That is the core philosophy of HCL Technologies and the title of the new book by its CEO, Vineet Nayar. It is a title very similar to one of the key books that influenced Happy Ltd from its earliest days: The Customer Comes Second by Hal Rosenbluth.
HCL is one of the leading Indian IT out-sourcing companies and employs 55,000 people. He took over as CEO in 2005, when he felt HCL was slipping - only growing at 30% a year! He used the philosophy of Employees First, Customers Second (EFCS) to radically change the culture, empower the staff and deliberately reduce the power of managers and of himself. Some examples:
Transparency: HCL introduced full transparancy of the performance of every unit in the company. Seeing their benchmarks, and being able to compare their performance with others, increased shared learning and provided powerful incentives to improve.
Internal Service Tickets: Most IT support companies have external service desks, with tickets and response times. HCL introduced this for all internal services, like HR or finance. The effect was to reduce the involvement of managers (who'd previously been called on to get another dept to respond) and improve response. especially when the target became not quick response times but reduced tickets.
Beyond 360 Degree Evaluation: Most big companies now get managers to be evaluated by peers and by some of those they manage. HCL's innovation was to open this up, so you could evaluate anybody in the company that you came into contact with. As well as the widespread feedback, the unexpected result was that managers began to be judged by how responses they received. It became a measure of their circle of influence.
Sharing CEO Problems: I love this idea. Vineet decided to create a portal to share the problems he was having difficulty solving as CEO and the challenges he saw for the company. He involved the whole company in understanding his role, the big picture and in coming up with solutions.
Employee Passion: HCL decided to survey not just employee satisfaction (for which the company was ranked no. 1 in India in 2009) but also their passion, and to share the results. People got to think about what drove them to act passionately and how they could best leveredge this at work.
Employee First Councils: To get people to embed their passion, Employee First Councils were created. Initially on subjects like health and hygiene, art etc but were extended to core work areas. Now there are 2,500 Councils - each with elected leaders driving forward change throughout the company and, as Vineet explains, pushing control away from the office of the CEO and the conventional hierarchy.
Customer-Employee Value portal: This portal is for employees to put forward ideas, which custoemrs then read and feedback on - leading directly to improved ideas and improved service.
Make all manager plans public: Previously the 300 most senior managers had prepared their plans for the next level up. Instead HCL published them all to all staff in the MyBlueprint portal, so they could see and compare them. As well as increasing transparency, Vineet comments that it led to much more work being put into getting the plans right.
Thriving in Difficult Times: Faced with the challenge of the 2008, and seeking to avoid wholesale layoffs, HCL reached out and asked its people how they should respond. From the massive response, the HCL management drew up 15 initiatives which were to result in "huge" cost savings and enabled the company to continue to grow. When Vineet asked their customers why they thought this had happened, they responded: "Your employees made the magic happen".
And it was the Employees First, Customers Second philosophy that made this possible. Indeed one impressive aspect of the story is the way the philosophy is shared with customers - explainign to them why HCL puts its philosophy first. Rather than putting off customers, it has actually led to many adopting some of the same ideas.
When I tell the Happy story, people often ask if the ideas of trust and freedom for staff would work in a large company. HCL is another example of how these kind of ideas work brilliantly in the largest of enterprises.
Monday, 2 August 2010
Why Presentations Must be Inter-Active
I liked this from Seth Godin's Tribes:
People don't believe what you tell them
They rarely believe what you show them
They often believe what their friends tell them
They always believe what they tell themselves
For Seth this means that leaders must give people stories, that tehir people can tell themselves, rather than directions. True but also it emphasises that any presentation must include involvement. The more you get the chance to talk (and tell yourselves) or discuss, and have your friends and colleagues tell you, the more chance there is of affecting attitudes and beliefs.
Anybody who just stands at the front and tells people things (even with nice graphics) is not going to have much effect on beliefs and attitudes.
People don't believe what you tell them
They rarely believe what you show them
They often believe what their friends tell them
They always believe what they tell themselves
For Seth this means that leaders must give people stories, that tehir people can tell themselves, rather than directions. True but also it emphasises that any presentation must include involvement. The more you get the chance to talk (and tell yourselves) or discuss, and have your friends and colleagues tell you, the more chance there is of affecting attitudes and beliefs.
Anybody who just stands at the front and tells people things (even with nice graphics) is not going to have much effect on beliefs and attitudes.
Thursday, 24 June 2010
Download Free Book: The Happy Manifesto
The second Happy book is almost finished. The first book, Relax, was a business fable about how to create a great workplace. It got some great reviews. The Happy Manifesto is based on the real experience of Happy and many other organisations.
The aim is to enable you to pick up ideas and approaches that you can put into practice to make your workplace great. Now.
Download The Happy Manifesto, free
This is a beta version. I want your feedback. I want to know what you like and where you think it could be improved. But, above all, I'd love to have stories from your workplace that illustrate any of the points in the book.
So please download it now. Read it. And send me your comments and suggestions.
To download a copy of the first book, Relax, click here.
