Kim Polese talks about company programs that work
By Sally Richards
Once a girl on a mission to win science project competitions, Kim Polese
grew up to become one of Time Magazine's 25 Most Influential People in
America. Polese, now at the helm of Marimba, Inc., calls the shots at one of
the leading Internet-based software solutions companies. So how does Polese
run a company where revenues are up and employees feel they are an intricate
part of the company's success?
Polese, in her thirties, credits Marimba's high retention rate and spirit
of teamwork among employees to listening. Her open door policy is just that -
if you have something to say to this CEO, come on in and have a seat. Is this
an effective way to run a startup? The growth at Marimba has been
substantial, as were the revenues - up $6.9 million (up 87 percent from the
year before) for its first quarter as a publicly held company.
So how did Polese come up with the open door policy that seems to work so
well? The first company Polese worked for was at about the same stage Marimba
is currently. It was there where she first gleaned how helpful it would be to
know what was going on in the rest of the company. She knew then, if she ever
had a company of her own, she would strive to empower her employees with
knowledge that would make them feel confident about being part of the company.
"I sort of had a sense about how the company worked, but not completely,"
says Polese, who feels that being informed is a necessity in any career. "I
felt pretty uninformed about how a company achieves market growth, about what
kind of decisions a company makes when it decides what the next product will
be, about how you actually go out in the marketplace and sell to the customer
and about the mechanics of winning a sale. I feel it's important to learn
about these things because this is what career growth is all about. I want
people at Marimba to know that they're not only here to perform a function,
they're here to learn and grow."
Polese has implemented many programs to make sure employees are heard at
Marimba. One of the programs is "Lunch with Kim," a monthly meeting for six
to eight employees who join her for lunch at a local restaurant. If you work
at Marimba, having lunch with your CEO is as simple as putting your name on a
list.
"People really seem to like it, and I get valuable feedback," says Polese
of the lunch program. "I really encourage them to speak out on any topic, and
ask questions - no matter how sensitive, or how stupid they might think it
is. We also have regular monthly meetings for the entire company called 'All
Hand's' meetings. It's an opportunity for the members of the executive team
to get up and talk about the state of the company and about our challenges.
We talk about our goals and about what we need to do to accomplish them - and
what everyone of us in the company can do to help get us there."
Another of Marimba's programs is the "Executive Roundtable," a brown bag
lunch, where 10 or so employees sign up to lunch with the entire executive
team for a meeting with no set agenda. The 188 Marimba employees clearly have
an opportunity to sound off about what they feel is important about their
jobs and environment.
"One of the things that is really critical about creating a solid company
is the bond that people form in the workplace," says Polese. "It's about
feeling like you're an important member of a whole team - the company itself.
We don't want people to feel that they're here to do their one little job.
Being connected to the company, to the executives and to the other people who
work at the company, is very important to employees. If you feel that you can
ask questions, or make comments to the people running the company - it makes
a big difference."
Polese feels that input from people who have a vested interest in what
happens to a company is essential. "Basically, we're all moving so fast -
every company out there is - that the six members of an executive team can't
possibly have it all figured out. We don't know every nth degree of
everything going on out there. We often aren't close enough to every issue or
technology to be able to provide that kind of input."
Polese, once a vital part of Sun Microsystem's Java team, knows the value
of hiring and retaining employees. "Financial incentive is important - make
no mistake, but as an employee, you need something more, something beyond
just the financial benefits. In this competitive landscape we're in, where
people have lots of recruiters calling them 12 times a month and offering
them big salaries and stock options, there has to be something more than just
the monetary value of being at a company. There has to be a feeling that
you're connected to the company, that your voice will be heard, that you have
an opportunity to learn and grow from the people or person you report to and
the people around you.
"As a manager, when you lose touch with the people who work in your
company," warns Polese, "you've really lost everything, because everything
flows from communication. The successes you have in winning a deal, or in
getting a product out the door come from people working together within the
company to make those things happen. We're not just little islands unto
ourselves, we're a team."
