Invest time with employees
PartsSource employees eat — a lot. Each Wednesday, Dalton
has a lunch meeting with a different group of employees.
“Everything is centered around food,” he says. “If you feed
people, they show up.”
One lunch is with that month’s top 20 to 25 performers, and
nobody from leadership is allowed. He asks them how they
think the company can improve, and from that lunch, Dalton
also selects three people to teach training classes for other
employees.
“They may say, ‘I don’t want to teach,’ but I say, ‘You’re here
today because people have recognized you as a leader in this
company, and I want other people to know how do they develop those leadership qualities.’”
Personally recognizing and encouraging employees to do this
improves their leadership capabilities.
Another lunch is with that month’s new employees to talk
about the hiring and training process. He asks if they thought
it was fair and honest and how to make it more effective.
Employees have suggested discussing other openings with
candidates, as sometimes they’re not aware of different positions that may be more suited to them. They’ve also suggested
shadowing employees to get a better feel for what’s involved.
Both have been implemented but not by Dalton’s doing alone.
When these ideas arise, the group discusses each and chooses one to move forward with. Then one person is assigned to
follow up with HR about implementing it. The HR manager listens to the ideas because 70 percent of her variable comp rides
on retention.
“Her job is to make sure we have happy assets,” he says.
Most leaders think their top priorities are spending time with
customers, but Dalton challenges that your employees are
your customers.
“They see more people in the next two hours after lunch than
I’m able to see in two years, so I leverage,” Dalton says. “… My
best investment is treating these people in such a way that they
can treat everyone else such a way.”
If you don’t take time to truly talk to employees, then you’re
wasting your money.
“It costs us $7,500 to recruit and train an employee,” he says.
“If I put $7,500 on this table, and I had a trash can and said,
‘Here’s what you do when you don’t take care of your employees.’” (Dalton slides the imaginary money into the trash can
and then continues.) “That’s what you do when you don’t have
process. That’s what you do when you don’t become intimate
with them and get to know them.’
“You take a $7,500 investment, and you say, ‘I have no idea if
this is going to work or not.’ Nobody — Warren Buffett, name
anyone you want — is willing to do that, but that’s what a CEO
does who doesn’t … take the time to really respect the asset.”