Be patient
One of the hardest parts of leading a company that has
grown beyond its roots is the challenge of keeping in touch
with a larger group of people working in multiple locations.
The bigger a company gets, the harder it can be to communicate with everyone.
Whelan has taken steps like printing a card with the company’s mission and values on it that every employee is expected
to carry. It’s one way of making sure everyone is clear on those
things and that they understand they play a part in the company’s future.
But Twardowski needed more than just cards. He needed
leaders who could develop the close bonds with employees
that he no longer could because of the company’s growth.
“Leadership is not character traits,” Twardowski says. “It’s a
set of behaviors that influence the behavior of others, hopefully in a way that makes those employees more likely to
achieve organizational goals.”
When you are building a team, avoid making rash decisions.
“You don’t build effective teams by filling holes with the
wrong people,” Twardowski says. “The cards are irrelevant,
your actions are irrelevant, communication is irrelevant and
the service is going to be poor.”
Experience in the industry is important in making a good
hiring decision. But Twardowski puts much more weight on
a person’s character and work ethic.
In order to get that kind of insight on a person, you have to
look beyond the resume and spend time with the candidates
and get to know them. Learn about who they are and how they
match up with your leadership philosophies. Perhaps just as
important, don’t compromise your organization’s values.
“Our values are very traditional and conservative,”
Twardowski says. “They are not values that are learned or
lived by once you join our organization. They are values you
should already have when you join the organization.”
It’s impossible to expect 100 percent of your hiring decisions
to turn out just as you expect. But Whelan has found success
using testing, psychological profiling and third-party analysis.
It all comes back to being patient.
“It’s a very tedious process with a lot of personal interaction,” Twardowski says. “We do make mistakes. We just have
to try to minimize the mistakes.”
