Implement the strategies
Once your strategies are in place and you have formed that
buy-in with those involved in the development, you need to start
implementing the strategies and involving the employees. Each
strategy at Bryan Equipment is given an owner, and that person
then sets the timeline and action plan for the year to achieve that
strategy. Having an owner in charge of each strategy makes sure
that it is being worked on and achieved by employees.
“You’ve got to have an owner; somebody’s got to be accountable in the end,” he says. “Did it get done or not, was it successful or not, did it achieve results and goals at the end?”
Developing the timeline and plan is the sole responsibility of the
owner, but the staff is there to provide guidance to him or her.
The goals within the plan have to be measurable so employees
can actually reach them.
“If it is not measurable, then it is not worth doing,” Bryan says.
“Would anyone watch the Super Bowl if we did not keep score?”
You need to make sure the timeline proposed for achieving each
goal is reasonable and that all resources needed to achieve it are
available to the owner of each goal. All numbers and statistics for
the goals are measured, then reviewed monthly to determine what
type of progress is being made.
Employees are measured through progress reports, and once they
achieve the goals, they are compensated through bonuses. Tying
bonuses directly into the action plan not only holds employees
accountable but also gets them motivated about achieving the goals.
“The employees are recognized at the end of the year with, hopefully, a substantial check that shows they achieved their goal that
helped us all reach our sales and profit goal,” Bryan says.
There are points, though, when working on the strategies, that
employees learn that the goals may be set too high and need to be
readjusted. Bryan says as long as employees bring evidence as to
why the goal is too high and everyone agrees on it, the goal can be
reset.
As the year goes on and challenges come up, it’s easy to let the
strategies slip away. You need to keep them at the forefront and reinforce them so everyone remains focused on them.
“You get reactive,” Bryan says. “It’s in the upfront process that these
five or six or however many you might come up with are always
proactive and going to make a difference for the following 12 months.
We meet monthly with our staff. The first three slides we show at
every meeting every month are our mission statement, our strategy,
and our five or six initiatives for the next 12 months, so it’s in front of
every employee monthly.”
Bryan says the strategies the company has developed through
this process have led to successes and helped the company grow.
For example, one of the strategies in 2008 was to achieve 58 percent of orders coming through their system electronically. The
company was at 40 percent at the beginning of 2008 and had
already reached 60 percent by September.
Bryan says developing and implementing new strategies can help
you deal with changes that happen to your business.
“If you continue to do the same thing every day and expect change,
that’s not going to happen,” Bryan says. “The initiatives and strategies are trying to get out of that, doing the same thing day after day
after day, and then looking at yourself at the end of the year and saying, ‘Why didn’t we grow?’ Even if we picked six bad ones and then
don’t grow, at least we tried something. If we come in and do the
same old, same old every day, I’m not sure we would make it another 60 years.”
HOW TO REACH: Bryan Equipment Sales Inc., (513) 248-2000 or www.bryanequipment.com
