How Effective Employee Relations Benefit Cultural Change

Diego Marin, Human Resources Director, GEORGALOS

Very early in my career, I was transferred to another large city in my country by the corporation where I worked.

I arrived at the food plant with my first position as Head of Human Resources, with all the doubts and few of the certainties, but with the solid endorsement of my boss. The challenge was brief in description, but immense in scope: to lead the cultural change of a recently acquired production unit. Fortunately or not, I was not the only newcomer in the equation, the entire plant was "new" to the company and with it, every member of the leadership and employee staff was "new", so we shared uncertainties.

I remember applying a teaching from an old boss that kept repeating in my ears, "The first thing you should do in a new position, is do nothing" ...effectively complemented by "...at the very least, don't make rash decisions..." And then he would add, "...dedicate yourself to know, to learn, to understand how things are and find out who is who...". Wise words, which must be put into practice!

The plant presented several problems from the human point of view:

- An old leadership style, or perhaps a traditional one, with a strong paternalistic style, had led the original company to success, and as we know, it is difficult to change something that has been successful in the recent past.

- A logical distrust of the former employees in the new corporation that had just acquired "THEIR" company.

- A general feeling of nostalgia confronted with the dismay of being "abandoned" by their former employer.

- Noticeable imbalances of internal equity in terms of compensation, benefits, but also privileges difficult to understand (In the offices we found three bathrooms: Ladies, Gentlemen and Bosses...!).

- A system of rewards and punishments that is difficult to understand due to the application of criteria that are not very fair.

- Strong incompatibilities of values and beliefs with the new corporation.

- Union leaders disoriented in the face of the new management of the company.

"First of all, we applied the ‘do nothing’ logic, at least nothing relevant, and we observed, listened, learned, ‘got into’ the reality of the plant to understand."

- In short, an inevitable clash of cultures of proportions that could jeopardize operational continuity.

The diagnosis was not encouraging, but we drew up a plan.

First of all, we applied the "do nothing" logic, at least nothing relevant, and we observed, listened, learned, "got into" the reality of the plant to understand. At the same time, we applied small doses of corporate culture, showing the way, with a perspective focused on the logic of the proposal, avoiding a "colonizing" imposition. Victor Hugo knew how to say: "Better to convince than to win" and we followed his advice. We sought to associate all the collaborators around an idea with a clear purpose and that they would adopt it out of their own conviction, when faced with something solid and logical.

These small gestures translated into "quick wins" and generated credibility, feeding the feeling that the take-over had not been as bad as it could be.

An idea.

In one of the exploratory talks, we discovered that many plant operators could neither read nor write, they were illiterate. Surprised, as our country is known for its high literacy rates, I asked what had been done about it up to that moment. The answer, we already suspected: close to nothing.

My team and I found that this was one of the cornerstones for building the culture of trust in people and the individual development of each employee that the corporation was advocating. We devised a literacy project for those who did not have that possibility, and we opened an internal school to do it in our own plant. We negotiated with the provincial government, which was enthusiastic about the project and offered: The teachers, the curricula and the official certification of the graduates.

Our company offered the place to set up the classrooms, the refreshments, the study materials, the time and, of course, to bear the cost of the whole project. In a few weeks, we had received the enrollment of 7 employees out of more than 200 with the lack of literacy. I will never forget those 7 brave ones, because it is not easy for an adult in the work environment to decide to get involved in an educational project, but they moved forward, and their effort paid off. The Union remained on the sidelines and expectant for the initiative, of which they were logically informed, perhaps unsettled by the unprecedented.

A success.

The first steps were timid, those 7 intrepid showed the way and soon more joined, infected by the enthusiasm and the positive experience. We were surprised when one of the union representatives joined us, validating the project.

After a few years, a secondary school was founded as a continuation of this successful initiative.

The company amply recovered its investment in the education of its employees and was able to initiate a successful cultural transformation that significantly softened the hard process of acquisition.

But the most transcendent thing, as you can imagine, was the remarkable transformation of human beings who, for the first time, had access to reading and writing.

As one of them best described it. "Now I can read and study with my children and I am proud to do so, thanks to our company", an extraordinary personal achievement!