The HR Whisperer

Read a great article in the February 2010 edition of FAST COMPANY magazine about Volkswagen’s “drive to succeed in America.” 

Author Ellen McGirt asserts that if Volkswagen wants to be the world’s number one auto maker, it must first win over America. 

Tough stuff.  America that is. 

By the way, how many beans do you think are in that car? (The answer is at the end of this post…) 

Anyway, the article caught my eye as I grew up in a Volkswagen household, so nicknamed “King Gee” for our old 1968 VW bus noise which made a “king-gee, king-gee” sound as the engine turned over (which was great to fall asleep to as kids laying on top of the engine, which was in the back of the vehicle in those days) and subsequently turned into an adult user with three VWs to my name before I jumped the Autobahn to Honda. 

Why Honda, you ask?  

Because it met my needs. 

More from the FAST COMPANY article: 

“Volkswagen, originally a beloved, albeit quirky, counterculture brand, has never seemed to fully grasp the American market. When Jacoby took over the U.S. operation in 2007, Volkswagen (including Audi) was clinging to a 2% share of the U.S. market, down from 7% during its Beetle heyday in the 1970s. (VW is now at nearly 2.9% — a significant increase, but slightly less than Hyundai’s market-share jump from 2.9% to 4.3% during the same period.) The dealer network was in disrepair, fatigued by shipment delays, product complaints, and a confusing and occasionally short-lived parade of brands. The German reputation for design and engineering excellence sometimes came across to distributors as arrogance: You will accept the perfect cars we give you, not the rolling living rooms you ask for. Except the cars weren’t always perfect, especially for Americans…” 

Guess when I switched brands – you got it, 2007. 

What I take from this article is that in order to get Americans to drink the VW bug juice (yes, pun intended!), Volkswagen automakers have to recognize and meet their needs.  I don’t know about you, but I spend a TON of time in my car and so my car needs to (a) have a place for my diet Coke, (b) have a trunk big enough to load four deck chairs, six backpacks, 20 towels, two 20-packs of Gatorade and enough protein bars to feed a swarm of hungry swimmers, (c) have a decent air conditioning system so my drive is cool and comfortable, and (d) be sturdy enough to not have to be in the shop every other month.  Oh, and I forgot – be AFFORDABLE.

But I digress – those are my needs, not all Americans. 

Back to the story.  I’m reading this article and it got me thinking about recognition and meeting needs.  And making the leap – doesn’t recognition need to meet employee’s needs for it to be effective?  You bet. 

Various motivational theories tell us that all people have different degrees of need for acceptance, approval, and appreciation.  It’s up to the supervisor to figure out what those degrees of need are and craft a individual recognition plan that will compliment recognition provided from an organizational perspective.  For example, a 2007 survey conducted by  Accountemps found that a simple thank you wins over most employees.  They also found that 35% of workers and 30% chief financial officers cited frequent recognition of accomplishments as the most effective nonmonetary reward, followed by regular communication (20% for employees and 36% for CFOs).  

Now, notice the difference in the statistics – CFOs appear to have less need for frequent recognition of accomplishments, but a higher need for regular communication.  So, would a CFO care to be told everyday that the he/she is doing a great job?  Maybe….or maybe not.  It depends on the individual. 

Here’s three things to consider when giving recognition to individual employees: 

1. Recognition it must be respectful, timely and attached to a specific goal achievement or outcome. Not everyone likes goofiness and sometimes goofiness can overpower the intent of the recognition. Reminds me of when my sister-in-law hired a singing gorilla to sing to my brother at their wedding reception. Totally true story.  Goal? Check.  Timely?  Check. Respectful?   No check. The guy was thrilled mortified.
2. Keep recognition as a mix between public and private.  Some people just love, love, love jumping on a stage to receive their kudos.  Others don’t.  The occasional recognition in the boss’s office can pack just as much punch as an announcement in the company newsletter.  Find out from the employee what they prefer.  One of my favorites is a hand written thank you note.  I still have one note from an employee of mine who told me I was the best supervisor she ever had.  I treasure that thing.
3. Ensure you have a balance between formal and informal recognition.  Not only is it good practice, but it helps to meet a broad range of needs.  Cost can be an issue for formal programs, but there are many inexpensive ways to recognize service anniversaries, employee of the month, etc.  Check out the cool ideas, here, here, and here.

So, how did I get from Volkswagens to recognition?  Oh yes, it’s all about recognizing and meeting needs.  Once I’m done hauling Gatorade and towels, I think my next car is going to be a VW Bug!

And how many beans did you say?   There are 1,612,462 beans in the bus – gotta love their advertising!

I was watching an old Cesar Milan rerun the other day on how to train puppies and in it he introduced a new pitbull puppy named Junior.  Now for anyone who watches the Dog Whisperer, you know that his all time fav and constant pit companion, Daddy, passed away in February of this year at the ripe old dog age of 15.

