IN THE TRENCHES: Time for more action, not more wishful thinking
IN THE TRENCHES: Time for more action, not more wishful thinking
Do these statements sound familiar to you?
CEO: "We're going to give our customers the best products all of the time at the lowest prices along with superior service 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Blah, blah, blah ..."
Division vice president: "This new corporate produce program is one of the best ever and supervision will get behind it all the way. We'll support any extra labor it needs to make it work. I'm not just saying this because company officers are here at our meeting. Blah, blah, blah ..."
Senior operating officer: "This year, we plan to train every employee in our company to help make their jobs easier and more efficient. We will give them all the tools to do it. Blah, blah, blah ..."
Remember the classic Cinderella story? Cinderella had dreams of someday escaping her dreary servitude. Then a fairy godmother waved her magic wand and Cinderella went from rags to riches. This all happened in a flash.
Perhaps we need some wand waving or magic dust to get company programs implemented these days. It may take more than a fairy godmother to accomplish it. Poking fun at this subject may not seem fair. However, many employees truly feel that these dramatized pledges are nothing more than lip service. Upper management often makes promises but then fails to deliver the goods. This causes workers to lose confidence and become uninspired.
An example of this is company promotional meetings. Management and team members attempt to create wild ad campaigns with all types of mission statements, slogans, buzzwords and merchandising ideas. Most of these programs are usually for political rather than constructive reasons.
Usually, lower-level management wants to make a good impression with corporate headquarters. Often, its intentions are to show off to senior executives by developing programs that are not built on reality.
When the program is ready for launching, a big meeting is held with the administrative staff and employees. The finale ends with rah-rah, high fives and cheers. Then, as the crowd leaves the meeting room, the executives return to the office with big hopes that it will work.
When certain results are not realized after a couple of months, management decides to pull the rug out from underneath by chopping labor, altering some promotions and cutting back on ads to save money. By doing all this, it still hopes the program will be a success.
This is called wishful thinking, pipe dreams or blowing smoke. Take your pick.
Top executives are not all villains wearing masks, black cloaks and armed with swords. They are under pressure to make money for their company, and when it becomes a struggle, many turn to the "panic adjustment" method, where they "refine" the program by cutting away piece-by-piece, causing it to slowly vanish. During tight profit predicaments, there are a lot of sudden short memories of promises made for training, promotions or new equipment. This immediately changes the positive visions of employees and affects their working abilities. Workers often become frustrated and lose confidence in the program - and eventually the company.
The problems begin when management decides to have meetings to discuss new program ideas but does not include organized plans of execution. Hasty decisions are made and programs are started, which eventually cause tremendous problems that lead to massive failures.
How many times have you experienced a new company program that went astray? What was the feeling throughout the organization after the plug was pulled? Did you and your coworkers suffer a letdown?
I asked a supermarket produce clerk what became of the special program his company had been promoting for two months. He said, "We were told to take down all the signs in the store and hold them in the back room. We just piled them up with the others from old programs that never worked - just like this one. Our company wastes a lot of money on silly stuff that never flies."
One produce executive told me, "Ron, I was suddenly instructed to cancel our in-store training program. Last January, we were given the green light to begin a training program for all produce employees. Our divisional management support was great. Now they told me to pull the plug because we had to cut back on labor spending. This has lowered employee morale as well as mine."
How many programs has your company introduced this past year? Are they still in progress? Is there a meeting planned for yet another new program coming up? Do you have a stockpile of old promotional signage in the back room from previous programs that never really got off the ground?
Management should stop making promises it can't keep. There are many prodigious programs launched that corporate intellectuals manage to let slip away during the process. It's time to give employees the program support from start to finish.
(Ron Pelger is the owner of RONPROCON, a consulting firm for the produce industry. He can be reached by phone at 775/853-7056, by e-mail at [email protected], or check his web site at www.power-produce.com.)
CEO: "We're going to give our customers the best products all of the time at the lowest prices along with superior service 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Blah, blah, blah ..."
Division vice president: "This new corporate produce program is one of the best ever and supervision will get behind it all the way. We'll support any extra labor it needs to make it work. I'm not just saying this because company officers are here at our meeting. Blah, blah, blah ..."
Senior operating officer: "This year, we plan to train every employee in our company to help make their jobs easier and more efficient. We will give them all the tools to do it. Blah, blah, blah ..."
Remember the classic Cinderella story? Cinderella had dreams of someday escaping her dreary servitude. Then a fairy godmother waved her magic wand and Cinderella went from rags to riches. This all happened in a flash.
Perhaps we need some wand waving or magic dust to get company programs implemented these days. It may take more than a fairy godmother to accomplish it. Poking fun at this subject may not seem fair. However, many employees truly feel that these dramatized pledges are nothing more than lip service. Upper management often makes promises but then fails to deliver the goods. This causes workers to lose confidence and become uninspired.
An example of this is company promotional meetings. Management and team members attempt to create wild ad campaigns with all types of mission statements, slogans, buzzwords and merchandising ideas. Most of these programs are usually for political rather than constructive reasons.
Usually, lower-level management wants to make a good impression with corporate headquarters. Often, its intentions are to show off to senior executives by developing programs that are not built on reality.
When the program is ready for launching, a big meeting is held with the administrative staff and employees. The finale ends with rah-rah, high fives and cheers. Then, as the crowd leaves the meeting room, the executives return to the office with big hopes that it will work.
When certain results are not realized after a couple of months, management decides to pull the rug out from underneath by chopping labor, altering some promotions and cutting back on ads to save money. By doing all this, it still hopes the program will be a success.
This is called wishful thinking, pipe dreams or blowing smoke. Take your pick.
Top executives are not all villains wearing masks, black cloaks and armed with swords. They are under pressure to make money for their company, and when it becomes a struggle, many turn to the "panic adjustment" method, where they "refine" the program by cutting away piece-by-piece, causing it to slowly vanish. During tight profit predicaments, there are a lot of sudden short memories of promises made for training, promotions or new equipment. This immediately changes the positive visions of employees and affects their working abilities. Workers often become frustrated and lose confidence in the program - and eventually the company.
The problems begin when management decides to have meetings to discuss new program ideas but does not include organized plans of execution. Hasty decisions are made and programs are started, which eventually cause tremendous problems that lead to massive failures.
How many times have you experienced a new company program that went astray? What was the feeling throughout the organization after the plug was pulled? Did you and your coworkers suffer a letdown?
I asked a supermarket produce clerk what became of the special program his company had been promoting for two months. He said, "We were told to take down all the signs in the store and hold them in the back room. We just piled them up with the others from old programs that never worked - just like this one. Our company wastes a lot of money on silly stuff that never flies."
One produce executive told me, "Ron, I was suddenly instructed to cancel our in-store training program. Last January, we were given the green light to begin a training program for all produce employees. Our divisional management support was great. Now they told me to pull the plug because we had to cut back on labor spending. This has lowered employee morale as well as mine."
How many programs has your company introduced this past year? Are they still in progress? Is there a meeting planned for yet another new program coming up? Do you have a stockpile of old promotional signage in the back room from previous programs that never really got off the ground?
Management should stop making promises it can't keep. There are many prodigious programs launched that corporate intellectuals manage to let slip away during the process. It's time to give employees the program support from start to finish.
(Ron Pelger is the owner of RONPROCON, a consulting firm for the produce industry. He can be reached by phone at 775/853-7056, by e-mail at [email protected], or check his web site at www.power-produce.com.)
