WPA in the News

IBD's 10 Secrets to Success: Put Trust In Your People

May 30, 2008
Investor's Business Daily
By Steve Watkins

Companies often must act fast. They know that going all the way up the chain of command can bog them down. So many leaders place their trust in their front-line people, hold them responsible and make them accountable for success.

Here's how to do it:

• Focus on people. "Lawsuits and problem employees don't just happen; they walk in on two feet," said Lynn Lieber, founder and CEO of Workplace Answers, a San Francisco-based consulting firm focused on ethics and legal compliance. "The No. 1 thing to hire on is integrity."
   
• Let some power go. There's a risk to giving up control, Lieber says. Employees will make mistakes, but they'll learn. A firm's success has more to do with passionate workers than strategies.
  "You should hire the best team you can and give as much responsibility to them as you can," she said. .
   
• Act fast. Accountability is about consequences -- and it helps moving quickly, Lieber says. She uses a 24-hour rule. If she has to deal with an employee -- especially amid a mess-up -- she'll do it within a day.
  "You have to reinforce the message that you don't tolerate things like that," she said. "People like it, because they know where they stand at all times."
   
• See the big picture.Firms can adapt to change if they give workers the freedom to try new things and go around the standard channels at times, says Gary Hamel, author of "The Future of Management." "The only way to extend that freedom is to trust your people," he said.
   
• Set clear risk parameters. W.L. Gore & Associates, the maker of Gore-Tex fabric, tells each employee to never do anything that hurts the firm's image or gets it in legal trouble. Then it empowers each person to be an innovator.
   
• Open it up. Brazilian manufacturer Semco doesn't tell its employees which hotels or airlines to use when they travel. It trusts them to do the right thing.
  How? The firm posts expenses online for all to see. "Peer pressure keeps expenses in line," said Hamel, director of Management Lab, which helps firms reinvent the way they manage.
   
• Start at the top. People must know their leaders can be trusted to do the right thing for the company's long-term interest, Hamel says. In too many recent cases, those at the top acted for short-term gain, hurting the firm's long-term health.
   
• Hold each group accountable. Whole Foods is "radically decentralized," Hamel said. It makes each unit -- produce, meat/fish -- responsible for its own profitability. Members of each team set hours and hire. "If you don't control those levers, you can't be held accountable," he said. "And if you don't feel accountable, you may not act in ways that benefit your own organization."
  It helps to give that control to lower-level people. "Push responsibility down and tie compensation to it," Lieber said.
   

Back