I call it “axiomatic” HR (human resources). The idea is that there are a few core basic beliefs or values or axioms for the company. Answers to any questions within the company can ultimately be found if you refer back to the axiom; or in a more mathematical way, every evaluation, promotion, interaction and other procedures can be generated from the few basic axioms. I called them “Company Priorities”.
Company Priorities:
• Tiled teams
• Globally-integrated business
• First to market
Tiled Teams: Microsoft used to try to hire clones of BillG (called “hardcores”); can you imagine a 10-person team of all hardcores?! I am a strong believer in and a practitioner of teams created by “tiling” great people with minimal overlapping talents and skills (with a few hardcores here and there). Tiling helps minimize “group-think” which is the unintended effect of the natural human desire to associate with like-minded people. Leading “tiled” teams is tricky – a hardcore could try to bully the rest but the team leader has to maintain good team dynamics without stifling the hardcore. I start by requiring any team I train to read (and re-read) the STAR Engineer paper (“How to be a Star Engineer”, IEEE Spectrum, October 1999). I then take every team in the company through a training exercise I have developed. Team leader is usually kept very busy!
Globally Integrated Enterprise: Sam Palmisano of IBM wrote (Foreign Affairs, May/June 2006): “A Globally Integrated Enterprise is a company that fashions its strategy, its management, and its operations in pursuit of a new goal: the integration of production and value delivery worldwide.” I see three major benefits to the global approach: (1) lowest cost, (2) best talent wherever available and (3) “tiling” at an organizational level leading to a highly creative and dynamic enterprise.
First to Market: Being the first even with a sub-optimal (yet bullet-proof) product is a critical success factor. May be all the bells-and-whistles are not there (“sub-optimal”) to make the early release date but the features you advertise should work flawlessly (“bullet-proof”). Once you are in, you can add features in consultation with the customer.
Employee and the manager assess employee's performance purely based on its contribution to company priorities. Any employee’s work result ought to be traceable to one or more of the 3 company priorities. When in doubt, apply this test: Is my action going to move the company priorities forward? If so, do it; you don’t have to wait around to ask for permission.
Creativity in the workplace is another interesting topic - more about that next week.
Enjoy the haiku . . .
PG
Let us conclude with a random haiku . . .
“Complex problems have
Simple & easy to understand
Wrong answers”
- by VR
"Axiomatic HR" could be construed as a re-branded management by objectives (MBO), which is undeniably needed, but hardly new.
ReplyDeleteTeam building by tiling makes perfect sense, and is actually the opposite of what many start-up companies naturally do, which is to hire in the image of their technical founder. Getting that aspect right from day 1, is probably quite rare, and a major asset if you actually achieved it.
First to market is great as long as you're not *way* ahead of the market. Put another way, you need to be first to a market that actually exists or is on the cusp of existing. This is especially true if your business is to provide one component of an ecosystem that is not yet in place.
Herr Ingenieur, you make excellent points on all the topics I have mentioned. Your comment about tiling is appreciated - I have some unanticipated learnings that I will discuss in my next blog.
ReplyDeleteI look for others to pick up this thread and debate vigorously!
Thanks, PG