While there are some people who
love living life minute by minute
and are bored to tears by the monotony of routine, most people prefer to
have a little consistency in their lives.
Keith Tompkins believes people often
fear the unknown when faced with change.
So when he announced his retirement as
president and CEO of Kinetico Inc. last
year, he sought to provide as much information as he could to his 400 employees
about the impact of the change.
“The more you can prevent rumors and
the more you can mitigate the unknown
that can certainly be a huge distraction
for your people,” Tompkins says. “You
can even lose some of your people if
there is too much uncertainty. If you err
on one side, I would err on overcommunicating.”
Tompkins left his post at Kinetico in
August and was replaced by Shamus M.
Hurley. The move came a little more than
a year after Kinetico, a provider of home
water systems, was acquired by
Stamford, Conn.-based Axel Johnson
Inc., an arm of the Swedish-based Axel
Johnson Group.
When one change closely follows
another, you need to find ways to reassure your employees that their lives
are not about to be turned upside down.
And that begins with your senior management team.
“People look at the leadership group
for their assurances that things will be all
right,” Tompkins says. “It’s extremely
important that that group has all the
information possible and is supportive. If
people sense there is any uncertainty in
the leadership group, then it’s going to
permeate the whole organization.
“Once a decision is made to move to a
new CEO, it needs to happen as quickly
as you can. It could easily get out, and a
lot of people tend to look at change as
negative. The more you can assure them
that it is life, and change is not always
negative, I think that helps.”
Less than a week after the position was
offered to Hurley, the new CEO came in
to meet the company leaders.
“It was very important to get a face on
his name with our key management
group as quickly as we could,” Tompkins
says.
The other benefit of getting managers
directly involved in the transition
process is the fact that they often have
closer relationships with employees than
does the CEO or other executives.
“If we can convince them that the
change is well-thought-out and healthy
and that we’re bringing someone in with
the same values as the rest of us, I think
things will go rather smoothly,” Tompkins
says. “Any time there is a change in any
department or at any level, there is going
to be some difference. We just need to
convince people where we’re headed.”
You also need to talk to your customers, vendors and anyone else outside
your organization who has regular dealings with your company.
“I personally called most of our major
customers prior to making a public
announcement of the change so they
would hear it directly from me,”
Tompkins says.
At the end of the day, don’t be afraid to
overcommunicate because it can only
help the process of reassurance.
“People tend to look at things from their
own vantage point,” Tompkins says. “I
don’t know that you can ever communicate
so everyone gets the same message and the
same take. … All you can do is give them
your honest take on what is happening.”
HOW TO REACH: Kinetico Inc., www.kinetico.com or (800) 944-9283
Leave no doubt
When Keith Tompkins retired from
Kinetico Inc., he made plans to stay on
for a short while to help his replacement
get acclimated. But Tompkins worked
hard to make sure everyone knew that
he was no longer the company’s president and CEO, and he put out a communiqué to every employee to remove any
doubt that Shamus M. Hurley was in
charge once Tompkins had retired.
“It’s very important that there be zero
confusion as to who is in charge,”
Tompkins says. “From Day One, it has to
be clear, and people need to know that
this company is now his responsibility.
I’ll do everything I can to help him in the
transition and pass along my knowledge
as much as I can. If I hear anything from
people, I’ll certainly make it clear that it’s
his company. They can pass information
to me, but whatever they pass on to me,
I’ll be relaying on to him.”
When you decide to step down as head
of the company, it can only help your
case to support the new leader and spend
some time talking with him or her.
“It’s talking to him and getting a feel for
whether he has the same values and the
same outlook for employees and people
that we do,” Tompkins says. “I don’t think
it’s any different hiring a CEO than hiring
any of our employees. All those things we
look for in our key people are not unlike
what we look for in the CEO.”