Focus on your strategy
A company with a well-defined operating strategy is a company that is more capable of keeping employees in the information loop, and consequently, an organization in which employees feel empowered to perform their jobs and reach out to management with their ideas and concerns.
Sparrvik says that, simply stated, well-defined strategies can help keep organizations flat.
“Employees want to be part of a company with a well-defined strategy, a well-defined, common values system, and they want to have information,” he says. “They want to know what is going on, they want open communication, and they want to be a part of defining the strategy. Above all, employees want to be successful.
“Even if you work at a good company and have a good salary, if you do not feel successful in your work, it doesn’t help if the company has a good compensation package. People want to be a part of a success story, part of a growing company.”
At Kontron, developing and communicating the operating strategy starts at the top with Sparrvik and his leadership team. The company’s leaders communicate with managers further down the ladder, and the message cascades throughout the organization.
Sparrvik uses the downward communication as an opportunity to demonstrate management’s willingness to share information with employees, which, in turn, enables them to offer feedback and communicate upward, which helps improve accessibility throughout all levels and areas of the organization.
Sparrvik says it comes back to eliminating organizational stratification and staying flat.
“At Kontron, we start with a really thorough, global and top-down communication of the strategy,” Sparrvik says. “Once we define the strategy, we communicate it to all managers. We build the strategy into the compensation system, how we pay bonuses, how we measure people and how we do performance evaluations. Every employee is involved in the strategy. But even more importantly, once you’ve defined a strategy, once you’ve stated that this is where you want to go, the how, why and who, you also need to receive feedback from all your entities. We receive feedback from all our entities across North America on what we’re doing and how we’re performing in relation to our strategy.”
Sparrvik’s ability to clearly communicate a strategy and focus his employees on a set of common goals has been critical to Kontron’s success, particularly in the arena of acquisitions. Kontron has been aggressive in pursuing acquisitions in North America during the past 10 years. Acquisitions bring change, change brings uncertainty, and uncertainty can cause anxiety among employees if management hasn’t clearly communicated the purpose for the change, the strategy to achieve the change and the planned outcome.
“Our acquisition strategy is something we’re very open about with our employees,” Sparrvik says. “A couple of years ago, I did an acquisition in Malaysia where we acquired a pretty large production facility. A lot of our people here were very concerned that all the production jobs would be moved from San Diego to Malaysia. But from the outset, we were very open and honest that maybe 20 to 25 percent of the business would move away to Malaysia, but the rest would stay here.
“As soon as people get open, honest communication from management, they feel better about what is going on, and then everyone will begin communicating openly about it.”
Maintaining clarity about your organization’s strategies will help aid communication throughout your organization. It will also help your employees take a long-term view of your company’s future, something that is vital to emphasize in the current economic climate.
At Kontron, Sparrvik focuses his employees not only on the short-term goals of the company but also on the long-term benefits of adhering to the company’s strategies over the course of years.
In the short term, employees can become wrapped up in the tasks directly in front of them. But one of the biggest keys to keeping everyone on the same page and working together is to focus your entire company on the horizon ahead.
“You have to take a long-term approach to this economy,” Sparrvik says. “Yes, things are down now, but it can also be a tremendous opportunity. We are a consolidator at Kontron, so we actively look at acquisitions. In a recession, there are a lot of companies that might have financial problems and are looking to be acquired. You have to focus everyone on the positives, the things that are going to help you out in the long run.
“For us, that also means telling our employees that we are not dependent on one market. We play in the medical field, in the military field, in the gaming and entertainment field. We can head into multiple markets and industries, and because of that, we can project a message that we don’t have to be as negative as some other companies might be about the economy right now.”
How to reach: Kontron America, (888) 294-4558 or us.kontron.com
