Page 79 - How America's Best Places to Work Inspire Extra Effort in Extraordinary Times

66B RE-ENGAGE

made some key outside hires into senior business development posi-
tions but was starting to lose faith in their ability to produce results.
Employee turnover rose dramatically over one two-month period, and
when the engineering manager resigned, it really got Joe’s attention.
He realized he needed to listen to what his employees were thinking,
and against the advice of the board chairman, he decided to authorize
two focus groups and an employee engagement survey.
These revealed that employees had lost faith in the entire senior
management team, including Joe. They also doubted the capabilities
of the business development team, believed that the firm was not suf-
ficiently staffed to break into new markets, and felt that “senior leaders
are not present on the floors with people and are not providing leadership.”
One comment in particular was hard for the proud but introverted
CEO to hear: “Joe is so out of touch with employees that he has no idea
what we are all about.” And there was this: “Management doesn’t share
info on plans for new work, and that causes a lack of confidence.” There
were other pressing issues as well, but loss of confidence that Joe and
his team could turn things around was the most critical.
Joe knew something bold was called for. He scheduled an all-
hands off-site meeting. Over the course of a morning Joe and the
board members reported results of the employee survey, sent func-
tional units away to breakout rooms to come up with specific ideas
for improvement, and then brought all employees back into the room,
inviting them to step to microphones with specific suggestions for
change. Joe and the board conferred and responded to the ideas with
“yes,” “no,” or “tabled for further study.” Joe won considerable respect
from his workforce for making himself so vulnerable that day and
showing the courage to face the harsh realities of employee questions
and comments. He had also allowed employees to vent, and some very
workable ideas were presented.
Within a year, Joe had implemented many of those ideas, includ-
ing making some key staff changes and being a lot more visible and
communicative about plans for new business that he realized he had
failed to share with staff. The firm had won a big project, stopped the
bleeding of key talent, and was back in the hiring mode once again.