Читать книгу Making Perfect - Teri Ann Lindeberg - Страница 4

I am Teri Lindeberg, an American who has lived and worked in Moscow for over 15 years. I am the founder, owner and CEO of Staffwell, one of the top recruitment and executive search firms in Russia. This book is both a story and a case study with, what I consider to be, a set of universal lessons about the workplace and management-employee relationships. It is a book about how you can make the perfect company simply by spending some one-on-one quality time with your employees. Well, perhaps, “near perfect” is a more realistic picture of what could result.

Staffwell launched its operations in 2000 and we reached our peak in 2008. That same year the global economic crisis unfolded, which hit Russia and our company somewhat later in 2008. My Financial Director and I both realized that we needed to act quickly as we were likely in for a bumpy ride that would last a few years. Accordingly, in late 2008, through a two-stage process, we quickly down-sized the company by 40%, revised our budgets and hunkered down.

By the winter of 2009, I had become a bit bored and anxious, to be perfectly honest, and needed a new, challenging project. It was then that I came up with the idea to sit with each of our remaining employees, in a one-on-one format, in order to try to get to know them better and to hear their thoughts on the company itself, as well as about their careers within the company. I used our standard Staffwell exit interview questionnaire but omitted the first few questions that focused on why employees were leaving the company. I also left out the last few questions regarding their new employment and why they had chosen to work there. I then changed the tense, from past to present, of the remaining bulk of questions, entitled the project and the questionnaire “Tea with Teri”, and was off to the races.

I sent an e-mail to all staff about “Tea with Teri” and explained my objectives, and that in the ensuing 2 months I would be meeting with each employee in my office – or in the conference room or via Skype. I attached the questionnaire so they could prepare ahead of time, if they so wanted, and explained to them that I was looking for individual input; that this was not a group gossip project; that there was nothing to worry about; and that I was truly looking forward to spending one-on-one time with each of them. I then started the scheduling and instructed that they bring a cup of tea or coffee with them to our meeting.

The idea and introduction of the “Tea with Teri” meetings were met with great enthusiasm from the staff and I was really looking forward to getting to know everyone – many for the first time. I had no expectations beyond that – other than it might be a potentially useful way to spend my time during the slow period that followed the global economic crisis.

In total, I conducted nearly 50 “Tea with Teri” chats. By the third meeting, I felt that what I was being exposed to would very likely be useful to others and, perhaps, convenient to place in a book format. The information that came out of them was so incredible, informative and useful, that I felt it had to be shared and, hopefully, help others in their businesses. I might imagine that consulting firms would likely charge a fortune for this type of an exercise, but in this relatively inexpensive format, everyone can learn something from what I learned and experienced, instill direction, and put it to good use.

In the end, this book is for everyone, anywhere who owns a company, manages in a company, or works for a company. You will learn a little bit about our company, Staffwell, and the world of recruitment and executive search. More importantly, you will gain insight into what employees want and what is important to them. You will also discover that, if you are armed with this type of information, it can be quite easy to figure out how to improve your company or division, make it a more attractive place to work and, in the process, a more desirable place for customers to do business with you.

Although the setting for this book is in Russia, and 90% of the employees are Russian, I think that you will find the information, story and advice applicable almost anywhere in the world.

Each chapter represents one of the questions asked. I have left the responses by the employees unedited, but categorized their replies under different headings within each chapter. I then added my impressions and my responses to their comments. Finally, I concluded each subject area with a general summary listing of what employees everywhere want.

I hope you find the story and content useful and, in reading this book, derive as much pleasure as I did in researching and writing it.

Enjoy.

TL