They obviously have a plan a the top but are so slow to implement it … why not create the plan then operationalise it rather than this adhoc approach to cuts etc… makes no sense
We all know there are many small plants that must go … there are thousands of sales people and many back office we can do with out…. Needs a new leader to make the plan and just implement it …
@IATD, interesting perspective. I do remember a now departed vp of iatd (thank God!!!) who spewed nothing but strategic plans. She knew nothing about anything but hid behind this before she was exposed, ironically by moanish…..
@Sad. I told mgmt the same thing. My issue was they always thought they were the smartest in the room. They act as if they are the only ones who have a stake in success.
Misguided decisions like plant managers ordering ink pens or quality managers issuing corrective actions for scribbles and signature legibility are mindless, underdeveloped, draconian decisions. My theme was 3M is too big, too slow, too complex, and has archaic operating systems. They continue to action the wrong failure modes. They must "seek to understand" the real issues, but instead prove themselves to be intellectual weaklings.
In my 25+ years with 3M, I always wondered how Executive and Senior management kept their fingers on the 'pulse' of what is really going on at 3M, where 'boots on the ground' folks get things done -- so they can make INFORMED decisions where to take this company, what initiatives will work, what is really needed. It's why I never aspired to climb the company ladder and just be a 'talking head.' Now I see that lack of communication and understanding over MANY years is why we're here today - we are too big of a company, with 50,000 product lines in 60 countries that use to be our strength for many, many years is now our Achilles heel.
I still remember my 3M Orientation...one session recalled how William McKnight saved the company eons ago, when we just produced sandpaper. He donned overalls and started walking into the shipping dock areas of our plants and Corporate headquarters, just chatting 'the guys' up and LISTENING to what they had to say -- similar to that TV Program, I think it's called Undercover Boss? That turned into the "McKnight" principle of "management by walking around" -- we could have used more of that over the years (Town Halls are a joke let's face it), but we're too big for our britches and over time, too many unethical leaders out to inflate their golden parachutes. Too many 'feathering their own nests" and not doing right by our company.
There is something I longed to tell our executive and senior leadership (so I hope some of you do read this website): This just isn't your 3M -- it's MY 3M too...it's OUR 3M -- all the talent and departments that made this company what it...sadly...WAS. Quit messing with our livelihoods and LEAD - or get the He-l Out.
A takeaway I had from the Flossbach von Storch criticism of 3M's top leadership was (and I'm paraphrasing) that MRs strategy is fails when it comes to "how are you going to do it and who's going to get it done?"
If you have a strategy that can't be implemented or isn't being implemented then you really don't have a strategy.
I say that yes, there's a plan... half-done.
3M plans always says what has to be done. Where's the issue? The "plan" does not detail "how it will be done".
As we have no idea how the company procedures have changed over time, we get entangled during the execution of such a plan.
A couple of days ago I heard that someone that was contracted last year, but the system accesses were granted this year. Really?
Last week I was told of a decision that was "under evaluation" for more than 2 months. Really x2?
Meanwhile, keep working "business as usual". =/
No plan, at least beyond power point slides. Imagine if the 3M COC actually had to write a document detailing the plan, and then review it with the employees at the company. Maybe then would we actually have a plan. Otherwise secrets, cuts, and no communications = no plan.
Not knowing how to make a strategic plan is a main qualification for JG15+. 12 years in and Ive never seen one.
3M owns some of the most valuable brands in the US if not globally. I heard from a friend in Legal our Chief IP counsel decided it is not important to protect 3M’s brands. I just did a search and discovered the 3M brand is worth almost US $10 billion. This is sad. 😞
Isn't it great to see the spinco take the talentpool now and actually give a cut off date for the cream of the crop as the Head Office call them, watch and learn these are the very people who have done very little to grow the business and only creaming a fat paycheck. I know our plant will be given the bad news over the next six weeks and as a manager knowing this and not being able to tell my employees just shows how unethical this company is. A COMPLETE JOKE
I doubt the existence of a real plan, and that is 3M's most basic leadership problem.
I have zero doubt there is a 100+ slide powerpoint deck somewhere that Roman and the COC calls a plan, but it will be entirely lacking in actionable detail. It will be full of poorly-defined buzzwords and statements of ideals, but no actual plan of action or clear strategic intent.
It's not just at the COC level, strategic planning at most levels for several years has been on a sharp downward slope. Most 3M executives these days wouldn't know a real strategic plan if it slapped them in the face. All they have been trained to do for the last 10+ years is to cut costs in the GE model, almost none of them have ever grown a business.
I strongly disagree there are lots of salespeople that need to be cut. If anything I'd say we need far more 'feet on the street' pushing 3M's value to our customers. I've seen far too many products fail over the years purely because no actual human beings were actually accountable for selling them.
Do they have a plan? I am not sure they do.
Instead it’s cut…cut…cut at the bottom and save all middle management here. Oh and decide to spin off to cover up bankruptcy and litigation. Sinking ship that sadly already sunk.