Blogs and Casestudies

From peacetime to wartime and back.

A timely focus of this article is the transition to wartime, as is currently taking place in many technology companies. The most common reasons for this transition are:

Competition

A competitor is threatening to overtake your company in terms of market share, brand awareness, public profile or perception. For example, when Google launched Google+ in 2011, the threat of a social media victory sent Facebook into "war mode".Declining market share. Numbers don't lie: if your company's market share is plummeting, it's probably war. Financial health. If your business is experiencing poor financial results, such as a sharp drop in profits or sales, it could trigger a shift out of peace mode.Running out of money. One possible consequence of financial problems is running out of money. Unfortunately, for venture-backed start-ups that rely on raising funds, this is an issue that is becoming more and more topical. Share price and shareholder pressure. When the share price of listed companies falls, shareholders are unhappy. Executive remuneration is usually linked to the share price, so they are also unhappy. War tactics are common in this situation, as are job cuts. According to a recent TechCrunch article,: "The layoffs will continue until (investor) morale improves."

Investor pressure

With privately traded companies, there is no stock price to watch. However, if investors are uncertain about expected earnings, they may pressure a company to go into war mode.Signs of a transition to war mode are easy to spot:

The CEO calls in the troops

While peacetime is rarely announced, wartime is almost always communicated formally, via email, during a company meeting, or usually both. The CEO explains that the company is facing a serious threat and that the coming period will be stressful but necessary for the company's success.

A change at the top

The CEO or another executive is replaced expressly because he/she has not achieved the desired business results. A new leader makes it clear from day one that they will act more like a wartime executive. Just yesterday (March 27), Lyft appointed a new CEO to replace the co-founder, which may well be a sign that the company is transitioning to a state of war. Ruthless prioritization, from the very top. In times of war, a few top priorities are clearly defined. These priorities often relate to sales, profit, market share or category position. Anything that does not support these is not a priority and may be cut for financial reasons or shareholder pressure.

Stricter performance reviews

In times of war, performance reviews are always more stringent and employees who fail to meet requirements are fired. The best examples of this are the transition at Meta or Salesforce. In peacetime, such dismissals are far less common. Speed is the most important thing. Fast shipping and time to market are the focus, and there is a palpable sense of urgency. A more "raw" style of communication from executives. Emails and meetings are less polished than before. The CEO will be impatient or frustrated, especially when employees bring up "peace issues" such as perks or work-life balance. Layoffs are usually a sign that it's wartime - but not always. Although layoffs are common during wartime, it's a generalization to say that they always mean war. This is especially the case now, with hundreds of tech companies making deep layoffs. If a company is making layoffs but not taking any of the other actions mentioned above, then it's possible that the company intends to operate as it would in peacetime, and that the layoffs are a one-time measure with no intention of changing the company culture.

From wartime to peacetime -The following are the most common reasons for this transition:

A company's reputation is in a downward spiral, so leadership takes drastic action by essentially being "nicer" and less demanding.Too much negative media coverage. Bad press often results from employees who are unhappy with their work environment leaking sensitive details to the public.

Preparing for an IPO or sale. When preparing a company for an IPO or sale, management may decide that it is safer to steady the ship and avoid missteps that result from acting quickly. When preparing to go public, it may also be important to shift the corporate culture from a rogue work style to a more regimented, process-oriented approach.

Competitive offers for hiring and retaining employees: If a company is struggling to hire and new employees are leaving quickly, the reason may be an overworked workplace. If the company no longer needs to be in war mode, but this is still the case and turnover is high, it might make sense to gradually change the culture. As an employee, what are signs to you and me that a transition from wartime to peacetime is underway?

Here are some examples:

-Major leadership changes. A new CEO or new leaders who focus on process and lack the visible urgency that used to be present.

-Less rigorous focus on business goals and competition. Companies at war tend to focus obsessively on a small number of very important business goals and making progress against the competition. When this focus wanes, the company may shift to peacetime.

-New employee-friendly policies. Most "peacetime companies" take good care of their employees. A sign of the transition to peacetime could be that management is focusing on work-life balance and employee well-being. This could mean introducing more generous parental leave policies, wellness budgets and more.

-A focus on employer brand. "Peacetime" companies are much more focused on their employer brand because they can afford to think longer term and don't mind their employees working on projects that don't have immediate benefits but may or may not pay off in the long run.

-Sponsoring diverse groups, diversity and inclusion initiatives, funding networking and brand-building events, investing in attending conferences and industry events - these can all be signs that peacetime change is happening.

As a leader, you're likely to see other signs during performance reviews and promotions: More focus on the "how" than the "what". While there is still a lot of emphasis on impact achieved by employees (the "what"), there is an increasing expectation that results will be achieved in a textbook manner (the "how"). For example, an engineer may deliver a complex project that could be downgraded in peacetime if they have not produced an RFC first. In wartime, however, this omission is not worth mentioning, and the engineer would likely be praised for moving faster.Conflict penalized. High performers who are perceived as frequent sources of conflict could be penalized for this behavior in reviews, regardless of the results.More focus on mentoring and helping others. Activities such as mentoring, participating in recruitment events and other activities that are not "core business" can help employees rise to higher levels and make their work more impactful. One thing you certainly won't see is leadership making it clear that now is peacetime. That's because no company wants to loudly proclaim its entry into peacetime mode because it doesn't want competitors - or investors - to think it's "slacking off" compared to other companies. In my experience, this is often a gradual process that can be missed.

The transition to peace mode is about moving from constantly repeated sprints to a more sustainable pace. This slows you down in the short term, but over time it puts you ahead of the stop-and-go sprinters.The transition to peacetime after a long period of war can be difficult for some people. One might assume that everyone is excited to move from stressful wartime to the less stressful, more predictable peacetime. But that's not the case, as I've experienced first-hand. Many people leave their jobs because they miss the high pressure of wartime.The biggest changes when transitioning to peacetime are:Delivering quickly is no longer a priority compared to following processesMore processes are introduced that need to be followed while working.The pace is more sustainable and feels much slowerDecisions that employees used to make autonomously now need to be coordinated.It's not just employees who can struggle with change.

At it-agile, I also had to struggle with this. I had gotten used to the "crisis mode" of working quickly and encouraging colleagues to make decisions. When you do that, mistakes happen more often. When we transitioned to peacetime, I had to realize that a mistake was no longer an acceptable price for quick action.Fortunately, I noticed the signs of change from wartime and began to formulate the new and changed expectations for us. I say "fortunately" because during a promotion cycle at one of our clients, I observed promotions being turned down that would have passed a "wartime promotion board". These were engineers who had achieved impressive results but had skipped processes like code reviews and design documents. It was now peacetime, and the "how" counted as much as the "what".

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