The Unstoppable Organization by Shawn Casemore

Author:Shawn Casemore
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Career Press
Published: 2017-12-27T05:00:00+00:00

Tony Solecki of Caframo, for example, sets aside time each week to meet one-on-one with his employees to discuss the current state of the organization, its customers, and the market, as well as requesting feedback from employees on they can be more effective in their roles. We’ve also discussed Jeff Sziklai at Bellwyck Packaging Ltd., who began the practice of quarterly reviews with all employees in which he would walk out onto the production floor and speak to them about the state of the business, including new opportunities and customer feedback. Jeff would then solicit ideas from employees to support the continued success of the business. The key in connecting employees to the value they can and do contribute to customers is communicating through dialogue. The options for doing this are endless, and as Mike from Vokes Furniture suggested earlier, there is no better time to start than now.

There are additional benefits to helping employees connect with the value they provide. These types of engagements allow for both employees and leaders to share their ideas, challenges, and opportunities based on their own experiences with customers. If a long-standing customer has been lost, senior management can share the feedback they received on why this happened. Alternatively, if employees have had feedback from a customer on something that needs to change, they can share this with management. The key to delivering value to the customer is to recognize that the ability to do so hinges on everyone’s understanding of what customers are seeking, and how they as individuals can respond.

I mentioned the unstoppable success of Jeff and his team at Bellwyck Packaging. Their continued effort at satisfying a niche need for their customers was never an easy battle. Several years ago, a dominant competitor was trying to take a large customer account from Bellwyck by undercutting them on price. Always open with his team, Jeff shared details about the threat with his employees. He reassured everyone that the reason for the company’s unstoppable success was that they were able to consistently turn around jobs within only a few days. Jeff emphasized that continuing to do this, while ensuring consistency and quality of their products, was the only way to keep this customer happy. As the CEO, Jeff knew that having every single employee focused on fast order turn-around was the only way to please this customer and thus sustain their business. In addition, Jeff asked his employees for ideas about what else could be done, and encouraged them to continue sharing ideas with him, the plant manager, or their supervisor if they came up with anything. Jeff’s talks were very much a collaborative discussion that were both top-down and bottom-up, helping connect employees with the value that customers were seeking both strategically and tactically.

It’s not only important, however, to ensure that every employee understands the specific value they offer through their role; they must also learn new ways of adding value. When I worked for Magna International, some 20-plus years ago now (gulp!), I worked as a logistics coordinator.

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