[ The Opportunist ] by Niger Lim

 Michael Mihalik writes [review by Get Rich Slowly]:

Too many people hate their jobs but are afraid to leave, because they wouldn’t be able to pay their mortgage, credit card bills, car loans, or boat loans. Debt can turn a free, happy person into a bitter human being. Debt can turn you into a slave.

Monday February 4, 2008

[MANAGING MINDSET by MORTEN LUNDAL]

DiGi.Com Bhd CEO looks at communication barriers within the company 

I REMEMBER looking over to his office door with some awe. He was the chief financial officer of the entire group. Big guy. He was in there somewhere behind the assistant. Smoking. That’s why the door was closed, I guess. 

In Norway in the 1990s you could smoke in your own office if you had the door shut. He smoked a lot so the door was closed a lot.  

He came out from his corner office to join formal meetings, but I don’t think he ever really understood what was happening in the company, beyond the prepared briefs he received. 

I never went by his assistant or opened his door. I don’t think anyone did. I never told him or asked him for anything.  

Formal meetings with a closed group of people became the only way for him to connect. He was living in a bubble, isolated from the organisation he was leading. 

I also had an office at that time, half circular with nice view, but I did not smoke and my door was open. At that time, I thought I was fairly accessible to everyone.  

Later on the whole (Telenor, DiGi’s largest shareholder) group changed to a no-office principle. We ended up next to each other, the CFO and I, with our simple desks, PCs and reasonable efforts to work paperless.  

None of us was the chatty type, but the two of us and our little landscape of senior managers developed our own micro culture over time.  

More trust, more knowledge, more humour, lowered shoulders, more team.  

I could turn over to him (or the HR boss on my left) and ask a quick question and get a quick answer. Or I could give him a concern or a criticism in a non-threatening way. And I realised that I had also been in a micro bubble in my previous office.  

And I started to think about all the other barriers we set up in our traditional organisational setups.  

The logic is simple. As companies grow (either in size or in geography), dysfunctionality creeps in the form of bureaucracy, elaborate processes, misunderstandings, risk aversion and various barriers to personal and honest communication.  

A core belief I have is that very few of us are supermen or wonder-women. If that is true, then we need many views on a topic, we need to try a variety of approaches, we need to have numerous people’s energy to scrutinise an upcoming decision. Instead of working towards such an open performance culture, most companies have a formal organisational framework, where you find very clear walls between senior and junior management, clear separation among senior people, and high walls between the company and its customers and stakeholders.  

Think about it. A typical top management is isolated in a very limited bubble of likeminded executives who are craving for positive recognition from their master. Don’t you think this disconnect will over time result in poor decision-making?  

We need to break down those walls. This is true for businesses in general, but I wonder if Malaysian businesses don’t have a particular imminent opportunity here. 

I warned you in my first column that I might use DiGi now and then as an example to illustrate a point. In DiGi we formulated the vision that “we wanted to create the company we’ve always wanted to work for.”  

And one of the key things “we’ve always wanted to work for” was a company with minimal internal barriers to good ideas, constructive criticism and efficient processes. So we mixed some substantial changes with some symbolic initiatives, all in the name of trying to break down these psychological walls that foster isolation, dysfunctionality and disconnect.  

We took away all the physical walls between the desks, including the dreadful concept of “the divider”, the cubicle. Not one office left.  

We took away all the personalisation of the office space and gave most staff notebook computers and an encouragement to swap desks ever so often. 

We took away all the hierarchy titles (“assistant general manager”, you probably have them in your company) and most personal assistants. To de-emphasise hierarchy further we even made one benefit structure for absolutely every employee and removed salary bands. We created an office with lots of light and window, encouraging Digizens to meet in various informal meeting places instead of formal meeting rooms.  

We used various formats to create arenas where top management met people from all corners of the company. And we replaced dark suits with jeans, again to symbolise accessibility. 

Has DiGi succeeded? Yes and no. I do think we have made dramatic progress in creating a management structure that is much more connected with “what’s actually going on.”  

But at the same time we also have substantial ways to go. There are still many good ideas and constructive criticism unheard/untold somewhere in the system that would benefit from being brought forward. So we will continue to break down walls.  

When are you starting to break down the ones around you? 

As always, I would look for your comments, questions and views at my email: mindset@digi.com.my.