Transportation and Logistics
Growing pains
Why Brian Oken encourages employees to ask him anything at Ventura Transfer Co.
By John Nank
Smart Business Los Angeles | September 2007
Many business leaders believe that
growth problems are good problems to have. But for Brian Oken, that doesn’t make the problems any less
substantial.
“Businesses go through cycles,” says Oken,
president and CEO of Ventura Transfer Co.,
a bulk handling and transportation company.
“We’re having a lot of fun, and we’re
doing a lot of things really well, but we
have grown considerably over the
past couple years, and we’re feeling
that.”
Oken says with increased volume,
the standards of performance VTC
has set for itself — especially those
regarding customer service — are
being challenged. With annual revenue of about $18 million and growing, he adds that while maintaining
simplicity is important, solving new
problems means creating new solutions, and that requires employees
who are willing and able to grow
along with the company.
Smart Business spoke with
Oken about the perks of being a
trusting leader and the importance of employee feedback.
Q: How would you describe your
leadership style?
Trusting. I like my people to
pursue their own agendas while
staying in touch with the company’s vision and strategic plan. In order to do that, you’ve got to
trust them. Sometimes they hang themselves, and sometimes they become real
heroes, but you’ve got to give them that latitude. You can’t constrain them, and I try to
push that through the organization. We’re a
company that lives by standards of trying
to be a great place to work. Talk is cheap,
and it’s much harder than it appears, but at
the foundation of that is trust and respect.
Q: How do you build trust and what are the benefits?
Integrity and credibility are everything.
Right now are challenging times for us. Our
business has had very good growth over
the past two or three years, and it’s definitely strained our capabilities and our managers’ typical ways of doing things.
At times, that credibility has been challenged. To be able to fall back on, ‘I’ve
never lied to you, I’ve never deceived you,
I would never manipulate you, you might
not like what you hear’; you have to have
that credibility, and we try to push that
through the organization.
We’re in business for profits. Whether
you’re a private company or a public company, you’re looking for a return for your
shareholders, and you’re always looking
for incremental improvement and to make
sure you’re still a healthy, dynamic organization. All these things are done for two
reasons: One is because they’re our core
values and our beliefs, and they also generate return. Our customers are happier, our
team members are happier, and our financial performance reflects that.
Q: How do you communicate your vision to your team?
We’re a private company that has full disclosure among our people, so when we
go through the planning process, our financials are keeping score. Are we winning the
game, are we losing the game, or are we
just treading water? When we have a planning session, everybody is invited, and
everybody knows what’s at stake.
After the planning meeting, during which
the plan is developed and approved by the
board, every month, we have my
direct reports sit in front of a room.
Imagine a classroom, and they’re all
sitting by the chalkboard, and we fire
at them the objectives of the plan,
and it’s up to them to demonstrate
results. This is the one time we’re very
firm about, ‘We’re not interested in
hearing about effort. What have you
given our customers that they didn’t
have 30 days ago?’
Q: How much feedback do you get during that process?
To be honest, I wish I got more. In
business today, there is a feeling among
many employees that they’re afraid to
ask questions, afraid to bring up
thoughts or observations because they
feel like they’re going to come across as
being stupid or seem like they’re not in
touch. I really respect the people who
stand up and say, ‘I have a question,’ and
bring forth some insight.
You have one person who is providing
the vision, then you have the executive
team, and then you have all these other
people. All these other people are the
guts of the business. Their brains are full
of ideas. They have tremendous insights
and observations on what’s going on with
our business and our customers, and most
companies don’t solicit that. We really try
to solicit that. We try to bring it to the surface, and I wish that we had more.
We have the traditional suggestion boxes
and anonymous e-mails, but more than
anything, I’m trying to be around them and
trying to get them to give me their insights,
whether it’s in traditional meetings or just
in general conversation. The questions I get
are great. They’re usually far better than
anything I can anticipate.
HOW TO REACH: Ventura Transfer Co., (310) 549-1660 or www.venturatransfercompany.com
