The purpose of this book is to put in writing the things I heard from the employees at the lower levels of different organizations; their ideas, suggestions, concerns, feelings, and-why not?-their genuine complains and frustrations. I hope this book helps to open the minds, hearts and souls of those who supervise people at any level of the organization, and not only the doors of theirs offices, to listen to what the employees want or need to say. They may be right or wrong as anybody else. If they are right, tell them what you plan to do, act accordingly and provide them with frequent feedback; if they are wrong, explain to them why they are wrong in a clear and specific manner. Organizations must make sure that supervisors are instructed to be available to their direct reports and listen to them. Fear, the main reason for employees not to speak to their supervisors, must be removed from the work environment because it closes the doors to many good ideas including significant cost saving suggestions, erodes people’s commitment, causes decrease in productivity and increase in employee turnover among other diseases. Sometimes the lack of communication is not necessary caused by fear but by supervisors who apparently are listening to employees without taking any action or providing adequate feedback. People understand yes followed by action and feedback, and they understand no when the reasons are clearly explained to them; but there is something that people can’t understand and usually creates anger, resentment and frustration: to be ignored.

Voices from Below

People at the Top Need to ListenBy Ysaac J. Chabo

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2009 Ysaac J. Chabo
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4389-6157-6

Contents

Introduction.....................................................................ixHigher performance organizations.................................................1Clear Vision.....................................................................3Team work........................................................................8Customer satisfaction............................................................12Tapping employees' creativity....................................................14Challenging, but attainable standards............................................17A pleasant work environment......................................................20Enable and empower employees.....................................................25An employee-driven, customer focused organization................................29Sustaining healthy finances......................................................32Correctly planning for the best..................................................34Effective and efficient systems and processes....................................38Employees work as if it is their own business....................................39Using the modified Golden Rule...................................................41Effective communication..........................................................43Effective leadership and efficient management....................................48Quality and continuous improvement...............................................51Quality is a state of mind.......................................................52The culmination of something well done...........................................53A product or service fit for the intended purpose................................57Providing products or services that make us proud................................58Processes that produce the best output...........................................60Doing things right the first time................................................61Zero defects?....................................................................63Best product, timely delivered at the lowest possible cost.......................64More than doing the best at work.................................................67A journey to perfection..........................................................67What do people like about their jobs?............................................70What is great about my organization?.............................................82What is the purpose of your organization?........................................112What is the purpose of your job?.................................................121What is the purpose of your life?................................................126Problems that your organizations face today......................................134Problems that your organizations will face tomorrow..............................144What do we need to improve?......................................................148Organizations' strengths and weaknesses..........................................159What do effective leaders do? What do efficient managers do?.....................162Employee concerns and questions..................................................168Concerns.........................................................................168Questions........................................................................170Things that prevent employees from doing a good job..............................176How do you see others?...........................................................179What do you like about another employee?.........................................179What do you find good in an employee that you don't like?........................181Mutual trust.....................................................................185Your strengths and weaknesses....................................................188Strengths........................................................................188Weaknesses.......................................................................191How does fear at work affect you?................................................196Criteria for selecting a vendor or provider......................................198Performance evaluations..........................................................200Final comments...................................................................206Operating at the greatest potential..............................................206Reaching higher levels of productivity...........................................206Management listens to employees..................................................207Everyone is valued...............................................................208Acknowledgements.................................................................212About the author.................................................................213

Chapter One

Higher performance organizations

This is the first concept I present to participants in my Quality and Continuous Improvement (QuCI) seminar, and their initial comment is that at the higher levels in many organizations the image shown to the outside world becomes so important that the organization is presented as a higher performance one while conducting business as usual. In more simple terms, the faade becomes the most important part of the house. As they stated, this kind of organizations usually do not participate in programs, such as Malcolm Baldrige, because they know that the most light inspection would disclose their misrepresentations causing the mask to fall down. Too embarrassing!

Again and again, for more than twelve years, different employees at different levels in different organizations have addressed this concept by focusing first on their own definitions:

An organization with a clear vision, mission and values, embraced by all employees, with flexibility to change, and lead by the right leadership.

