The Congressional-Company Visit Kit: Practical Steps For Unparalleled Results
What you need to know
Part 4
The ESOP Association will be running every Tuesday for the next seven weeks, tips for putting together a Congressional Company Visit. All of the information that will be featured in these excerpts is available on the Association’s website – http://www.esopassociation.org. The full Kit is available on the homepage under News.
The Member of Congress Is Here—Now What?
The member of Congress more often than not arrives late, in a car driven by one of his or her district office aides. Please remember to take note of the aide and have some one in the company engage that person in conversation during the member of Congress’s visit. District staff often feel like the odd person out, but in many ways a District staff person is more influential with a member of Congress than anyone on the member of Congress’s Washington staff.
Make sure that people in your reception area know the member of Congress is coming. Have the welcoming delegation ready to come out quickly once notified by front desk personnel.
It is always positive to have on the bulletin board, or stand, a message of welcome for the member of Congress.
Now we come to the meat of the visit.
On the one hand it is dumb to just let the member wander around, or to sit in the conference room and have a disjointed conversation. On the other hand, it is dumb to act like you are afraid of the member of Congress engaging in conversations with employees. And it is a waste of time to permit the member Congress to give a speech, as that speech is more than likely going to take up the entire visit time. (Politicians like to give speeches, as one, they are usually good at it, and two, they do not have to make commitments if there is not time for the constituent to ask a question, or to make a request.)
A good way to think about your time with the member of Congress is that you have a plan of “organized spontaneity,” or “spontaneous organization.”
There is no question that each company should tailor the visit that best suits its culture and style.
Following is a typical approach:
· A delegation of four or five persons greet the member of Congress in the reception area. The group might include the employee owner chair of the ESOP/employee communications group—goes by various names in different companies as well as the CEO and two or three other senior executives.
· After the greeting, the delegation might escort the member into a conference room for a brief power point, or video about the company, and perhaps some information on its ESOP. The conference room group should include more than the three or four greeters, perhaps 10 or more persons, including, if there is one, the entire ESOP/employee committee group.
· After that presentation of the company and ESOP history, a walk around to see the company, stopping by different stations on the floor, or in the offices if not a manufacturing business, for an exchange of greetings is positive. Having one to three employee owners primed to comment on the ESOP at the company is powerful.
· After the walk around, the core delegation, the first four or five for example, or the CEO, and/or chair of the ESOP/employee committee, should take time, perhaps back in the conference room to make the “sale,” or in other words, to ask for the member of Congress to do “something” for ESOPs.
Now, this outline of a visit is an example, and again each company needs to implement the visit in accord with its own style and culture.
For example, many ESOP companies over the years have had positive results with all the corporate headquarters employees in a room and having just a power point, or video presentation about the company. Others just turn the member of the Congress loose on the company floor, and have him or her meet up with executives later. Others have the member join the early morning “team” session, where the day’s work load and assignments are discussed and divvied out. Others have the member join the annual meeting where the financials are discussed and statements of ESOP accounts handed out. Others have the member join the annual picnic, and its games. Other have the member come to the special event, such as an anniversary celebration and so on.
So flexibility is possible depending on the company, but again, do not leave the encounter to chance.
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