True to his word, Josh mapped out time to work with Julie. Together, they identified the specific things that had to happen for the engineers to continue working as a team.

In addition to the things that Brad and Doug thought of, Julie wanted to ensure a continuation of the intimate knowledge her team had of each other’s skills and abilities. She was adamant that this happen, because she believed, correctly, that it was one of development’s greatest strengths and the reason that their projects were almost always on time, in budget and of very high quality.

She agreed that webcams and conference calls were a given, but felt that other collaboration tools were a must. She had just started her research, but gathered from the articles she’d read that many of them were available for free. Julie said that she planned to turn her team loose to garner more ideas—she felt that they probably knew a lot more of what was out there than she did.

In the meantime, she wanted to approach Warren before he left.

She and Josh discussed what Warren was working on currently and analyzed the strengths/weaknesses spreadsheet that Julie kept on all her people in the new light of distance working. To Julie’s surprise, several of Warren’s weaknesses would either be neutralized or substantially minimized when working off-site, e.g., odd hours and tidiness, while his greatest strengths were ideal, e.g., accountability and an almost obsessive focus on meeting his deadlines.

When she asked Warren if he’d be interested in continuing his employment as a distance worker, he literally bowled Julie over in his excitement. It turned out that although Warren was definitely moving, he wasn’t that sure about where he wanted to live (he hadn’t traveled much), but being able to take his job with him meant that he could try different locations.

Julie was cautious and warned that frequent moves could wreak havoc on his productivity. Warren said he wasn’t worried. Everything he planned to take, mostly clothes and tech gear, fit in his car so moving was no big deal. He had planned to stay with friends until he was sure enough to rent a furnished apartment; his only concern was earning enough money to avoid using all his savings.

Julie asked Warren to develop a plan for achieving his next six-month’s deadlines as well as benchmarks with which to measure his progress.

Julie shuddered when she told Josh about it. She couldn’t understand anyone approaching a move so haphazardly; she signed and told Josh that she must be getting really old.

Although it hadn’t been formally announced, word of the new program was spreading through the company. Katy heard about it and contacted Julie. She told her that she needed to work during grad school, would much rather work for Julie than her current manager, asked what she needed to do to qualify, and if there was any chance of a full-time position.

Julie was delighted, but she also wanted to know what the problems were where Katy was currently working. Katy said that her current boss knew when he hired her that she was in school, but said he would work with her to accommodate her class schedule. However, once she was there, he had scheduled several meetings in conflict with her twice-a-week morning class, seemingly intentionally, and then insisted that she attend; he micromanaged her work and derided it’s value in front of her colleagues.

Katy admitted that returning to school was proving harder than she had thought it would be, but she didn’t have the luxury of not working to accommodate the transition. She believed that a lot of the stress and some of the difficulties she was having in school were tied to her manager.

Julie thought about it over a weekend, came up with a plan and ran it by Josh, who agreed it was a good approach and that the financial side was fair to both Katy and the company.

Julie’s plan called for Katy to tackle some of the more mundane work, such as testing, maintenance and minor enhancements, so she could mentally focus on finding her school legs. Julie believed that the work, although necessary, would be easy for Katy, since she was responsible for much of the original design and coding. She also wanted Katy to attend as many design reviews, etc. as possible using the technology they were implementing, because she valued Katy’s input and wanted her to remain an integrated part of the team.

Julie said that she couldn’t pay her what she had been receiving as a senior developer, but asked if Katy would consider the high end of newly created maintenance position. Katy’s response was even more enthusiastic than Warren’s. She said the money was fine, the position was perfect and that working for Julie and being part of her team again was more like a dream come true.

The comment both surprised and pleased Julie no end.

Ashok was a different story. When Julie called him, he said that he’s landed a great position in a startup with a similar culture, great people, and a really cool product. Although Julie was disappointed, she congratulated Ashok and told him (and meant it) that she was happy for him. She jokingly said that if he ever managed to clone himself to let her know.

Ashok hesitated, then said that he actually did know a brilliant engineer, “Suni,” who was available. He’d tried to bring him into his current company, but they weren’t interested in anyone who wasn’t local. Although hesitant, Julie remembered Josh’s comment about talent, accountability and relocation, so she asked for more information, which Ashok happily supplied. Julie asked Ashok not to say anything to Suni until she’d discussed it with Josh.

Continued tomorrow…

Here are the results for finance and Marketing.

