Making Perfect. Teri Ann Lindeberg
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explained to them that I was looking for individual input; that this was not a group gossip project; that there was nothing to worry about; and that I was truly looking forward to spending one-on-one time with each of them. I then started the scheduling and instructed that they bring a cup of tea or coffee with them to our meeting.
The idea and introduction of the “Tea with Teri” meetings were met with great enthusiasm from the staff and I was really looking forward to getting to know everyone – many for the first time. I had no expectations beyond that – other than it might be a potentially useful way to spend my time during the slow period that followed the global economic crisis.
In total, I conducted nearly 50 “Tea with Teri” chats. By the third meeting, I felt that what I was being exposed to would very likely be useful to others and, perhaps, convenient to place in a book format. The information that came out of them was so incredible, informative and useful, that I felt it had to be shared and, hopefully, help others in their businesses. I might imagine that consulting firms would likely charge a fortune for this type of an exercise, but in this relatively inexpensive format, everyone can learn something from what I learned and experienced, instill direction, and put it to good use.
In the end, this book is for everyone, anywhere who owns a company, manages in a company, or works for a company. You will learn a little bit about our company, Staffwell, and the world of recruitment and executive search. More importantly, you will gain insight into what employees want and what is important to them. You will also discover that, if you are armed with this type of information, it can be quite easy to figure out how to improve your company or division, make it a more attractive place to work and, in the process, a more desirable place for customers to do business with you.
Although the setting for this book is in Russia, and 90% of the employees are Russian, I think that you will find the information, story and advice applicable almost anywhere in the world.
Each chapter represents one of the questions asked. I have left the responses by the employees unedited, but categorized their replies under different headings within each chapter. I then added my impressions and my responses to their comments. Finally, I concluded each subject area with a general summary listing of what employees everywhere want.
I hope you find the story and content useful and, in reading this book, derive as much pleasure as I did in researching and writing it.
Enjoy.
Note from the author
Each of the following 32 chapters is consistent in their format. They first provide the questions that I posed to each member of my staff during their ‘Tea with Teri” chats with me. Next, I have broken down their responses into categories, which are delineated in topic headlines that are under-scored.
The verbatim responses from staff, taken from my notes during the chats, are shown in italics. These comments mostly have been left in their original dialectal form, as spoken to me. However, I have amended some comments for the sake of clarity.
My comments to their replies follow and then each section ends with bullet-pointed summaries of what employees want (at most companies).
Finally, I note that a certain degree of repetition has been left in the text in a deliberate manner. This was to emphasize and highlight areas of wider opinion and consensus from the team as a whole, on certain topics.
Making Perfect is a true story. All names except for mine, the author, have been changed.
Chapter 1
How Do You Feel About The Company?
I thought this was a great first question, as it is open-ended and, thus, felt it was more likely to solicit responses that gave a better, overall picture of what the team thought about the company. I also appreciated the term “feel” within the question itself, as I believed that it would trigger more genuine responses – from the heart and soul; more so than terms like “analyze” or “assess”, which are likely to produce colder answers.
“Like my child, built the department from zero”… “I feel a real part of Staffwell, coming in everyday is more than just work to me”… “Very important to me in my life”… “Love the company, been here a long time and enjoy our business – just great!”
Several of our managers and staff felt sincere ownership of the company. They had put time and effort into it, helped build it, loved what was created, what it is today and where we were headed. It felt fantastic as an owner to hear this: that some of our team had such strong admiration and love for the company they worked for and helped build.
Employees want:
• To have built or contributed to building a part of the company;
• To feel they are a genuine part of the company;
• To feel that coming in every day is more than just work to them;
• To feel that the company is a very important part of their lives;
• To enjoy the business the company is engaged in; and
• To love the company they work for.
“Before tough and selfish; now team spirit; share info and help each other; Directors closer to one another.”
For some at Staffwell, elements of positive change came from certain management and staff turnover and the shifting economy. Prior to the global economic crisis that fell upon the majority of Russian industry in late 2008, Staffwell had emerged as a top 3 player on the market in placing mid– to top-level management professionals.
We were growing, busy and successful. When your company expands and moves at a fast pace it can be difficult to please everyone. You hire people fast, at times manage hard and erratically and, on occasion, relax the guidelines for some people and not others. This can result, for some team members with conflicting dispositions, in a more intense and tense atmosphere and, often, a seemingly unfair work environment.
It can be difficult to notice this when you are in midst of it and busy. However, it becomes crystal clear when disruptive members depart, allowing you to step back and notice the differences in people and their character. The departure of some of our management and staff, aided by a slower economy and a shift in work environment, enabled us to evaluate the past and improve the direction for our future.
Employees want:
• To see a change from tough and selfish – to strong and team spirit-oriented;
• To see a change from closed and uncooperative – to sharing information and helping each other for the greater cause; and
• To see a change from stressful, unfriendly internal competition – to healthy, friendly internal competition.
“We were stressed about redundancies but looking back now it is understood why we needed them – now everyone is ready to work and are in a good mood –the team feels good”… “Happy we reacted first – feel we are very strong as a company and very smart”… “Feel positive we will overcome all difficulties – in this company I learned one very important thing – there are no problems we cannot overcome.”
This is the second crisis I had worked through in Russia. The first was the financial crisis of 1998. Recruitment is an industry that gets hit hard in such times and it is typical for revenues to drop by as much as 80%. It is not an easy process to go through and the only way for a company to survive is to cut expenses, of which the biggest is payroll (that is, in effect, people).
For many of the 20– and 30-year olds on our team, this was the first serious economic downturn they had encountered and their initial experience with its related down-sizing. As the owner and CEO of the company, I did my best to communicate to all members of the team what was happening and why, and what our future plans were.
I did this in both verbal and written email form in order to keep everyone