When Greg Faherty looked at his company last April, he saw too much manufacturing capacity and too many people serving a
rapidly stagnating new housing market.
But before taking the drastic action of
consolidating two of the window and
patio door manufacturer’s plants,
Faherty, president and CEO of Atrium
Cos. Inc., sought the input of his leadership team, customers and vendors.
“We had to take a look at what we could
do in terms of shutting down some of that
capacity and reducing our cost,” he says.
“We have a couple of facilities in Southern
California. We decided that we could serve
our Arizona and Nevada markets from
California fine.”
The move — which consolidated the
company’s Tolleson, Ariz., and Anaheim,
Calif., manufacturing facilities into a single California location — shouldn’t have
surprised anyone. Though the company
experienced revenue growth during the
first few years of the nationwide housing
slump — moving from $720 million in
2004 to $840 million in 2006 — 75 percent of its sales originate in the new
home construction market. But even
with such conspicuous market indicators, Faherty couldn’t pull the trigger
without first consulting with his people
to get their input.
“You get input from your people, you
get input from your customers, you get
input from your suppliers,” he says.
What’s more, he can’t imagine any
leader that wouldn’t.
“I can’t imagine a leader that on his
own says, ‘This is what we’re going to do
now,’ and his team disagrees, and he
wants them to go out and implement it
perfectly,” he says. “He’s going to have
trouble.”
To avoid trouble during times of
duress, maintaining a two-way flow of
communication with your key constituents can make all the difference.
Your employees, customers and vendors
supply you with the information you
need to make the best decisions, and
being able to explain the rationale
behind your decisions can facilitate
understating while quelling anxiety or
anger.
“You have to respond with the people
who have provided input, and if you
decide to go in a different direction, you
need to explain why you’re doing what
you’re doing,” Faherty says.
That’s exactly what Atrium’s president
did in the events leading up to the company’s consolidation. By seeking input
from his key constituents and then articulating the decision that resulted,
Faherty successfully navigated through
a tumultuous situation while keeping the
5,000-employee company charted toward
a brighter horizon.
