In pursuit of candour and commercial success
Outside Jim Hackett's office sits a glass bowl filled with dollar bills. "We generally bring this jar into meetings, and if someone is more than five minutes late they have to pay $5 into the jar," says the chief executive of Anadarko Petroleum.
The fining of latecomers began in 2004 on a gas production project that Anadarko led as operator.
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"I figured if it worked well on that project, with a lot of different companies, it was probably a good idea," he says.
Mr Hackett has used the culling of ideas, candid feedback from employees and a strong set of corporate values to turn Anadarko from a takeover target into the US's largest independent - the industry term for an oil and gas exploration and production company that does not refine and sell directly to consumers.
"There is a strong argument in today's world that nobody is smart enough to run a company this size by themselves, certainly not me," he says. When he took the reins in December 2003, Mr Hackett instituted once- or twice-weekly meetings with senior managers. The sessions would last from four to eight hours, covering subjects from strategy and assets to people. In addition, he formed four focus groups of employees to meet confidentially every month or every other month to give him feedback on the changes he was making. And he routinely went down to the cafeteria to join employees at meals and "ask them what was going on".
One such meal revealed that managers had brought forward a new employee performance appraisal system just as they were askingpeople to complete an accelerated reserve estimation process and an accelerated annual budgeting process.
"I'm in the cafeteria, talking to someone who was telling me that they weresimply crushed by the fact that they had to do all three of these things at one time," says Mr Hackett. He relaxed the deadlines, noting "that is the kind of stuff that you ought to be learning on a continuous basis".
To do this, though, employees must feel confident they can express themselves honestly. Mr Hackett says he tries to foster such an environment by treating his most important sounding board, the five-member executive committee, as "a big family".
"You can kid anybody in the room and say almost anything as long as you don't make it offensive. If I punish somebody because they are honest, then I have destroyed any hope that they will be candid. Whereas if I celebrate - if I actually say 'thank you' to them in public for disagreeing - then I show them that the magic of this is to encourage debate and then get -consensus."
He demonstrates the process at regular meetings with all 3,300 employees. "Every time you have an employee meeting, you encourage tough questions, and you answer them. And you answer questions by giving tough answers, even if it is not what they want to hear. That is how you have aculture where you encourage debate."
His call for candour extends even to the subject of executive pay: "I am still waiting for people - when I go out in the field - to say: you make too much money." Nobody has asked why he earns $8.5m (￡4.5m) a year, he says, when they earn far less. What would his answer be? Anybody on $100,000 a year is paid too much, but the forces of supply and demand determine salaries.
"No one in their right mind - including you - is going to work for less than what the market says you should work for," he says. "I work really hard, but I am not sure that I deserve it more than anyone else who goes out and works hard everyday. It is just that God has blessed me in the position that I am in."
Although God does not come up frequently in conversation with Mr Hackett, his spirituality is apparent. A Bible is front and centre on his desk and, across the room, is a crystal plaque listing the values he instituted upon arrival: "act with integrity"; "value people as the competitive edge"; "learn and continuously improve"; "focus on sustainable commercial success"; "build trust with all stakeholders".
Mr Hackett said thosevalues were the focus of his first speech to workers at Kerr-McGee, which Anadarko acquired on August 10, and others at Western Gas Resources, which Anadarko bought 13 days later.
"You don't talk about what you want to do first, you talk about what you stand for," he said. "That was the way I was raised. We're here to do good, and if we're going to do good, we are going to live by certain guidelines."
Anadarko holds a monthly lunch for those born in that month, at which Mr Hackett asks "each of them to be a personal example, to live by our values, and to ask their managers to do the same thing, because that is the only thing that is going to keep this company special".
He also lists a focus on maintaining commercial success as a value, which underlines the main reason Mr Hackett was chosen as Anadarko's chief executive.
"I am here to grow a company and provide families with a living and servesociety." In the past three years, that has meant selling off roughly 20 per cent of production and 11 per cent of reserves, and ensuring the right people are in the right jobs.
From Kerr-McGee, Mr Hackett has named sixpeople to his senior management team. "Hopefully we are setting a tone that we want the best people, regardless of what team uniform they were wearing before. We are all Anadarko now."
Employees seem to be warming to Mr Hackett's style. Staff turnover has gone from 13.6 per cent in 2004 to 7.4 per cent in 2005 and this year is running at about 5 per cent. Mr Hackett cannot afford to get self-satisfied, however, given that Anadarko's recent purchases set it back $23.3bn; this led Standard & Poor's to reduce its corporate credit rating on Anadarko from "BBB" to "BBB-".
By enforcing employee-efficiency schemes such as the money jar, it is clear that Mr Hackett recognises the danger of complacency. "It's not the money, it's the pride," he says.
The occasional latecomer need not feel too bad, however. In keeping with Mr Hackett's spiritual side, he gives the proceeds tocharity.
