When Ricardo Semler inheritted his father's company, Semco, the employees expected a dyed-in-the-wool Semler Senior clone who navigated his ship with absolute authority and control. Ricardo Semler turned every rule in the book on its head and finally threw out the rule book tself to make Brazil's Semco the world's most "unusual workplace" which has a 2000-long recruitment waiting list.
Semler's overhaul hinged on workplace democracy, a concept that is ad-libbed by most big organizations but is little more than hot air. In most immature companies, workplace democracy functions pretty much like Indian democracy: I'm the boss so regardless of how stupid I am in my head, you will do what I say. You're free to disagree but that's where your freedom ends. I give you the right to disagree and reserve the right to ignore you.
Semler's overhaul hinged on workplace democracy, a concept that is ad-libbed by most big organizations but is little more than hot air. In most immature companies, workplace democracy functions pretty much like Indian democracy: I'm the boss so regardless of how stupid I am in my head, you will do what I say. You're free to disagree but that's where your freedom ends. I give you the right to disagree and reserve the right to ignore you.
Semler started by talking to his employees and listening to them - really listening to them, forgetting for a moment that he is the boss - and then taking every single critical decision that he had to make, to a democratic vote by his employees. He trusted that his workers knew more than him because they actually worked. He also knew that for employees to trust him, HE had to trust THEM first. Building trust slowly, distributing decision making democratically, practising absolute transparency in every single department, and finally literally throwing away the verbose company manuals that dictate an employee's every breathing moment within company premises, Semler built an organization from which he could ultimately fire himself: He had so completely delegated decision making that most of his employees were jacks and masters of all trades having worked in many different Semco departments.
He never pretends the journey was easy. People mocked his vision, many were scared to empower their subordinates, some of his managers told him that the employees were not mature enough for such an experiment. Needeless to say, there were plenty of nay-sayers. Some ideas weren't as successful as he'd hoped but Semler tried them all; he jettisoned unsuitable baggage and hauled aboard those that could withstand the long haul. Ricardo Semler converted those he could; those he couldn't, he let them go and they ultimately found organizations that were more suited to their style of functioning in which they thrived.
Semler believes that true capitalism is true democracy. He is aware that workers are a company's biggest and almost only asset and every bit of profit the company makes belongs completely to the people who toil for it. Semco's profit sharing plan is devised by the employees - they decide who gets how much; employees set their own targets, their own bonuses, their own salaries and even have a say in choosing their bosses! Semco's books are completely open (and they don't have too many of them) and to show how serious Semler is about transparency, he has ensured that every single Semco employee down to the janitor knows how to read a balance sheet. Shunning cabins, hangers-on, ego massages, and other frills, Semler has ensured that he and his managers never lose touch with the people who make Semco what it is.
Semler realized early into his transformation exercise that managers typically dislike sharing information with the employees. This is true of most organizations. Supervisors feel their powers will somehow diminish if their subordinates know as much as they do. Semler's greatest challenge was to address this sense of insecurity among his managers. He did whatever was necessary to address the issue - talking to stubborn managers, convincing them to experiment with his ideas before rejecting them outright, converting some, hiring new thinkers, and throwing out those who didn't fit in.
The result is Semco, Brazil's most sought-after company by job seekers. Can there be a better tribute to an organization? Organizations must have the will and the vision to decide what their culture is going to be regardless of their size. Whether it has 10 employees or 10,000, the organization's culture cannot and should not change. For this to happen, employees must be involved and the only way to involve them is to simply involve them.
Semler says throughout his book how easy it is for big organizations to make a killing at the cost of their employees' health and happiness. These organizations typically follow a top-down heirarchy that always runs parallel to each other and never seems to meet at any point. They are inhabitted by people with different goals, different ideas, different interests. While this is desirable, Semler says it is absolutely imperative for everyone to be aligned at some point for the organization to grow in a healthy way. Unlike companies that obssess with all the trappings of democracy but never follow any real democracy though they constantly preach it, Semco walks the talk. Their idea of democracy is not limited to allowing employees to call their bosses by their first names and keeping their cabin doors open but discouraging anyone from walking through the doors by isolating themselves in their beloved cabins.
Organizations may argue that it is impossible to sustain Ricardo Semler's concept of worker empowerment as the organization grows. Semler has demonstrated that when it comes to using common sense and being a good employer, size doesn't really matter.
Ricardo Semler's "Maverick" is a must-read for all company bosses who are serious about workplace democracy.
Semler believes that true capitalism is true democracy. He is aware that workers are a company's biggest and almost only asset and every bit of profit the company makes belongs completely to the people who toil for it. Semco's profit sharing plan is devised by the employees - they decide who gets how much; employees set their own targets, their own bonuses, their own salaries and even have a say in choosing their bosses! Semco's books are completely open (and they don't have too many of them) and to show how serious Semler is about transparency, he has ensured that every single Semco employee down to the janitor knows how to read a balance sheet. Shunning cabins, hangers-on, ego massages, and other frills, Semler has ensured that he and his managers never lose touch with the people who make Semco what it is.
Semler realized early into his transformation exercise that managers typically dislike sharing information with the employees. This is true of most organizations. Supervisors feel their powers will somehow diminish if their subordinates know as much as they do. Semler's greatest challenge was to address this sense of insecurity among his managers. He did whatever was necessary to address the issue - talking to stubborn managers, convincing them to experiment with his ideas before rejecting them outright, converting some, hiring new thinkers, and throwing out those who didn't fit in.
The result is Semco, Brazil's most sought-after company by job seekers. Can there be a better tribute to an organization? Organizations must have the will and the vision to decide what their culture is going to be regardless of their size. Whether it has 10 employees or 10,000, the organization's culture cannot and should not change. For this to happen, employees must be involved and the only way to involve them is to simply involve them.
Semler says throughout his book how easy it is for big organizations to make a killing at the cost of their employees' health and happiness. These organizations typically follow a top-down heirarchy that always runs parallel to each other and never seems to meet at any point. They are inhabitted by people with different goals, different ideas, different interests. While this is desirable, Semler says it is absolutely imperative for everyone to be aligned at some point for the organization to grow in a healthy way. Unlike companies that obssess with all the trappings of democracy but never follow any real democracy though they constantly preach it, Semco walks the talk. Their idea of democracy is not limited to allowing employees to call their bosses by their first names and keeping their cabin doors open but discouraging anyone from walking through the doors by isolating themselves in their beloved cabins.
Organizations may argue that it is impossible to sustain Ricardo Semler's concept of worker empowerment as the organization grows. Semler has demonstrated that when it comes to using common sense and being a good employer, size doesn't really matter.
Ricardo Semler's "Maverick" is a must-read for all company bosses who are serious about workplace democracy.
