E-mail is great for a lot of things, but
Bob Huffstodt says it can’t replace a
personal conversation when he’s assessing new opportunities for Polymer
Technology Systems Inc.
“If it’s a new customer, and I don’t care
where they are in the world, you need to
have a conversation with that person,”
says Huffstodt, Polymer Technology’s
president and CEO. “Nothing beats
being able to read an individual, best of
all face to face. If you can’t do that, at
least have a conversation over the
phone. That gives you the key element of any risk assessment.”
By getting to know his clients
and his employees, Huffstodt led
the cardiovascular technology
company to 2006 revenue of
about $15 million. With 105
employees, the company has
been growing at an annual rate of
about 60 percent in recent years.
Smart Business spoke with
Huffstodt about the importance
of focusing on relationships to
succeed in business.
Q: How do you manage fast
growth?
It pays to step back and look
at the forest once a day or twice
a day and remember the big picture. Remember where you are
going, and understand whatever the issue of the day is, it will
pass. It will be resolved, and it
will be a dim memory very
quickly, and that puts it into
perspective.
I go back to what I was
taught as a freshman in college. That little grid of urgent and important, important but not urgent, urgent
but not important, and literally do a
quick mental rundown of the things that
are on my daily to-do list. I do a to-do list
every day and go at the ones that rise up
to the upper left first, the urgent and
important, and take it from there.
I have a notepad, and I do it in long
hand. I’ve tried it on the computer and
don’t like it as much. It’s just more stimulating for me to write it out. I try to do
it at the end of a day for the next day. It lets me sleep better. I know it’s on my list
so I know I’ll get to it, so therefore, I
don’t have to obsess on it at night.
Q: How do you deal with unexpected problems?
I take a mental deep breath and force
myself to be level-headed and calm with
whatever the issue might be. If they are
urgent enough to break into your routine
or meeting, there is something big about
it in terms of magnitude.
Even if it’s a good thing and you’re
going to end up getting very excited
about it, it’s best to learn about it in a
very calm fashion.
Q: How do you connect with your employees?
If I’m going from my office to the front
desk to greet somebody, I might take
the longer way there and field a couple
questions along the way. It’s absolutely
essential.
I’ve had people approach me about,
‘Gee, we have all these extra chairs.
Could we donate them to the church?’
Just the way you encounter these things,
you can make somebody on the staff a
hero just by having 10 seconds of availability. It’s huge in its cumulative effect.
Over time, the rapport that builds, the
understanding, and the respect — which
goes both ways — I think it’s critical.
Q: How can you earn employee trust?
It starts with just making sure people are
treated fairly. If people come in
and they are not promised the
moon unless you are prepared to
hand the moon to them, I think that
just builds trust and credibility.
Don’t tell them that you’re not
going to have to work hard. They
are going to have to work hard.
Don’t tell them that the benefits
aren’t going to cost you anything
because the benefits do cost everybody something.
Just set the expectations appropriately. Follow through on what
you promise, and you’ll get that
credibility.
Q: What is the best advice you’ve
ever received?
When you are rating your employees,
if you can’t, after six months, on a
report card give them at least a B, you
should think about replacing that individual. That sounds kind of harsh.
But what it forces you to do is look
in the mirror and say, ‘Am I enabling
this person? Am I empowering them
correctly? Am I guiding them correctly? Am I interfacing with them the
way I should?’ If you can say yes to all
that, you need to really think about
changing who is in that job if you can’t
give them a B or better.
Oftentimes, I’ll find the fault is with
me. I haven’t talked to this person all
week, and they report to me. That’s just
not right. So, I’ll set about trying to rectify the situation.
HOW TO REACH: Polymer Technology Systems Inc., (317) 870-5610 or www.cardiochek.com