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5 Ways to Keep the Spark Alive
By Ron | August 21, 2008
When there was still the silicon in Silicon Valley (Fairchild, National Semiconductor, and others were turning silicon wafers into circuits), excitement ran high. I remember a chart which showed all the countless spin-offs from Fairchild Semiconductor. Each new company was a result of a group of engineers with a new design idea and some venture capital money. Working at one of these start-ups was fun. Each operation had a unique personality and culture based on the founders. Legends were born such as, Charlie Spork of National Semiconductor, Jerry Sanders of AMD and Bob Noyce of Intel.
I witnessed this phenomenon and knew there was something magic here. I also saw the growth curve of these companies. As they grew, the original fire turned to cinders. Accountants and other bureaucrats moved in to help run the companies. Although employee relations were still fairly good, a lot of the fun was gone. People forgot when Charlie Spork brought in a goat to chew-up the grass in front of the building. Some of the companies in the valley were bought by big corporations and the names changed and so did the culture. One sad example was Signetics. Signetics was a successful semiconductor company which was acquired by Philips Corporation from Europe. New policies and procedures suffocated the company and the original personality and feelings were lost.
The challenge that I saw for any company was, “How do you keep the spark alive?” Here are 5 things that HR can do to help rekindle the fire:
1. Get the old timers and the managers to tell the stories of the past - keep the lore alive.
2. Include the history in the onboarding process.
3. Reinforce the values and the important parts of the culture unique to the company from day one.
4. Keep bureaucracy to a minimum.
5. Encourage the creation of business units (smaller organizations where people can relate to the mission)
I always thought of Human Resources as a catalyst. In this important role, we can help keep the spark alive.
Topics: HR |