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"We
Are Inextricably Linked To One Another"
By Ed Yager
Frances Flood describes herself with a smile, acknowledging the nature
of the pun, as "a catalyst - a fire hydrant of ideas". She took
over the reins at Gentner Communications in 1996, moving quickly from
VP Sales and Marketing where she was introduced as a "change agent",
to President and then CEO. Today Gentner is listed as the "Top Performing
Publicly Traded Company" in Utah (Deseret News, 10/17/99), sporting
a 2 year 83% return since her appointment. Mirroring the concern of most
growing companies today is the challenge of finding qualified employees.
Frances' greatest concern is "recruiting as much talent as I would
like to have, and many of her efforts are specifically directed toward
actions that help Gentner recruit and retain employees. Frances has focused
on building a high performance, people centered culture that is strategically
focused; "Let me find great people and then I find a job. I am much
more into people magic. You will always have a job for great people."
Her passion and commitment to her team and to the vision she has for Gentner
are contagious to even the most casual observer.
Q: What did you do when you took over? Did you have
a particular strategy?
"This was primarily an invention driven company.
We went through the corporation and determined the most robust areas we
should focus on. Then we agreed to seek contiguous market opportunities,
not extended markets. That was the way the company used to go, from A
to E then to B to R, etc. Now we go methodically from A to B to C, and
we have walked away from the others.
Q: How did you get to people to work with you?
"When I joined the company it was primarily a
'family' kind of culture. I prefer not to use that term. People used the
corporation as a safe harbor for nonperformance. I heard, 'I will never
be fired because I have been here from the beginning.' I don't think that
is healthy for a company, so we migrated to a team concept." (Frances
is a master in the use of stories and metaphors to make her point, another
characteristic of noted leaders) "Every member works as a member
of a team, and everyone is either steering or pulling on the oar. Otherwise
you become cargo, and we cannot afford to be pulling cargo."
Q: How did you get people to change their attitudes?
"An effective tool for us to communicate what
had to be done has been the bell curve model. (She makes a bell shaped
curve in the air to emphasize her point. She is a very visual person and
her continuous attempts to get others to visualize with her is very effective.)
"
"At the front of the curve are people who are
pulling the organization. That takes alot of courage, stamina, vision,
innovation, and continual reshaping and rethinking and developing new
skill sets. At the center of the curve are the majority. They are pushing.
They are making sure the curve continually moves."
Q: So often those in that middle group are described
in derogatory terms.
"But these are the people who are pushing. You
can't have the majority pulling or it gets too far askew." (She leads
with another metaphor.) ^We liken it to a marathon race. When you finish
the 10K you feel good - now you are ready for the 20K." (in a like
manner, Jack Welch at GE coined a phrase that influenced the thinking
at GE for years, it even appeared in their advertising for awhile. He
said, "We set high goals and when we make them we raise the bar and
start all over again.")
Q: How do you keep them pushing?
"For whatever reason some don't have the stamina
to keep pushing. And that is ok. Perhaps they don't have the skill set.
As they see the company moving out of reach, they begin to hunker down.
They try to tie down the curve. I liken it to a tug of war, while some
are trying to pull the curve, others are trying to tie it down. They start
to reminisce about the old days, they say this too will pass, this is
just the flavor of the month. They hide behind words like trust, respect,
and empathy -- values that turn to sympathy. They start getting up from
their cubicles and look for sympathy. They say this is not fun anymore
- it's not the same family it used to be."
Q: How do you deal with them?
"The management team worked together to identify
the problem behaviors and they learned to articulate them. We then could
deal with them fairly, specifically, and on a timely basis, but we deal
with it. What we don't want to do is lower the bar or the expectations."
Q: What do you do to keep people involved and committed?
"I want to create an environment where people
want to work here, where they feel they make a contribution, and where
they are recognized for their contribution." She describes a variety
of activities including award and communication tools including employees
nominating one another. She is known as the "chocolate lady"
for her regular visits with employees where she passes out chocolate treats.
She has a goal of getting 100% participation in their ESOP Plan, a plan
that vests at milestone EPS levels rather than calendar, "everyone
is involved in the business this way".
Q: What is the glue?
"People are having fun. They are enjoying their
job. People are proud here. There are whiteboards up every place for posting
measurements or announcing accomplishments. People know what counts here
. People are continually telling me that this is the first time they have
really understood their job." "We foster productive conflict,
not group think. I don't view things as what Fran did - - I am just a
catalyst here. I like to stir things up and then watch people take the
ball and run with it. I often throw out a controversial hypothesis and
if I see the executive team going along I remind them that they are not
trying to develop lemmings here. Intellectual capital is invaluable. That's
the beauty of having all types of people in the company. People need to
know there are no repercussions for having a dissenting view. We want
people to speak up. We are inextricably linked to one another in this
sort of web. We build on each other's strengths and cover for each other's
weaknesses."
Q: Many entrepreneurial leaders are noted for their
7 day 90 hour work weeks, and they often expect the same of others. How
do you maintain balance?
"It takes an unusual leader to get others to expand
their jobs. One of the things we do emphasize at Gentner is to view work
as but one aspect of your life - not as your life. An employee once told
me 'This is not my life', and I agree. I am not asking you to abandon
or sacrifice anything. If you are completely engaged while you are here.
We will get the best results." Frances Flood is certainly engaged
and the results show it. She must be on to something.
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