The theory makes sense: a company whose employees demonstrate energy and enthusiasm for their work performs better than a company whose employees have negative attitudes. Now a
new study provides hard proof that employee attitudes directly impact the bottom line.
In a new book, titled Practice What You Preach: What Managers Must Do to Create a High Achievement Culture, consultant David Maister presents a collection of case studies of
marketing and communications firms, along with results from a survey of more than 5,500 people from 139 offices in 29 firms, all owned by a single holding company. Employees rated
their offices' performances in terms of client service, reputation, growth, creativity and teamwork. These opinions were then correlated with financial performance.
PR NEWS spoke with author Maister and with Ray Kotcher, CEO of Ketchum, whose firm is featured as a case study, about the implications for fostering positive employee attitudes
and bottom line success.
PRN: According to your book, influencing employee attitudes isn't complicated.
Why then, do so many communications firms seem to miss the mark with their employees?
D.M.: This isn't inspirational stuff. The metaphor is that most business
problems are rather like losing weight or giving up smoking. I don't need another
speech on the health benefits, and most companies have heard the core business
messages of 'look after your clients, develop your people, be team players.'
The point is that the things that work are well known to us, but it's very hard
to be self-disciplined and live by these principles. The answer doesn't lie
in clever, creative, innovative things. The answer lies in the things you already
know about. But do you have the courage to live them?
PRN: As the leader of a communications firm, how does the premise of
this book - that management must practice what it preaches - fit into your employee
communications?
R.K.: I think the fundamental issue is having a clear understanding
of what's important to you organizationally. Which behaviors do you want to
recognize, reward and encourage? What we're talking about here is content. Communications
is a very powerful tool - without that delivery system you don't get the content.
But it can't just be communications for communications' sake. Your messages
to employees have to resonate with the reality [of what you value].
PRN: How does Ketchum ensure that management and employees live its
value system?
R.K.: Our team did a kind of Ven diagram. When we overlapped the circles
of the media environment and the technology environment and the values of this
organization, we realized our team-oriented culture could really be valuable
to our clients in helping them manage communications across geography and languages
and cultures.
We put an infrastructure in under that culture to improve it and sharpen it and make it more effective for clients. We've invested in digital technology for our entire agency
for better knowledge sharing. We've also truly professionalized our human resources department. We hired a guy with an MBA in human resources management and put into place a
human resources architecture, where we've linked all the steps from recruiting people to retaining people to training and developing.
PRN: The folks at Ketchum have obviously inherited a strong corporate
culture. How can a management team at an agency or in a corporate PR department
build that type of culture if it doesn't already exist within their organization?
D.M.: If you're not coming across as credible and having a clear strategy
that you stick to, whether you say it ten times or twice [employees won't believe
you]. It has to do with the way you act. There are a number of case studies
in the book [that document] PR agencies that resign clients who don't treat
their people well. It's not arbitrary symbolism; it's the development and nurturing
of people.
PRN: How do you recommend an organization measure employee attitudes
regarding corporate culture and the management team?
D.M.: I tell every firm to turn their mission statement or their statement
of values into a questionnaire. Ask your people, do we live these things? Managers
should put into place various activities, which say, 'let me make sure someone
is keeping me honest.' Employee surveys are not a bad idea. If they're published
in such a way that if the scores are not good you'll be embarrassed, [that's
even better]. What makes Weight Watchers(tm) work is you agree to go to a group
of strangers and get on a scale.
PRN: Your book was written during much brighter economic times, to say
nothing of the national crisis we now face. How do those outside influences
affect employee attitudes?
D.M.: This is where the book really provides some solid evidence of
something I've always believed. Money is a hygiene factor. You have to pay people
well, but it is not the only or even the main instrument that excites people.
If you look at the specific [survey and response] details, there's barely a
reference in the entire book to pay schemes. If [respondents] said, 'we're all
turned on because we're getting big bonuses,' most of the employees' excitement
and energy would come from wise use of pay schemes. But the book finds the contrary
[to be true]. There is energy and pride from working for a place that has clear
rules and high standards.
R.K.: If your people understand that the value system remains fundamental,
they'll understand you have to do tough stuff. Probably the greatest challenge
is to continue to keep the environment exciting and keep people enthused. The
only sustainable advantage in any professional services business is your people.
[Editor's Note: Next week, PR NEWS takes a look at how the September 11 Disaster
has affected the youngest PR practitioners and how their leaders are helping
to bolster their attitudes and get them back to business as usual. To share
your thoughts, contact Peggy Stuntz at [email protected].]
(Contacts: Ray Kotcher: 646/935-3900; David Maister: [email protected])
Boost Attitude, Boost Profits
More than 50% of variations in profit performance can be explained by nine key employee attitudes:
- "Client satisfaction is a top priority for our firm."
- "We have no room for those who put their personal agenda ahead of the interests of the clients or the office."
- "Those who contribute the most to the overall success of the office are the most highly rewarded."
- "Management gets thebest work out of everybody in the office."
- "We are required, not just encouraged, tolearn and develop newskills.
- "We invest time in things that will pay off in the future."
- "People within our office always treat others withrespect."
- "The quality of supervision on client projects is uniformly high."
- "The quality of the professionals in our office is as high as can be expected."
Source: Practice What You Preach: What Managers Must Do to Create a High Achievement Culture, by David Maister, published by The Free Press, 2001.
Editor's Note
Ketchum appears as one of 50 companies named as "Great Places to Work," in Washingtonian magazine, October 2001. Selected companies were considered based upon generous pay and
benefits, challenging work, and growth opportunities.