Kyi Thu - Employee Handbook for High Performance

Welch method

In 1981, at the age of 45, Jack Welch became the youngest and eighth CEO in the history of General Electric (GE). His first goal as chairman was to make GE the most competitive and efficient company in the world. Welch realized that to achieve that dream, he would have to make at least some changes.

History will tell whether he was the right man for the right job. When he took over, American business was in trouble. Few CEOs realized that new global competition and a weak economy had changed the way things worked. In the 1980s, the way American business was run had not changed for decades. Employees worked, managers managed, and everyone knew their place. It was an era of rules and bureaucracy.

Welch's early days as CEO were filled with struggles. He personally transformed GE's old ways of doing things, transforming the company from the bottom up with new ideas and new ways of doing things. In his first decade at the helm, he sold or closed hundreds of businesses, eliminated layers of management, and set about transforming the company's bureaucratic ways.

Few understood why the unique Welch was making such dramatic changes.

GE was considered one of the world's largest manufacturing giants. So why not change the way things are and not break them? But Welch saw that the company was sinking because of its own structure. It wasn't enough for a business to grow quickly. He saw that there had to be a culture that encouraged a little innovation and a little new ideas. Now this book is about how Jack Welch managed to build one of the greatest companies in history. The Welch Method focuses on the behaviors and habits behind Welch's transformational growth strategy.

For example, we can see it in the resistance to tradition. Welch was able to eliminate the outdated views of GE. At the old GE company, there were only ideas that were time-consuming and expensive. ( The idea of ​​not invented here (NIH)). Welch eliminated the NIH. He considered it a badge of honor to learn from someone. So he encouraged all employees to think creatively about how to get the best ideas.

At the old GE company, a person's position was the most important thing. Elch changed that. He believed that the quality of the idea was more important than the position of the person presenting it. So he encouraged all employees to hammer out ideas and not let anyone, including himself, take over the good ideas.

Included.

“ Continue to learn what leadership secrets GE’s eighth chairman, who spent two decades traveling to change the fortunes of GE, one of the world’s largest corporations, has to offer.”

Lead.

Jack Gulch is not in the management field. He is in the leadership field. He doesn't even like the word management. Even if he could manage the world, he wouldn't manage. To him, the word management means control, suffocation, and keeping people in the dark, and he sees all the negative effects that come with management.

Gale loved to lead. He loved to create a vision. Then he had employees who were passionate about implementing the plan. That, Gale said, is what a true leader is. A leader is someone who creates a new vision and then passes it on to others. Welb doesn't think the CEO has to be the sole source of leadership or new ideas to see it through. Good ideas

For him, anyone can be a leader if they do a good job. Welch once said, “A hero is someone who brings new ideas to the table. For him, there is nothing more important than a company that creates a vision and realizes its ideas.”

At GE, he created new ideas that were the lifeblood of the company. It was a dynamic and daring enterprise. It was the fuel that kept the great GE engine running. If the company relied on him for all its good ideas, he said, the place would sink in an hour.

While entrepreneurs and CEOs discussed and debated the concept of good leadership with enthusiasm, Welch was the one who demonstrated it. He spent more than two decades pushing GE to make that vision a reality, with a vision of being the most competitive company in the world. He had the drive, the competitive spirit, the inspiring qualities, and the successful results that he could find in leaders like that.

Here are some things you should do if you want to increase your web leadership index:

(a) Clarify a vision. Start working to implement it.

(Light the fire. Then cross the fire.)

That's the essence of leadership, Welch said. Anyone who has a vision and can bring it to fruition with great enthusiasm and enthusiasm is a leader.

Yes.

(b) Don't plan everything in great detail.

Leaders need to know that it's their job to have a big picture view of the company. Don't manage unimportant details. Hire the right people and trust them.

(c) Involve everyone and welcome good ideas from everywhere.

If you're going to work on getting the best ideas from everyone, you have to make sure no one is left out. Because there might be a few cool people on the team who ignore the best ideas. Bring them in too.

“We are looking for a leader who can empower, inspire, and make people happy. Not someone who will discourage, restrict, or exert power.”

Don't be strict with the rules.

For many years, most companies operated like an army. They wore uniforms like white shirts and blue suits. There were strict rules (you couldn't come to work at 9 and leave before 5). The foremen were authoritarian and strict. Even though soldiers were supposed to do their jobs, generals weren't allowed to talk to them.

Welch believes that these big rules are a stumbling block to success. GE 's unrecorded success story is because GE doesn't have a big house. No one calls him Mr. Welch, they call him Jack. He often comes to the office without a tie. He has meetings like this. He encourages everyone to be casual.

Boundaries became a place of freedom and openness. (That is, it became a free and open company. There were no unnecessary laws, approvals, or bargaining rights. Employees were told not to be afraid to express their ideas. He gave them the freedom to disagree with the company's leaders in meetings. Since new ideas are the lifeblood of business , one of the key factors in GE's success has been its lack of discipline.

For example, if managers don't talk to their employees, or employees don't listen, he thinks of something to do to fix it. It 's a process called WORK-OUT. This process involves reversing what you're used to doing. Employees give orders back to their superiors. In the 1980s, this method was very revolutionary. It changed the way companies communicate.

But this is Woolley, isn't he the boss of a big corporation? How can the rest of us have that kind of influence over our company?

Here are some ways to create a casual workspace.

(a) Discuss with your boss and colleagues in a group.

Find simple ways to be flexible (like letting them wear whatever they want, working flexible hours, etc.)

(b) Have more light meetings.

Instead of leading the meeting yourself, have a group of employees take turns leading the meeting. Try a note-taking meeting.

(c) Have fun gatherings from time to time.

Have the entire department have lunch together or organize an after-work party with employees, families, and specially invited celebrities.

"We need to understand that the company needs to maintain a relaxed culture. This is like a training course where you calmly challenge your boss's favorite ideas."

- Fight bureaucracy

Welch always hated bureaucracy. To him, bureaucracy was the enemy. Bureaucracies wasted time, made decisions slowly. They required unnecessary approvals. And everything else seemed to kill the competitiveness of the company. He spent years fighting bureaucracy. He tried to eliminate anything that made GE less competitive.

Welch believed that ridding the company of bureaucracy was everyone's job. He encouraged all employees to cut out bureaucracy, because the odious bureaucracy was a critical component of GE's stock value.

When a young college student asked Gehl what he should do to combat bureaucracy in a large corporation, the GE president advised the student: “Throw a grenade at it and wipe it out.” He believed that it was everyone’s job to at least try to rid a company of unnecessary bureaucracy.

But it's not as easy as it sounds. Even a good job at eradicating cancer can't kill it forever. That's why Welch called bureaucracy a vampire. Because bureaucracy has a way of coming back from the dead every few years.

Anyway, what you can do is simple. Eliminate the clutter and the formalities. If you make your company more responsive and quick to act, you will reduce bureaucracy. Some ways are:

(a) Don't do anything unnecessary.

Most companies have a lot of frameworks. You can think about the old ways of doing things with your colleagues and eliminate or improve them one by one.

(b) Make disciplined decisions with colleagues.

If a company makes a decision every week, the business needs will be clear and easy to understand. If this is not understood, it may end up being more complex than the needs.

(c) Make the workplace more relaxed

- Send handwritten notes instead of notes. (Jack likes handwritten notes. That's Jack. Not Mr. Welch.) Encourage conversational meetings, not rigid ones, that involve everyone from the top to the bottom of the company.

"To harness the power of employees, don't restrict them. Give them freedom to act. Eliminate hierarchy. Clear the way for their strengths to emerge."