Follow up
Frey has spent more than a quarter of a century leading businesses, but he still remembers his roots as an operating and manufacturing guy. He spends nearly 5 percent of his time visiting UTC locations, during which he gauges whether the corporation is on track, reinforces messages and tries to understand how well employees understand the company’s mission, vision and strategy.
“It starts really with people’s reactions,” Frey says. “One develops a feel over years and years, and I can feel the tempo of a plant, I can understand how productivity is working and not working. I try as often as I can, in the office as well as on the production floor, to feel what that productivity is and talk to people about how they’re doing.
“Then I try to understand the processes. Most of the time I do spend at a business, unfortunately, gets wrapped up in meetings. But I try to spend time understanding a process or two and how it’s developing, particularly one of the critical initiatives that that business unit is working on.”
Observation of the environment and direct communication with those doing the work allow you to gain firsthand knowledge of whether your message is being correctly relayed throughout the entire organization. Your direct communication with employees also allows them to feel that you’re interested in them and assures them that all levels of leadership are on the same page.
Once the announcement was made that UTC would acquire Wells Cargo, Frey made a presentation at every company site that first week. It required him to travel to eight states.
With the assistance of the COO, the CFO and the former owner of Wells Cargo, he explained why they were making the acquisition, what it meant, what they were doing and how it was going to be put together within the company.
The acquisition allowed UTC to realize $4 million to $5 million in synergies and add a strong brand as its sixth company.
When UTC returned to a quarter of profitability this year, Frey sent a companywide e-mail with a photo of fireworks and asked employees to celebrate for the afternoon. The manufacturer expects to be profitable this year and anticipates continued growth and a stronger 2011. And, of course, the company plans to take more market share by sticking to its mission, vision and strategy.
“The building blocks of a winning organization are a pretty simple process understood by most experienced leaders,” Frey says. “But it’s pretty easy to drift away from those core fundamentals — what you’re trying to do — during difficult times. One of the most important things in leadership through downturns — it’s important all the time, but it becomes more important in a downturn — is to continue to keep in the forefront of your leadership and management the building blocks of a winning organization and what you’re about.”
How to reach: Universal Trailer Corp., (513) 671-3880 or www.universaltrailer.com
