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Lessons from "Stodgy" Companies: Re-Inventing Culture and Attitudes By Brad Hosmer, CMC The following article appeared in "Linkage E-Newsletter" a publication of Linkage Inc. When we think of old-time, "stodgy" industries, certain instant images come to mind, of metal, chrome, fabric, furniture, wood. These raise a dusty picture of companies that have had their day; firms that, while still producing needed goods, could never seriously compete with companies in more glamorous industries or against foreign competition. Driven by a sheer desperation to survive, however, many stodgy companies have begun re-inventing themselves internally in ways that "less-stodgy" companies would be wise to replicate. Given today's intense global competitiveness, the success to which the stodgies' internal re-tooling has led is worth looking at. For example, Mark Coen, president of Page Belting Company in Concord, NH, says, "We knew we couldn't keep doing what we had been doing for decades. We needed to create new strategies, such as changing our attitudes toward our employees and consciously deciding to change our overall style of managing." Coen explains how this century-old former manufacturer of leather harnesses for horses, buggies, and stagecoaches (they even have a letter from Buffalo Bill himself testifying to their excellence) began giving their employees "a chance to grow." The company's long tradition of overly centralized decision-making stopped, and, as a result, the hemorrhaging of good people leaving the company that had been going on for a long while ceased too. This single change caused Page's employees to begin thinking more creatively, and to exhibit visibly more commitment toward the company's success. The old way was to lay back and just follow orders. As a result, Page revitalized its OEM (original equipment manufacturers) packings and seals business, introducing new products, advanced materials, and a can-do sales attitude grounded in results. It's a business segment once again thriving and driven by profit. And the most amazing aspect of this internal shift may have been its ease. Recalling how it all happened, Coen remarks: "We turned the corner on a prevailing defeatist attitude throughout our workforce in less than a year. I truly expected it to take a lot longer." A second key factor in moving beyond a stodgy frame of mind for many of these companies has been bringing in new talent. For old-line industries this seemingly obvious step has not always been so easy to do. Before not too long, many such companies give up trying. Yet it MUST be done, report successful ex-stodgies. Without new talent, they insist, creaky old upper managers continue to think within their musty, long-ago established boxes. "We like to regularly hire some 'young bucks' to work just beneath whoever's at the top," explains David Glidden, president, at L.W. Packard, Ashland NH. "It moves the current leader along." In so doing, alongside continual introduction of new equipment and technology, the stodgiest managers face a choice: either keep up with the times and help spark innovative thinking… "or they leave." This has enabled Packard, a maker of woolen, cashmere, angora, alpaca and other cloth products, to cultivate and maintain a decidedly UN-stodgy operation, in the stodgiest of environments, for quite a few years. The challenge of keeping one's employees motivated and enthused seems also to be at the top of the list of most ex-stodgy executives. Making sure that management and workforce interaction stays fresh and alive is high on their priority lists too. Creating a culture that genuinely supports this is essential, they add. Should an employee make a suggestion and too easily take no for an answer, for example, Dave Glidden figures the employee wasn't too dedicated to the idea. He wants to develop employees instead who can (and will) re-think an idea when they get a no, then come back to him with an alternative idea. "Of course, you have to foster a culture in which people know it's OK to bring an idea back to the boss after he's already said no, without getting their heads chopped off," he adds. "They also have to know they won't get killed if the idea seemed reasonable to everybody initially but later didn't work out." Hence company culture must consistently support not just idea generation and articulation but the opportunity to fail as well. Glen Currie, a management specialist in Concord NH who has worked with many stodgy companies in these areas, feels this way: "It's usually management's fault when a company gets stodgy. Many executives, especially those in family and small businesses, grow up thinking about the business and its markets in certain ways and never change. They never display an ability or interest to think out of the box, and the result is that their companies end up with product lines not correctly oriented toward their current market." He adds that it's often easier in such cases for someone with fresh ideas to be brought in from the outside and shake things up, than to simply push insiders to change their thinking. Can we boil down all these hard-fought experiences of formerly stodgy companies into lessons we can use? Page's Mark Coen thinks so, outlining his own recipe for company managers who wish to ward off the stodgy wolf who comes sniffing about the company's door. His overall insights extol the high value of maintaining positive internal mindsets and communication-filled employee-management interactions. Coen's specific recommendations include: · Be honest and realistic in assessing the situation. Be ready to face up to the "mess." · Institutionalize non-stodgy attitudes. Are you ready to make a serious commitment to change or just pay it lip service? · Provide for passing non-stodgy attitudes on to management successors and new hires. · Don't ever let a boss on any level (especially at the top!) shut down your NON-stodgy culture by falling back into familiar, historic command-and-control management styles. From my own observations as a consultant, I would add: Take great pains to keep everyone's blinders off. When commitments from both employees and managers stay energized and creative, your company can avoid stodginess and pursue, as a matter of course, vibrant new directions that lead to more solid levels of commercial success. Advance bravely in uncharted strategic directions, let go the fear of attempting something risky, and you will encounter clues to exciting new product avenues. Many formerly staid enterprises have traveled this very route. Today their customers, employees and stockholders are delighted that they did. Bradley E. Hosmer, CMC, heads The Beta Consulting Group in Concord, NH, specializing in improved sales, marketing and new business development for generating profitable growth. For further information please contact Mr. Hosmer at Beta Consulting. |
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