Develop the Ones You Pick
Given that it’s an employee-owned company, GBS is a natural to believe in internal promotion. But the four-unit lumberyard based in Mauldin, S.C., puts its beliefs into action with a formal “Paths for Success” program open to all.
“We have what we call the best athlete program,” GBS president Bob Barreto says. “We’ve done a skills inventory of everybody in this company and everything they’ve done since they’ve been here, so when there is an opening, we evaluate who we’ve got that can fill it.” The result is that roughly half of all jobs are filled from the inside, sometimes in unusual ways: Lawanna Dendy went from receptionist to billing to human resources and now to director of administration. She moved up in part due to bachelor’s and master’s degrees that she earned with funding by GBS.
Dendy’s story brings up a reason why some dealers traditionally haven’t invested in training and development: fear that your effort spent grooming someone will come to naught if they leave you. Get over it, advise several people, including Bill Tucker, former head of the Florida Building Material Association and now a part-time headhunter. You might lose some folks, but the good ones will stick with you because you believed in them. Figures Barreto: “If you can keep half your people in the basket, that’s great.”
Every year, Lampert Yards’ Fesler seeks ways for a person she’s considering for a higher job to get a taste of what’s involved in that position. For instance, Lampert has a meeting every spring in which the yard managers give presentations on various topics. The key is to give them opportunities to fail in a safe manner.
One problem with training at a lot of places, Tucker says, is that workers are taught to do the same things that their predecessors did, without any consideration of alternatives. Bill Lee, a veteran sales and business consultant, has seen this often over the decades at various family-run LBM operations he’s worked with. His recommendation for third- and fourth-generation wannabe leaders: Go get a job somewhere else—not for just a few months but for long enough to get a couple of promotions before considering coming back.
Lee also suggests that, every year, you should write a list of three or four companies that you believe are better-run than your own and make a commitment to visit them. It’s a particularly good alternative if you don’t have the time to commit to a roundtable, he says.
The higher up you go, the more important it is to give future leaders outside opportunities. Bill Myrick spent 25 years at 84 Lumber, rising to chief operating officer. But when ProBuild hired him to be president and CEO, the dealer sent him to Harvard Business School’s executive training program. It influenced him profoundly.
Lee believes in sending people to executive programs, too, but he also finds value in self-education. “One of the smartest things my boss ever said to me was, ‘Whenever you read a book or watch a DVD, write down something that you would do differently,’” Lee says. “Identify where you waste time or what you can do to be more efficient and productive.”
