For many companies, the last few years have been a challenge. Watching the airlines crumble has been painful. Time after time, companies are laying off employees, canceling benefits, cutting pensions, and "off shoring" work to less expensive locations. This last holiday, we saw employees almost revolt against such management cutting. So much for the 1980's slogan of "In search of Excellence". Today's trend is far more to be "lean and mean".

"Great companies may be lean, but they are never mean. Sustaining a high level of human energy within an organization requires a noble purpose and fundamental fairness". says Len Berry.

That means that when cutting people, benefits, or projects, the process needs to be done in a fundamentally fair way. Any perceived unfairness tends to take away from the noble purpose that we originally built the company around. If we have not taken the time to educate everyone about what we are doing and why, it is inevitable that someone will take offense at our necessary actions.

So, how does not do the painful parts of management? The how starts long before the pain. It starts with being open about one's motives when doing any management action. It continues with educating people about what it means to be in business. It means educating people as to how

their job fits in with the company's goals and why those goals are needed.

Do you know that most people in America do not know what it means to be in business? That few know what gross profit is and the difference between that and net profit? That few workers in America know how their job fits in with the overall purpose of the company? That means that they have not bought into the real reason for your company to exist.

One of the least known parts of being in business in America is to educate the workers on how to be in business. We know how to set up work, how to measure it, how to handle the unions, etc., but we haven't taught the workers how to fit in with the real reason for the company's existence. Contrast that with some companies in Japan where the elevator operator might now why things fit together the way they do. When the competition gets bad, which group of people will compete harder? When we all need to pull together, which group of people will be better able to know which way to pull?

Even though times are tough, it is time to get back to noble purposes. Organizing people so that we all profit is a noble calling. It is far easier to do that when we help educate those around us in the reasons we do what we do.

Dave Randolph,
President, Prairie Trail Software

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