It's not really a new thing to most folks who work in a corporate setting. The higher up you go, the more meetings you sit in. At Ford, not anymore, says Chairman and CEO Bill Ford.
A memo written to corporate officers and senior execs by Bill Ford that made its way to the Detroit News said that he would be cutting down on the number of meetings, and even where a meeting is necessary, he would make sure that everybody in attendance absolutely needs to be there. In the memo, Ford stressed that meetings weren't seen-and-be-seen affairs or a continuation of "that's the way we've always done it;" rather, meetings have to have a strong bearing on turning the company around and getting the job done. The goal is to get folks at lower levels within the organization to make decisions on their own, hastening Ford's recovery.
The memo comes after Ford assumed some operating responsibilities after the retirement of Jim Padilla, former president and chief operating officer.
So what do you think? A step in the right direction, or a little bit of posturing?
[Source: Detroit News]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Lithous @ Jun 14th 2006 6:14PM
Nice!
Ryan @ Jun 14th 2006 6:21PM
Perfect!!!
I agree 100% as an office manager, my staff love meetings, however they rarely are productive and hardly anything is applied from them.
I alwyas tell my staff:
"meetings are a great excuse to get paid for not having to do your job".
RossL @ Jun 14th 2006 6:26PM
With this one memo alone, Bill Ford has just earned his annual salary.
(A buck a year, if memory serves.)
No, seriously, it's a good memo, and more power to him.
Gandhi @ Jun 14th 2006 6:26PM
Agree with Ford here. Most meetings in general are a major waste of time, not to mention money.
pepe le pieue @ Jun 14th 2006 6:40PM
ford needs to start MEETING their goals, instead of making an endless string of excuses, backpedals, and cancelled product announcment. This is a mostly useless PR stunt. Typical of Bill Ford, I might add.
Matthew King @ Jun 14th 2006 6:45PM
Good call. A small number of carefully contructed meetings are very powerful, however when the number of meetings goes beyond a certain threshold, purpose is quickly lost and bureaucracy starts to feed on itself. In addition to a small number of meetings, my preference is for approximately 50% of meetings to be routine while the other 50% are ad-hoc (in response to changes in commercial environment, or project related).
My respect for the man continues to increase.
Michael Karesh @ Jun 14th 2006 6:48PM
When I was inside GM performing my research, some people had regularly scheduled meetings that totaled over 35 hours a week. Memos like this one were circulated, but they had little impact.
mavkato @ Jun 14th 2006 6:54PM
maybe instead of cutting the meetings they need to cut the crap!
mavkato @ Jun 14th 2006 6:54PM
did they have a meeting to decide this?
Fabulo @ Jun 14th 2006 7:22PM
Or maybe they should all spend 20% of their time working (actually putting together stuff) in their own factories, sharing lunch with secretaries and DRIVE the cars they produce. It's called a reality check. You work for a car company, you need to know everything about cars in general and YOUR cars in particular.
Then maybe you can have a meeting to share your impression: "I can't believe how sucky this 500 feels"
"What were we thinking when we canceled the GT, I've never had so much fun in my life?"
"How come it takes 17 different people to put together one dashboard."
After that, maybe things will "turn around". In the mean time, executives will spend more idel time in their padded, luxurious offices (as opposed to idle time in padded luxurious board rooms)
J @ Jun 14th 2006 7:34PM
I completely agree with this, due to the fact that I am required to attend many meetings that I shouldn't have to.
iQuack @ Jun 14th 2006 7:50PM
If Ford weren't a mess, this wouldn't be news. Anyone who's worked in a corporate setting should know that most meetings are wasted time where little is accomplished.
That Bill Ford is just now limiting this well-established time-waster is odd. Why now instead of years ago?
Bill @ Jun 14th 2006 8:02PM
You're discussing piddly stuff about meetings while the story breaks they will invest $9.2B more south of the border. Maybe they can serve more taco's at their meetings..LOL
Kevin @ Jun 14th 2006 8:27PM
Remember the Way Forward plan? One of the tenets was to change the corporate culture.
So now Ford sends an internal memo in support of the need to change corporate culture and reduce the amount of unnecessary meetings...and people start blasting him for it?
Kevin @ Jun 14th 2006 8:29PM
Remember the Way Forward plan? One of the tenets was to change corporate culture.
So now Bill Ford sends out an internal memo in support of the need to change corporate culture...and people start blasting him for it?
ML @ Jun 14th 2006 8:32PM
Bill Gates and silcon Valley have made meetings mostly unnecessary. They can video anything essential.
Surprised it has taken this long for Ford to tell his management to get to work. I hope this new policy extends to his unions.
Richard @ Jun 14th 2006 8:33PM
Damn good idea. In over 20 years in the corporate auto business and forced to attend meetings, I've never been to one that could not have been avoided, or that had all good news. They have ALL been as waste of time.
Feeling down? Put together a meeting. Make you feel important and accomplish nothing!
Ben @ Jun 14th 2006 8:41PM
"One of the tenets was to change the corporate culture."
to be more Mexican :D lol
Tommy Love @ Jun 14th 2006 8:49PM
They should listen to Bill Ford & cut the "see and be seen" meetings! Go get'em Bill Ford! My family owns Ford vehicles and we love them! Great vehicles at any price. And now - with the deals the Ford Dealerships are running, we thought it was the right time to buy our Ford Explorer. It's an Eddie Bauer, and it's awesome (Dark Cherry Red!).
gbh @ Jun 14th 2006 9:34PM
The thing that is truly killing Ford and GM is corporate culture. If, and it's a BIG if, Ford can move the culture in the vague direction of functionality - they might have a fighting chance.
It's a great memo, the trick is implementation. As Michael noted, there are more than a few folks who spend their most of their "job" going to meetings. Don't get me wrong, there are people who's job it is to get things communicated and therefore should spend a good deal of time in meetings. True though, most meetings are a huge waste of time.
To my mind though, the real benefit comes from NOT always seeking 'consensus' 'buy-in' or whatever corp-speak you prefer. Great ideas never come from comittees or focus groups. All of the great automotive product (or whatever art you like) ever devised, was driven by one (maybe two) people('s) vision.
To be sure, others' help along the way makes that vision a reality. Others may even make a contribution. But those helpers are there to carry out the vision, not to muck it up in a corporate turf war.
If American-based car companies are to survive, they must have product customers want. Love or hate Bangle, he drives BMW styling - and it helps sell cars.
Yes, there can come great disasters with leadership. But what's worse, failure by trying to do something different, or going down striving to be as lowest-common-denominator as possible?
-There may be no "I" in 'team', but it is essential to 'winning'.