Epoch’s Self-Management Story: Part 1
The Quest
How does an organization in China, move to into a culture of self-management, autonomy, and responsibility of the entire workforce, while the wider culture reinforces deference to superiors and high-power-distance relationships? How do you shift from a culture, where many prefer to be told what to do, to one that requires all to take initiative and act as managers of the business? How can a company inspire a radical structure change without a “burning platform”, where most employees are very content with the status quo? These were just a few of the challenges before us, when we began collaborating with Epoch on their journey in 2021.
Transitioning into self-management involves shifting from relationships that are characterized by dependence, hierarchy, and parent-to-child social contracts, to relationships that support autonomy, responsibility, and adult-to-adult interactions. It involves moving from an organization where there are only a few powerful people making decisions at the top, to an organization full of powerful people at all levels, who can all be trusted to make decisions that are in the best interest of the enterprise.
In this this article, we’ll summarize Epoch’s journey so far and what they are planning next.
Epoch’s Purpose
“We believe that…providing an environment of learning in conjunction with material and spiritual growth of the employees and fostering the diversity of ideas in an atmosphere of unity, will lead to zero defects and total customer satisfaction.” — Extract from Epoch’s Mission Statement
Since the founding of Epoch 30 years ago, owners Foad and Ladon Ghalili, have been pursuing their deeply held mission of using this company as a platform for both material and spiritual growth and empowerment of all their employees.
When one tours Epoch, it becomes readily apparent how much they value employee well-being. Within their biggest facility in Dalian, China, the entire top floor is dedicated to well-being and community development. It contains a children’s play area and library, dance floor, workout equipment, meditation room, musical instruments, ping pong tables, nap area, and more. Outside of Epoch are community gardens, where employees plant their own fruits and vegetables. And the design of entire building is purposefully built to reflect light, openness, transparency, and unity.
Epoch, a high-tech design and electronics manufacturing services company, has very low turnover and high trust. Many employees who have been part of Epoch since its inception 30 years ago.
Despite these successes, in 2021, Foad and Ladon decided that they would not be able to fully realize their mission, without moving towards self-management. The drivers to move in this direction were twofold. Firstly, they believe that for the long-term growth and sustainability of the company, everyone needs to begin thinking and acting as business owners. Since Epoch’s founding, it has grown to include three entities across the United States, China, and India, and it is no longer sustainable for them to carry so many leadership responsibilities on their own. Secondly, they genuinely believe in the enormous potential of their people and want to establish an environment that enables their growth, empowerment, and future success.
First Steps: Practicing Making Decisions Together
When entering Epoch for the first time after several years, I was met with a poster in the elevator that depicts characters practicing team decision-making. The characters are asking one another questions, improving one another’s ideas, seeking agreement, and creating action plans to move decisions forward.
And as you move through the facility, you will see more of these posters, which aim to help everyone think through: When I can take this decision by myself? When should I seek the advice of others? And, when does a decision need to be refined and improved through consultation and team decision-making?
After participating in a few initial workshops exploring self-management and engaging in some reflection on how to best move forward, Epoch’s owners decided to start their journey with developing the decision-making capacity of the entire workforce and supporting all to practice taking more decisions without waiting for direction from one’s boss.
They worked on clarifying who has accountability for which decisions, moved many decisions away from the owners, and pushed decisions to where the action happens. Foad, President of Epoch, shared, “I’ve noticed that less people come to me now for urgent decision-making. More decisions are made within the teams themselves.”
In addition to developing the visuals and creating clarity around accountability, all Epoch team members have been participating in small study and discussion groups on the practice of “consultation”. Some of the many topics these groups reflect on, include how to truly investigate issues to determine the best solution, how to strengthen unity while also seeking diverse inputs and perspectives, and how to consider all aspects of a problem without bias or prejudice.
Participating in learning activities, experimenting with new habits, and reflecting on their progress, is a daily practice for Epoch employees.
During my visit, I sat in one learning session, where participants were discussing questions like, “how do we create adult-to-adult relationships when someone makes mistakes?” and “how do we make sure everyone is well-informed, so that they can make the best decisions?”
Through practice, learning, and reflection, decision-making within Epoch is shifting from a practice that is the responsibility of a few at the top, to one that is owned by everyone.
Self-Management Experiments
In addition to distributing decision-making, Epoch has launched a few experiments to develop the capacity of the workforce to manage themselves and provide feedback to one another. These experiments have included peer feedback and review, team profit sharing decisions, and developing team meeting habits.
Experiment #1: Peer Feedback and Review
Epoch has gradually shifted their performance review process to focus on team performance and facilitate peer-to-peer feedback for continuous improvement, instead of relying solely on the traditional manager for feedback.
For example, during the year-end team review, all reflect on “how did the entire team perform in achieving the key objectives?” Everyone is invited to share their perspective of how every other team member contributed toward their objectives. These perspectives bring a wholistic view and contribute to 360 degree feedback for every individual.
Experiment #2: Team Profit Sharing Decisions
Epoch has long practiced profit-sharing, in order to share ownership of the group’s success with the entire workforce. Historically, their big challenge has been how to distribute profits in a way that feels just to everyone and accurately reflects each one’s contributions.
This past year, they launched an experiment where they gave each team a basket of “balls” and asked each team to discuss how to allocate these “balls”, among their team members. These decisions were then used to allocate profit sharing.
This exercise helped everyone begin thinking and learning about what fairness looks like, how to share feedback with one’s peers, and gain more understanding of the challenges associated with measuring and managing their own performance.
Experiment #3: Team Meeting Habits
To move collective thought into action, Epoch has also been focused on improving the quality of meetings to reflect higher levels of diligence in thinking, asking questions, preparation, action, and follow-through. In their team meeting rooms, there is a simple checklist for teams to ensure they are ready to have an effective meeting.
Before every meeting, they check to make sure that:
- All stakeholders relevant to the discussion are present
- Everyone knows why we are meeting
- Everyone was given any relevant information before the meeting
- All are fully present, and not distracted
- A facilitator, record keeper and time-keeper has been selected
- All are ready for this discussion
Team members have participated in workshops on consent decision-making and are practicing making collective decisions, that are “good enough for now and safe enough to try”, efficiently and effectively.
Designing the Future
In addition to developing these habits of sharing decision-making, and beginning to participate in managing one another, Epoch launched a Design Team to create their new self-managing team structure. This team has been actively benchmarking self-managing organizations similar to Epoch and studying innovative models in China, like Haier. They’ve also been examining the core challenges of Epoch, to discover how to best create value for their customers, and improve flow and service delivery within the design of the organization.
They have drafted an initial structure, are in process of finalizing this design with inputs from all of their stakeholders, and will begin the re-organization this upcoming year.
Part 2 of Epoch’s Self-Management Story to be Continued…
Special thanks to Qianlu (Cherry) Zhu for contributing to this article and for supporting Epoch in their self-management journey, after my departure from China.
