Rick Bryan was ready for a change. He and his staff at Bryan
Equipment Sales Inc. had been going through the same old
process each year to develop the company’s key strategies for the
coming year. They all knew it was time to move on to something
new. “It had kind of gone through its cycle,” says Bryan, the company’s president. “We had been doing that strategy session for the
last eight years and had done well with it, but eight years is a long
time to do the same type of strategy planning.” Just as the company was itching for something different, Tom Jones, the company’s chairman, happened to meet a gentleman from a consulting
firm at a chamber of commerce meeting. Over the past two year,
the consultant has helped the company, an independent distributor of STIHL power tools and products, develop a new planning
process that is more technical and allows for more interaction
from employees.
Bryan says that you can get stuck in the same old routine, day in
and day out. Having initiatives and goals in place can help keep
employees on track, so they know what they should be working
for each day. They have also helped the company continue to grow
during the past 60 years in business.
“It’s important that we set initiatives and goals that are tied to our
growth goal that everybody throughout the company can look to
and say, ‘This is what we’re going to do this year, and we’re going
to do it because we feel like we’re going to hit X percent growth,’”
he says. “We believe that if we do X, then at the end of the year, it
is an element to our success.”
By developing strategies each year and involving employees in
the process, Bryan has set a path that his employees have bought
in to and are striving to reach together.
