Thinking Outside the Chart
by Kevin Kirsch
W
hen I started at LarsonAllen a little more than a year ago, I asked around for an organizational chart of the firm, but was met with
quizzical looks from my colleagues. Nobody could really put their hands on one. Having come from a Fortune 500 Wall Street firm, I relied on organizational charts as my visual roadmap to the business. How else would I know who to talk to in order to share an idea or navigate the system? Don’t you need to know who reports to whom—and what role people play? Without a roadmap telling me who-doeswhat, where do I begin? I later realized that I was discovering a side of the LarsonAllen culture that I hadn’t picked up on while interviewing or perusing the firm’s Web site. By telling me “we don’t have org charts” I was getting permission to move ahead and to do so in any direction I wanted. I could work with any department or principal, the CEO, the office manager—I could share my ideas with anyone. Could it be true? It seemed so elementary—so Fast Companylike—but I hadn’t seen anyone using little scooters to get around the hallways. And LarsonAllen isn’t a dot com, it’s a professional service firm. I was having trouble grasping it. Later on, I heard an interesting story about a principle that helped me understand this new culture. Larry Adams started out at the firm after college, and began his career by getting a broad base of experience (tax, audit, and commercial accounting) in industries ranging from banking to nonprofits. In 1987 he married a woman whose father-in-law owns a car dealership in Canada. He thought, ‘Why don’t we start serving dealerships?’ There were over 20,000 dealerships in the country, 500 in Minnesota, and 200 in the metro area. LarsonAllen was already serving 15 dealerships, so he proposed it to management, and they said “go for it.” “Go for it?” Can it really be that simple? It reminded me of an article I recently read about Rite-Solutions, an information technology firm based in Connecticut. Apparently any employee at RiteSolutions can propose that the company acquire a new technology, enter a new market, or make an efficiency improvement. These proposals become “stocks,” complete with ticker symbols, discussion lists, and email alerts. Every employee gets $10,000 in “opinion money” to
22 LarsonAllen EFFECT / Summer 2005
allocate among the stock offerings, and employees signal their enthusiasm by investing in a stock and volunteering to work on the project. If the stock becomes a product or delivers savings, volunteers share in the proceeds, in the form of real money. Rite-Solution’s program invented a less top-down approach to innovation—and made it everyone’s business to come up with great ideas. LarsonAllen’s culture demonstrates a similar regard for innovation, though its organic approach isn’t as formalized. We refer to it as a continuous improvement mindset, which says we’re going to figure out how to make our processes and projects better, and then we’re going to share our solutions with the firm. It’s the way in which Larry sold his dealership idea. Faced with a new way of thinking about promoting innovation prompted me to reflect on what motivates me. Some of my personal motivators follow traditional routes—I do want to make money. And some of my motivators align with the values widely trumpeted by Generation X demographers—I want to be challenged, I value autonomy, diversity, and work-life balance. These are all things that I want in a workplace. When I was telling my friend Jill about my new job, she offered her perspective on motivation. Jill has a Ph.D in industrial/organizational psychology, was a professor at City University in New York, and has more than 10 years of experience in developing motivational measures for Fortune 500 companies. She knows all the human behavioral theories—the Maslows, Herzbergs, and McGregors—but doesn’t quite buy the standard arguments for motivation. She says the motivational answer is the same for every generation—no matter if the employee is of the Millenial, Gen X, Boomer, or Silent generations. “If you get to know your employees and understand what’s important to them, then you can shape their rewards to meet their needs. All it takes is a conversation with your employee.”
“If an employee leaves because they get a better offer, it suggests they weren’t happy—no one leaves a job they love for 10 percent more money.”
As a manager, she connects with each of her employees to draw out what moves and energizes them; what puts a smile on their face when they pull into the firm’s parking lot. This doesn’t mean asking them what “motivates” them. “Instead, ask a big broad question, like, ‘Tell me about your best day at work, where you looked forward to work, and you left work feeling really great about your job—what happened on that day?’” She said, “They may answer, ‘I felt really valued because I got exposure to senior management,’ or ‘because I brought a group of people together and helped them to do something they never thought they could do.’ Whatever it is, as their manager, your job is to figure out how to get them more of what drives them.” “Of course, you still have to pay people fairly,” she said. “But you’ll never hear anyone say, ‘My best day of work was the day I got a raise.’ If an employee leaves because they get a better offer, it suggests they weren’t happy—no one leaves a job they love for 10 percent more money. The risk is too great.” Her philosophy doesn’t dismiss a person from executing their basic job responsibilities. If you sell copiers—you still have to make your sales quota. But there is flexibility in how a person sells. For example, a manager can influence which copier accounts a sales agent chases, which region they support, and the way they talk to and develop the sales agent. Leaders have a tremendous amount of flexibility in this way—flexibility which won’t cost the firm a nickel. The beauty of it is that if you address what makes a person happy in their job—chances are you will increase that person’s productivity, because you are tapping into their chief source of motivation. By asking around for an org chart I was communicating my true motivator—I want to influence this environment outside the boundaries of my given job description. By telling me “we don’t have org charts” I was getting permission to do it. I shared one of my ideas with Gayle Noakes, our chief learning officer. Her response was short and enthusiastic, “Great! Now make it happen!” The answer was telling, but executing an idea isn’t a simple task and you still have to accomplish all of your other work. But the flip side is that there’s nothing stopping me from trying out a new idea—no org chart obstacle to stand in my way. When I arrived at LarsonAllen, I’d been socialized to think about an organizational chart—a group of boxes—and one in which I could place myself. Without that visual maze, it’s clear to me now that nothing prevents me from sending an Outlook invitation to anyone in the firm, regaurdless of their role. Although LarsonAllen is a large professional services firm, its culture motivates people by freeing them to explore opportunities, challenge themselves, and pursue new ideas. After 18 months on the job I still haven’t found an org chart. But I’ve stopped looking for one. Kevin Kirsch is a copy editor for EFFECT. Contact Kevin at kkirsch@larsonallen.com or 612/376-4656.
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