President's Message - Trading Places

by Benjamin Rand

Recently, Jeff Kryszak of K-TECHnologies and Joe McMahon of Audubon Machinery switched places and ran each other's businesses for a week. This generated a lot of publicity focusing on the uniqueness and creativity of their idea. However, I found it instructive, less because of its uniqueness than because it illustrated and reinforced some timeless truths. 

The first lesson is that a fresh set of eyes can see things that those most familiar with a business cannot. That was the whole idea behind switching places. Joe and Jeff recognized what many experienced managers know; that after years of running a business, it can be difficult to see what should be changed or to identify improvement opportunities. How can that happen? Well, the CEO's role is to focus on the future, to look outside the business at clients, competitors and the market, so the CEO will rarely see internal improvement opportunities. The role of managers and employees is to execute day-to-day business as efficiently as possible, which often means putting a process in place, then always following that process. Obviously, it is very difficult to follow directions efficiently while always asking, "Why?" Many employees are reluctant to offer their improvement ideas fearing that they will be ignored or criticized. So over time the business gets into a rut and stops seeing opportunities for improvement.

There are several ways to avoid this trap. Many large companies hire someone – Continuous Improvement Manager or Lean Champion are typical titles – whose job it is to look for improvement opportunities everywhere, all the time. These resources can be expensive, but they should pay for themselves every year with the savings they generate. Another approach is to ask your employees for their ideas. The critical caveat here is that you MUST be willing to listen and put their best suggestions into place or you will quickly discourage them. Alternatively, you can look for experienced business advisors who can look at your business and identify opportunities for you.

The second lesson from Jeff and Joe's swap is that good, experienced management transcends company and market specifics. Many readers probably wondered how Joe and Jeff could contribute anything to unfamiliar companies selling unfamiliar products in unfamiliar markets with unfamiliar personnel. We all have a tendency to focus on the things that are unique about our businesses, so it is easy to lose sight of the fact that the vast majority of what most manufacturing companies do every day is the same:  planning, manufacturing, selling, distributing, collecting, paying and, above all, working with people. Experienced leaders and managers focus on those fundamentals because they understand that those fundamentals are critical to making any business better. It is the same as a good football coach moving to a different team with different personnel running a different scheme in a different conference. No matter how much is different, good blocking is still good blocking and good tackling is still good tackling. So when order delays and employee issues arose during the swap, they were addressed quickly and appropriately because that is what good managers do. When K-TECHnologies ran into production delays for NASA, Joe “stayed calm and asked the right questions,”according to one employee, and resolved the situation.

You can improve your management expertise any number of ways. UB’s Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership (CEL) program is a good source for developing and sharing management experience. Organizations like Vistage and the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) are designed to help leaders improve. Creating a Board of Advisors or Directors is a common strategy to get the help of experienced business leaders to improve yourself and your company. Business advisors and coaches are widely accepted options. If all else fails, you could always call Jeff or Joe…