The aim is to enable you to pick up ideas and approaches that you can put into practice to make your workplace great. Now.
Download The Happy Manifesto, free
This is a beta version. I want your feedback. I want to know what you like and where you think it could be improved. But, above all, I'd love to have stories from your workplace that illustrate any of the points in the book.
So please download it now. Read it. And send me your comments and suggestions.
To download a copy of the first book, Relax, click here.
Thursday, 8 April 2010
"Everyone is a Winner" is the Way Forward for Business
Schools in the UK are often criticised for seeking to reward and praise all students. The common criticism is that there shold be winners and losers, and that only a few exceptional students should be rewarded.
Now research reported this week by Fortune magazine reveals that the "Everyone is a Winner" approach is the one that works best in business. Boston-based Globoforce found that widely spread rewards work much better than rewarding only the very top performers.
And the remarkable thing is that rewards so not have to be huge to be effective. The average prize, they suggest, should be just $110 (£72). Small rewards given often, ideally reaching 80-90% of staff over the year, are what gets the best results.
I love findings like this, that show once again that treating all people well is the way to create the most effective companies. And that the big bonus culture of the banks and financial sector does not really make sense.
Now research reported this week by Fortune magazine reveals that the "Everyone is a Winner" approach is the one that works best in business. Boston-based Globoforce found that widely spread rewards work much better than rewarding only the very top performers.
And the remarkable thing is that rewards so not have to be huge to be effective. The average prize, they suggest, should be just $110 (£72). Small rewards given often, ideally reaching 80-90% of staff over the year, are what gets the best results.
I love findings like this, that show once again that treating all people well is the way to create the most effective companies. And that the big bonus culture of the banks and financial sector does not really make sense.
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
Most Admired Company in the UK?
Fortune magazine reveals that the two most admired companies in the US are Apple and Google. Both are innovative and inspirational businesses, with great workplaces and great products.
But the most admired company in the UK, chosen from a survey of executives, directors and analysts, is apparently none other than British American Tobacco (BAT). I couldn't believe that when I first read it. The most admired company in the UK in the corporate world is a business whose products create addiction and kill its customers.
The choice was limited to large businesses but even then there are many UK businesses doing great things: Waitrose and the John Lewis Partnership; Marks and Spencers; Co-operative Bank would all be on my list.
Now BAT has tried to clean up its image. But doing odd bits for the community or the environment cannot make up for the deadly effect of its cigarettes - and the fact it continues to seek to increase sales of and addiction to that product, especially in the third world.
Around twelve years ago, when British American Tobacco was first trying to improve its image, it approached one of the big 5 UK consultancies about employing them to help BAT with its corporate social responsibility. That consultancy responded that it would be delighted to help, provided BAT dropped its main product. They of course weren't prepared to do that and the consultancy, to its eternal credit, showed them the door. If only the whole of the corporate world, and the social responsibility movement, had the same attitude.
But the most admired company in the UK, chosen from a survey of executives, directors and analysts, is apparently none other than British American Tobacco (BAT). I couldn't believe that when I first read it. The most admired company in the UK in the corporate world is a business whose products create addiction and kill its customers.
The choice was limited to large businesses but even then there are many UK businesses doing great things: Waitrose and the John Lewis Partnership; Marks and Spencers; Co-operative Bank would all be on my list.
Now BAT has tried to clean up its image. But doing odd bits for the community or the environment cannot make up for the deadly effect of its cigarettes - and the fact it continues to seek to increase sales of and addiction to that product, especially in the third world.
Around twelve years ago, when British American Tobacco was first trying to improve its image, it approached one of the big 5 UK consultancies about employing them to help BAT with its corporate social responsibility. That consultancy responded that it would be delighted to help, provided BAT dropped its main product. They of course weren't prepared to do that and the consultancy, to its eternal credit, showed them the door. If only the whole of the corporate world, and the social responsibility movement, had the same attitude.
Monday, 15 February 2010
Let People Choose their Managers
The role of managers is to help people perform at their best. Their job is to support, coach and challenge. We all know from personal experience that some managers are great at this, and that others aren't.
Bad management undermines morale, creates stress, reduces productivity and causes companies to lose some of their best people. A massive problem but there is a simple solution: Let people choose their managers. If they don't like the one they've got now, let them decide who they want instead.
Check out some of the research: There is the recent study from CMI that found that 47% of respondents left their last role because they were badly managed. There is the recent US survey that found that employees spend 19 hours a week (13 at work, 6 at home) worrying about "what a boss says or does". And there is the CIPD Employee Outlook report that found employee satisfaction in the UK at an all time low.
People see their manager as very important to them. The CMI study found that 49% would be prepared to take a pay cut if it meant working with a better manager.
Choose Your Manager
At some of the best companies to work for, that simply isn't necessary. At Gore (makers of Gore-Tex) staff (or partners as they call themselves) can choose their manager from anybody in the company. At my company, Happy, you can choose your 'co-ordinator' and change them if you would prefer somebody else.
