Make sure images of your team are positive ones

BY RICH SCHMITT
Management specialist

I am often amused when I see the covers of tabloid magazines splashed with snapshots of famous people in unflattering situations. Maybe I am naïve, but I cannot believe that most of those famous people are as bad as the photos seem to portray. (Though there is one hotel heiress who might be everything that she appears to be.) It does seem unfair that a star’s every move is put under a microscope, but that is the price of stardom. 

Owners and managers in our industry have a similar burden that they must carry.

While the paparazzi aren’t taking wholesaler’s photos, their team and customers are taking mental snapshots as the owners and managers conduct business every day. These snapshots create a mental photo album illustrating who the managers are and what the company is about. Working with wholesalers and talking with people at all levels in our industry, I take mental snapshots and hear situations described, both flattering and unflattering, about how owners and managers conduct themselves. 

The following are snapshots of managers that you may have seen in your company:

• I was walking through a pipe yard with the owner of a pretty big, multi-location wholesaling company. We were talking about some changes that they were making to improve their efficiency when he stopped in the middle of the yard and picked up a cigarette butt that was probably discarded by a customer or employee. Without ceremony, the butt was carried to the nearest trash drum and we continued our walk. By the end of the walk, a nail and some banding had also been removed from the yard. Since the yard crew is always hyper-alert when the big guy is out in the yard, they all got several powerful messages:
  • Yard cleanliness is important to the owner
  • Everybody should be looking for trash as they move through the yard

  • Absolutely nobody, at any level, is exempt from the ongoing task of keeping the property clean and safe.
    

• A branch manager, just after a customer left the building, took the time to announce to the other customers and counter staff, that the departed customer was “as dumb as a box of rocks.” His stupid attempt to be “one-of-the-guys” demonstrated that poor behavior and disrespecting customers is acceptable. Just like the previous example, both the customers and the counter crew got a powerful message.
• Another owner was manning the counter during the morning rush and after taking the order, he helped the customer carry the material out to his truck.  Both the counter customers and the counter crew got the message.
• Another owner’s wife/co-owner was driving me to one of their locations so I could observe, first-hand, how the locations were operating and to talk with some of the team. While I was talking to the team, she noticed that the men’s room was not as clean as it should have been so she grabbed the brush and mop and cleaned it. No one would dare say that they are too important to clean that restroom in the future.
• Another owner walked into an area that required safety gear. The company has had problems getting their team to use the required equipment. Without comment, he donned the gear and continued with his mission. The crew was watching to see if he followed his own directive. If he had not, all of the safety training would have been nullified in a single act. While some owners like to say, “Do as I say, not as I do,” in reality, people tend to follow the examples that owners and managers set.
• Another owner implemented a drug testing policy. He stood in line with the rest of the team to be tested. He and the other managers participate in the random drug tests along with everyone else in the company. Sure it’s a pain, but it sends a message.
• Another owner usually opens up and shuts down the counter each day. He comes in very early to catch up on his paperwork before the customers start arriving and calling. When there are customers calling or in the building, they always take priority over paperwork and internal meetings. Even though he really needs the morning time to run the business, he always seems glad to take orders from the early-bird customers and help load their trucks. He uses the time to create ongoing relationships with those customers.
• Another company president was laying off people and offering substandard wages to others while upgrading his own company vehicle to an $80-grand rolling palace. The size of vehicle where it has its own zip code.
  
  

Don’t get me wrong, I think owners deserve to live well when their businesses are thriving. But when owners talk out of both sides of their mouths, they lose the respect of their team and ultimately the team’s performance suffers. I have always recommended that owners drive a conservative car to work. They can drive their Bentley to the country club. When you drive the flashy, expensive car to work, the customers assume that the company is generating obscene profits at their expense.

