April 2003- Eastern Technology Council

Theme:
Because of aggressive hiring in the late 90s coupled with the current down economy many CIOs are faced with the difficult decision of downsizing staff. But in order to sustain morale, retain key employees, and retain a critical knowledge base, it is important to make the right decisions. What is the current state of affairs in IT employment? What are some of the ways to evaluate staff and deal with staff restructuring? What are some success and failure stories? Those with significant experience in this regard are encouraged to participate in the discussion.

Discussion:
A survey of the group indicated that all had IT staffs of 15 persons or less. It was clear from the group that IT hiring is down around the country. However, Suzanne mentioned that she had many open requisitions for staff positions - but that despite the high unemployment rate - the best people were generally employed. In fact, she was having difficulty filling these open positions.

In midst of a difficult economy, the participants agreed that one of their main interests was in retaining good employees. Suzanne mentioned that the two reasons for employees leaving within six months was that

1. They were not doing what they thought they would be doing when they were hired.
2. They did not understand the culture, nor did they fit in.

A discussion about setting the tone for the corporate culture during the interview process ensued. One of the CIO's indicated that the first interview with candidates was not about technical skills at all. The first interview was about the culture of his organization. Only after it seemed that the candidate would fit the culture that technical competency was examined in subsequent interviews.

1. Personal interaction
2. Flexible hours
3. Environment (fun versus serious)
4. Dress code
5. Reward system
6. Work-life balance
7. Decision making process (open versus closed)
8. Management environment (micro- versus macro-)
9. Employee development opportunities
10. Conformance versus out-of-the-box thinking
11. Employee diversity
12. Spirituality, ethics
13. Political correctness
14. Team make up
15. How are mistakes dealt with - punishment versus learning
16. Consistency versus flexibility
17. Positive versus negative environment

One of the CIO's asked the question of whether personality tests, such as the Myers-Briggs Personality Indicator could be used to assess cultural fit. Suzanne indicated that this has been used very successfully for selecting individuals for a personality fit with a particular culture. She noted that such tests can legally be used for selection purposes if the test and tester have been certified and if they are used uniformly and not for discriminatory purposes.

Regarding the interview process, Suzanne noted that in an interview, only 7% of what is said would be remembered, though content retention is higher. Indeed, studies show that the following things are remember from an interview:

1. Numbers
2. Negative things
3. Things you don't understand.

This phenomenon is relevant to both interviewer and interviewee.

The question was asked, "what happens when the culture of a company suddenly shifts - either because the company changes hands or new senior management takes over?" The question was asked, "what happens when the culture of a company suddenly shifts - either because the company changes hands or new senior management takes over?"

As far as employees are concerned, it is necessary for them to change or die. It was agreed that in order to keep up with a company's changing environment, it was important to know yourself, know your core values.

The topic shifted slightly to "why is it that most technical people are the hardest to get along with it?" Suzanne provided one explanation - that the difficulty has to do with the way the most technical people are "wired". Consider the following diagram. The center represents the most technical of the staff - those working at the operating system level. Working outwardly through the database administrators, programmers, business analysts, and project managers, we see increasingly less technical but more people-oriented positions.

Consider the persons that "inhabit" each layer of the diagram. A person in a particular layer can easily relate to people in the two layers adjacent to it. The further down you go the more difficulty in speaking with the customer. The "superstars" can talk at all layers.

What do you do with someone who doesn't fit the corporate culture? Can you simply put them in the "back room"? Sometimes you can. For example, if they inhabit the lower layers of the technical hierarchy and have minimal customer interaction (and are technically excellent and productive).

In terms of dealing with difficult people - perhaps those who don't fit the culture -- most of the time, by the time you have identified the problem and started with progressive discipline, it's already too late. That's why it is imperative to identify any cultural mismatches and set job expectations in the interview process.

For additional reading Suzanne recommends two books:

Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done -- By Larry Bossidy

Impending Crisis - by Roger Herman

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