In Cesar’s Way magazine, Milan discusses his selection of Junior:

“…when the time came – about a year-and-a-half ago – I took Daddy along. Any newcomer in our house would first have to get Daddy’s approval. That’s how we wound up at the home of a friend whose female pit bull had given birth to a litter about two months earlier. One puppy, all gray with just a little dash of white on his chest, caught my attention immediately. Some people – the Dali Lama, for instance – have this calm energy. So do some dogs. Daddy has it. And I quickly realized that this little gray puppy had it too. In fact, he reminded me of Daddy when he was a puppy…”

This got me thinking about succession planning.  That is what Milan was doing when he found Junior – preparing for a new Daddy or top dog.

When was the last time you had succession planning on the agenda?

Executive transition is a crucial moment in any organization’s life and should be broached even when nobody’s anticipating a change in leadership.  Think back to 2004 when McDonald’s CEO Jim Canalupo died from a heart attack; the company named Charlie Bell six hours later.  Then a few weeks after that, Bell was diagnosed with cancer and the board again needed to make a replacement.  Sometimes a company has time to prepare – and sometimes they don’t.

Without a plan, an executive leaving can be uncertain, painful and difficult, both operationally and politically.  It’s hard to think strategically when you’re busy putting out a fire.  So, here’s three things to think about in preparing for succession.

Have a bus book.  Robert VanHook and Jackie Eder-VanHook call this the “what to do if the executive is hit by a bus” plan.  A bus book is a compendium of critical information about an organization.  While it doesn’t take the place of succession planning, the book can help an interim executive get up to speed while the organization assesses its next step.  Bus books should include contact information, organizational policies and procedures, financial statements, audits, budgets, board minutes, staff lists and resumes, important contracts, etc.  Remember, it’s a supplement to the succession plan, not a substitute.

Ensure that there is a succession contingency plan. With a plan in place, the organization will have coverage while leadership decides what its next step should be.  The plan should include an assessment of where the organization is, where it wants to go and what kind of leadership it needs to help it get there.  The plan should also include an outline and timeline of succession procedures, a communications plan that discusses who should be told of executive departures and when, a plan for how the leader will be replaced and a financial plan for covering the costs of replacement, whether the successor comes from inside or outside the organization.

Align the succession plan with the organizational strategy from a people as well as a business perspective.  This is key.  There are a ton of examples out there of senior leaders brought into place in a succession arrangement – and failing spectacularly.  Emotional intelligence is just as important as business acumen.  Think of when Sam Walton retired in 1988 and put David Glass in place.  Wal-Mart did great financially, but from an emotional intelligence perspective, not so much.  Same thing with Carly Fiorina and HP.  Great culture shift when she took over the reins, but at a huge cost to employees.  It was no surprise that employees at one of the HP plants passed out Ding Dongs to announce “the witch is dead” when Carly was fired in early 2005. 

Finally, make sure that your succession plan has a process to recruit high potential employees, develop their skills and abilities and prepare them for advancement.  Succession planning is not just for senior leadership positions; it is often the mid- level positions that are the most crucial to the organization in terms of business and cultural success.  These mid-level positions are a great feeder pool and often are ignored in favor of bringing in someone new in. 

Planning takes energy and time but it’s worth it.  Do you have a Junior ready in your organization?

Happy to be back in the blog saddle once again – it’s been a busy month with billable work, so I just know the economy is on the rebound!

Can’t say the same about Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp.  Just read a Reuters article this morning announcing that a New York jury decided on $250M damages against Novartis on behalf of 5,600 past and present women employees, only two days after finding that a U.S. division discriminated against women in pay, promotion and pregnancy (Velez et al v Novartis Corporation, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 04-09194).

What were they thinking?

 The jury found that Novartis systematically denied promotions, paid less and subjected 5,600 women to discrimination up to and during 2004.  Court papers said that the women made complaints to Novartis’ human resources division, which were routinely ignored.

That scares me.

We know that employee behavior is often the product of the pressures of the organizational culture.  And we know that organizational culture often comes from a history of “that’s always been the way we do  things around here.” 

 Aren’t we, as HR professionals, supposed to be able to think and operate outside the confines of an organizational culture, especially when confronted with policies or acts that are in direct conflict with what we know to be the best thing for the organization and the employees?  I suspect that the Novartis HR folks “knew or should have known” that this discrimination was going on.  They were probably told not to worry about it by the execs or legal reps as the inequities were” justified.”  Or they too, got stuck in the rut of a bad culture and found it easier to walk away than put up a fight.

What does that say about the HR pros?  It says they weren’t behaving strategically and putting a strong case in play to move toward a gender equitable environment.

 HR Executive Online points out that it may be no surprise that women outnumber men two-to-one in HR, but make over 30% less than their male colleagues.  Former SHRM chairman Johnny Taylor says it’s because “the senior HR roles are dominated by men.” 

Kate Sweetman, principal with The RBL Group and former editor at the Harvard Business Review adds that “it’s terribly ironic because HR should play a key role in helping women and organizations make changes if the ‘leaky pipeline’ to leadership is ever to be patched.”  She adds that “HR needs to create the business case and help find practical ways for gender equity to happen all the way to the top. HR has failed if they don’t have it from top to bottom.”

 So, did Novartis HR create a “leaky pipeline” fail in this situation?

 In my opinion, yes, they did.  Now where is HR going to find the duct tape?