Move people up
The last key to creating long-term viability for your company is to
promote people into higher positions, and sometimes, that even
means replacing yourself. A few years ago, Russell started to realize
it was time for him to pass the torch to someone else.
“I knew I wanted some faster legs, a good solid mind, lots of good
youth and all,” he says.
In 2004, he was eager to turn the CEO reins over to his son, who
he had moved up through the organization in recent years.
“I’m fortunate enough to have three kids, but someone in your
organization, you should bring up, even if it’s not a family member,
that you know has it,” Russell says. “You should treat that person
or individual like your own family member and bring them along,
and you just need to let go.”
Whether you’re hiring your replacement or someone else’s, it’s
important to move your employees up in your organization, and to
do that, you have to identify talent.
“It’s the same thing I look for when I hire,” Russell says. “You
look for the very best. You look for the best-equipped person you
have educationwise, experiencewise, with the right attitude, with
the right mindset, someone who loves humanity. … You can’t
hardly be a leader if you don’t love humanity.”
It’s hard to be on the lookout for these types of people with just
one set of eyes, so Russell has always relied on his management
team to increase the likelihood of choosing the truly best people
for promotions.
“All of our senior people detect the younger people, and they
mention in the senior meeting, ‘This is someone we need to watch
and make sure that they’re on the right track,’” Russell says. “It’s
brought to the attention of senior management people because
somebody who this person is working under can see this potential.”
Once you’ve identified someone for a particular position, it’s
important to talk to that person about his or her future.
“The first thing I always ask — ‘What area do you think you need
some improvement in?’” Russell says. “We all — I don’t care who–have some improvement we need to make. I don’t know the
area but some area. You found out, and you make sure that you
open those doors for that person to improve themselves.”
You may run into a situation where a person can’t see his or her
weaknesses, and if it’s something you can see, then you should
make the recommendation for that person. This initial communication session can be very telling.
“When I recommend something to the right people, they take it
very well, and they appreciate it …” Russell says. “If they get out of
shape about it, that’s the test, that’s the wrong person.”
As you and your young protégé work collaboratively to improve his
or her skill set and get that person ready to take the next position, it
also helps strengthen your business.
“We’re not going to be here forever, and if you want your organization to live forever, you always got to have depth in your organization and put people in the position, so when that time comes,
they’re ready,” Russell says. “We never like to pigeonhole people in
the organization. We like them to see the big picture.”
HOW TO REACH: H.J. Russell & Co., (877) 787-7351 or www.hjrussell.com
