“There is a better way to do business. A way that encourages every employee to become all they can become. A way that allows people to bring their deepest values to work and have them celebrated. A way that puts re-engineering into a transformational framework (emphasis added), refocusing it as a tool for health maintenance rather than radical surgery. A way that welcomes diversity as a pathway to innovation…”
– Richard Barrett, “Liberating the Corporate Soul; Building a Visionary Organization”)

Ford Motor Company’s plan may appear to be “radical surgery.” However, while One Ford contains the articulation of Ford’s vision and plan in relation to current reality, the accompanying list of expected behaviours sets One Ford up for ongoing “health maintenance,” and the accommodation of future realities.

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It is widely known that the North American automotive sector needed to go through massive change to avoid extinction in 2008. In case you have forgotten the intensity of this point in time, here are a couple of perspectives:

“In late 2008, our nation’s economy – and the auto industry in particular – entered its deepest crisis since the Great Depression. Almost overnight, demand for new automobiles fell from an annual rate of over 17 million units to an annual rate under 10 million units.” (UAW Solidarity, May-June 2010)

“Should all of the Detroit Three’s U.S. operations cease in 2009, the first year total employment impact would be a loss of nearly three million jobs in the U.S. economy…Lost tax revenue between 2009 and 2011 would be an estimated $156.4 billion (U.S. dollars).” (The Center for Auto Research , USA – PDF)

Ford was one of the Detroit Three, and as such, a big ship to turn around. The magnitude of this change would necessitate complete employee engagement. Ford’s CEO, Alan Mulally, knew this.

Many of us will not be confronted with the magnitude of change required to turn Ford around, but employee engagement is a critical issue in all businesses.

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