In the midst of major change, Gary Graves has provided stability at American Laser Centers.
Last year, Graves was appointed CEO of the company when two private equity firms became majority owners. During the personnel changes that accompanied the transition, Graves developed his employees’ trust by proving himself a consistent, approachable leader.
“People that trust their leaders will tend to push hard, take risks and put their all into the job,” says Graves, whose company posted 2007 revenue of about $150 million. “If they don’t trust, they’ll be watching the clock and wondering what they’re going to be doing that weekend.”
As the 1,600 employees of the laser hair removal company began trusting him enough to give him their input, Graves brought both new and inherited talent together to strengthen the company.
Smart Business spoke with Graves about how to establish trust with your employees.
Establish your stability. People are fundamentally the same across businesses in terms of their dreams and aspirations, how people want to be treated. I’ve found certain things that work for me, and I continue to bring them along in whatever setting I’m in.
You have to be predictable and consistent. People don’t want to sit around wondering, ‘How’s this guy going to react to this or that?’ They like to know, if this happens, this is how people will react. Anybody
that’s ever worked for somebody that’s unpredictable or inconsistent [can tell you] that’s not a great situation.
It will take a little time. There’s no speech or big town-hall meeting you have and say, ‘Well, I’m going to be consistent.’ You just have to demonstrate it through your actions as events unfold. People see how you react to success, people see how you react to failures, when things are down, when things are up.
What’s worked for me is being also emotionally balanced. If, in the downtimes, you’re running around yelling and panicking, the organization is probably going to panic, as well, and not focus on the things they need to do to improve it. They’re just going to focus on self-preservation.
As time unfolds, people will see you in a variety of situations and see that you’ve been consistent in how you deal with the good news and the bad news.
