Thinking Ahead Each remodeler we spoke with discussed employee development in the context of a long-term, transitional relationship, rather than a rapid transformation. Zimmer has mapped out a four-year strategy for helping Kelly develop from lead carpenter to estimator. This year, Kelly will spend 75% of his hours in the field, and 25% on estimating, learning at “opportune times when the production load isn’t as heavy,”
Zimmer says. The 2006 plan is for 50/50, and 2007 is for 25/75. Besides letting Kelly learn estimating at a comfortable pace, the incremental approach gives Zimmer time to steadily notch up his sales volume and production capacity.
Ron Trull of Trull Building Co., Newtown Square, Pa., also has a gradual development plan for a longtime lead carpenter. At 64, Trull plans to simultaneously grow his business and start backing out of it, and he wants 23-year carpenter Steve Ciccarelli to eventually take his place. “This guy has shown total dedication to me,” Trull says. “So wouldn’t it be nice to hand it off to him?”
Trull’s means to this end began last July, when he made Ciccarelli his production manager — a job Trull himself had always filled. Other than providing some basic parameters and the phone numbers of a few production managers, Trull asked the younger man to establish the position for the company. “I just think it’s better for someone to invent their own position,” Trull says. “They’re going to buy into it much more.”
Trull says Ciccarelli has been on a roll since his first day as production manager. And, with his own time freed up, Trull is more productive. “I’m essentially reinventing my position, too.”
Moments of Growth Consultant Zanola advises never taking a key employee for granted or letting them feel underappreciated. “Sometimes you have to be a little more creative with the organizational chart,” he says. “Get them on a special advisory board or something.”
Similarly, don’t presume that an employee is developing on his or her own initiative. Jim Strite of Strite Design + Remodel views employee development as the responsibility of the leader. “We see our employees as assets, in the sense that a machine needs to be maintained and respected to run at the highest efficiency,” the Boise, Idaho, remodeler says. Strite wants each of his employees to blossom, and he goes to great lengths to help them understand “where we’re going and why we’re going there,” and to empower them to turn challenges into opportunities.
Strite holds no quarter for the “victimism” and refusal to take responsibility that he believes plague many remodeling companies. “We’re constantly trying to take that mentality and turn it around. ‘You have the ability to respond,’” he tells his employees about run-ins with difficult clients or tradespeople. This boosts accountability, strengthens client/trade relations, and creates a sense of trust that Strite says makes employees feel secure at his company and invested in its success.
This philosophy becomes evident the first time prospective employees visit Strite’s office. Upon walking in the door, they are given a notebook outlining some basic expectations, including attending weekly all-staff meetings, reading and discussing business books as a team, and practicing what Strite calls “the 7 habits,” based on Stephen Covey’s best-selling book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
Later steps in the hiring process include an open-ended interview that probes for “confrontational experiences,” personality profiling tests, and having the prospect sit in on a general company meeting. Of his most recent hire, Strite says, “I think it was three months from the time we first met him to when we hired him. You’re gonna lose people, but boy, is the screening process worth it.”
Many bosses, Strite believes, focus on what employees do wrong. He advises focusing instead on “what they’re doing right and how you can further develop them.”
What about employees who feel they have peaked and have few prospects for growth? Strite says to ask them what they want, because “there’s always a learning opportunity.” Strite consultant/salesman Michael Snow joined the company eight years ago after an unhappy stint at an architecture firm. He told Strite that he wanted to develop to the point where he would be paid strictly on commission. “I like the idea of being able to control my future,” Snow says. “I learned from my last job that you can work really, really hard and not be noticed for it.”
Having accomplished his first objective, Snow is now working to be licensed as an architect by the end of the year. To help him reach that goal, he can set his own hours and work at home as needed, even as he continues to finesse his sales skills through Strite’s formal development programs and unstructured learning opportunities. Driving back from client meetings, for instance, the two men often conduct postmortems, sometimes troubleshooting, sometimes role-playing, other times just listening to a sales CD. “There’s never a wasted moment,” Snow says.
Who’s Key?
Joe Zanola, president of consulting, training, and research firm Zanola Co., identifies the most pivotal employees as those with the highest levels of responsibility — typically president/ owner, production manager, sales manager, office manager, and lead carpenter. As the company grows, each key position needs another key person below it. This “duplication” mitigates the risk of being dependent on one person who knows how the shop is organized, for instance, or who knows where a prospect is in the decision-making process.
Zanola helps remodelers understand when they will need to fill key positions, and the skills and attributes of the ideal candidates. First understand your needs, he says, and then develop a really good job description and a rigorous training program. Attitude and potential almost always trump experience, Zanola adds, a sentiment expressed by others interviewed for this article.
Are long-time employees always key? Not necessarily, Zanola says. Although most remodelers need to reduce turnover, “some may not have enough turnover,” he explains. As a business grows, its “fit” may change. Zanola client Tom Riggs says he has let go of two 20-plus-year employees in the past 4 years, including his vice president, “a wonderful salesman,” because they weren’t team players.
“The way I look at it,” Zanola says, “is if you had a serious decision to make about the future of the company, positive or negative, who would you want around the table with you?”