GM CEO Mary Barra explains how shrinking the dress code to 2 words reflects her mission for the company
Business Insider
By Richard Feloni
March 27, 2015
Despite living and breathing the company most of her life, she's been able to take its culture in a new direction and guide it to a record sales year in 2014 despite a massive recall disaster.
At the 2015 Catalyst Awards, honoring progressive gender initiatives in American corporations, Barra told Catalyst president and CEO Deborah Gillis that "the smallest biggest change" she's made at GM involved changing the dress code.
It's a fitting representation of Barra's management philosophy, which is focused on handing power to managers and keeping GM as lean as possible.
In 2009, Barra was appointed vice president of global human resources as GM began its attempt to recover after filing for bankruptcy. She felt that GM was mired in a long tradition of bureaucracy, and the debate over the company's dress code was a perfect example.
The HR team developed an extensive dress code meant to encompass the needs of a variety of workers, from engineers to salespeople. It included specifics, Barra explained to Gillis, such as, "You can't wear T-shirts that have words on them that could be misinterpreted." Barra wondered what this could even mean.
She was reminded of about 15 years earlier, when she worked on the team that developed a new company code of conduct. One of the team's senior leaders had written a draft that was instructive and detail-rich. On second look, he determined that employees would find it patronizing and so he scrapped the entire thing and started over. "It was a very impactful statement," Barra said.
So when confronted with a similar situation, she decided to ditch a 10-page treatise on clothing and made it simply, "Dress appropriately."
Of course, there was some backlash from managers.
Continues at link: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gm-ceo-mary-barra-explains-184500103.html
Business Insider
By Richard Feloni
March 27, 2015
Despite living and breathing the company most of her life, she's been able to take its culture in a new direction and guide it to a record sales year in 2014 despite a massive recall disaster.
At the 2015 Catalyst Awards, honoring progressive gender initiatives in American corporations, Barra told Catalyst president and CEO Deborah Gillis that "the smallest biggest change" she's made at GM involved changing the dress code.
It's a fitting representation of Barra's management philosophy, which is focused on handing power to managers and keeping GM as lean as possible.
In 2009, Barra was appointed vice president of global human resources as GM began its attempt to recover after filing for bankruptcy. She felt that GM was mired in a long tradition of bureaucracy, and the debate over the company's dress code was a perfect example.
The HR team developed an extensive dress code meant to encompass the needs of a variety of workers, from engineers to salespeople. It included specifics, Barra explained to Gillis, such as, "You can't wear T-shirts that have words on them that could be misinterpreted." Barra wondered what this could even mean.
She was reminded of about 15 years earlier, when she worked on the team that developed a new company code of conduct. One of the team's senior leaders had written a draft that was instructive and detail-rich. On second look, he determined that employees would find it patronizing and so he scrapped the entire thing and started over. "It was a very impactful statement," Barra said.
So when confronted with a similar situation, she decided to ditch a 10-page treatise on clothing and made it simply, "Dress appropriately."
Of course, there was some backlash from managers.
Continues at link: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gm-ceo-mary-barra-explains-184500103.html