Best Practices, Change Management: All or Nothing

CHICAGO – Some organizations tout that they are striving to be world class, yet they pay mediocre salaries and expect to attract only the "top" employees. Something doesn’t add up, writes Jim Carlini in this
week’s edition of Carlini’s Comments.

You have heard a lot of organizations’ executives chant the mantra of “we embrace best practices and best-of-breed implementations.” The trouble is that they don’t follow
through with the other basic tenets that are the foundation of “total quality management,” “Six Sigma” and other approaches that are supposed to make the organization “world
class”.

I have seen companies that are so backward, yet they believe that they have implemented a world-class organization. You cannot select parts of any of these quality
approaches; you must embrace and implement them all.

Don’t Just Pay Lip Service!

I attended a seminar last week about financial management and financial reporting of businesses. Overall, the speakers were good. One, from a local company, talked about “getting it all together” at his
company in the financial department. He touted all of their successes and changes to become a better functional organization. I was starting to believe that this was a great example of change management.

He then went on talking about how they had originally missed deadlines, were not looked up to, had inaccurate numbers and they changed all of that around. They had inspired people to do a good quality
job. I was sold. This was what change management should be, and he had great proof of a good implementation.

His firm’s requirements for people in this department went from “hire anyone breathing” to “hire only the best”. The hiring criteria became very stringent. They have to be trustworthy and motivated. They have
to be go-getters. They must have integrity. They must be “pillars of society”. Wow, their expectations were high for people in this department – a first-class company all the way.

The skeptical question I asked that blew his whole speech was: “What do you pay these people, since you are demanding so much?” His answer was that they pay into the 75 percentile, which although good, is
definitely not “highest paid”. The salary stance doesn’t match up with their strict policies of hiring only the best with the most integrity and the most motivation.

This criteria was really focused on for over 20 minutes. Then when salary came up, the tone changed (yada yada yada… the same excuse I’ve heard for more than 20 years). “Well, money isn’t everything,” he
defended. They have a challenging job. They work with great people next to them. They even give out little zebras when someone does a good job. Rah rah rah…

I have heard the “prestige” speech before. Mediocre and sometimes substandard, salaries are downplayed, but “working at a prestigious place” is touted. “You’ll be working with a great bunch of people.”

Well, how great are they if they settled for mediocre pay? Don’t they value themselves? That doesn’t add up.

Clue to the world: Prestige doesn’t pay for groceries at Dominick’s. Toy zebras don’t get you $15,000 off that new Lexus or Maserati. Cash does.

When You Pay Peanuts, You Get Monkeys

You can’t be “world class” and then say:

We don’t have tuition reimbursement here. That’s a frill we don’t pay for.

We usually give whatever the “going rate “ is as far as salaries.

We usually give increases here, but they are industry standard.

Question: How can you be world class in one area and want to compare and rank yourself to the industry standard or average? That doesn’t add up.

Brain power is a strategic asset to all companies. You get what you pay for. Serious people get serious money. Human capital is important to every organization We all know that, don’t we?

Lead, Follow or Get Into Middle Management

Make a decision. Can you do that? If you can, you should lead. Be an executive; we need more of you!

If you can’t, you should follow. Be a worker, take directions and don’t complain. Those that are indecisive, get into middle management. They waffle at decisions and whine about their careers.

Don’t think so? How come there are more than 5,000 proposals sitting on top of the desk of one computer leasing and distributor because their customers cannot make a decision?

Remember the old adage “cheap, good or fast – pick two”? In best practices, you don’t select – you take it all. Make the decisions, take action, implement good procedures and processes, but most of all, pay
your people what they are worth. You’ll get productivity and motivation.

James Carlini is president of Carlini & Associates, a management consulting firm focusing on developing marketing strategies and applications of strategic integrated information, as well as litigation support.
He is also an adjunct professor in the Communications Systems Program, Executive Masters Program at Northwestern University. He can be reached at [email protected] or (773) 370-1888.

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