Consumer Products
Don Rockwell
President, Aqua Lung America
By Mark Scott
Smart Business San Diego | August 2007
"I recognize what my weaknesses are and see the strengths other people have, and that’s what makes a team." - Don Rockwell, President, Aqua Lung America
While there are people capable of committing an entire conversation to memory, Don Rockwell likes to see his managers carrying a notebook
when they come into his office at Aqua Lung America. He says it means they have attached a certain level of priority to what their president
has to say and will likely walk out of the meeting with a clear idea of what needs to be done. By encouraging communication and developing
a culture where employees can respond to their leader with their concerns, Rockwell has led the 550-employee diving equipment provider
to steady growth. Smart Business spoke with Rockwell about why it’s important to put people ahead of a ringing telephone.
Be consistent. Recognize all the good
things people do and let them know. The
top of my list is being consistent with
people. The more consistent you are as it
filters down through the organization,
people have certain expectations, and it
just keeps everybody on track.
If people thought we were going down
a certain track, and that’s what you
explained to them, and everybody is on
board with it and buys in to it, when you
have to veer for strategic reasons or
because it’s a problem that you have to
deal with, then you have to communicate
with everybody. If you don’t and they see
things going in a different direction, it
just becomes real inconsistent for them.
Get information to everyone. All the top management in our company meets with
their groups once a week, and that’s
mandatory. That’s all about communicating things from the top on down through
the organization.
Every month, we have an employee
meeting with all hands on board here in
Vista. For every little nuance that may be
happening when you’re with somebody
face to face, it’s so hard to get that information to people who aren’t in front of
you all the time.
We have a quarterly newsletter. We
have a weekly staff meeting, which is
with the managers of the company.
Because of e-mail, it’s easy to pass on the
minutes to the other managers of the
other satellite businesses.
It’s just making sure that things don’t
fall through the cracks and recognizing
when you do make a mistake, and somebody didn’t find out something they were
supposed to, that you make sure it doesn’t happen again. It’s something you have
to constantly recognize.
Keep your ego in check. I think a lot of people, as they are rising up, they feel they
should be able to do everything, and they
even think that they can and make decisions they shouldn’t be making or take
on responsibilities they shouldn’t be taking on.
The best advice is just do what comes natural to you. Somebody once told me
there is no such thing as common sense.
You have to do what comes natural to
you, and you have to recognize that you
have weaknesses. Some people are
afraid to hire people that are better than
them. You shouldn’t be.
You’ll never be a better organization if
you hire people that are beneath you so
you can claim that you are ‘The One.’ I
certainly don’t. I recognize what my
weaknesses are and see the strengths
other people have, and that’s what
makes a team.
Accept criticism. The one thing that I found
that really works is the people that you
work with, that you’ve worked with for a
long time, if you have the good relationship with them, they have no problem
telling you that you have a bad idea.
When other people see that, they know
they can do it, too.
That’s really helpful to let people know
that, ‘Wow, so-and-so told him that was a
stupid idea. That’s good; if I do it right, I
can tell him, too.’
Learn from the past. Not everybody has
always had the best boss in the world or
worked with the best group of people.
When you do, it’s very good. When you
work with great people, you learn from
them, and you pick up those attributes.
When you work with people that aren’t great leaders, if you are good, you are
going to learn what doesn’t work, too,
and know that.
Get feedback. We annually do an opinion
survey. If you let people know this is
important because we want to make the
company better and their time in the
company better, then we think the
majority of the people are very sincere
about their answers.
We let all the employees know via communication, it’s even on the bulletin
board, what the outcome was. We let the
managers know how it compared to the
previous year by their department if
there was improvement or not. We drill
down into the actual questions. It’s
anonymous, but we ask people to put
what department they are in because
then we can focus on those areas, as well.
Remember that most people really care about
what they do. When you listen to them, you
see that they do. The more you recognize
those people in your organization, then
you bring it from the bottom up.
If you promote those people because
they do care, and they are doing a good
job, that is contagious. When you know
there are people that don’t care, I view it
as a cancer, and you have to remove it.
It’s difficult. But the earlier you do that,
the better.
That is something that is tearing down
what you’re trying to build.
Give people your undivided attention. When
I’m talking to somebody on the phone, if
my computer is in front of me, I might
find myself looking at an e-mail. You’re
just not giving 100 percent attention.
If you’re in your office and you’re talking
to somebody and your phone rings, don’t
answer it. That person is interrupting your
conversation. Just think about it. If you’re
talking to somebody ,and you say wait and
you pick up the phone, you just told them
they’re not that interesting to you.
The person can leave a message.
HOW TO REACH: Aqua Lung America, (760) 597-5000 or
www.aqualung.com
