The Idea in Brief
Do your employees work together like a strikingly synchronized flock of geese on the wing—sharing a goal, taking turns leading, and mastering the task at hand? Or do they seem more like a herd of buffalo—blindly following their leader and passively standing around waiting for instructions?
Ralph Stayer, head of family-owned Johnsonville Sausage, asked himself this question—and realized he led a bunch of buffalo who were wallowing toward extinction. His employees were bored, made dumb mistakes, and didn’t care—a dangerous scenario, considering the formidable competitors sniffing around Johnsonville’s turf.
Stayer took action. He fixed himself first—by refusing to own every problem and make every decision. And he stopped expecting his people to be incapable. Then he fixed employees—getting them to seize ownership of Johnsonville’s problems and insist on taking responsibility for themselves and the business.
Stayer’s reward? Employees became such self-starting, problem-solving, responsibility-grabbing, independent thinkers that Johnsonville nearly ran itself without him. But the true test came when a longstanding, key customer offered Johnsonville a major, risky—and potentially highly profitable—contract. Employees answered with a resounding “Yes!”—and performed like pros.
The Idea in Practice
Don’t Manage People—Manage Systems and Structures Instead
People can manage themselves—if you manage their work context; i.e., the systems (quality control, performance assessment, compensation) and structures (teams, departments) that shape people’s thinking and behavior and push the organization toward its ideal.
Systems: Start by changing the most visible systems you directly control. Example:
Stayer himself checked sausage quality by tasting it—a highly visible quality-control system. This kept workers from taking responsibility for their own performance. But when Stayer upended the quality-control system—inviting sausage-making line workers to taste it themselves—they embraced this ownership. They formed teams to resolve quality problems, and rejects fell from 5% to an amazing 0.5%. Example:
When shop-floor workers complained about slipshod fellow workers, Stayer invited them to solve the problem. They took on the selection and training of new workers—gradually assuming traditional personnel functions, including firing. Shop-floor performance soared.
Structures: Seize opportunities to make structural changes based on successful system changes. Example:
Stayer replaced Johnsonville’s traditional personnel department with a learning and personal development team and employee-education allowance. More than 65% of employees now take part in formal education. Staffed by people with imagination, initiative, and competitive edge, Johnsonville “never stops learning.”
Influence Employee Expectations
Use every available means—semantic, symbolic, behavioral—to shape employees’ expectations about what it takes to succeed. Example:
Stayer recast promotion standards, downplaying technical skill and emphasizing coaching and teaching instead. The move sent a new message: To succeed at Johnsonville, you must cultivate problem solvers and responsibility takers. Example:
When Stayer realized others were second-guessing him in meetings, he scheduled himself out of most gatherings. His absence forced others to make decisions themselves—and own their own problems. His new job? To put himself out of a job.
In 1980, I was the head of a successful family business—Johnsonville Sausage—that was in great shape and required radical change.
