Be flexible
Even when he began releasing the strategy to the rest of Graybar’s employees, Reynolds says it wasn’t written in stone.
“We drew it up after we got all the details and presented it to everybody,” Reynolds says. “I took it out via field visits and teleconferences to the entire organization. We had posters made up. It takes a long time for people to realize you have a strategy and what a strategy is.”
You need to realize that while you’ve been spending long days and nights working on the strategy, it’s still new to many in your company.
“You think you have it, you go out and talk about it and people say, ‘I don’t know our strategy,’” Reynolds says. “You just have to keep reinforcing it. Listen to what people are saying and watch for verbal clues of whether they are buying in or not. Let them challenge you on what you say and why you’re saying it and what you do and why you’re doing it. Make it clear to them the role they play. The most important thing with a strategy is to let people speak.”
One of the challenges to getting feedback from regular employees is often a reluctance to speak up, something Reynolds readily acknowledges.
“If I walk into a meeting and say, ‘Does anybody have any questions?’ we’re going to have 15 minutes of mandatory silence before anybody starts opening up,” Reynolds says. “I don’t think it’s because I’m intimidating. It’s because the position is intimidating.”
Reynolds attempts to conquer that problem by giving employees cards on which they can write their questions anonymously.
“[On] those cards, it says, ‘This is your ticket to the meeting and everybody has to come with at least one question,’” Reynolds says. “That really opens up the communication because they don’t need to sign the card. They don’t even have to hand me the card. Nobody is put on the spot. It’s the group that has come together and the group that I’m speaking to, not individuals.”
Reynolds feels like his approach at fostering inclusion and collaboration has resulted in a more defined strategy for Graybar. In addition to being more definitive, the strategy developed after Sept. 11 was also kind to the company’s budget.
While some tough decisions had to be made in the way of employment and other costs, the $4.4 billion company was ultimately able to weather the storm.
“We’re in a much better financial position than we’ve been in for years,” Reynolds says. “We also have better systems in place, which have helped us.”
But even the most well-conceived strategy requires a little tweaking from time to time.
“It’s the same thing as any strategy you put in,” Reynolds says. “You need to go back and keep revisiting. You can’t put it in the drawer and pull it out at the end of the year and say, ‘Did we hit it?’ It’s not the plan and it’s not the results. It’s the execution.”
*Editor’s note: Robert A. Reynolds Jr. retired from Graybar as executive chairman of the board on January 1, 2013.
How to reach: Graybar Electric Co. Inc., (800) 472-9227 or www.graybar.com
