If you happened to pass by Ron
Marhofer’s farm in Tuscarawas County
near Sugar Creek, you might think he was
training for American Gladiators. The
owner of the seven dealerships and two
collision centers that comprise the Ron
Marhofer Auto Family has a high ropes
course, climbing wall and several rope
bridges set up 30 feet off the ground.
However, Marhofer didn’t create this
obstacle course adventure to satisfy his
inner Boy Scout — he did it to improve his
company’s culture.
In 1975, when Ron invested his life savings into the family’s Chevrolet dealership
and became the owner, the business was
selling about 400 cars per year and had 28
employees. It was easy to monitor how
employees were feeling, and Marhofer was
able to be on the floor — a real hands-on
leader, fixing his employees’ problems and
moving on.
By the early 1980s, Marhofer was selling
3,000 cars per year, had 120 employees and
was looking to expand into other franchises.
He acquired a Hyundai franchise in 1987, and
although the launch was successful, the dealership began to go downhill. Morale was low
at the new store, and problems weren’t getting resolved the way Marhofer expected.
“I got a rude awakening when I opened that
Hyundai store, because I had done a poor job
of developing people to run it,” he says.
The manager he had put in charge of the
new store was a control freak and wasn’t
open to input from anyone else.
“It was almost to that extent that people
had to check with him before they went to
the bathroom,” he says.
Marhofer couldn’t be in two places at
once, yet he needed to save the new
Hyundai dealership. If he wanted to continue to grow the company, he needed to
find a way to develop leadership and replicate the culture that had been successful in
the original Chevrolet store.
Marhofer’s plan was to achieve that goal
by creating an atmosphere in which employees communicate and work together at his
$158 million organization.