• Another owner, in a hurry to an appointment, parked his car in the last remaining “customer-only” parking spot. He got delayed by a phone call so his car sat in the spot for over 20 minutes during the morning rush. The owner’s vanity license plates ensured that the staff and the customers knew exactly who was occupying that prime customer space. As customers carried material past the car to load their trucks, they got a negative message from the owner. The message sent to the employees: It’s okay to park here, and here’s the excuse you can use.
• Another owner, while walking out the door, grabbed a 10-pack of flashlight batteries without comment and without stopping to get them charged to his account. Two lessons taught and learned:
  • It’s okay to steal from the company
  • Here’s how you do it. 
• Another owner surrounded himself with wallet-kissing non-performers. Their focus on stroking the big guy’s ego left less time to be productive. The message to the rest of the team: It’s not what you do, it’s what you kiss that gets you promoted and recognized.   
• Another manager took the opportunity to berate a warehouse guy for a mistake right in the middle of the warehouse. The event was loud, profane and very personal. The other members of the warehouse team were embarrassed almost as much as the manager’s targeted guy.
• Another owner promoted and coddled a rule-breaking, non-team-player because, “he sells a lot of fixtures.” The free-lancer liked to prove that he could do whatever he wanted then brag about it to other team members.

Make no mistake, I, too, favor performers. Without them most businesses are in big trouble. When you send the message, “performance is the only measure and the means, however bad, doesn’t matter,” you are asking for problems. In my personal experience, this type of guy is a mixed-bag. They may perform, but when all things are considered, the company is probably better off without them. You start by trying to get them to reform but when that fails, go out and find someone who will perform and be a team player.

• Another owner, while remodeling his cabin, had a complete cabin’s-worth of appliances, fixtures and faucets “scrapped” and then delivered to his cabin and installed by the company’s warehouse crew. The crew called these errands “government jobs.” 
• Another owner twisted the arm of a vendor to provide all the finish materials for his new house. The observant purchasing guys learned how to feather their own nest from this one. The message: It’s okay to take bribes from vendors and here’s how you do it.
• Another owner had his people falsify an insurance claim to include items that were not involved in the windstorm being claimed. There were previously broken windows and roof damage that were also claimed to cheat the insurance company out of their deductible. The message: It’s okay to cheat and here’s how you do it. 

These “it’s-okay-to-cheat” tactics tend to find their way into employee expense reports, time sheets and worker’s compensation claims. Of course, even the most above-board companies have problems, but when the owners and management of a company set the wrong tone, they actually teach their people to “game” the company.

Each of these snapshots happened in an instant. They were unscripted. There was no speech. There was no fanfare.  There was no intent to teach or promote any agenda yet they each set an example and sent a powerful message to the customer and/or the team. 

Frankly, these impromptu moments do more to establish the working environment than all the memos, manuals, training sessions and off-site retreats that most companies present. Of course, I am a huge advocate of formal training, but that training is greatly reinforced when the owners and managers “walk their talk.” Conversely, that training can be completely undermined in a flash when the owners and managers demonstrate behaviors that conflict with the company’s policies, rules and procedures.

Owners and managers are always on stage. Their team and customers are like the paparazzi, watching them and taking mental snapshots as the managers do their jobs and as they interact with the team and with customers. The good people on your team are looking for ways to emulate their leaders, assuming that copying their behavior will open doors to their personal success. The lesser members of your team may be looking for grounds to criticize management or to rationalize their own sub-standard behavior. So as you go about your daily tasks, remember that your picture is being taken. Those snapshots set an example for your team, set the tone for how customers are to be treated and also make an impression on your customers.  When owners and managers set a good-example, it pays big dividends for their company over the long term.

Rich Schmitt is president of Schmitt Consulting Group Inc., a management consulting firm focused on improving the profitability of distribution and manufacturing clients. Rich is also the co-owner of Schmitt ProfitTools Inc. (SPI), a business producing print, CD-ROM, web and palm-based catalogs as well as pricing management and analysis software for wholesalers.