People working as a team in order to achieve common goals.

Continuously providing satisfaction to the customers in an effective and efficient manner. Understanding the customers' values.

Tapping on the employees' creativity. Using everyone's skills wisely. Encouraging and allowing "out of the box" thinking.

Maintaining a high level of excellence in its timely delivered products or services, at the lowest possible cost.

Establishing challenging, but attainable, performance standards. Working above and beyond expectations.

Implementing the continuous improvement of everything and innovating when necessary without fear of changing. Practicing benchmarking.

Creating a pleasant work environment where trust and compassion are the norm, not the exception. Embracing diversity. Eliminating the individual performance evaluation.

Enabling and empowering employees by allowing decision making at the lower levels when appropriate.

An employee-driven, customer focused organization which involves employees and customers in the continuous evaluation of the quality of the product or service, and maintains a healthy balance between productivity and quality.

Sustaining healthy finances to make sure the organization is viable.

Correctly planning for the best and organizing, instructing, implementing, and monitoring the highest possible level of productivity. Establishing preventive maintenance. Striving to excel.

Using effective and efficient systems and processes. Simplifying policies and procedures.

An organization where every employee works as it is his or her own business.

Using the modified Golden Rule (Treat others better than they expect) any time, everywhere.

An organization where "doing the right things right" is the way of operating.

Using effective communication.

An organization with effective leadership and efficient management. Practicing acknowledgement and praising. Increase confidence and decrease supervision. Moving from compliance to commitment.

Then, they explain each definition of high performance organization, as presented in the following paragraphs.

Clear Vision

A higher performance organization must have a clear vision, mission and values, embraced by all employees; with flexibility to change and lead by the right leadership.

After listening to them, I always ask some exploring questions so that they may expand their definition. My first question in this case is What is vision?

They speak after about two minutes thinking, and their answers are conceptually similar. Some say that a vision is a dream that you want to start working on immediately so that it becomes a reality; others say that it's the present of the future; and still others state that a vision is a destiny (what we want to be) or destination (where we want to be) and in order to fulfill our destiny or reach our destination we must now begin the journey.

They don't have any disagreement about the importance, for individuals and organizations, of having a vision. They frequently relate vision to leadership but I explain that the subject of the leader's vision will be discussed later.

Then, I follow up with three questions:

The first question is "Do you have a vision?"

Participants who believe in life after death have a much more clear vision than the rest. They know exactly what their destiny and destination must be and that the journey must begin now.

The second question is "Does your organization have a vision?"

The most frequent answer to this question is that they do not know; or say what they think is their organization's vision. Very few state that management distributed a vision statement, but is somewhere in a drawer or shelf and is never discussed.

The third question is "What is the mission statement of your organization?"

They remain silent or say something like I don't remember; I don't know if we have one, etc. My next question: What is the mission statement of your division? The answers are the same. Then I ask: What is the purpose of your job? Their response is just a description of what they do, but only a few times I heard something that qualifies as a purpose. My final question: What is the purpose of your life? Most participants do have a purpose for their life, from I want to be the best grandmother to I want to be a missionary in a third world country. I have heard it all.

Every organization must have a clearly stated mission (purpose), each department, division, bureau and team must have a purpose that supports the mission of the organization; and every individual must have a purpose at work that also supports the mission of the organization. Most importantly, every individual must have a purpose for his or her life. All these purposes must be in harmony.

"What would you do if there is a conflict that cannot be resolved between the mission of your organization and your purpose in life?" I asked.

"Our purpose in life must prevail."

An organization's mission statement is simply its business card which lets everyone know what you do or should be doing and for whom. Many mission statements have been written by management just to collect dust in a basket or drawer, or hung on a wall, ignored by most people. They are written to say that the organization has a mission statement, but even people in the highest levels of the organization cannot recite it unless they read it from a piece of paper which sometimes is hard to find. How embarrassing!

