Ask and listen
Gingo’s background in manufacturing served him well when he arrived at A. Schulman. He quickly noticed the company’s U.S. focus needed to shift, and the profitable overseas operations could have the answers. His discovery came from asking, listening and observing.
“Any business or staff position I’ve ever gone into, I generally ask from the start for reviews with each of my division heads and their key people,” Gingo says. “I would ask them what their activities were. It would be a presentation on their part, but it was informal in the sense that we would talk about what they were doing, what their goals were, how they had been established.”
When you’re stepping into a new role, you really need to get a handle on how the company is being operated and where the top managers see their division or department headed. You can’t do that from behind a desk.
So when Gingo arrived at A. Schulman, he did what he’s always done. He met with the division heads and their top reports. He started in the United States and repeated the process in Europe, Mexico and Asia.
To get a complete understanding of each division or operation, you can’t rely solely on the information you gather from the team calling the shots.
“Whenever I’m in an office, no matter where it is, I make an effort to go out and introduce myself to people and just talk to them,” Gingo says. “They have a lot of good insight into what’s really going on. As a leader, you sort of get a colored picture of the situation. You really have to check the points that (management) give you with the people that are living the points.”
When you’re striking up a conversation with employees, you don’t need in-depth details. You’re mainly looking for trends in repetitive answers.
“You say hello to them, and then you say, ‘What do you like about this job?’” Gingo says. “The second question is, ‘What don’t you like about this job?’ Some people are hesitant, but some people are quite open and talkative. You begin to hear patterns. Patterns are things like several people say, ‘This is what I like.’ That gives you an overall view of what’s going on in that division or in that office.”
If employees aren’t warming up to your questions, ask them about what they do and what their day is like. Through the conversation, you should get some indication of what about their job or the company is important to them.
Remember, you’re asking, listening and observing venture is to get an overall understanding of the entire company so you can later strategize for the future. You can learn a lot from engaging people like your customers and suppliers. By asking the right questions, you can get a better indication of what your company’s strengths and weaknesses are.
“One of the ways is talking to customers, visiting customers and finding out what the customer likes about the company, what the customer doesn’t like about the company,” Gingo says. “You can talk to suppliers. Suppliers sometimes give you, ‘Well, here’s your company’s reputation. Here’s what we hear about your company.’”