When, at a recent awards ceremony, the host mentioned that at Happy people chose their managers the audience interrupted into a spontaneous round of applause. People know it makes sense. People can see that it would make their lives better, and more productive, if they could choose the right manager for them.
To put this into practice, there may need to be some changes in organisation. Most managers play a dual role. On the one hand they are responsible for strategy and decision-making. On the other they provide the support and challenge to people. Split those two roles (because they need very different skill-sets) and it becomes possible to let people choose their manager.
Please don't read this and forget it. Spread the idea. Let's end the archaic idea that the company knows what's best for you and should decide who manages you. Let people decide for themselves.
Watch this space. I will be blogging with more ideas, more explanations and more examples of this in practice.
Bad management undermines morale, creates stress, reduces productivity and causes companies to lose some of their best people. A massive problem but there is a simple solution: Let people choose their managers. If they don't like the one they've got now, let them decide who they want instead.
Check out some of the research: There is the recent study from CMI that found that 47% of respondents left their last role because they were badly managed. There is the recent US survey that found that employees spend 19 hours a week (13 at work, 6 at home) worrying about "what a boss says or does". And there is the CIPD Employee Outlook report that found employee satisfaction in the UK at an all time low.
People see their manager as very important to them. The CMI study found that 49% would be prepared to take a pay cut if it meant working with a better manager.
Choose Your Manager
At some of the best companies to work for, that simply isn't necessary. At Gore (makers of Gore-Tex) staff (or partners as they call themselves) can choose their manager from anybody in the company. At my company, Happy, you can choose your 'co-ordinator' and change them if you would prefer somebody else.
When, at a recent awards ceremony, the host mentioned that at Happy people chose their managers the audience interrupted into a spontaneous round of applause. People know it makes sense. People can see that it would make their lives better, and more productive, if they could choose the right manager for them.
To put this into practice, there may need to be some changes in organisation. Most managers play a dual role. On the one hand they are responsible for strategy and decision-making. On the other they provide the support and challenge to people. Split those two roles (because they need very different skill-sets) and it becomes possible to let people choose their manager.
Please don't read this and forget it. Spread the idea. Let's end the archaic idea that the company knows what's best for you and should decide who manages you. Let people decide for themselves.
Watch this space. I will be blogging with more ideas, more explanations and more examples of this in practice.
Sunday, 14 February 2010
Promise less than you can deliver
I was reminded of this important principle as my son was taken into surgery to have his appendix removed this week. I noticed a woman getting annoyed with the hospital staff and chatted to her about what was wrong. She had been told her husband's operaton would only take 30 minutes and it had been 90 minutes now. She was very worried.
We've had four surgeries in our family in the last three years. All have gone well but, in each case, it has been a lot longer than we were told before the person returns from the operation. Every time we've worried that something has gone wrong.
I think two things are happening. First, we are given a best case estimate because the surgeon wants to reassure us now. Second we are given the time from the surgeon's perspective, not that of the customer - we have to wait for the patient to come round from the anaesthetic before we see them.
Make them feel good after the service, not now
We are all tempted to do it: "It will only take 5 minutes", "We will have the report with you by the end of the day". But reassurance now leads to frustration later, if we can't deliver on it. It is always best to under-promise.
If you are in an aeroplane waiting to take off and the pilot tells you it will be a 45 minutes wait, but it turns out to be 35 minutes - you feel pleased, and you feel the pilot has delivered on his promise. But if she says 15 minutes and it turns out to be 25, you feel frustrated and let down.
I changed the local taxi firm we used when I found one that would actually you how long the taxi would be, instead of always saying "Its just round the corner". And I again remind myself to do the same, to make a promise I can take a delight in beating.
My son is doing fine by the way, touch wood (though he was late, of course, back from the operation). And the Royal London (an NHS hospital in East London) is just marvellous - friendly, helpful, responsive, informed.
We've had four surgeries in our family in the last three years. All have gone well but, in each case, it has been a lot longer than we were told before the person returns from the operation. Every time we've worried that something has gone wrong.
I think two things are happening. First, we are given a best case estimate because the surgeon wants to reassure us now. Second we are given the time from the surgeon's perspective, not that of the customer - we have to wait for the patient to come round from the anaesthetic before we see them.
Make them feel good after the service, not now
We are all tempted to do it: "It will only take 5 minutes", "We will have the report with you by the end of the day". But reassurance now leads to frustration later, if we can't deliver on it. It is always best to under-promise.
If you are in an aeroplane waiting to take off and the pilot tells you it will be a 45 minutes wait, but it turns out to be 35 minutes - you feel pleased, and you feel the pilot has delivered on his promise. But if she says 15 minutes and it turns out to be 25, you feel frustrated and let down.
I changed the local taxi firm we used when I found one that would actually you how long the taxi would be, instead of always saying "Its just round the corner". And I again remind myself to do the same, to make a promise I can take a delight in beating.
My son is doing fine by the way, touch wood (though he was late, of course, back from the operation). And the Royal London (an NHS hospital in East London) is just marvellous - friendly, helpful, responsive, informed.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
