Every employee wants to grow in their organization and make more money. Every organization wants to do even better and be more productive, gaining a larger market share. One can’t be done without the other. The organization needs employees to win and the employee, to enjoy security and make more money, needs a winning organization.

Intel’s commitment to employees does not involve lifetime employment. Instead, they commit to absolute openness so people can make intelligent career choices. They don’t provide the training their people need in order to grow but do provide a clear picture of where the future opportunities within the company lie.

At quarterly business update meetings Intel points out where business is both growing and shrinking. It’s then up to the employee to maintain their employability by getting whatever training they need to be in the growth sector.

Intel CEO Andy Grove says “We communicate and communicate at every level, in every form. Anyone can ask anybody any question. Although this could be confrontational, it’s the only way to remove the barriers to good and innovative ideas.” The person doing the work often knows how to do it even better.

Organizational cultures insistent on “doing it their way” discourage innovation and creativity with their people. The organizational attitude of “do it right the first time, or don’t do it at all” stifles employee creativity and their willingness to contribute to the organizations success. By definition, innovation is doing something in a new and creative way that has never been done before.

Think about when you first rode at two-wheel bicycle, or the last time you watched a baby beginning to walk. Both of these are, for the child, innovative (never been done before) experiences…..Do any children do this right the first time?

Chrysler Corp. attributes much of its recent success to destroying the old “command-and-control hierarchy” and opening up clear lines of communication while working in teams. The result, the hot selling Ram pickup, Neon Subcompact, and the Viper sports car.

At Chrysler they have recognized that the people doing the work, the teams, can identify and solve problems and meet customer demands if given the information and flexibility to do so. Management’s role has become to communicate with the teams and allow them to make decisions on how to best solve customer problems.

A Holiday Inn with a dismal occupancy rate of 67 percent increased it to 85 percent. How? By simply communicating the occupancy rate to employees. Staff started to promptly greet guest, carry their bags and were generally helpful and friendly. The employees knew there was a problem because they were given critical information. Isn’t every problem in the final analysis a people problem?

GE Chairman Jack Welch said “We’re going to win on our ideas, not by using whips and chains but by taking out the boss element.” When Polo Ralph Lauren distribution center in Greensboro N.C. let employees decide when to take their breaks and lunch hours, productivity shot up by 20 percent. When people are empowered even in small ways, productivity usually increases.

Finally, to energize employees and the organization a mutual sense of trust must be built. Even Intel who communicates clearly that they don’t believe in lifetime employment, has tremendous trust in its entire organization. Why? Intel has come to realize that every employee wants to grow in their organization and to do so they need to know how to be successful.

Intel also realizes that to build real trust and employee loyalty that communciation has to acknowledge problems and even failures. Why? Because employees realize that to enjoy the job security they want, they need to be working for a winning organization.

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