Engines of Democracy

The average group of 15 or 16 people can't reach consensus on where to go for lunch -- let alone how to run a factory. How to organize a production line, whether to hire someone, how to assess someone's skills for promotion, even how to pick who will work over the weekend -- those kinds of issues inspire strong disagreement. "Everybody doesn't see things in the same way," says Williams. "But we've had training on how to reach consensus. We've had training on how to live with ideas that we might not necessarily agree with." And the team members always have the power to change things that don't work out. Says Williams: "All the things you normally fuss and moan about to yourself and your buddies -- well, we have a chance to do something about them. I can't say, 'They' don't know what's going on, or, 'They' made a bad decision. I am 'they.' "

From Teams to Tribes

"Teams," "teamwork," "teaming" -- these are such overused words, such overworked concepts, that they have been all but drained of meaning. GE/Durham isn't so much a team environment as it is a tribal community. There are rules, rituals, and folklore; there is tribal loyalty and tribal accountability. There is a connection to a wider world, beyond the tribe.

Some of these routines are big things. Everyone at the plant belongs to a team, and every team meets every day at 2:30 pm. The team meeting is the pivot of GE/Durham. There are two shifts, and they overlap to allow everyone either to start or to end the day at the team meeting. More than a simple update of the day's progress and problems, this meeting is a place to hip-check morale, conflict, overtime, hiring, technical snags, and planning for the future.

Also, everyone learns to assemble different parts of the engine.

"Multiskilling is how the place is kept together," says Derrick McCoy, 32, a tech-3 and a buddy of Duane Williams's on Team Raven. "You don't hoard your skills. That way, when I'm on vacation, the low-pressure turbine can still be built without me."

In addition to building engines, everyone serves at one time or another on one of several work councils that cut across team lines. The councils handle hr issues, supplier problems, engineering challenges, computer systems, discipline, and rewards. And everyone participates in training -- from sessions in how to give and receive feedback to advanced classes on cost accounting.

Some of the routines seem smaller, but they are no less essential. Everyone cleans up. Despite the plant's almost operating-room cleanliness, there is no cleaning crew. The plant's tools are not locked up. People trusted to make important decisions have to be trusted not to take home a socket set. No one smokes in the plant. And every day, everyone at GE/Durham wears the same outfit: blue jeans or blue slacks, and a gray pullover that has the GE/Durham logo on the left breast. The uniform sends a quiet message. Says Dave Hyde, 41, a program-improvement leader who has been at the plant almost since it opened: "There should be no reason for barriers between people here."

Paula Sims, 38, was plant manager at GE/Durham for four of its first six years of existence. (She left GE last June to pursue other opportunities in the Raleigh-Durham area.) Ask her what the basic principles are, and she doesn't hesitate. "There are four," she says. "One, we have a layerless organization: There is just one classification of worker. Two, people are paid according to their skills. Three, everyone is an FAA power-plant mechanic -- meaning that he or she comes highly skilled. And four, this is a team environment that requires a highly involved workforce."

Clearly, not everyone has the temperament, skills, or intellect needed to work in an environment like that of GE/Durham. So who, in particular, doesn't fit in? "People who expect to take orders," offers Dave Hyde wryly. The first encounter employees have with the GE/Durham principles occurs during the hiring process. At most jet-engine facilities, an FAA mechanic's rating and a bit of experience would be enough to get a job. At GE/Durham, candidates are rated in 11 areas. "Only one of those involves technical competence or experience," says Keith McKee, 27, a tech-3 on Team Raven. "You have to be above the bar in all 11 of the areas: helping skills, team skills, communication skills, diversity, flexibility, coaching ability, work ethic, and so forth. Even if just one thing out of the 11 knocks you down, you don't come to work here."