CRA Inc

15 Jan 04 @ 7:40 pm

Great Moments in Leadership Communication

A recent Fast Company article on how to reward employees “when you can’t pay for it” describes an unusual approach to inspiring increased productivity and performance:

In the early 1990s, [GM] dispatched a group of executives from Detroit, assembled all of the 3,500 [Wilmington] employees in a vast area of one building, and told them that GM had decided to shut down the place by 1996 to reduce costs. “There is nothing you can do to affect this decision,” a visiting GM suit proclaimed from the podium.

After the execs left, plant manager Ralph Harding made an impassioned speech to the shell-shocked workers, whose morale was at its lowest ebb. “There may be nothing we can do to affect this decision,” Harding said. “But there is something we can do: We can make them feel really stupid!”

“…Because they are going to be closing the best plant in General Motors!” Harding then galvanized the workforce to make the Wilmington plant a model for every factory in the GM system.

Motivated by his challenge, the employees become newly engaged, working in problem-solving teams with managers to tackle quality-control problems and reduce costs. “Be the Best!” became a rallying cry to embarrass GM’s top brass. It was printed on posters throughout the plant and sewn onto jackets given to employees. More important, union leaders and managers worked together more closely than ever to come up with ideas to improve quality and lower costs. Harding kept everyone informed of the plant’s weekly progress on quality and costs. And the families of employees were invited to the plant for a luncheon in the spring and for a picnic in the summer. “When your family is engaged, it makes you feel good about what you do,” says Harvey G. Thomas, the plant’s current manager.

Within two years, the workers made the factory the lowest-cost producer in GM, with the lowest warranty costs as well. Car dealers began specifically requesting the Chevy Corsica and Berretta models, which were made by the Wilmington plant. The employees succeeded in making the corporation’s decision look foolish — and GM reversed itself in 1996 and kept the plant open.

posted in category(s): Points of Interest