking. Today I want to try a new approach... I am going to talk about ways to really screw up an organization. Some of these may surprise you! Consider this a preview of my talk coming up at the June 5th Success Seminar in Springfield (REGISTER HERE).

10 WAYS TO SCREW UP AN ORGANIZATION

1) Measure Everything - Make sure you quantify everything you can. Post charts around the office showing staple usage per month for the entire year. Send out a report every day showing company profit to everyone in the company. If morale becomes a problem, measure it, post it, and train people until it improves.

2) Define your Success by Metrics - Since you are already measuring everything, now make sure that you define your success by the metrics. If your expenses are rising, make sure everyone knows they are doing a poor job. If you profits rise, celebrate for doing all the right things.

3) Quantify Employee Performance - Rank your employees from lowest to highest and get rid of the bottom 10% every year. Pay employees according to their ranking. Make sure to tell your bottom performers that a bottom position in your organization is like a top position in many organizations because of how great your organization is. That will help them to adjust to their new low ranking.

4) Encourage Internal Competition - Hold regular contests pitting employees and departments against each other. Make sure to let your people know that only the strong will prosper.

5) Discourage Individuality - People are essentially the same, so treat them as such. Give no preferential treatment or extra help to any single employee without giving the same aid to the other employees. Avoid talking about their personal lives and personal aspirations. After all, the organization is more important than any individual. On issues like emergency or medical leave, stick to the HR manual.

6) Specialize Employee Tasks - Break up your organization into specific tasks and train your employees to focus only on their given task. Does a brake pad need to know where the car is going?

7) Keep Management Elite - Keep all management sessions behind closed doors. Employees do not need to know the direction of the company. It only distracts them from their work. Besides, they may not be able to handle it.

8) Stick to the Plan - Establish a 5-year plan and stick to the plan no matter what happens in the market or the organization. Flexibility is for the weak.

9) Implement a Policy of "Shut up and Listen" - Let employees know that the organization has been around longer than any employee and that the organization knows best. Employee suggestions should center around vending machine contents and not on process improvement.

10) Maintain Fear - Make sure to use threats regularly so that every employee knows the consequences of a mistake. A fearful employee is an obedient employee (at least while you are there).

So there you have it! By following these simple guidelines, you can take any organization from best to worse in no time flat!

19th Hole Network - Springfield

by Don Harkey

This last Friday, I attended the first "19th Hole Network" event organized by Sean Saunders, Kurt Theobald, and Brian Praschan (3 married men who like to hug... and that's "OK"). Sean is a golf pro at Swing Right Golf. Kurt is an entrepreneur at Classy Llama web design. Brian is a Financial Planner at Waddell and Reed. The event was held at Swing-Right Golf located on South National (waaaaaaay south after it turns to the west and just before it runs into Campbell).

The event was very well attended (I didn't count, maybe 40?) and there was a lot of energy in the room. Participants chatted with each other and hit a few golf balls (it appeared to be the first time for hitting for some... and that's "OK"). I met some great people at the event and Sean even spent some time with me correcting my drive. Reconstructing it might be a better term as I have never had a golf lesson.

I got to chat with Nancy Rose, a former microbiologist turned painter (and future golf pro). I chatted with Timothy vonBecker, a marketing strategist with Extend Interactive who has a bad back. I met a new sports medicine person (who's business card company failed her and who's name I can't recall) who just moved to the area from St. Louis and who got the world's fastest referral from me (I introduced her to Timothy).

I even got a chance to hit on the simulator, which is a cool experience by the way. I discovered that my ball velocity is 20-30 MPH slower than Sean's and that my drive swing is not only too fast, but very comical to watch (thanks for telling me all you past golfing buddies!). He fixed me right up and I look forward to breaking in my new drive on Rivercut this Saturday at the project HOPE golf tournament. (Yes, I'm breaking in a new drive at a tournament... and that's OK).

Michael DeFontes, from DFG Insurance, sponsored the event and spoke to the group about networking and building a business. His general message was to deliver quality to your customers and establish strong relationships.

All in all, it was a terrific event! I had a great time and met some high energy people. I can't wait until next month's 19th Hole Networking Event!