Through Employee Empowerment at GEJohn Wilfore, Sub-Section
Manager, Business Information Center, General Electric
Co.John Wilfore had been a part of General Electric's
hierarchical structure nearly thirty years when he was
mandated to "de-layer," including eliminating
the layer he shared with two colleagues and outplacing
them. He was a sub-section manager at GEs Business Information
Center (GEBIC) in Albany, NY. The only guidance he was
given was to "create a self-directed workforce."
None of his peers knew what that meant. It wasn't even
in the dictionary.
Richard Costello, the head of Corporate
Marketing Communications, told him he could explain
the theory, but not the "how." They called
a meeting of the new "flat" organization.
John hypothesized that "self-directed" must
mean that others would contribute to the solution. But
the first meeting wasn't magic.
Ultimately, they and the other employees
hired an outside consultant, Gary Martini of Martini
& Associates in Minneapolis. "If you prepare
people by building a strong team," Martini outlined,
"then they can handle most problems. But if you
start with the problem before people are ready with
the necessary skills, you're asking for trouble."
So, what was the first step? Flying the
fledgling team to Orlando for a two-day LIFO® workshop.
"I'm not sure a lot of people begin by focusing
on soft skills," says Witfore, "We did --
people, skills, mission, then the rest."
Back at GEBIC, each person's LIFO®
scores were posted on the Strength Feedback Chart, which
were then used to record their team's perception of
them. "This pulls people together," says Linda
McClain, who attended the LIFO® training on her
second day at GEBIC. "The LIFO® Strength Feedback
Chart and the human graph contributed to an appreciation
for team strengths, weaknesses and balance."
"LIFO," according to team member
Tom Lee, "in all honesty, is the keystone for empowerment,
team building. Empowerment, sometimes misunderstood,
has been well-defined at GEBIC. Now, we're all very
much equal."
"When people can't work together,"
continues Lee, "productivity goes down. But if
the team succeeds, everybody will succeed."
Wilfore knew from the beginning that de-layering
leaves extra work to be done that fits into nobody's
job description. The staff's question would be, "What's
in it for me? Why should I be doing all this extra stuff?"
He, along with the rest of upper management, made a
profound commitment to employee personal growth, learning
new skills and having the opportunity to enhance their
jobs.
GEBICs responsibility is fielding outside calls from
industrial customers or prospects who do not know whom
to call in the sprawling conglomerate of GE corporations
and subsidiaries. This gives outsiders a personal liaison
to refer or take them to the experts or other GE organizations
they need. Besides counting phone calls to measure productivity,
the team created ways to measure customer satisfaction
-- their target.
When the self-directed work team approach
began, their call volume per employee was 3,698. In
just two years, it rose 53%, to 6,105. And costs? Cost
per call during the same period plunged 34%, from $31.76
to $20.80.
Concerned that continuously increasing
call volume might put undue pressure on the phone answering
team and support staff, management sought outside proposals
for a new rewards and compensation program. When the
team members got wind of the costs ($50,000-$75,000)
and the time required (6-18 months), they screamed "Outrageous!"
and asked to be allowed to develop their own rewards
program.
The team established three criteria for
a bonus:
• Teamwork would override individual effort (especially
since support staff and not just phone answerers with
measurable volume were on the team).
• The bonus program would focus on meaningful
business issues.
• Rewards would be linked to customer measurement.
Management would participate in the same bonus program!
Total cost? Less than the cost of the proposals from
the outside developers.
But the benefit was more than monetary.
It ensured no one would coast while others worked, and
it continually focused them on what was really important
about their jobs: customer satisfaction.
How did management both engage the team members to increase
productivity while at the same time hone skills to improve
customer satisfaction? Though all team members had been
LIFO® trained, GEBIC brought in a trainer to LIFO®
certify a sub-team (one-quarter of the whole team).
Professional growth was phenomenal.
"The first two sentences a customer
says on the phone," says McClain, "enable
me to put them into a [LIFO] window. Becoming a LIFO®
trainer is what enabled me to get to this level of skill.
I know I can identify their style and then communicate
to them quickly in their style." She describes
how the team immersed themselves in the homework for
the LIFO® certification class. They were asked to
look through magazine articles and watch TV commercials
to practice identifying styles. "We all brought
in three magazine articles. We were really into it.
That developed our phone skills quickly."
Personal rewards and general job satisfaction were up,
too. Jacquie Braam, a team member from the beginning
of the changeover, says, "LIFO® not only empowers
me as an individual in terms of my interaction with
other people, but enables me to empower the other people
I am dealing with. When you understand their strong
points and blind sides, you both interact more effectively.
For example, if I know my boss likes a lot of detail
and nitty gritty, I'm going to be prepared when I present
a new idea to him. I am operating from a basis of strength
and he isn't flustered, so he is empowered, too."
"I always look at it as me trying
to help other people more than how it has benefited
me," says Steve McKinley, another certified LIFO®
trainer on the team.
The GEBIC team educates new hires swiftly,
explains Braam, through an eight week program of blended
mentoring and classroom training. "We try to level
the field as quickly as possible when they come on board.
We start with LIFO, then bring them up to speed on the
other trainings we've had, such as team dynamics and
how to run a meeting."
"LIFO® skills are second nature
to us," describes McClain, "so we don't use
the language as much as we used to except on the advisory
team. But with a new person, the excitement starts all
over again!
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