The best mission statements must be written with everyone's contribution, not only management's, so that it could be embraced by all stakeholders. It must be brief so that it can be easily remembered without looking at a piece of paper or card, easily understood, appealing, compelling and it must include a projection of the future to link it to the vision. Once written, it must be printed and distributed to everyone including customers and providers. It must be repeated again and again in vertical and horizontal meetings and members of management must relate each important decision to the mission statement. In other words, the mission statement must become the guiding light of the organization which must always be present, acknowledged and followed. Ignoring it is like a ship ignoring the lighthouse in the distance; or, even worse, having a map and a compass and not knowing where to go.

The difference between vision and mission is not clear. I use one historic event to help participants think about these concepts a bit deeper. It goes like this:

Early in 1960, a president of United said that we would put a man on the moon before the decade had ended.

"It was Kennedy" said one participant.

"Was he talking about a vision or a mission?" I asked.

Most participants said that the president was talking about a vision.

"Let's think a bit more. What was in the international news before the president spoke?" I asked.

"Ah! The Soviet Union put the Sputnik in the space and put us in second place."

"Then, what was the vision?" I asked.

"The vision was to remain number one; and the mission to fulfill that vision was to put a man to the moon. To repeat what the Soviet Union did it would not put us in first place; it had to be something much greater than that: a man on the moon!"

"What are values?" I asked participants so that they begin discussing this subject, and their frequent response was: behavioral norms that are important to us as individuals, groups and organizations; however, values may change in time or due to changes in situations or circumstances.

"Do principles change?" one participant asked.

"It depends on how you define principles" said I.

"Principles are natural laws that govern material and spiritual things" the participant replied.

I said, "We understand. It's something similar to the order of the four seasons, or the Earth moving around the Sun."

"Yes."

"What about the Ten Commandments?" I asked.

"Yes, indeed. Now, if values may change and principles don't, what would you like to do so that your values endure the passing of time and the changes in situations and circumstances?"

I said, "Tie them to principles."

"Good! Now, let's discuss how to do a Values Statement. Do you have any ideas?" I asked.

"In my organization, the big boss forms a group, committee, team or whatever he or she wants to call it. They discuss and recommend the organization's values. After obtaining the boss' approval, a booklet is printed and distributed. Most people look at it and put it in a shelf or drawer to collect dust."

Then, I presented a different scenario: Employees at all levels decide who from their team, bureau and division would become a member of the group that would discuss and recommend the organization's value system that would include not only each value, but a brief definition of it and a list of the specific behaviors which support such value. Sometimes, unacceptable behaviors which erode the value are also listed. After each meeting, values and behaviors agreed upon are distributed to all employees with a request for feedback and a deadline to do so. When the task is completed, a draft is sent to management for their approval. Consequences for violating any of the established values are included. Booklets are then printed and distributed, but not forgotten because the person with the highest authority in the organization would mandate that the first item in the agenda of any team and staff meeting at any level in the organization must be to take one value and discuss, with some examples, whether or not it is being followed; and-if not being followed-how to improve the situation, including- but not limited to, rewriting the value and the supporting or eroding behaviors.

"What about the right leadership?" They asked.

"There will be a time later in the program to specifically discuss the subject of leadership" I answered.

Team work

Team, teamwork and working as a team are words so frequently used and abused that its meaning is subject to many different interpretations. Most organizations are more teamy than team oriented; and they apply the word team to any group regardless of how dysfunctional they are. Two examples will clarify this:

1. Employees are told again and again to work as a team; however, the performance evaluation is done individually. In organizations that are team oriented, the team is evaluated by its sponsor and the members are evaluated by the team. Huge difference!

2. Employees are told again and again to work as a team;. however, each one of them has either an office or a cubicle. They may meet weekly; therefore we could say that they meet pretending to be a team, but do not work as a team. Organizations that are really team oriented eliminate all barriers including private offices and cubicles, but define functional areas; for example, the accounting department's area might be defined by partitions, but inside the area there are no offices or cubicles. Such layout makes easier the interaction among employees, thus developing and maintaining a strong team spirit. In other words, the design of the facilities must follow the organization's philosophy.

