Learn what four companies did to keep their employees engaged and the business thriving in an economic downturn.
As a Business Solutions Consultant, I train employees, and have interviewed companies about their success for a monthly e-newsletter. Over the years, I saw some commonalities in the companies that remained successful even during hard economic conditions. Here are four examples of these companies and how they succeeded at these principles.
- Employees get the credit for their company’s success. Companies know the value of working together and showing respect for the knowledge their employees bring to the organization. Alliant Energy asked all employees including those in the trenches for ideas on how they could cut down on costs and increase revenue during an economic downturn. Bob Hiatt, Manager IPL Technical Training reported that some of the best ideas came from the people working at the ground level. Several of their ideas not only saved the company money but improved efficiency. Each employee brought a different approach to the table, was heard and collectively, then they worked together to implement crucial cost-saving ideas across the company.
- Management knows their employees as people, not just workers. Supervisors take the time to talk with their employees about their personal lives before moving onto business. Larry Raymon, founder of Raymon Donco Air Distribution Equipment, gave me a tour of his company. As we walked around the factory floor, he greeted each employee by name and asked how their child was getting along in college or how their husband was doing after his surgery. Raymon told me that he greeted each employee personally on all three shifts before they started their workday. Even after decades when he was no longer able to meet them in person for each shift, he still connected with them daily. Raymon also reported he had never had a problem with the union because they were able to sit down and talk openly about issues. This came from the trust his employees have because of his caring leadership style.
- Understands how people think and works with these tendencies instead of trying to change them. Sutherland Printing is a fourth generation company. Dave Sutherland Junior (IX) is the newest generation to take over as CEO. When I met with Dave Jr., he told me about how more mistakes happen on the line during the holidays. He explained people’s minds are on holiday planning instead of their work so his teams implement more checkpoints to catch errors sooner thus costing the company less time and money to fix them. These times of high error can be easily tracked to determine when to implement additional checkpoints to decrease errors. Instead of trying to force people to keep their minds on work, he changed the system to accommodate people’s natural inclination for mind drift. He even put in more checkpoints for his own work, since his mind was on graduation with his master’s degree at the time.
- Hire attitude and train them so they will want to stay with the company. Manatts, a family-owned construction company spends time and money to hire the right employees for the right positions and trains them for success. Investing in their employees not only keeps them safe on the job but also employees feel valued. They find talent and promote from within the organization. But they are not expected to know how to become a supervisor, they are trained and given the support and tools needed to succeed in their new roles.
