| Topic Name: |
ConCall: Leading by Fear and Intimidation |
| Message Name: |
sort of |
| Date Posted: |
01/05/2006 |
| In Reply To: |
??Beat them over the head??, ??Fire the MDs??, and ??Maximum of ME on your year end review??. Those were the threats made by overly dramatic CEO, Harry You, on our recent conference call. Is this the way you would expect to be addressed by the most senior leader of a top global consulting firm? Leading by fear and intimidation - kind of like my Dad used to do. Do you think it worked? Anyone else felt somewhat insulted by being addressed as if you were a 5-year old?
How did all this start? Well, let??s see:
The faults of the botched One Globe implementation are well known throughout the company and continue to be ignored. As practitioners, we have to struggle with its shortcomings every day. From payable systems that don??t pay vendors (and don??t provide managers with needed system source data), to billing systems that can??t handle our more complex contracting terms. Calls to Shared Services that go unanswered (the telephone just rings) or the person just simply doesn??t know how to handle the problem.
Let??s turn our heads now to quarterly audits. Why is it so painful to get though these every quarter? As a junior auditor the first thing you did prior to commencing an audit was to read the prior year/period files. Why do you think that step is not apparently taking place nowadays? The auditors are amassing billable time asking questions that have already been answered. Quarterly binders are mailed with the same details or short variations of, quarter after quarter. For what purpose then, if we are having to manage these questions and barrage of emails regardless? Do they check their notes? Do they read the material supplied? I doubt it. If the Audit fees are killing us, somebody should be managing this process more closely because our profits are being wasted.
Now, it seems, Harry is turning the crux of the problem back on our laps! Questions about TimeNX are brushed aside. OneGlobe never comes up as a topic of discussion. Instead, the CONSULTANTS are to blame for not filing expense accounts on a timely manner and coding expenses to the wrong fiscal year. Why should I support a senior leader that fails to recognize the main source of our problem - perhaps the botched One Globe implementation? Perhaps, the lack of resources to manage our administrative tasks? Perhaps, the incompetent hired staff or should it be blamed on the lack of training and QA? Who knows, but it certainly seems like we are just ignoring the source of the problem and masquerading the blame.
I expected professionalism from Harry on this call. An admission of the problems we face, and the collective accountability toward resolution of the problem. What I got was a childish temper tantrum - threats to the employees that make this company work. Tell me, there has got to be someone better out there, someone who can earn our respect and get the job done.
Fire the MDs if the system doesn??t work at year end? Why not name the person that should be fired if the 2004 financials aren??t released by the end January, Harry! Why shouldn??t that be part of your agenda on our next conference call?
Since I fail to understand his approach, and if you happen to disagree with the above, please submit your business case for review.
Regards and a Prosperous New Year to us all sans bonuses!
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| Message: |
While I wholeheartedly agree with you that Harry should not be skirting the One Globe issue, and moreover that our problems are greater than late time reports and misfiled expenses, he does have a point -- it is completely unacceptable to not get your time and expenses filed accurately and in a timely manner. Time reports impact what we bill the client, which in turn impact our quarterly earnings statements (um, once we finally have them).
His perceived "threats" for late time and expense submissions are not unique to the consulting industry, and moreover, they are long overdue. Coming from a competitor of ours, I can say firsthand that we have been fairly lax on this issue -- at my former firm, a policy was instituted that after 2 late time reports (even if late by only a few hours, and even with good reason), one was eligible to be let go. Of course, they did not let you go if you were a successful and chargeable resource, but in the cases where you were on the bench or had received previous less-than-stellar reviews, 2 late time reports was a great reason to give you the boot. At a minimum, your career counselor and Partner (MD) would know about it, and undoubtedly it would show up on your final review. And, Partners were held accountable for the overall timely submission of those in their group.
So honestly, while late TIMEnX is certainly not the biggest problem, nor is it the only problem, it is a problem nonetheless. And, of the myriad problems we face as a firm, it is likely the quickest and most easy to fix -- no new technology required, no complex audits, just simply getting people off their butts to submit their hours on time. Hence, I suspect, Harry's current and strong emphasis on the issue.
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