The Microsoft Edge: Insider Strategies for Building Success - Couverture souple

Bick, Julie

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 0671037757 ISBN 13 : 9780671037758

Editeur : Pocket Books, 2000

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Chapter 1

People: Hiring the Best and Keeping Them

Great experience? Fabulous references? A winning attitude? Nah! Most Microsoft managers will say "hiring smart people" has been the key to the company's success and will be to its future. As with most disciplines, Microsoft attacks this one with vigor. Employee "success indicators" are compiled, analyzed, and sent around via e-mail. Thousands of employees conduct interviews, and they are trained on what to ask job candidates and how to ask it. Human resource people seek out star performers when they become unhappy and work behind the scenes to get them back in the groove. And despite the fact that they are multimillionaires, hundreds of "old-timers" (well, maybe they're in their mid to late thirties by now) come to work every day. Why do people choose to join at Microsoft and why do they stay?

In a 1998 talk at San Jose State, Bill Gates said, "We like people who have got an enthusiasm for the product, technology, who really believe that it can do amazing things. We're very big on hiring smart people, so you'd better be comfortable...having the debate and questioning that goes along with that." He's delivered the same sentiment innumerable times, and that opinion has suffused the ranks at Microsoft.

Hiring the Best

New Employee Success Factors

You need to hire someone to fill a spot on your team. Or maybe it's time to go and recruit at the local college. Before you start, sit down with your prospective employee's coworkers and any other folks who will be conducting interviews. Brainstorm and debate the qualities you're looking for to focus everyone on finding the right person for the job. Is it a strategic thinker you're looking for? Are world-class communication skills important? Maybe you're looking for passion and drive. Talk about the kind of person who will excel in the job. Agreeing up front on what's important will have everyone looking for the same qualities in a candidate.

Microsoft focuses on the following "success factors" when hiring employees:

• Individual excellence
  
• Results
  
• Teamwork
  
• Passion for products and technology
  
• Long-term approach
  
• Customer focus
  
• Functional/technical knowledge/skills
  

Each factor may have subfactors. For example, integrity, intellectual horsepower, composure, and creativity are some of the pieces that make up individual excellence. A team from Human Resources working with managers and executives from around the company crystallized these factors. The weighting might change between jobs or groups -- a junior software tester might need to focus on individual excellence and results, while a midlevel marketer might need to have a stronger long-term view of his or her work -- but the characteristics fit surprisingly well over the 30,000 employees of the company.

Microsoft holds interviewing workshops to help managers make sure that these factors are evaluated during any employee interview. A list of sample interview questions offers ways to get a candidate to show off these attributes or to demonstrate their absence. There are even tips on finding out if a "success factor" is overdone and possibly detrimental to the candidate's performance. For instance, a person who tells you he'll change any established procedure for any customer request may be taking "customer focus" a bit too far.

Your list of key attributes can be used beyond recruiting. When a new hire joins the team, sit down together and make a list of the skills you both think are important to the success of his or her job and why. Yes, you already have your list in mind. But talking it over together helps both of you focus and is a more palatable approach than a direct order. The discussion sets appropriate expectations for the new employee and can serve as a reminder of the qualities needed to succeed in the position.

Three Lessons I've Learned about Hiring Great Employees

Jon DeVaan, Vice President, Consumer and Commerce Group:

1. Always hire people smarter than you.

Don't be intimidated by them -- seek them out!

2. Take people out of their comfort zone in the interview; make them think.

After all, that's what they'll be doing when they get to the job, not reciting memorized answers to standard questions.

3. After the interview write down in useful detail why you want to hire the candidate or not.

"Bong goes the bozo bell" may be fun to say but doesn't give useful information to other interviewers.

Hire the Person for Three Jobs, Not One

The best hire is a versatile hire. If the market changes, the division is reorganized, or a new business opportunity comes along, you want an office full of people who have the diversity of talents to switch gears to meet the new challenges. If your hire is too specialized, you may find yourself with dead weight and a slot you wish you could fill with different skills.

Sam, an interview candidate in the Human Resources department, had a highly valued talent. Sam could coach anybody through anything. He could help managers work through team-building challenges. He could get the person with "analysis paralysis" to stop overanalyzing data and move forward on a decision. He could help nervous presenters conquer their fear of public speaking. But that's all he could or wanted to do.