喜欢实话实说的CEO
在
吉姆?哈克特(Jim Hackett)的办公室门外，放着一个装满美钞的玻璃罐。这位美国阿纳达科石油公司(Anadarko Petroleum)的首席执行官表示：“我们一般会把这个罐子带到会议上，如果有人迟到超过5分钟，他就必须掏出5美元放到罐里。”
对迟到者罚款的措施始自2004年，当时阿纳达科作为主要运营商领导了一个天然气生产合作项目。
他说道：“我认为，如果这种方法对于有众多公司参与的那个项目都能奏效，那它就可能是个不错的创意。”
坦诚交流优化组织
挑选创意，听取员工的诚实反馈，形成生命力强大的企业价值观――哈克特正是用这些方法，将阿纳达科从一个被收购对象发展成为美国最大的独立油气勘探和生产企业。这里的“独立”是个行业术语，指的是不从事石油炼制，不直接将产品销售给消费者。
他表示：“当今世界有一个很有说服力的观点，那就是没人可以聪明到能独自经营一家这么大规模的公司，我当然也不能。”当哈克特于2003年12月执掌帅印时，他制定了每周与高级经理开会一到两次的制度。会议时间4至8小时，内容从战略、资产到人员均有涉及。另外，他还组建了4个员工焦点小组，每个月或每两个月召开一次秘密会议，就他实行的变革措施向他提供反馈。他经常到员工餐厅与雇员一起用餐，“询问他们最近发生的事”。
在一次用餐时，哈克特得知，经理们提出了一个新的员工绩效评估体系，与此同时，他们还要求员工加速完成一个储量估算程序和一个年度预算程序。
哈克特说道：“我在餐厅时，有人告诉我，他们必须同时完成三件事情，这都快把他们压垮了。”于是他放宽了期限。他指出：“这都是你需要经常关注的事情。”
不过，要想这么做，必须让员工相信，他们可以诚实地表达自己的看法。哈克特表示，他一直在努力营造这种氛围，把自己最重要的传声筒――5人执行委员会，当作“一个大家庭”。
他表示：“只要不冒犯别人，你可以在房间里拿任何人开玩笑，说任何事。如果我因为某人说了实话就惩罚他，那我就彻底粉碎了让他们坦诚相待的希望。反之，如果我称赞他们，如果我因为他们持不同意见而公开向他们说声‘谢谢’，那我就是向他们表明，这样做是为了鼓励辩论，最终达成共识。”
他会在3300名员工的例行全体会议上示范这一过程。“每次召开员工会议时，你都鼓励他们提出尖锐的问题，并做出回答。回答问题时态度要坚定，即便答案不是他们想听到的。只有这样，你才能树立鼓励辩论的文化。”
哈克特相信，没有这种辩论，组织就“没有优化”(sub-optimized)。尽管哈克特在阿纳达科取得了进展，但他并不满足：他要求的坦率，甚至扩大到了公司主管薪酬的问题：“我现在仍在等，在我加入辩论的时候，有人会跟我说：你挣得太多了。”他说，没有人问过为什么他一年可以拿850万美元，而他们的工资则低得多。他会如何作答呢？任何人年薪超过10万美元都挣得太多了，但供求关系决定薪资水平。
“如果市场认为你应该挣这么多钱，任何一个神志正常的人――包括你在内――都不会接受工资低于这个水平的工作，”他表示。“我工作非常努力，但我不敢肯定，与其他每天出去辛勤工作的人相比，我应该得到更多。是上帝赐予了我现在这个职位。”
让企业独特的价值观
尽管在与哈克特的谈话中，“上帝”这个词出现得并不频繁，但他对宗教的热忱却显而易见。在他干净整洁的办公桌上，一本《圣经》放在居中靠前的位置；在屋子另一端的小会议桌上有一块水晶板，上面列着他一到公司就树立的价值观：“诚实行事”、“视人力为竞争优势”、“学习新知，不断进步”、“关注可持续的商业成功”；“与所有利益相关者建立信任关系”。
哈克特称，在他向科麦奇(Kerr-McGee)和Western Gas Resource员工发表的首篇演讲中，这些价值观是重点阐述的内容。阿纳达科于8月10日和13天后的8月23日分别收购了科麦奇和Western Gas Resource，一举成为美国最大的、不从事炼制和市场营销业务的油气勘探和生产企业。
“你先不要谈自己想做什么，先谈谈你的立场，”他表示。“我从小受到的就是这种教育。我们都想成功，要成功，就需要遵循一定的原则。”
阿纳达科每个月都与当月过生日的员工共进一次午聚。就餐时，哈克特要求“每个人都从我做起，遵循公司的价值观，并要求他们的经理也这样做，因为这是让公司保持独特性的唯一方法。”
商业成功不容含糊
在他的价值观中，还包括对保持商业成功的关注，这突显了哈克特被选为阿纳达科首席执行官的主要原因。
他表示：“我来到这里，是为了促进公司发展，为家庭提供生计，并为社会服务。”在过去3年中，这一目标导致约20%的产能和11%的储备被出售，以及通过裁员或内部调动来确保员工各司其职。
“对于挑选团队领导者，你必须意志非常坚定。”哈克特已任命了6名来自科麦奇的员工进入其高级管理团队。“我们希望定下一种基调：我们想要最好的员工，无论他们之前属于哪个团队。我们现在都是阿纳达科的一员。”
公司员工似乎接受了哈克特的管理风格。公司2005年的员工流动率从2004年的13.6%降至7.4%，今年以来，折合成年率的员工流动率约为5%。然而，哈克特还不能自满，因为阿纳达科为近期的收购支出了233亿美元，导致标准普尔(Standard & Poor’s)将阿纳达科的企业信贷评级从“BBB”下调至“BBB-”。
从罚款罐等员工绩效机制的实施可以清楚看出，哈克特知道自满的危险。“这不是钱的问题，而是自尊心的问题，”他表示。“如今，基本上每个人都会按时到，因此把罚款罐放在那儿是合理的。”
不过，偶尔迟到者也不必感觉过于糟糕。哈克特将把罚款捐给慈善组织，这符合他对宗教的热忱。
