Get buy-in
If you get Shearer’s voice mail when you call him, you’ll hear an interesting twist on the usual recorded greeting. “Hi, you’ve reached Bob Shearer,” the message begins. “I’m not here right now. I’m either on the other line or I may be down on the floor making chips.”
It may sound clichéd, but it’s the honest truth. In the company’s early years, Shearer was down on the warehouse floor making the chips, and he still goes down into the trenches. It’s a way to gain the respect of your employees.
“You have to be a person who’s out there doing the work, participating,” he says. “If people see that you’re passionate about what they are doing, they’ll respect you. I never ask somebody to do something that I wouldn’t do.”
Aside from engendering good will from the troops, Shearer has something else in mind when speaking with the people making the chips. Going straight to the source is the best way to find out if anything is wrong on the organization’s frontlines.
“If you have a problem that needs fixed, you’re better off asking the people who are doing the work,” he says. “Listen to what they have to say, and then usually you can make the right decisions. It makes it easier.”
It is the same principle as the birthday party meeting, where management can hear fresh ideas from the front lines of the business.
Whether on the factory floor or in a conference room, Shearer knows any company needs buy-in from its employees in order to succeed. He also knows a surefire way to get that crucial buy-in from his staff.
“If you listen to their ideas and you put a group of people in a room, you’re going to get some pretty creative ideas,” he says. “If it’s their idea, if it’s a group effort, all you have to do is support it. They’re going to make it happen.
“You’re going to automatically get their buy-in. If it’s their idea, they don’t want to see it fail. You can almost take it to the bank that it’s going to happen.”
Just by simply listening and being supportive, you can ensure your team will be heavily invested in the company’s strategic direction.
Of course, not every idea pitch you receive can be a blueprint for instant success. Shearer says you just have to use your own judgment to determine whether their idea is a good one. If you don’t think an idea will work for your company, the most important thing you have to do is explain why you’re nixing it. Otherwise, the person who proposed the idea will think you just dismissed it outright.
On the flip side of that, if you love an idea, make sure you recognize the person who proposed it. Shearer says he tries to make recognizing his associates part of his daily routine.
“I’ll do either a voice mail or a little note to somebody telling them what a good job they did,” he says. “People appreciate that.”
The other thing you have to do is be willing to accept mistakes.
“I always say to my people, ‘I have no problem if you’ve made mistakes doing things, because the one thing that proves to me is the fact that you’re doing something,’” he says, laughing. “Nobody is ever penalized for doing something that doesn’t work out, because if you don’t try, then you don’t know.”
Shearer encourages his associates to take risks, not only in their work but in their lives, as well.
“Take risks, do things, and set the bar higher for yourself,” he says. “If somebody’s debating, ‘Should I go back to school to further my education? It’s been a while since I’ve been in school; I don’t know if I can do it,’ I say, ‘Just do it. Go for it. You aren’t going to know if you don’t try.’”
His confidence in his employees is repaid when they return as better educated, more assured associates who will use what they’ve learned to help the company.
When he was stocking shelves and delivering groceries for his family’s store, Shearer learned the importance of treating employees well and giving people the opportunity to succeed. Many traits of Shearer’s Foods’ culture can be traced back to before the company was known for potato chips.
“It all stems back to hiring the right people and having them do the job,” Shearer says. “That’s the key, because once you have that, the others come naturally.”
HOW TO REACH: Shearer’s Foods Inc., (330) 767-3426 or www.shearers.com
