James Mittler

I’m CONFLICTED. The other night I was watching TV and heard a commercial from an auto manufacturer that concluded with the statement “winning is not that important.” I almost fell out of my chair in disbelief and still cannot believe that any red blooded American would consider making a statement like that. Where would we be if our founding fathers had made this statement as they fought the English? What about “the greatest generation” and their struggle against Nazi Germany and Japan? What about our troops today and the war on terrorism?

I just read another article lamenting the fact that we are now, in some cases, re-buying technology from China that we have originally developed here in the U.S.. Additionally, in some other cases we are considering relocating technology centers to China for tax breaks. California, for example, is buying commuter train scheduling software that was originally developed in the Bay area from China because it has supposedly been fine tuned over there. Will this lead to our total reliance on China and Chinese technology in the future and what will that mean to our future? Have the Chinese decided that they would not be able to defeat US in a traditional war and therefore is seeking dominance by controlling the underlying technology that keeps our economy functioning?

Microsoft, the Web, Cisco, IBM, Apple, and many other companies developed the systems, software, and equipment that make today possible – and they developed and perfected it right here in the USofA. Why should we, or are we even, considering sending this critical function offshore to a potential or real enemy? We boycott Iran because they pursue a nuclear capability but we trade openly with China while lamenting their human resources policies and practices all the while knowing that they too have nuclear capabilities and the desire to eliminate US.

Then there is the millennial generation who have always “earned” a trophy just for showing up at the event. To them, “winning might not be that important” and the reason for the commercial I just referenced. Now I am going to sound like an old-geezer and say that if we allow this course to be followed, I fear for the fate of my children and grand-children. It should be no surprise that there are many countries, groups, individuals, and ideologies that want to see US go away or at least become subservient to their influence and/or outright control.

What is the alternative? I would like to suggest that at least one very viable alternative is to become one of the “Best Places to Work.” In the past when I was asked by a potential client to make them one of the best places to work, my response was that I could not “make” them a best place to work but I could help them follow a path to that destination. I still believe that it is a journey to greatness and not a destination.

Recently there has been more and more in the press and industry publications about this topic and its impact on the profitability of any organization. I think it is interesting that all of it focuses on positively impacting the single production input that you can maximize and make unique to your organization. That is the people element of the old business equation “Capital + Equipment + Labor = Profits.” As we have discussed in the past, your people are the one input that is unique to your company and the only one over which you have complete control and influence.

Recently there was an article on the topic of how pampering employees could lead to increased profits. I think that it follows directly from my profitability analogy and is something to seriously consider as we look forward to coming out of the current recession. How will we lead our competition rather than either being part of the pack or, even worse, lagging your peer group’s performance? I contend that our employees are the key to being in first place.

Remember, this is a journey – not a destination and while I do believe that a pampered employee is more productive and profitable, I do not want suggest that we allow the inmates to run the institution. We are still in control, or we should be, and set the direction, goals, and objectives for our companies and this should never change. However, communication of those goals and objectives to each and every employee should be the starting point on our journey.

What is your passion for the business? Have you conveyed that burning vision to your employees? Do they see your vision clearly and buy-in to achieving it? Have you painted a picture of what the business will look like when it reaches your next level of success and do the employees see that picture as vividly as you do?

What form should your “pampering” take? Again, I do not believe that there is a “one size fits all” answer to this question and it must be tailored to your company. A starting point might very well be an employee survey to determine what they value most and then developing a plan to give them those “pamperings” that you can afford to provide. The only commitment required for a survey is that you will tell the employees what they collectively said and then what you can change, what you cannot change, and why you can or cannot make those adjustments.

Another approach might be to tie the “pamperings” to the achievement of some levels of improved profits or productivity. For example, if one of the employee’s desire was for more flexibility in their work situation, you might agree that a “flex-time” schedule will be implemented for the department when order backlog is reduced by x percent. Once that level has been achieved, a new goal/reward schedule can be established and the journey continued.

Hopefully you find this an interesting thought and quite possibly a necessary approach to fending off the Chinese and any other country that seeks to make us less than the greatest nation on the face of the earth. Good luck with your journey.