A little over a year ago, my boss laid out a challenge that looked like this:
1. One
50% percent of our workforce is new in the last 4 years. 20,000 new people and about 40 new acquisitions make up our company today. We will hire almost another 10,000 this year.
We need to be “ONE” company and offer a unified experience to the customer.
2. Hot
We have achieved tremendous strategic and financial success in the marketplace. We’re hot outside; do we feel hot enough on the inside?
We need to feel hot in the hallways.
3. Satisfied
Our transformation, business complexity and growth makes it hard on our people to keep up with how all the pieces fit together. Our employee survey shows we can do a better job connecting our people with our new strategy.
We need our people to connect with the strategy and be able to put all the pieces together.
4. Breakthrough
In the War for Talent, how can we breakthrough relative to the competition and be seen as a company of choice?
We need to stand out.
5. Best
It is important that we be a well recognized, best place to work.
We need to "be" a FORTUNE Best Place to Work For Company.
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PICTURED: EMC's Web Czar Len DeVanna and "Storagezilla" techie, Mark Twomey.
Mark co-hosted Visual Talk Radio with me yesterday: Len was a guest along with EMC's Whitney Tidmarsh, VP of Content Management and Archiving. Len and Whitney work in California. Mark works in Cork, Ireland and I work in Hopkinton, Mass. We are just four of the many thousands at EMC who are joining the conversation, voicing our opinions and feeling closer for it.
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Going through everything we did since that day would take longer than I have today … but I can tell you that I feel really good about what’s happening here. The engagement is tangible and the results can all ready be measured.
A vendor told us that it would take us 3-5 years to make a dent. Anythinglonger than a couple quarters – or a year at the out most – is way to long to wait around here for a lot more than a dent. We hired no vendor and, instead, started a conversation.
Please see the blog by EMC’s Web Czar Len Devanna, a guest on yesterday's EMC "Visual Talk Radio" for a peek into the progress on this journey. Note: Len is no company shill. When I first talked with him about the challenge and ways we could engage our people on the EMC strategy and culture, he didn't outright puke but he didn't gush either. He started with the words, "I'll be frank with you Polly ..." spoken in his dry, serious, baritone voice.
We have a lot to do in every corner of the company (as you can see from David Spencer's blog today as well) ... but you know what, I think we're having fun doing it.
See Len's blog for a bit more color on the journey. http://lensblog.typepad.com/
For a lot of us, EMC is a much smaller place today -- in a good way.
Talk Back ----------------------
What would you do if you were given this challenge? Really, I'd like your ideas. We have a lot of fun left in us.
- Polly Pearson, VP Strategy Engagement and Employment Brand, EMC
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