I had lunch recently with a friend who is the regional director for a large national company. We hadn't seen each other in a while so he started our chat by explaining all of the major changes that had occurred at his company and in his life.
About two years ago, he said, his then-boss was voted the CEO of the company and he was selected to take his former boss’ place as regional director. After 20 years of working his way up the ladder at this company, my friend had now been awarded his dream job.
Since had spent many of these years managing the existing employees in various capacities, he felt confident about his ability to do this new job and was looking forward to a fairly seamless transition.
However, two days after beginning his new position, things changed drastically. The company acquired 3 other companies located in his region, which virtually doubled the size of his operation. Imagine the challenges he faced – hundreds of new employees to manage who were talented professionals but weren't familiar with his management or the policies and procedures of their new company. Also, though their expertise would no doubt strengthen his company’s depth, most of these new employees worked in areas in which my friend was not very well-versed.
After digesting all of these abrupt changes, he decided the best strategy would be to soldier on using the core principles that he had focused on throughout his career:
- Hire talented people that are more intelligent than him
- Always respect and reward productivity
- Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, and don’t overly criticize his employees for making them
- Use his burning desire to win to create a culture of winning within the organization
It took some time, but the more he was able to sell his game plan to the new employees the more successful the company became. You see, he recognized early on that his company had brought in these new professionals for a reason: to help the company grow to new heights. Even though it was a challenge to incorporate them all into the company, he knew that in the long run it would be a benefit to everyone if done properly.
Once he realized this and focused on his system of respect and rewarding productivity, all of his employees came together as one and exceeded all of the early expectations of the merger. rwaldron
I had lunch recently with a friend who is the regional director for a large national company. We hadn't seen each other in a while so he started our chat by explaining all of the major changes that had occurred at his company and in his life.
About two years ago, he said, his then-boss was voted the CEO of the company and he was selected to take his former boss’ place as regional director. After 20 years of working his way up the ladder at this company, my friend had now been awarded his dream job.
Since had spent many of these years managing the existing employees in various capacities, he felt confident about his ability to do this new job and was looking forward to a fairly seamless transition.
However, two days after beginning his new position, things changed drastically. The company acquired 3 other companies located in his region, which virtually doubled the size of his operation. Imagine the challenges he faced – hundreds of new employees to manage who were talented professionals but weren't familiar with his management or the policies and procedures of their new company. Also, though their expertise would no doubt strengthen his company’s depth, most of these new employees worked in areas in which my friend was not very well-versed.
After digesting all of these abrupt changes, he decided the best strategy would be to soldier on using the core principles that he had focused on throughout his career:
- Hire talented people that are more intelligent than him
- Always respect and reward productivity
- Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, and don’t overly criticize his employees for making them
- Use his burning desire to win to create a culture of winning within the organization
It took some time, but the more he was able to sell his game plan to the new employees the more successful the company became. You see, he recognized early on that his company had brought in these new professionals for a reason: to help the company grow to new heights. Even though it was a challenge to incorporate them all into the company, he knew that in the long run it would be a benefit to everyone if done properly.
Once he realized this and focused on his system of respect and rewarding productivity, all of his employees came together as one and exceeded all of the early expectations of the merger. rwaldron