Making Perfect. Teri Ann Lindeberg
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and America) into two distinctive categories – those who embraced its wisdom, and the ignorant.”
“Teri Lindeberg takes us on a journey inside the company she founded as a foreigner in Russia. We sit with Teri as she interviews every employee about a wide range of issues ranging from compensation to job environment. Through careful questioning and listening to her employees responses, Lindeberg distills some unexpected nuggets about what employees want and need, and presents a road map for creating employee satisfaction, which in turn leads to a more productive work atmosphere. “Making Perfect” offers an interesting look into a company, that, while weathering economic downturn from external factors, takes the time to look internally at the myriad of issues that make up its ultimate survival.”
Foreward
This book is not a standard management treatise – chock full of abstract points for students, aspiring executives and top-level management to provide hollow “take-aways”. Nor is it loaded with absurd euphemisms that could be transformed into the buzz words of tomorrow. In a market cluttered with books on theoretical management practices and often-conflicting reviews of case studies, this book differentiates itself in both its form and its thinking. Its central tenet is that business, particularly in the service-sector, is ultimately about people. This, unto itself, is hardly new or ground-breaking. However, amidst the Board meetings, strategy planning sessions, capital markets presentations and review of spreadsheets, the issue of people, how to motivate them, what they want and really need is too frequently labeled by top management as a “soft-issue” and shelved. The author reminds us that the focus on people is most often the single most critical issue in optimizing the success of a business and that this can be lost in the noise during both good and bad economic times.
This book represents a practical treatment of key management issues in accessible language that should appeal to a broad spectrum of business people, not just those who work in the service sector. It is an account about the experiences of one woman and her quest to improve the company she founded and runs. We are privy to an evolution in her thought process and how enlightening and rewarding it can be, in commercial and humanistic terms, to engage with co-workers on a more personal level. However, the book is not unilateral in its narrative. The author brings us into her workplace and introduces us to the people who work for her, and their respective personalities, by allowing us to hear the voices of her staff directly. This dual interaction is what will strike home for most readers and is what makes the book both unorthodox and, I believe, more effective than its peers. The issues and opinions of the employees are stated for all to read and I believe that most will relate to the vast majority of topics discussed.
It is a book written with remarkable honesty and self-awareness. The author has been brave in revealing her own short-comings but, also, does not tread lightly regarding the failings of others around her, when appropriate and deserved. No office is without its tensions at times and her company, Staffwell, is no different. However, the corporate culture the author created and has diligently maintained at her company is inspirational and a reminder to the reader that the conduct and attitude of the CEO sets the tone for all those below in the workplace.
While the author resides in Russia and Staffwell is headquartered in Moscow, this book is really not about the Russian workplace nor is it about how to manage Russians in a distinct way. In fact, one of the imperatives revealed within these pages is that human resource management should not be employed in a discriminatory manner – that there are certain universal principles that apply regardless of nationality or type of business line. Of course, we do get a glimpse, often humorous at times, about subtle cultural differences in the office and how these are discovered and addressed.
I arrived in Russia in late 1995 – approximately around the time Teri Lindeberg moved to Moscow. Expatriates arriving during that period were made up of a certain breed –some carpetbaggers, but mostly people who wanted a sense of adventure and to be a part, post factum, of what was perhaps the single most important historical event of their generation – the fall of the Soviet Union. The truly foreign elements and the sometimes difficult living conditions we faced served to cement strong bonds among groups of expats. It is remarkable, therefore, that I had never met Teri until 2011.
In spite of the late introduction, we became fast and true friends in a short period of time – much of which was based on our common experience of living and working in Russia over the past 16 years. However, there were, in some areas, differences in our respective experiences. Out of the conversations about the divergences came the topic of the book she was in the process of writing – “Making Perfect”.
To be honest, when Teri mentioned that she was writing a book I let out a mental groan, believing that it was just another exercise, by yet another expat, in trying to capture the mood of Russia when the influx of expats arrived. I was wrong and delighted to be off-base in my assumptions when she described to me the topic of the book and its creative genesis. I was so struck by the uniqueness of its topic and approach that I basically forced my way into being a participant in its latter development. I am incredibly fortunate to have been able to be a part of her project and glean so much from the primary source.
Not without accident did I arrive at the same conclusions that many of Staffwell’s employees came to in working with Teri. She is generous, kind and carries a fair and positive attitude – toward life and with regard to the business she runs. Russia can be seen as a graveyard of failed entrepreneurs and business people who have abandoned their ethics in search of profit. In a very difficult business environment, especially for foreigners, and doubly so for expat women, Teri Lindeberg has succeeded in building a thriving business on her own terms, reflecting both her personality and her scruples. This is a remarkable achievement and particularly so when seen in the context of her vast array of activities outside the workplace – not least of which is raising three boys. This commands respect and should point to a desire to listen to her story on how she came to manage all of this. As you will read, the lost art of listening was the key in unlocking what has transformed her company and her approach to other aspects of life.
Introduction
I am Teri Lindeberg, an American who has lived and worked in Moscow for over 15 years. I am the founder, owner and CEO of Staffwell, one of the top recruitment and executive search firms in Russia. This book is both a story and a case study with, what I consider to be, a set of universal lessons about the workplace and management-employee relationships. It is a book about how you can make the perfect company simply by spending some one-on-one quality time with your employees. Well, perhaps, “near perfect” is a more realistic picture of what could result.
Staffwell launched its operations in 2000 and we reached our peak in 2008. That same year the global economic crisis unfolded, which hit Russia and our company somewhat later in 2008. My Financial Director and I both realized that we needed to act quickly as we were likely in for a bumpy ride that would last a few years. Accordingly, in late 2008, through a two-stage process, we quickly down-sized the company by 40%, revised our budgets and hunkered down.
By the winter of 2009, I had become a bit bored and anxious, to be perfectly honest, and needed a new, challenging project. It was then that I came up with the idea to sit with each of our remaining employees, in a one-on-one format, in order to try to get to know them better and to hear their thoughts on the company itself, as well as about their careers within the company. I used our standard Staffwell exit interview questionnaire but omitted the first few questions that focused on why employees were leaving the company. I also left out the last few questions regarding their new employment and why they had chosen to work there. I then changed the tense, from past to present, of the remaining bulk of questions, entitled the project and the questionnaire “Tea with Teri”, and was off to the races.
I sent an e-mail to all staff about “Tea with Teri” and explained my objectives, and that in the ensuing 2 months I would be meeting with each employee in my office – or in the conference