Even before he converted LPK (Libby Perszyk Kathman) into an ESOP in 1994, Jerry Kathman had adopted an open-book management
style.
Bill Kagler, former president of Kroger, was on the international design agency’s board at the time and encouraged Kathman to be much more
inclusive and to share virtually everything.
“The salaries and personal development plans are private matters between an employee and his or her manager,” says Kathman, president
and CEO of LPK. “But a lot of the other stuff that companies tend to keep closely held, we think it’s wise not to hold that stuff tightly.”
By sharing targets and goals, Kathman has guided his company of 400 employees to 2005 revenue of $50 million.
Smart Business spoke with Kathman about how to find employees, his leadership style and how he handles mistakes.
Q: How would you describe your leadership style?
The leadership style grows out of the company culture. Our culture is best demonstrated by virtue of the fact we are an employee-owned company. We have made a choice to ensure stakeholders are stockholders.
We are a company that has a lot of relational authority to support our positional authority. People are in charge of units or operations. We
coach our management group to understand the importance of relational authority.
The behavior is everything; you need to model the behavior. The leader-servant idea guides us. Doors are open. We are all about nurturing
career development. We are an idea resource for our clients, and ideas need to be nurtured in a safe and supportive environment.
We celebrate successes. Moving knowledge around a company is a big challenge. For us, one of the mechanisms that people enjoy here are
“Knowledge Noshes.” It’s a regular way you gather to learn about a trend or a project, and we provide a free lunch.
We gather once a week and we’ll share a case study, which is a great opportunity for a team to celebrate their success in front of the company.
There are also announcements via e-mail of big business success and recognitions.
Praise in public, coach in private is something we do very well here.