There were a number of other responsibilities in the department, but Sam just wanted to stick to his coaching. He didn't want to design programs to take groups of people through a management exercise. He didn't want to research why people were leaving Microsoft and figure out ways to keep them. He didn't want to do team-building exercises. Still, he was hired and excelled as he coached people.

After some time, though, Sam ran out of people to help. Other important issues and projects began looming in the department. Those problems got juggled around the hallway as other team members tried to add them to their own responsibilities. Only Sam stuck to his original charter. But that charter was quite limited. Eventually, Microsoft had to let Sam go and hire someone more flexible.

It's hard to know the "next big thing" that upper management or the market will throw your team. Having a versatile group, supplemented with specifically skilled consultants, when needed, gives you a flexible and cost-effective way to meet new challenges.

Retaining the Stars

When Making Changes, a Little Human Goes a Long Way

You can make change easier for your staff. New bosses, new organizations, new responsibilities, can range from somewhat unsettling to downright scary. I had a friend who woke up in a sweat at 2 a.m. every night the week before her first meeting with her new boss. I've seen other teams spend so much time speculating on impending organizational changes that they basically did little work for a month.

Whether it's learning everyone's name and one thing about them ("Hey, Pete, how's your puppy?") or hosting a Friday happy hour in your office, show your employees you're a regular person to allay their misgivings and enable them to be productive quickly in their new roles.

When Brad Chase was the Vice President of Windows Marketing, he was put in charge of combining the Microsoft-DOS and Windows teams. People got nervous. Who would report to whom in this new organization? Where would the power lie? Who would make the big decisions? And who was this guy Brad they'd all be working for now?

Brad sensed the uneasiness in his new group, so he went from office to office meeting with each person on the new team, to discuss their career goals and interests, and to solicit input into the new organization. He told them he would try to match their interests to the business's needs, but that there were no guarantees -- mapping out organizations involves chess moves where one decision impacts another. Soon after, Brad called an "all hands" meeting to unveil the new team structure, mission, and top objectives.

As he unveiled the org chart, a chuckle rippled through the audience. The top box -- the place of highest rank -- contained not the name Bill Gates, but the names of Brad's two toddlers! Was Bill Gates at least next in line? No, next came Brad's wife, Judy, followed by Brad's administrative assistant. Then, Bill appeared along with the other vice presidents and so on down the line.

Brad's org chart showed the team that his priority was his family and gave the message that he understood if the team members weren't at work twenty-four hours a day. Two years later another reorganization was announced, and Brad received some requests to "bring the old org chart" when he met with his teams.

As the group got going, Brad would periodically take mini-polls to get their views on how things were running and would speak to team managers to get input on the biggest areas of opportunity and the biggest roadblocks. Once a quarter, Brad would hold an "all hands" meeting to discuss the results of the polls and the manager feedback, as well as the state of the business. This helped him keep in touch with his teams and let the teams know their opinions were heard and valued.

Three Lessons I Learned about Managing a Group

Dean Hachamovitch, Group Program Manager, Office:

1. No matter how big the assignment, give it just one owner.

If you make the project a group responsibility, each person thinks the others will get it done. One person who knows they're on the line is much more effective.

2. I tell my team their goal is not to send e-mail or to write a memo but to actually communicate information.

The "Rule of Least Surprises" is a good one. No one should say about us, "They did what!"

3. I try to hire the type of person who asks, "What are the tough issues?" rather than one who asks, "What will Bill Gates say?" (or any other boss).

You don't want a team that thinks, "Bill's going to sneeze, so we all need to make tissues!"

Five Ways to Make Sure Your Employees Will Look for Another Job

Microsoft, just like any other company has its share of not-so-perfect managers. Rather than "brainstorm," they like to "blamestorm," meeting to discuss why a mistake was made and who did it. Rather than supporting and promoting your work, they're more like pigeons -- flying in suddenly, making a lot of noise, and dropping a load all over everything you just did. Here are a few examples to avoid.

AGREE IN PRIVATE, DISAPPEAR IN PUBLIC

"What a wonderful idea," my friend's manager told her. "Why don't you propose it at the next staff meeting?" My friend was excited that her boss liked her work. She was excited to show off her innovative thinking. She was excited to...well, you get the idea. At the meeting she breathlessly let everyone in on her new scheme. Her presentation was met with silence -- until someone higher up the ladder said, "That's crazy. We'll never make money doing that."

