Strategies for Surviving and Thriving in Challenging Times
Strategic Action #5 for Surviving and Thriving:
Operate with Transparency
Last month millions were horrified by a clandestinely filmed video of animal abuse at the Westland/Hallmark Meat Co. in California. The video showed cattle too sick to walk on their being prodded with electrical shocks and forklifts toward their place of slaughter.
Under USDA rules no meat from animals unable to walk on their own can be lawfully sold for human consumption.
Westland/Hallmark president and CEO Steve Mendell declared in a press release:
“Words cannot accurately express how shocked and horrified I was at the depictions contained on the video that was taken by an individual who worked at our facility from October 3 thru November 14, 2007
. We have taken swift action regarding the two employees identified on the video and have already implemented aggressive measures to ensure all employees follow our humane handling policies and procedures.”
One can only speculate whether Mr. Mendell was really shocked and horrified – or whether his shock and horror was over his operations being secretly filmed. However, with the ubiquity of the Internet, murder will out – no pun intended.
No more can we blithely assume that any action we take that is observed by another person will not ever show up on the Internet.
Welcome to the Age of Transparency.
Companies that Raj Sisodia and I write about in Firms of Endearment have learned that transparency is not as fraught with risk as hierarchically organized command-and-control organizations and their lawyers have long believed.
In the first place, an ethos of transparency is a vaccine against the kinds of executive cupidity seen in such iconic scandals as those represented by the names Enron, WorldCom and Tyco.
However, beyond that, an ethos of transparency strengthens employee loyalty and productivity. Privately-owned sneaker maker New Balance shares an uncommon amount of production and financial data with employees. This enables employees to gauge their performance. It’s apparently a more effective way of inspiring workers to higher performance levels than supervisors’ criticisms and commands.
New Balance makes more than 30 percent of its shoes in the U.S. with plans to increase that percentage. That is impressive given that sneakers can be made in China for 1/14 the hourly wage New Balance pays its U.S.workers. However, New Balance’s U.S.factories are the most productive sneaker producers in the world. Much of the reason for this, according to New Balance CEO Jim Davis, is the transparency of his operations to employees.
Organic grocer Whole Foods publishes everyone’s salaries to avoid corrosive rumor mongering about who is paid what. JetBlue teaches employees how to read the company’s financials so that they can better appreciate their contribution to its bottom line.
A felicitous consequence of operating with transparency internally is that employees do the same with customers, thus building greater trust between company and customer.
Transparency responds to rising expectations for authenticity in producer-consumer relationships. After enduring many decades of exaggerated company claims, customers are turning off in ever greater numbers to unauthentic messages. Additionally, everyday whole armies of consumers post go online to tell their stories of gaps between a company’s claims and its delivery.
A useful guide to operating with
greater authenticity is Joe Pine and Jim Gilmore’s new book, Authenticity. Click on the book cover in the left column to be teleported to Amazon where you can read about Authenticity.
____________________
If you have the stomach for it, watch a PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) film about animal abuse that has turned untold numbers into either vegetarians or customers of companies like Whole Foods who only buy meat and dairy products from producers that have been certified as humane. The PETA video underscores the decline of corporate secrecy which is making transparency less and less an option. To borrow from Google, "Don't be evil" because sooner or later you'll be found out if you do.
Comments