Finance

Doug
It took Doug a week to come up with a draft work plan. Mainly, it was a case of moving his current work home and continuing to meet Josh as needed. They agreed that Doug would be available for important in-person meetings, but could attend the weekly senior staff meetings remotely; Doug also didn’t want to lose his feel for the company and he felt it was critical to keep a close personal relationship with in-house people, so they’d still feel comfortable talking with him. To accomplish both of these, universal webcams and high-end conference equipment were the first items on the remote-worker shopping list. They agreed to keep Doug’s program flexible, since his duties could change dramatically with the company’s growth.

New hire
Josh reminded Doug that he had an open req for a financial admin/benefits coordinator. They agreed that the person would spend the first six months on-site with a normal schedule; by that time, they and the new hire should have a good feel for the kind of flexible schedule that would work.

Marketing

Tom
Brad and Tom hammered out a plan for Tom to shadow Jeanie, so he’d be able to take over the work when she was called up, and, since the shadowing is more informational than active work, start on stuff that was waiting for the new hires. This will jump-starts some projects from the back burner to active, buy some breathing room on staffing and actually put them ahead of the game. They agreed that Tom would fly in several times a year and participate in all staff meetings. Tom was delighted at Brad’s desire to keep him integrated with the team and suggested that he do the research on various video conferencing approaches to see if one would be cost-effective for the company.

Jeanie
As a vet himself, Brad decided to include Jeanie in the loop, not just because she’d be returning, but also because he knew that doing so would offer normalcy in a world gone mad. When he suggested it, Jeanie broke down. She said that she was terrified of going to Iraq and that the company was more family to her than her relatives were. Brad told her that she should email him privately when she needed to talk-he’d served in Afghanistan and would understand no matter what she wrote.

Kelly
Kelly’s situation was bit more difficult. Although she said she would love to dive in, realistically she can’t. The twins are nearly two years old and exhausting. She has time, and wants the mental challenge and satisfaction that work gives, but the time is in bits and pieces, not large chunks. Brad suggested that Kelly work on the less time-sensitive projects that were needed, but to which nobody seemed to get. That way, she could work at her own speed and times. Kelly seemed hesitant. She said that she wanted to do work vital to the company’s success, not stuff that no one cared about, plus, she wasn’t sure how the pay would work, since hourly would be difficult to track. Brad assured her that the work was vital, and reminded her that he didn’t have the budget for busy work.

Compensation-wise, he suggested that he develop detailed, project descriptions organized by priority and together they would assign a dollar value to each. Kelly would start with the highest priority projects and control her own time and schedule.

However, Brad wanted to keep Kelly integrated with the marketing team and company, so he suggested that she plan on spending at least two days a month at the office, as well as participating in staff meetings (the same as Tom). To achieve this, Brad offered to pay for childcare whenever they needed uninterruptible time from Kelly.

All three asked if Brad would consider distant workers for his other positions and he told them yes, but only for extraordinary talent who were good fits with the culture.

Continued tomorrow…

Since the distant-worker project was a public work-in-progress, Julie had had plenty of time to line up all the reasons it wouldn’t work in engineering, Josh listened and then focused on how much her own workload would increase when Warren left and how great it would be to have Ashok back again—two statements of absolute fact with which Julie didn’t argue.Josh stressed Julie’s ability to communicate clearly, her openness concerning information flow and that these were people whose skills and capabilities she knew well.

He teased her about being a user technophobe, and promised her that she would receive as much training as she needed/wanted to assure her user comfort.

He also said that he was counting on her to evaluate the new products, hardware and software, necessary to make the program work.

Julie still fretted. She said that if the plan made sense she would deal with her own feelings of discomfort, but she was very concerned as to what the impact it could have on the rest of the team. Since she would have no way of knowing what hours Warren or Ashok put in or when/where they were working, how would the others feel about having to come to the office? Although there was some telecommuting, it was for specific reasons, such as weather, family illness, etc.

Josh said he understood because the internal effect was the first stumbling block he’d identified and addressed. Julie asked how. Josh explained that his goal was to radically change their workplace along the lines of what was being done at Best Buy.

He wanted to develop a culture of accountability, grounded in trust that, he believed, would give them an enormous competitive edge for the talent they needed to grow, both now and in the future. He believed that it would be easier to develop and implement the program while the company was young.

Josh went on to say that he didn’t want to be forced to choose between hiring a world-class candidate with an expensive relocation and a less-qualified candidate who was local. He also didn’t want to keep losing the great employees they’d already invested in because they moved.

Once all the concerns she voiced were addressed, Julie finally admitted that she didn’t have enough confidence in her own management skills to succeed. Josh reminded her that she’d said the same thing every time she’d been promoted; she knew that he never tossed someone in the managerial pool to sink or swim and he wasn’t about to start now. This would be a learning experience for all of them—managers and staff—he knew they’d make mistakes, but believed that together they would make it a success.

