Interact with your staff
Analyzing your employees to make sure you understand their needs is an important process for Stewart. He sees the benefits in having annual reviews to keep employees informed on how the company is doing and how each employee is producing, but you have to have continuous discussions with your workers to really get the point across and see their capabilities.
“You have to get down in the trenches sometimes,” he says. “I go out in the shop every day and try to talk to people. Some people, when they get to higher positions, they kind of think they are a little above everybody else, and that starts creating walls.”
Stewart doesn’t get to talk with every employee on a daily basis, but talks to his staff and the staff below his staff every day.
“Obviously, today, with the market conditions the way they are, we talk constantly about our business,” he says. “That’s one of the advantages of having a smaller company, I can be more proactive and deeply involved in the workings of the company.”
While interacting with staff seems as simple as making the time and approaching the employees, you have to create an environment where they feel comfortable speaking with you.
One way Stewart creates that environment is having luncheons in his office with about 10 people.
“We do this once a week, and so in about six months, we get to talk to everybody in the company,” he says. “I found that to be a very effective way to get people to open up. Sometimes, you have to kind of break the ice a bit. Once you get people talking, even the entry-level people in the shop, they’ll start talking about their concerns, about rumors they hear. I found it’s been a very, very effective and inexpensive way to communicate with a company.”
Stewart breaks the ice by talking about the Steelers or the Penguins, the weather, or anything that will get people talking, before getting into the business side of things.
Someone in the management staff also has lunch with the group, and Stewart and the manager take notes about ideas and topics discussed.
“We try to get back to that person and say, ‘Here’s what we’re doing in that particular case,’” he says. “They may have a concern about their computer or about why we did something a certain way. We try to say, ‘Well, here’s how we do it. There is a reason for it.’ Or, ‘Hey, you have a good idea; let’s try it.’”
The input they get at the luncheons also helps to create buy-in for ideas. If someone gives you a good idea, keep the person involved in the process.
“If you come up with an idea, you have to help implement it,” he says. “You can’t just throw out ideas and walk away. Try to set up a team and figure out how to do it. Sometimes the ideas are good; sometimes they’re bad. But we’ll kind of let them run loose on that until they determine themselves if it’s a good idea or not. Then we give them the support to do it if it’s a good idea.”
During discussions with staff, don’t be the one doing all the talking. To be able to really analyze your employees and understand their needs, you need to listen more than speak.
“Listen to people around you, listen to customers, listen to your cohorts, listen to the people that report to you — make sure you get a full understanding of what is going on to get the real message,” he says. “Obviously, you have to be considerate of others and respectful of their opinions. But at the same time, you have to still be a leader and control them. To me, being a good leader is being very open.”
Interacting with employees also gives you a first-rate way to make sure the staff understands the focus of where the company wants to head.
“I get that message out constantly right down to our floor, our manufacturing floor, to make sure everybody understands what our main objectives are,” he says. “Our objectives are to grow our business and obviously make a profit for our shareholder and to have the right image with our customers.”
Staying in touch with all levels of employees is important.
“You have to engage all your employees, right from the person sweeping floors up to my level,” Stewart says. “They are equally as important, and they all have an important job to perform.”
