Build relationships
Making the best decisions to run a successful company requires having people
who challenge leadership decisions.
People will ask you what’s supposed to
happen next and will be open and candid with you about your decisions, and
trust plays a key role in developing these
types of relationships.
Jones will turn to people ranging from
his administrative assistant to senior
officers of the larger Turner organization
to give him feedback on decisions.
The more you can invest in personal
relationships, the more trust and feedback you will get.
“If there isn’t that trust, if the person
working for you doesn’t feel like you’re
looking out for their best interest or they
can afford to tell you some truth that you
don’t want to hear and not have it come
back on them, you’ll get better feedback,”
he says. “If you don’t do that, you’re going
to have trouble.”
Having those types of relationships
makes your decision-making more personal. Jones remembers earlier in his
career at Turner that he worked with a
guy named Tim. Jones saw Tim in the
lobby one day during a down year, and
Tim asked him, ‘Ken, where am I going
next? What’s my next job?’
Jones says it struck him like a sledgehammer that Tim just wasn’t his work
friend, he was Tim who was depending on
Jones for his livelihood. It put into focus
what the business development job was
about and how it’s not just about a sales
number but about providing jobs and a
livelihood for the people who work for
you.
The downside is that sometimes those
personal relationships make tough decisions even harder, especially when determining whether to make the best decision
for your people or the numbers.
“It’s a tough thing, but the only thing you
can do is deal with it as transparently and
openly as you possibly can,” Jones says.
To that end, he publishes employee
results so they see where they are and
there’s no question when issues are
raised.
“We’re talking the same language,
they’re seeing the same numbers I have,
what their peers have done, they know
where they fall on the scale, and it’s a
much easier conversation if we’re dealing with honest, truthful data,” he says. “It’s
much harder without a common language
to speak, without some objective measurement you can both point to to talk
about how things are going.”
Commitment to your decision, especially a tough one, is important. When you’re
faced with two options, you need to make
a decision, feel comfortable that you have
all the information and feedback available, stick with it, and not sway. If you do
sway, it doesn’t matter which side you end
up on since you’ll be going back and forth.
“It’s helpful prior to making the decision
to go back and forth, and I’ll waiver a lot,”
Jones says. “It’s a healthy conversation to
be going back and forth and make sure
you’re honestly hearing both sides of the
debate. If you make the decision quickly,
which is easy for a lot of us to do, all
you’re doing is convincing everybody to
go your way, and then you’re not going
anywhere. But if you truly have that
debate … you’re on the right path.
“But then there’s a time when you consciously have to say, ‘I’m making this decision, and this is the direction we’re going
to go,’” he says. “You have to mentally
cross that line and say, ‘I’ve crossed the
line now; there is no going back. This is
the direction we’re going to take.’”
While Jones still faces challenges, leveraging the company makes dealing with
those a bit easier. He says you need to
focus on creating relationships, establishing trust, and developing a forum where
you can connect with employees and get
their feedback.
“If you’re clear on your goals and they’re
meaningful and tangible, you can leverage
that to make the best decisions for your
organization,” Jones says. “You’ll have
good information and clear goals and will
have tapped into the resources that are
largely in people’s brains and not in manuals to make it work.”
HOW TO REACH: Turner Construction Co., (513) 721-4224 or
www.turnerconstruction.com
