Steady the ship. A lot of times you have to stand at the very bow of the ship and tell your people that the waves aren’t all that big — even if you know they’re big.
Communication takes on an added layer of importance in this economy. It wasn’t too long ago, maybe three months ago that unemployment was kicking up, people were scared, but we came right out and told our people that because of the conservative nature in which we’ve run his company, we think we’re in a good position to weather this storm.
We’re all going to continue to chip away, but we want you all to know that things are good and we’re going make it. We also tried to spur some aggressiveness by telling our people that this was an opportunity to take some market share away from our weaker competitors.
When there are wins, you certainly celebrate them, and you celebrate them in different ways. When certain groups have wins, we’re very quick to talk about it louder than usual. You want people to overhear successes. But by the same token, if we stub our toe as a company, you want people to hear about that, so you can take the opportunity to pick them up and tell them that we’ll get it next time. It all comes back to communication. You have to communicate the good, the bad and the ugly.
Encourage and reward. I’ve never been successful at creating something where people give me ideas, but I’ve been successful at making them feel a part of something in which they wanted to share those ideas.
That’s the goal. Recognition is huge. There is an old saying that people will die for a trophy. People will also stay at work late for a bonus. Attaboys are huge, and I probably don’t do them as often as I should.
But you also have to draw the line on incentives at some point. It has to remain special. If it ever becomes routine, you’re blowing it. You can’t clearly pinpoint a place where it becomes routine, but you have to be constantly aware of it.
Your direct reports need to help you set that culture. To do that, you have to demand that what you are giving them, they are giving to their people. You see that in the relationships they have with their people. You can tell if what you are saying and demonstrating is working by the relationships they have.
When you get things on a personal level and your employees know that you care and that your managers care, that’s what employees want. People want to know that the company cares about them.
How to reach: NT Logistics Inc., (469) 362-5000 or www.ntlogistics.com