People in the room -- those spineless weasels -- nodded. After all, her accuser was higher up in the organization and therefore less risky to agree with. She looked at her boss in anticipation. He had liked the idea in his office. Surely, he'd come to her rescue. Instead, she watched as he intently studied a speck on his pen. He didn't look up. She realized she had just been hung out to dry -- very publicly.

As a manager, when you tell an employee you support his or her idea, that support should not be conditional based on who is in the room. Standing up for your team engenders respect, trust, and loyalty. They'll feel comfortable bringing you their best propositions and hypotheses.

PUT YOUR NAME ON THEIR WORK

A young woman was asked to write up notes from the day's meeting. She sent them to her boss, who made some incredibly value-added changes, such as switching households to HH and Multiple Dwelling Units to MDU. He then E-mailed the notes to his boss with the opening "Here are my key thoughts from the meeting." The young woman caught on quickly and looked for a boss who wasn't afraid to let his hires shine.

A manager who thinks he or she has the right to take credit for an employee's work, just because he or she assigned it or reviewed it, needs to attend remedial social skills training, let alone Management 101 class. Even if you make substantive changes or give crucial advice, give employees credit for the work they did -- don't put your name on their results.

GIVE YOUR TEAM PET NAMES

At Microsoft, members of one technical group were briefly called Pixel Spice, Web Spice, and Server Spice after the Spice Girls rock group. This is not recommended.

REVIEW BY PAYCHECK

Every six or twelve months, depending on their seniority, Microsoft employees are reviewed by their managers. Based on their job performance, employees might receive a raise, a bonus, or stock options. Unfortunately, some bosses aren't very timely in communicating review scores and raise information to their teams. Since the new pay level appears on the employee's paycheck on a certain date whether or not the boss has actually talked to the employee, these employees end up guessing their review score based on the new dollar amount. This "management by paycheck" has encouraged more than a handful of complaints to the Human Resources Department.

When bosses won't even take fifteen minutes to discuss the things an employee cares about most, his or her job performance and salary level, they send a signal that they don't care about that employee. People need the straight scoop on their performance -- good or bad. Sometimes, the best long-run morale boost comes from specific negative feedback that clarifies what someone needs to improve. Timely, clear communication will propel you up the manager popularity rankings -- a nice way to get your name known around the water cooler.

STIFLE DISSENT

The top marketer of a business unit at Microsoft mentioned to one of his colleagues a concern he had with the group's strategy. An hour later, the head of the group asked him to come to her office. When he arrived, the leader sat facing him with three of her cronies and said, "We're concerned you won't be effective marketing this product if you don't agree with our strategy."

She didn't want to hear his opinion, debate the product direction, or find out what his concerns were. The project was eventually disbanded -- perhaps because his concerns were valid and lay unaddressed. Disgruntled, the marketer decided to leave the group. The situation should have been win-win with problems addressed and a concerned employee listened to. Instead, there were bad feelings all around.

DON'T WAIT UNTIL THEY THREATEN TO LEAVE (TO FIND OUT WHAT THEY NEED TO STAY)

Respect and appreciate your employees before someone else does. Some managers wait until their employees are so frustrated that they're on the verge of quitting to say, "Oh, great work you're doing." These bosses can't and don't keep talented players on their team.

Frank had been in Microsoft's CD-ROM...

Présentation de l'éditeur

Behind the scenes at Microsoft, some of the world's most savvy and successful managers are at work every day. How can their innovative perspectives and daily practices help guide your own journey on the road to success? In THE MICROSOFT EDGE Microsoft veteran Julie Bick reveals these insider strategies with on-the-job insights and practical techniques. From interviews with more than 30 employees at every level and in a variety of divisions, Microsoft's management tenets and culture is boiled down to five areas: New Products, Not-so-new Products, People, Partners and Doing Business on the Web.
Bick assesses how the team at Microsoft pioneered and built the company through exponential growth in a constantly changing market, what the qualities, habits and quirks are that keep the company moving ahead and how the reader can apply these insights to their own career. THE MICROSOFT EDGE is an entertaining read for seasoned managers and a smart tool kit for the new kid on the block. The basic message is 'Here's how Microsoft wins, and here's how you can too!'

À propos de cette édition

• Éditeur: Pocket Books
• Date d'édition: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0671037757
• ISBN 13: 9780671037758
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 192