Engage employees
Harrison loves to visit plants and hear stories from employees of how they have
improved the business. With 145 plants in
60 countries, sometimes that means talking
through a translator, but the important
thing is that employees get a chance to
share their stories. He uses these visits as
an opportunity to get employees energized
and enthusiastic about their ideas and
where the company is going. It’s also a way
for him to get firsthand information on how
the various parts of the business are doing.
But to make it work, you have to believe
in the power of engaging employees.
“If you don’t enjoy interacting and at
some level listening, then it’s going to be
sort of hard to really get enthusiastic about
it,” Harrison says. “Every time I visit any
organization, not just a plant, we almost
inevitably have some sort of town-hall
meeting, where I will do a state of the business update, and then more importantly
throw it open for a Q&A.
“You’re never quite sure what questions
you’re going to get, and sometimes they are
not easy ones and maybe sometimes not
even comfortable ones. You want your
organization to see you as approachable,
accessible, and someone who’s at least
willing to listen and be in touch with what’s
going on in the organization. And that does-n’t mean that you grant everything that
comes up, it just means that you listen and you hear it. There have been times when
I’ve gotten a question and I’ve said, ‘Sorry,
that’s not going to work but here’s why.’”
When talking to these groups, Harrison
says it is helpful to make sure you have a
plan for the things you want to communicate to them.
“There are a number of things I want to
keep working every time I visit anywhere,”
he says. “Folks will tell you that I’m always
talking about offering P&G a ‘demonstrable competitive advantage,’ because I see
that as our job. You find some themes that
you really want to drive and you tailor
those for the organization that you’re meeting with, and then I think the other piece is
being able to communicate things in a way
that is not only clear but energizing.
“I’m not sure if I always achieve this goal,
but my goal is always to leave a group with
more energy than they had when they
came in.”
When talking to employees, you don’t have
to ignore negative topics to energize them.
“It doesn’t necessarily mean that you do
that by just praising mediocre performance, that’s not the point,” Harrison says.
“The point is how do you talk about challenges and gaps in a way that values and
recognizes and creates an energy and
enthusiasm that they can go out and fix
those things. You can give a negative
review on a plant or any organization and
have people feeling pretty bad, or you can
give a negative review on an organization
and have people fired up to go make it better. I try to operate from the second camp,
though occasionally you have to operate
from the first camp.
“I think to the extent that you can energize people about the need to improve as
opposed to threaten people and scare people about the need to improve, the more in
touch and the more fun and energized and
aligned your organization is going to be. I
don’t personally believe that fear is a sustainable leadership model. You can get
some short-term things there, but that’s not
an ongoing leadership model in my view.”
When everyone understands the context
decisions are being made in and how they
fit into the puzzle and are given a chance to
participate, that’s when you really start seeing results.
“We really encourage people to really
think about how their ideas really play out
in the context of business results,” Harrison
says. “If you can’t relate your great idea to
some sort of improved business results, then you’ve got to wonder if the people are
really working on the right thing.
“If people understand what the business
needs are, the competitive needs, and
you’ve got good alignment with company
objectives, your strategies are clear and
you’ve done a good job creating alignment
and ownership, it’s amazing how much creativity and energy emerge as you go about
dealing with these challenges.”
While P&G Product Supply still has some
challenges ahead, Harrison says it’s important to anticipate, stay focused and stay
true to your strategies.
“You’ve got to find a way to balance meeting your short-term goals but do it in a way
that doesn’t blow you off course of where
you’re trying to go longer term,” he says.
“Part of the job of the leader is to instill
confidence and provide direction. If you
show up as panicked, the organization will
take its cue from that. If you show up as,
‘This is a tough challenge, but here are
some thoughts on how we could go meet it.
How do we tackle this thing but with an
eye toward success?’ That creates a spirit
and energy in the organization.”
HOW TO REACH: Procter & Gamble Product Supply, (513) 983-1100 or www.pg.com
