Internal relationships
As MV competes for larger contracts, Monson sees people as the
most critical factor to the company’s successful growth.
“Usually the most important factor in selecting a company [for a
contract] is the general manager you propose to run that local
office,” Monson says. “Finding enough general managers is a real
key and is probably the biggest limiter to our growth. It’s not capital — it’s just people.”
As the company’s employee base grew by 30 to 40 percent each
year, Monson saw MV outgrowing some of its people’s capabilities.
“It became apparent to me — as cracks started showing up in
things like fringe benefits not being solid or excess amounts of
complaints from employees about their benefits or payroll not
being properly administered — the person who was doing our
human resources function was not a human resources professional,” Moultrie says. “While we certainly gave this person time to
improve, it became clear to me about three years ago that this person was in over his head.”
With people being key, Monson hired a recruiter who helped him
bring in a human resources executive with experience at much
larger organizations, such as Charles Schwab and Avis.
“We started bringing in other people that I didn’t know but who
worked for companies much larger than ours and knew the kind
of systems and programs we had to have in place to be a larger
company,” Monson says.
As he brought people on, he used an industrial psychologist to
help evaluate personalities, strengths and weaknesses of candidates to ensure the company got a balanced fit and didn’t end up
with a group of yes-men and yes-women.
“If you don’t have a diverse team in terms of personality and values, you tend to get this group-think, and you could go down a path
that later, when you look back, you say to yourself, ‘Well, how
could we make this strategic mistake?’” he says.
Additionally, Monson needs managers who genuinely care about
and listen to their people.
“When you have a problem that develops and you call your boss,
the first response they should receive is, ‘What can I do to help
you?’” Monson says. “It’s not, ‘Oh crap, you have a problem,’ or getting angry … it’s a culture of how can we better support our field
offices and, in turn, they develop the trust to call us if they’re having a problem.”
To help foster that trust, employees have a toll-free line to dial if
they need to speak directly to Monson or the founders about an
issue. Listening to employees and collaboratively solving problems
helps them feel valued.
“You have to have a culture where people are free to stretch their
abilities, where people will make mistakes from time to time,”
Monson says. “When they do make mistakes, how you react to a
mistake is critical. If people believe they won’t get shot, then
they’re more likely to come and tell you early on. If people believe
that they’re going to have a blindfold put on them and tied to a
stake if they make a mistake, then they’re going to hide things until
they blow up and cost you more money and credibility in the market.”
Monson also gives his people the authority to make decisions by
creating smaller business units within the company, each with its
own management chain.
“It would be tempting to say, ‘We could have some synergy and
reduce the level of middle management in our company,’” Monson
says. “That would be a big risk because sooner or later, that would
affect our customers and employees and cost us money.”
To know when to expand that span of control, Monson says to
just observe.
“That’s just kind of having a feel for the business, and when you
start seeing cracks come in the walls, you know it’s time to build a
stronger wall,” he says.
And as Monson continues to build stronger walls, he sees the
results of his construction all around him. His initial fears have
long subsided as MV Transportation has grown from a local $24
million company in 1999 to a national transportation provider generating about $450 million in annual revenue, and Monson knows
it’s only because he’s done for his people exactly what MV’s
founders let him do.
“While we all engage in discussion about the future of the company, and they remain the majority shareholders here, they have
lived up to their word to let me run the company, and that’s what I
do.”
HOW TO REACH: MV Transportation Inc., (707) 863-8980 or www.mvtransit.com