Task Force meetings, Byrd told representatives from other demonstration firms that with their new compensation system, people would know at the beginning of the year what their salaries would be. Any profits made by the firm beyond that would be divided up equally among the 21 firm stockholders. The compensation system, now in effect for three-quarters of a year, is working well, according to Byrd. This feedback, in turn, led the committee to work on ways it could help stockholders keep up their end of the agreements. For instance, one stockholder said he needed the authority of the Management Committee to get other individuals at the firm to help him on something he had agreed to do since he could not accomplish it alone.
People are convinced that having win-win agreements is a great approach.
Under the old compensation system, the firm's Compensation Committee would ask all the stockholders what each one thought he or she should make and what each one thought the others should make. The committee then had to synthesize all this information into a dollar amount for each person. The proposal this group develops will then be presented to the Management Committee for its consideration and eventual adoption. In doing so we build the trust of those who are present. When you defend those who are absent, you retain the trust of those present.