A genuine team, a higher performance team, must have certain characteristics such as a purpose, complementary skills according to the tasks at hand and mutual accountability. In accordance with these characteristics, individuals are selected and invited or required to participate; they are provided adequate training about team formation and other related topics such as problem solving, conflict resolution, dealing with difficult behaviors, etc. Target completion times, lines of communication and span of authority must be clearly defined, and necessary resources must be provided in a timely manner. Management must support the team and its work. Members must not consider the work in the team as an intrusion of their regular work but a priority, something important which is worth doing.

A participant stood up and said:

"Everyone in my department did the Myers-Briggs test, but has not been used to form teams or for anything else. Yes, the test helped me to better understand myself. So what?"

"Could you please be more specific?" I asked.

"Without being too specific, if all members of a team are introverts, would this team accomplish anything? If they are extroverts, bullies or pessimists, what would happen?"

Sometimes you cannot form the team with the right balance of personalities, but I think they can succeed if the facilitator is aware of their personality type and knows what to do. In these circumstances, good facilitation becomes the key element. I am sure you remember that the facilitator's responsibility is the integrity of the process, including the behavioral aspect, and not the content.

Some teams, such as leadership teams and continuous improvement groups, are permanent while others, such as project teams, are adjourned when the project had been completed. The size of the team may depend on its purpose, but normally the ideal size is six to eight members. If the team is very large, it could be divided into smaller working groups which would meet and work independently though connected to the work of the team and participate in the team meetings where they report about the progress of their work, thus assuring that what they do contribute to the work of the team and its success. If a project is too complex, it could be divided into smaller pieces; then, the team assigns each piece of the project to a number of members (two or three) in accordance with their knowledge, skills, enthusiasm and confidence. These smaller groups proceed as described above for larger teams.

There are certain things that help a team:

Meet in the same place, on the same day and at the same time.

Make sure that the seating arrangement creates an environment that encourages participation.

Have snacks and drinks available.

Distribute the minutes of the meeting within forty-eight hours.

Distribute the agenda at least two days before the meeting so that participants may be prepared.

Do not forget these two rules:

* Don't call for an unnecessary meeting. Make sure that every meeting is necessary and important.

* For a meeting to be immortal, it does not have to be eternal.

Someone stated:

"I was in a meeting where the leader said that we were done, but had fifteen more minutes to complete the scheduled time, and asked participants if they have something to say. No one said a word and-after asking again-the leader spoke about totally unrelated things just to fill time. What do you think?"

"A meeting's scheduled time is not sacred; in other words, when the meeting is over, it's over. In my opinion, your team leader is more a team manager than a leader" I said.

"What can we do?" A participant asked.

"Confront the leader. Make sure that an objective individual is facilitating the discussion" I replied.

"But I want to keep my job."

I said, "Let me explain my definition of confrontation. It's simply speaking the truth with care. Can you do it?"

"Yes."

"Then, go for it" said I.

After discussing the subject of common goals participants most frequently agreed on what are, or should be, the factors that make a good goal. They say that a good goal must be linked to the mission or purpose, challenging but attainable, appealing and measurable. Furthermore, they stated that it must not be more than two goals to be attained in the same period of time which is determined by the degree of complexity of such goals. An area of concern is the frequent practice of management establishing the goals for the team without the team's input.

One participant said "It's like dropping the ball on our laps and asking us to run to the end zone."

I asked "Very sporty. Is it not?"

"Yes" I heard some of them saying.

"What is wrong with sports' techniques applied to business?" I asked.

"One wins while somebody else loses."

"Who wins if you would have attained the established goals?" I asked.

"Mr. Chabo, there is a difference between who wins and who takes the credit. We win if we attain the goals; however, management takes the credit in most cases. We lose if we do not attain the goals and, sadly, we get the blame."

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Voices from Belowby Ysaac J. Chabo Copyright © 2009 by Ysaac J. Chabo. Excerpted by permission.
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