Ms. Prewitt:
Appropos of your LO post on diversity, I thought I would share the folowing
column I had written.
Cheers,
Tom Petzinger
"The Front Lines"
WSJ
THE FRONT LINES
A Creative Staff
Finds New Strength
In Its Differences
By Thomas Petzinger Jr.
04/11/97
The Wall Street Journal
Page B1
(Copyright (c) 1997, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)
ATLANTA -- THEIR EYES sparkled with enthusiasm -- 10 young, fresh-faced
graduates, all smiling broadly on the cover of Fortune in May 1994. They
worked for Architectural Support Services Inc., or ASSI, "a company," the
magazine cover declared, "where the employees take charge of their
future."
And how. Within a year, all but two of them had walked out, embittered and
divided against the very company that gave them control. "It was a
revolt," says owner Vic Williams. Adds his wife and co-owner, Joyce
Roberts: "Instead of thriving, they quit."
What on earth went wrong? Though their concepts were sound, the owners'
execution was flawed in a few critical respects. Today, they are
rebuilding the business on similar leadership principles, but without the
costly mistakes of the past.
Vic is an architect who developed a passion for computing more than 20
years ago. He and Joyce launched ASSI in 1985, providing computer-aided
design services to architects. Joyce, with years of experience managing
contracting projects, organized the jumble of floppy disks and the
unevenness of work flows inherent in computer-aided design.
Before long ASSI landed a big one, churning out construction diagrams for
an up-and-coming retail chain called Home Depot. Intent on building the
best staff possible, Vic and Joyce followed a rigorous recruiting profile,
hiring hotshot young designers from the best schools. They built a
look-alike staff of people between 21 and 23 years old, most from
well-to-do backgrounds.
THOUGH GIFTED at organizing, Joyce was uneasy about her people skills. She
immersed herself in books, tapes and seminars that appealed to her
sensibilities as a rebellious baby boomer. Teams. Empowerment. Profit
sharing. No hierarchies. It was her extensive use of these policies that
put her and her employees on the cover of Fortune. Later the company was
featured in a management textbook as a case study in modern management.
But while the experts were fawning, the staff was fuming.
Employees were expected to schedule their own jobs, but they were offended
if Vic pointed out they were behind schedule. They were asked to deal
directly with customers, but they chafed when customers made big demands.
Says Joyce's sister Caroline, who helps run the business: "The staff was
downtrodden, unhappy and looking for something to complain about."
And complain they did.
When the owners leased an extra-large suite so everyone could sit by a
window, employees complained about glare on their computer screens. When
Joyce offered to send people to professional-development classes, they
took it as a slight. It did not help that while being told they were in
charge, employees had to work within Joyce's carefully designed work
flows. The message from employees, Joyce says, was palpable: "Get out of
my face."
Joyce was heartbroken -- and mystified. "It was like a soap opera," adds
designer Tina Maxian, who is still with the company.
The reality, in retrospect, wasn't terribly complicated. Joyce and Vic had
given their young staff plenty of authority but too little accountability.
There were no formal performance reviews. No one was ever fired. They had
created not a sense of fulfillment, but of entitlement.
They tried to win people back over private lunches, but in such a
monolithic work force there was little hope of solving the problem one
employee at a time. So finally, in early 1995, "the walkout" began. In the
space of a few weeks the entire design staff, other than Ms. Maxian,
jumped to clients and competitors. Joyce, nursing her devastation, threw
herself into the design work alongside Vic and began soul-searching.
ONE EVENING at the end of an intense week, she saw a sign behind the
carryout counter of a pizza parlor. "When all else fails," it said, "lower
your standards." She did not take the message literally; she is too much a
perfectionist for that. But it did provide the glimmer of an answer.
Perhaps by hiring to a different standard -- by emphasizing teamwork over
training, personality over pedigree -- she and Vic could build a new and
stronger staff.
So far, it has worked. Recruiting at community trade schools instead of
four-year colleges, they found people whose eagerness to learn exceeded
their lack of training.
Just as important, hiring from a wider pool created a more diverse staff.
I don't just mean race, although that's part of it. The new staff includes
a mix of locals and out-of-towners, some people well past their 20s,
married people and singles, a former construction worker, an architect
from Vietnam. Despite some beliefs to the contrary, a diverse workplace
responds better to problems than a homogeneous one. A greater variety of
backgrounds creates a greater variety of solutions.
The new staff is also held more accountable. Today, ASSI conducts formal
performance reviews. People who do not get along do not stay. But in most
respects employees have as much say-so over their work as ever. Indeed,
Joyce has lightened her touch, "accepting the chaos," she says, "and not
feeling like I have to control every aspect."
The better mix of employees makes that easier. "Now we have some people
who take direction and some who provide leadership," she says, "rather
than a lot of people the same age rebelling and feeding off each other."
Copyright ) 1997 Dow Jones and Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
--"thomas petzinger" <tompetz@msn.com>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>