| Les Schwab is my tire store for life. I’ve been buying car parts and services from Les for thirty years and will continue to do so. Wheel alignment is one of Les’ services.
When a car is out of alignment, tires wear unevenly and quickly. When there is confusion and misalignment with the vision, strategy and expectations of the business, leaders wear out, disengage and slow down. Time that should be spent growing the business gets wasted by undoing bad decisions, correcting mistakes, blaming and covering up.
The craziness of the recent past and the many difficult decisions that leaders have had to make has resulted in more and greater misalignment in many businesses. If only we could put our businesses, exec teams, leaders and employees on the rack for an hour with a trained mechanic, wrenches and shims and emerge an hour later with full alignment.
America’s snowboarder, Sean White makes the 1260 McTwist look easy. Professional leaders create and maintain alignment and make it look easy. Recovery is happening. It always does. Things have changed, they always do. If you need to reorient your business and people for success, here are a few thoughts:
- Vision Matters. The toughest part of a leader’s job in getting people aligned is creating a vision and mission that is worthy of commitment and dedication of good talented people.
There is a very long list of companies with vision statements on the wall. There is a short list of companies where the vision is actually understood from the top floor to the shop floor and is palpable in the culture. And then there is Les Schwab: extremely successful, fiercely independent and everything always says service, value and a genuine concern for the customer. Yet there is no written vision statement hanging on the wall. You can’t find it on the corporate website or anywhere else other than through doing business with them. Les Schwab has a very clear, consistent mission and not much else matters except that everything in the business reiterates the culture.
- On the bus, off the bus, under the bus. People, and that includes leaders at all levels, are much more likely to be aligned to a course of action that they have participated in creating.
It comes from serious, open, honest dialogue and debate as well as a collaborative spirit. It comes from a unique ability to access the best thinking in a group of smart people and assimilate it into a course of action that people can believe in and will engage in.
Alignment is not always immediate. It's easy when people are on the bus from the outset; it is not necessarily best. Off the bus is another viable option but not until there is clear understanding as to why someone has not jumped on the bus immediately. Remember, there have been times in history when the minority opinion is right and is based on something important that others are not seeing. Tossing people under the bus is the non-viable option. It takes a bite out of efficiency, slows things down and has no place in a high performance culture.
- Sounds like the tail wagging the dog. It is heresy, the thought that a business needs to align itself to needs of individual employees. The employment relationship is becoming more of a partnership in progressive businesses of all sizes. Competition for talent will heat up with the recovery.
The work force is looking quite different and if you want to get and keep talented people, change is in the air. Baby boomers were supposed to retire but many cannot afford to do so and are also quite healthy and want to continue working. The talent pool for professionals is global, cross-generational and the demand is growing. Leaders drive project teams with members living around the globe.
Unemployment is at 10% yet we can’t fill machinist, mechanic and other skilled trade vacancies.
Get ready because “One-Size-Fits-All “ traditional approaches to compensation, benefits, work schedules, working environments, employee engagement, cultural integration, communication and more are getting exploded and new ways are being defined by progressive businesses.
Hunkering down is over. If your business had to do it, it was a temporary security measure, not a strategy for the future. The agony of defeat (1:43) may still be vivid but is hopefully becoming a memory. The challenge in emerging from “hunker down” is to leave behind the behaviors and mindset that accompanied it.
A Look in the Mirror
 What is your level of commitment to your company's purpose and direction? - How committed are you to your team?
- What is the personal cost of misalignment to you?
- What are you going to do about it?
Lagniappe
It is a term from Cajun cooking that means a little something extra that makes all the difference. Each month we make a contribution to a worthy charity in recognition of a person who has provided something extra service that made a difference.
Tuesday evening last week, I realized my car battery was getting weak. Early Wednesday morning, I headed to the local Les Schwab tire and accessory shop to get a new battery. I was there at 7am and realized they did not open until 8am. The door was unlocked and the crew was inside preparing for the day. I was welcomed in, seated with a cup of fresh brewed coffee, a newspaper. Matt Lauer, Meredith Viera and Ann Curry were on the flat screen and I was out of there by 7:25am, gone with a new battery and headed to Portland 35 minutes before they opened. This is yet another one of 30 years of examples as to why Les Schwab is my Tire, Battery and Accessory store for life and if you live in the west they should be yours too.
Big thanks to Assistant Manager Nick Wezenberg for the outstanding hospitality and something special service. A contribution will be made to the local schools foundation scholarship fund to support a graduating senior who will attend an automotive trade school program.
I appreciate the good service and products we get every day as a result of all the leaders who keeping things working. Thanks for reading Boek to Business but more than that, for keeping the wheels of commerce turning.
If it is time for you to take action to improve alignment and build greater leadership capacity for better business results, let’s talk. Remember, we provide a complimentary High Performance Leadership Forum.
Tell me how Boek to Business can be improved so that it will have the greatest value to you. I hope you will forward this to a friend or colleague. Please use the forward button on the newsletter to do so.
Best Wishes,
Randy Boek
ROUTE 2, Inc.
5400 Carillon Point
Building 5000, 4th Floor
Kirkland, WA 98033
425-359-8506
randyb@route2results.com
www.route2results.com |
