Thursday, October 4, 2007 at 2:02am
Putting people first
Column: Executive Soul
Gus Tolson, through his 25 years as a human resources professional, has persevered in putting people first. In his diverse career of working in the financial sector, with IBM, in the pharmaceutical industry, and currently with a specialty materials company, Gus knows the forces that exert themselves to push people to second, third or even last place in an organization. In all his positions, Gus has insisted on considering not only the business impact of every decision, but also the decision's impact on people. Furthermore, he insists that the company communicate with people in a way that maintains their decency and integrity.
Gus commits himself to being the same person at work that he is at home, to bringing his fun-loving, spiritual self to work. Even (perhaps especially) when his company faces major business challenges, Gus draws on all of who he is in order to put people first in the midst of a challenging situation.
For example, when Gus worked at CoreStates bank in Philadelphia in the mid-'90s, he and the CEO asked how they could put people first during a merger. Knowing that a thousand people would lose their jobs, they designed CoreSearch, an internal search firm for people in transition. They communicated about the merger and downsizing early to employees, offering them six months of training while keeping them on salary in order to help place them in new positions.
Highly unusual at the time, CoreSearch committed to ongoing development of employees in transition. For six months, employees came to work every day and worked on developing new skills. They received training and then worked temporarily in other parts of the business to gain expertise in new areas. In designing CoreSearch, Gus consulted with external search firms to understand the psyche of a person in transition, the person who's been told that his job is ending and that the company will help find him a new job. The company wanted to create an environment in which people could feel good about themselves in the midst of their transitions.
They designed the process around the person. "It would have been really easy for us to take the shortcut and not really think about the person, the individual, but just the organization," Gus reported. But the company didn't take the shortcut. Based on what he had learned, Gus provided everyone with office space and told them, "You're still going to have a place that you can call your own. We want you to put pictures up there and make it yours. You're still going to get a paycheck. You're going to continue to report to work."
In the end, the program boasted a placement rate of 84 percent and cost the company a few million dollars. Many employees expressed the sentiment, "I appreciate the effort that you demonstrated, the commitment that you made, to trying to keep me whole." Even those employees who didn't get jobs immediately had time for their transition and were treated with dignity and respect.
Because Gus and the CEO were committed to putting people first, a merger that could have spelled tragedy for many people became an opportunity to learn new skills and move into fulfilling work.
— — —
Margaret Benefiel, Ph.D., author of "Soul at Work: Spiritual Leadership in Organizations," works with leaders in business, healthcare, government and non-profits to help them develop spiritual leadership. Visit her website at www.ExecutiveSoul.com. © Copyright 2007 by Margaret Benefiel.
Gus commits himself to being the same person at work that he is at home, to bringing his fun-loving, spiritual self to work. Even (perhaps especially) when his company faces major business challenges, Gus draws on all of who he is in order to put people first in the midst of a challenging situation.
For example, when Gus worked at CoreStates bank in Philadelphia in the mid-'90s, he and the CEO asked how they could put people first during a merger. Knowing that a thousand people would lose their jobs, they designed CoreSearch, an internal search firm for people in transition. They communicated about the merger and downsizing early to employees, offering them six months of training while keeping them on salary in order to help place them in new positions.
Highly unusual at the time, CoreSearch committed to ongoing development of employees in transition. For six months, employees came to work every day and worked on developing new skills. They received training and then worked temporarily in other parts of the business to gain expertise in new areas. In designing CoreSearch, Gus consulted with external search firms to understand the psyche of a person in transition, the person who's been told that his job is ending and that the company will help find him a new job. The company wanted to create an environment in which people could feel good about themselves in the midst of their transitions.
They designed the process around the person. "It would have been really easy for us to take the shortcut and not really think about the person, the individual, but just the organization," Gus reported. But the company didn't take the shortcut. Based on what he had learned, Gus provided everyone with office space and told them, "You're still going to have a place that you can call your own. We want you to put pictures up there and make it yours. You're still going to get a paycheck. You're going to continue to report to work."
In the end, the program boasted a placement rate of 84 percent and cost the company a few million dollars. Many employees expressed the sentiment, "I appreciate the effort that you demonstrated, the commitment that you made, to trying to keep me whole." Even those employees who didn't get jobs immediately had time for their transition and were treated with dignity and respect.
Because Gus and the CEO were committed to putting people first, a merger that could have spelled tragedy for many people became an opportunity to learn new skills and move into fulfilling work.
— — —
Margaret Benefiel, Ph.D., author of "Soul at Work: Spiritual Leadership in Organizations," works with leaders in business, healthcare, government and non-profits to help them develop spiritual leadership. Visit her website at www.ExecutiveSoul.com. © Copyright 2007 by Margaret Benefiel.