Writing the playbook
Another tool that Klayko implemented to help pull his team
together and to reposition the company for increased growth
was the development of a strategic plan. He calls the plan the
playbook, and it contains multiple chapters that outline the
company’s values and specific growth strategies. Klayko developed the playbook in collaboration with his senior management team, and he shares the information with all of the constituencies he touches on a frequent and consistent basis.
“We’ve grown quite a bit from just over 1,000 employees to
1,400 due to some acquisition activity,” Klayko says. “So we
have new people coming in all the time, and we use the play-book to get them up to speed and on the same page quickly with
what we want to achieve. We share it with everyone: investors,
shareholders and customers. Not only does it keep everyone
together, but having and articulating our goals from a written
plan guarantees communication consistency.”
Having made some recent acquisitions, Klayko says that he
also opens up the playbook to the employees of the newly
acquired organizations and asks for their input and feedback
as part of his assimilation plan. Exposing newly acquired
workers to the plan gets them on board with Brocade’s mission
quickly.
Klayko doesn’t stop at just receiving opinions from new
employees. Following another recent acquisition, Klayko also
sought input from the entire base of acquired customers with
the goal of showing all 27,000 of them a unified front from the
company and its representatives. His theory is that delivering
consistent messaging to clients will create loyalty and retention.
Klayko says that he frequently takes the pulse of the organization to see if his playbook is still the right game plan for
Brocade and to assess if he’s achieving his goal of instilling a
new corporate culture through effective communication of his
plan.
“We do one big survey each year, but intermittently, we conduct pulse surveys to test the effectiveness of our messaging,”
Klayko says. “We survey to assess our employees’ understanding of the strategy of the company and the role that they play
because understanding enhances employee engagement. I also
spend more than 75 to 80 percent of my time in front of
employees and customers so I can judge their level of understanding on a firsthand basis.”
Klayko says that, in his view, one of the questions on the
annual climate survey is a true litmus test of employee opinion
about the company culture: “I look at whether an employee
would refer their best friend to work at the company as a pulse
check on how we’re doing,” he says. “Consistently, the
response is that 75 percent say they would recommend
Brocade Communications as a good place to work to one of
their best friends, and that statistic alone tells me that we are on the right track.”
By the middle of 2006, Klayko says that he was satisfied with
the progress of Brocade’s cultural shift, the execution of the
business plan and the increased performance accountability
within the company, and subsequently, he increased acquisition activity to move Brocade away from its vulnerable position as a one-trick pony.
Revenue for the company in 2007 was $1.2 billion, up 65 percent from 2006 — further validating that Brocade was past the
crisis, and the firm was actively engaged in revenue-increasing
activities.
Klayko says that while he wasn’t seeking the endorsement
from his peers to become Brocade’s CEO, as it turned out, he’s
glad he received it.
“Being recognized by my peers for this opportunity wasn’t a
goal that I had set for myself, but I’m glad that the opportunity
arose,” Klayko says. “I think that there are two things that I’ve
learned from becoming the CEO of Brocade Communications:
One is that I sincerely believe that if you prioritize the success
of others and if you truly help the people around you succeed,
you will be a better CEO. The other thing I’ve learned is that
you should really try to understand what you’re good at, focus
on using those skills, and then surround yourself with great
people who are good with all the rest. If you follow those
guidelines, success will follow.”
HOW TO REACH: Brocade Communications Systems Inc., www.brocade.com
