Create a work force of change
The Timken Co. is no stranger to the global stage. In fact, the
company’s first foray overseas was a partnership with a U.K.
company in the midst of World War I.
But there’s a difference between having global partnerships
and customers and truly being a global company. Changing the
mindset from a primarily national company to one that thinks
about the entire planet has its own set of challenges, including
resistance from long-time employees.
“You start with communication,” Timken says. “Make sure
people understand what you’re trying to accomplish and how
you plan to get there. The fact of the matter is that when you’re
going through periods of change like we’ve seen in the last four
or five years, there will be people who will not be able to make
the change. That’s just a reality we have to face.”
He says there are three things to do when you run into resistance.
“Your first line is to make sure they understand what you are
trying to accomplish,” Timken says. “The second line is to be
more aggressive in coaching them to try to make the change.
The final line is trying to find a different place for that individual, whether it’s inside the company in a different occupation
or somewhere else.
“It’s difficult when you run a business and you know people
extremely well, but, at the end of the day, if you have an element of your population that is resisting the change, that will
do more harm than good. You have to address it proactively.”
But even when everyone is on board with your plan, it can
still stress your internal resources as you race to keep up with
global competition. New products being launched quicker
means you have to take steps to keep your employee base
equipped to handle the pace.
“You do it by a combination of internal training as well as hiring selected talents from the outside,” Timken says. “The fact
is, there are products we’re making today that we wouldn’t
have known anything about five years ago. So rather than
going through the exercise of trying to acquire that knowledge
ourselves and propagate it, we’ve found it’s often better served
by somebody from the outside.”
And doing that may mean re-examining your hiring practices.
“If you look at the history of our company, 20 years ago, we
didn’t hire all that many people after they turned 21,” Timken
says. “We wanted them right out of college; we wanted them to
work for our company for 60 years and then retire. It’s not a
model that works anymore — quite frankly for demographic
reasons but also from strategic reasons. Our company is moving so quickly that you can’t afford the luxury of training everybody yourself.
“That has pushed us to be more active in midcareer hiring. At
the end of the day, our company is better off for it. We’ve
brought some talented people in later in life and used that hiring to fill critical gaps we have in our existing business but also
the new businesses we’re acquiring.”
Recruiting is assisted by the reputation of the company and
its commitment to the community, which is a form of brand
building.
“Be very involved in the communities in which you operate,”
Timken says. “Having a heavy presence in those communities
makes you an attractive employer, which allows you to have
the pick of the litter. Having strong relationships with universities in the regions you operate is critical.
“It goes back to the brand issue. When your brand is respected in the industries in which you operate, that gets around quickly. People understand the commitment that our brand has
in the marketplace and are drawn to us.”