Winning - Jack Welch [19]
The answer would come back, “I can’t bring that up. I’d get killed.”
“Why can you ask me?” I’d say.
“Because we feel anonymous here.”
After a year or so of these kinds of exchanges, we realized we had to do something to create an environment back in the businesses where people at every level would speak out the way they did at Crotonville.
The Work-Out process was born. These were two- or three-day events held at GE sites around the world, patterned after New England town meetings. Groups of thirty to a hundred employees would come together with an outside facilitator to discuss better ways of doing things and how to eliminate some of the bureaucracy and roadblocks that were hindering them. The boss would be present at the beginning of each session, laying out the rationale for the Work-Out. He or she would also commit to two things: to give an on-the-spot yes or no to 75 percent of the recommendations that came out of the session, and to resolve the remaining 25 percent within thirty days. The boss would then disappear until the end of the session, so as not to stifle open discussion, returning only at the end to make good on his or her promise.*
Tens of thousands of these sessions took place over several years, until they became a way of life in the company. They are no longer big events but part of how GE goes about solving problems.
Whether it was a refrigeration plant in Louisville, Kentucky, where employees debated faster and better paint systems, or a jet engine plant in Rutland, Vermont, where employees had recommendations on how to cut cycle time in blade manufacturing, or a credit card processing facility in Cincinnati, where employees had ideas about billing efficiency, Work-Outs led to an explosion in productivity.
They brought every brain into the game.
A middle-aged appliance worker who was at one Work-Out spoke for thousands of people when he told me, “For twenty-five years, you paid for my hands when you could have had my brain as well—for nothing.”
At last, because of Work-Out, we were getting both. In fact, I believe Work-Out was responsible for one of the most profound changes in GE during my time there. For the vast majority of employees, the boss-knows-all culture disappeared.
A big bureaucracy like GE needed something as systematized as Work-Out to break the ice and get people to open up. But it is not the only method to make sure that your team or company is getting every voice heard. Find an approach that feels right to you.
I’m not saying that everyone’s opinions should be put into practice or every single complaint needs to be satisfied. That’s what management judgment is all about. Obviously, some people have better ideas than others; some people are smarter or more experienced or more creative. But everyone should be heard and respected.
They want it and you need it.
YOUR COMPANY
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5. LEADERSHIP
It’s Not Just About You
6. HIRING
What Winners Are Made Of
7. PEOPLE MANAGEMENT
You’ve Got the Right Players. Now What?
8. PARTING WAYS
Letting Go Is Hard to Do
9. CHANGE
Mountains Do Move
10. CRISIS MANAGEMENT
From Oh-God-No to Yes-We’re-Fine
5
Leadership
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IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT YOU
ONE DAY, you become a leader.
On Monday, you’re doing what comes naturally, enjoying your job, running a project, talking and laughing with colleagues about life and work, and gossiping about how stupid management can be. Then on Tuesday, you are management. You’re a boss.
Suddenly, everything feels different—because it is different. Leadership requires distinct behaviors and attitudes, and for many people, they debut with the job.
Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself.
When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.
Without question, there are lots of ways to be a leader. You need to look only as far as the freewheeling, straight-talking Herb Kelleher,