Q. How do you find
the right people to fit
into that culture of
empowerment?
It starts with the right
person. The interviewing
process — you’ve got to
pay particular attention
to the traits that the individual possesses — entrepreneurial spirit, team-oriented
type individual.
Our interview process here
typically goes in a few different interviews. It’s very rare
that somebody here gets hired
off the first interview. Do we
have a big, in-depth, structured interview process? No, but
what we do is each employee
typically interviews with the
three of us. We compare a lot
of notes. We often ask the
same questions very differently. We know what we are
looking for in that individual.
It’s a relaxed interview. It’s
not really an interrogation.
We want to get to know that
individual, the potential candidate. We want to really know
them, their likes, their dislikes, what they can bring to
the table, the way they perceive a problem and what
they would do to solve it.
Q. What is a pitfall to avoid
in leadership?
A lot of leaders today, they
tend to come in with the mind-set that, ‘It’s my bat, my ball,
my rules. You’re going to do
it this way. It’s my way or the
highway.’ I, as well as Paul
and Jeff, advise against that
because people are going to
make you successful or they
are going to break you —
one or the other.
You don’t want to (fit a)
square peg into a round hole.
Take advantage of the individual’s creativity. Take advantage
of their thoughts.
We just hired a young guy a
year ago that was a graduate
from The Ohio State University
with a degree in supply chain
and logistics management.
What am I going to do? Try to
jam him, all that education that
he acquired, try to jam a round
peg into a square hole with
him? No, we want him to bring
his thought process, new
thinking and forward thinking
to the operation.
Q. What are the keys to
leading change?
You have to have a direction.
In our case, the first step in
leading change is the management team has to buy in
to what direction you are
going into. You have to give
your staff the tools they need
in order for that change to
take place.
Once the management
team buys in to the direction
you want to change to,
you’ve got to get everybody
else on board and you’ve got
to make sure everybody is
stroking on the same oar. We
do that here again by getting
these folks to take ownership in the plan.
HOW TO REACH: Bridge Logistics Inc., (513) 874-7444 or www.bridgelogisticsinc.com