Continued Monday…

Once Josh knew there was interest, he turned the discussion over to Brad, knowing that he really wanted both Kelly and Tom back, wasn’t concerned about managing remotely, and would find creative ways to make it work. Josh asked Brad to come up with approaches, compensation, etc., for each of them, but reserved final approval. Not because he didn’t trust Brad, but, because the program was new and would set precedent, Josh felt he needed a detailed understanding of how everything would work. Brad said he had no problem with that.

Josh next turned his attention to his Doug, his CFO. Josh said that Doug was so talented that even if good candidates were plentiful he wouldn’t want to lose him. I asked about the need for face-to-face meetings and Josh just laughed. He said that they were both so busy that they rarely saw each other during the workday; when personal interaction was needed they usually met somewhere off-site for coffee or a beer so they wouldn’t be interrupted. He said that when he stopped to think about it, Doug was usually holed up with his computer and a phone.

Doug already knew about the effort to use distance workers, so he wasn’t surprised when Josh approached him about being one; his answer was simple, too—he said yes. He really didn’t want to leave, he just wanted the opportunity to see his kids grow up. Josh suggested that Doug develop a plan to work from home, including any additional technology he thought would be beneficial, and they’d hammer out the final effort together.

Josh tackled engineering last because he knew that “Julie,” the VP, was the most resistant to the whole idea.

Josh is a great CEO-he’s a big proponent of management-by-walking-around, believes he can learn from everybody and tries to do so, and takes time to really know and understand his senior staff. I found his analysis of Julie fascinating.

He said that Julie’s young, both age, 31 (I found that funny, Josh is all of 37) and experience; this is her first stint as a vice president, she’s cautious and still somewhat insecure. She’s a brilliant technologist and works hard at helping her people to excel beyond their own expectations. Strangely, since she develops it, Julie’s resistant to technology as a user and seems distrustful of much of the available collaboration software; additionally, she’s a very visual person.

Julie was devastated by each resignation and felt she had lost some of her best talent, even while agreeing with their reasons for resigning she didn’t like losing them; and her solo effort to take up the slack, combined with interviewing replacements and filling new positions, along with her normal duties, was killing her-or, as Josh said, softening her up to try something that terrified her and that she viewed as a major risk.

Continued tomorrow…

I think that my ongoing work with a client, “Josh,” will be of interest to you, since many small/young companies face the same problem (he’s OK with my writing about it, so long as he and the company remain anonymous). The problem is talent retention, but not for the typical reasons of salary, culture, opportunity, etc.

Josh’s talent drain can be summed up in two words—life happens.

• Early last year his marketing manager, “Kelly,” left to have a baby, then decided to be a stay-at-home mom; her replacement, “Tom,” was there for eight months and relocated to be closer to aging parents; his replacement, “Jeanie,” is a reservist and she just told Josh that she’ll probably be called up for active duty in the next few months; Josh assured her she’ll be welcome when she gets back.

• During the last 18 months one engineer, “Ashok,” resigned when his fiancée was accepted to medical school in another state; another, “Katy,” left because she was accepted into a master’s program; and he’s losing a third, “Warren,” who’s moving to “get away from his parents.”

• His CFO, “Doug,” is thinking about consulting in order to spend more time with his kids.

For a 24-person company that’s growing dynamically this kind of turnover can be disastrous.

Additionally, there are five new openings in development, two in marketing and four more in various parts of the company that they’re having trouble filling.

Josh and his other execs are working 18-hour days, while the staff is working 10-12, plugging the gaps as best they can, but he knows that this schedule isn’t sustainable.

We talked about the company’s culture, management attitude and specific managers’ MAP.

I suggested that using distance workers, especially revisiting the people who had left, could solve much of the talent problem and save the company money. Josh liked the idea, as did most of the other execs and managers, but a couple of them balked at the idea of workers being, more or less, permanently off-site. I told Josh not to push it with them, that VSI (Tip 10) and peer pressure would change their minds.

Josh decided to do the initial contacts and to stay involved in the negotiations for two reasons. First, he wanted everyone, internally and externally, to know that this was a program that he fully supported; secondly, since the program was company-wide it would require the development of broad overview policies that were still flexible enough to be tweaked for special circumstances—a job for the CEO.

I told Josh that it would be better to skip subtlety and be very honest and direct. He started by contacting the two marketing people to see what they were doing. Josh started with marketing because the VP, “Brad,” was enthusiastic about the new program. He often worked remotely because of his travel schedule, additionally, he had met people he felt would be great candidates, but weren’t local.

