replying to Re: Structuring Pay for a Team LO15494
Philip Pogson brings up some exceptionally valid points in his post
>Like Eric, if we had that kind of turnover in key positions I would
>be asking questions about my organization's recruitment processes,
>promotion criteria, career management and overall commitment to
>people.
and
>...I do think people are the greatest asset an organization can have,
>and creating systems to treat them as such is as important as getting
>rid of the "failures."
The treatment of people as commodities clearly falls into the
category of 'heinous incompetence'. Although some on this list will
disagree, it is my experience that high turnover and low performance
are indicators that there may be a severe management problem. The
questions that we need to ask Gordon are;
Other than the initial house cleaning, what was the attrition rate
after the new policies were put in place?
What sort of performance improvement did you see from the
'non-performers' as a result of the new policies?
What sort of change in morale did you see after the new policies had
been a chance to work?
I cannot say whether or not Gordon Houseworths method is the correct
or incorrect approach, having _not_ been there. I do understand,
however, that sales is a very different world from engineering or
manufacturing, having worked as an apps. engineer for a small sales
group for a short (but way to long) period of time. I submit therefore
that those of us with limited backgrounds in sales should disclaim our
comments to gordons position and actions as subjective and
speculative.
That said, it does seem to me that Gordons approach may have been a
bit cold, if not harsh. Or it may be just the way that the situation
was presented to us. But, as I said, I can't know because I wasn't
there. I will say that taking an organization down a road where no one
wants to go, and still making it work not only requires exceptional
leadership skills, but a hefty set of 'cahonies'(sp?)
"The only ones that will change the world are those who think they
can" - tv commercial for Apple Computers
JHC
--JAMES_H_CARRINGTON@HP-Chelmsford-om1.om.hp.com
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>