Josh told each candidate that he was interested in finding a viable way to rehire them and that he was also looking for referrals for additional positions. Both were interested, but the new mom said that there was no way she could commit to set hours, especially since she had twins.

Continued tomorrow…

Do you hate your boss? (Even CEOs have bosses—they’re called Board members.) Do you remember a particularly bad boss, probably the one(s) you were most thankful to lose when you (or she) moved on?

Bad as he may have been, think about how much you learned from him.

Keith R. McFarland points this out in a commentary on what he calls anti-mentors.

Did you know that most managers say they learn as much, if not more, from their bad bosses than from the good ones. Of course, that may be because there are more bad ones—if not actively bad, then passively so.

Actively bad is self-explanatory, but what’s passively bad mean?

Passive means it’s unintentional, i.e., no malice afore thought. It includes

• benign neglect;
• ignorance;
• incompetence;
• confusion;
• indecisiveness;
• etc.

Passively bad bosses aren’t mean, cruel, arrogant, or vicious, and they definitely aren’t bullies.

They’re often well liked by their people, in spite of the way they manage—or don’t, as the case may be.

Either way, whichever kind you had, have now or have in the future, look carefully and you’ll find lessons that will serve to make you a better manager/peer/colleague throughout your career.

Almost the first words my new client said were, “Hiring is one of the most difficult things for a leader/manager. That’s where I’ve made most of my costly mistakes.”

The thought didn’t surprise me, nor that a seasoned, skilled CEO was aware of it, but it’s still unusual to admit it that freely.

But that’s why I’ve included so many detailed hiring how-to’s in MAPpingCompanySuccess and why ideas such as High Performance Hiring are so popular.

Managers are finally recognizing that the ability to hire successfully, what I call the Four Rights (the right person for the right position at the right time and for the right reasons), truly does need to be a core competency.

Recognition that skillful hiring isn’t an inborn ability (there really is no hiring gene) and that it needs to be learned is a major step forward, one that more and more companies are taking.

So, do yourself and your organization a big favor and don’t just add hiring to your company’s list of core competencies—make sure that your people have the tools to learn by

• calling someone such as me;
• creating an in-house coaching team;
• buying multiple copies of viable books; and, whatever else you do,
• making time to improve hiring skills available to all your managers.

You won’t regret it, because the improvement will fall straight to your bottom line.

I’ve spent a good portion of this last week talking with an executive, call him Sam, who was terminated when his company reorganized to accommodate slowing growth in their core market.

Sam is devastated, more so because he is skilled, well-liked and ran a productive organization. It doesn’t matter that the termination had nothing to do with his performance, that he had no control or input on the decision, or that he already has two good offers for new positions.

Sam’s not unusual and his reaction is the result of something I call ego-merge, common in the past, but I really thought it was declining—unfortunately, it’s alive and well.

Ego-merge undermines your confidence and rocks your MAP.

Years ago, I wrote an article (the original article is gone, but I’ve linked to a future version of it) explaining ego-merge and how you can combat it. Take a moment to read it; it’s important to you—and to your people.

And if it’s something you’re dealing with and you’d like to talk, feel free to email me and we’ll arrange a time to talk.

A few months ago, I wrote about Toyota’s laser-like cultural focus as an example of how culture impacts success.

What happens to the company culture when stellar success and enormous growth require massive hiring at all levels from around the world?

Companies of all sizes face the same problem when success fuels hyper-growth and cultural focus often falls by the wayside.

In a Business Week article, Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe says, “The scariest symptom of ‘big-company disease’ is that complacency will breed,” and “…top executives believe the key is relentless reinforcement of a culture that shuns the pitfalls of U.S. carmakers, which became too mired in business as usual to break out of bad habits.”

It’s a lesson that every CEO of every company should take to heart, but especially those of you running startups or small businesses.

Why? Because the easiest time to form your culture is when there’s just a few of you- it becomes harder as you grow. Plus, if you consciously plan and develop your culture early, you can use it to screen candidates to be sure that they are, at the very least, synergistic with it.

So, if you want to get to the top, and stay on top, read the articles and learn why it pays to start and stay culture-centric.

Good grief! We’re already halfway through the year—can you believe it?

Of course, the big question is, are you halfway to your goals for the year?

No? Me neither.

But I am on track for the ones that really matter and I’ll bet that you are, too. As to the rest, I thought I’d share my solution, to wit:

1. look at the list of goals you made in January,
2. prioritize them, and
3. affix the following symbol to numbers four through the end. (If you are one of those super-organized, high achievers, it’ll be number six to the end.)

Don’t you just love painless, quick and easy fixes to these vexing annoyances?

Y’all have a happy, safe, wonderful Fourth of July and I’ll see you Thursday!