Cover Story
Selling the plan
How Calvin J. Miller restocked confidence at Associated Grocers of Florida by earning the trust of his employees
By Mark Scott
Smart Business | February 2008
Calvin J. Miller could hardly believe what he was hearing. It
was 1993, and he had just taken over as president and CEO at
Associated Grocers of Florida Inc. The company would collect
$200 million in revenue for the year but owed a lot of money to
creditors and had a significant problem with employee theft.
When Miller found out the retail grocery supplier had also been
working without a formal budget, he realized he was joining a
company in serious need of some guidance and direction.
“I said, ‘We’re putting in a budget together, and we will follow it.
This is what I expect out of each person in the company and
these are the margins I expect, and if we don’t hit them, we’ve
got to find a solution to hit them,’” Miller says.
Decisive statements are critical for a leader who is trying to get
employees to buy in to a recovery plan. But in order to make it
actually happen, those employees need you to come to the table
with more than just a clever 30-second sound bite.
“Trust is not given, it’s earned,” Miller says. “You can’t do it in six
months or a year. It takes time for them to know that you are there
to help them and you’re not there to hurt anyone.”
Miller knew he needed to implement a budget model, and he
was also keenly aware of the problems in personnel that the
180-employee company faced. But just as important, he knew
he needed to demonstrate leadership to show employees that
he was taking control of the situation.
Names are a good place to start when looking to get employees to buy in to your leadership style and your vision for the
company.
“If you walked around with me, you understand that I know 99
percent of everybody’s name in this company, which is very important to a person,” Miller says. “You have to treat people like human
beings. You have to let them know that you care about them. I’ve
seen so many people try to fake it. You have to be real about it.”
By projecting an air of both optimism and confidence while also
demonstrating the value he placed on his employees, Miller was
confident that he could get his plan implemented and get his
employees to come along for the ride.
Get out the map
Miller began with the budget and analyzed costs in every department to figure out where money was being made and where it was
being lost. It’s difficult to formulate a budget if you don’t have a
good sense of the financials.
With thousands of items ranging from frozen foods to dairy
products to meat and deli selections being shipped to locations
across the southeastern United States, and more recently,
around the world, a plan was sorely needed to keep everything
straight.
But sorting through the numbers and determining what items
were being shipped where and for how much was only part of the task that he faced in getting a budget in place.
Miller needed to go all the way back to square one to convince both his management team and employees that the company needed a detailed budget if it wanted to succeed against
its competitors.
“This is our road map, and we have to hit this to get income
into the company,” Miller says of his pitch to the company.
“That was a hard sell. It’s just stay focused on it and say, ‘We’re
going to do it.’ It’s the only way that we can run a company. It’s
like taking a trip. Before you take it, you want to know where
you are going. You follow the road map and you get there. It
took about three months for people to understand.”
Whether you are enacting a brand-new budget or making
major changes to an existing model, communication is the key
to getting everyone on board with the plan and making it work.
Whether it’s through e-mail, phone conversations or face-to-face meetings, you need to keep the lines of communication
open.
“The biggest part about putting a budget together is getting
the input of the people that are going to be responsible to make
that budget,” Miller says. “Don’t you just sit there and do it
yourself and say, ‘This is what it has to be.’ Get the input of
people within the company. Explain, ‘This is what I’m looking
for. Can you help me with it?’”
Getting others engaged was a key step in Miller’s ability to
convince everyone that enacting a budget was crucial to the
organization’s future. It’s not enough to be available for a few
questions at the end of a meeting. You need to make yourself
available to your people as often as possible if you want them
to buy in to your plan. And be prepared to both ask and answer
questions.
“Everybody knows they can come in here any time, day or
night, and I will sit down and talk to them,” Miller says. “They
know that I’m not going to get upset. They know I’m very
happy to listen to them. If they have an idea to better the company, I am so willing to listen to it. If I don’t happen to agree
with them, I will tell them why I don’t agree with them.”
Managers are obviously a key part of the process and need to
be involved in the large decisions when hashing out the budget. But every employee in your company should be aware of its
basic structure. By making the budget a priority with every
employee, you give each person a reason to look at how his or
her own work at the company affects the company’s bottom
line.
“I don’t care if the individual happens to be sweeping the
floor, there is something that extends to sweeping the floor,”
Miller says. “Everybody in this company knows about our
budget.”
Do what you have to do
Sharing company business with employees is vital to gaining
their acceptance. But you also need to show yourself to be a
real person who does not just view your employees as a means
to financial gain.
“I try to every day cover the whole company and walk
through and say hello to everyone, no matter whom it may be,”
Miller says. “Let them read you every day. The most important
thing is to stay consistent with who you are. If you happen to
be under a lot of pressure, I try never to show that to the people. It gets people nervous.”
As you are walking and shaking hands, you should also be
observing what is happening in your organization. A lot can be
learned by simply opening your eyes.
“I look as I walk,” Miller says. “I don’t just walk to shake
hands and smile. I’m always paying attention as I walk through.
Sometimes you see something going on and you focus on it.
Get with management, say, ‘There is a problem and let’s try to
get it solved.’”
During one of his walks last year, Miller came across a vehicle in the company parking lot that had a tire that was nearly
flat.
“I looked at all the tires and I said, ‘My God, they’re bald,’”
Miller says.
It turned out the car belonged to an employee who was having a tough time at home with her family and couldn’t afford
new tires.
“I just said, ‘You can’t drive a car like that. I want you to go
get four new tires and you don’t have to pay me back. I just
want you to be safe,’” Miller says. “I didn’t want her to say anything, but, of course, she told a few people and it spreads
throughout the company. You can’t always do it for financial
gain. You have to do it because they are people and they
depend on you.”
It is those kinds of acts as a leader that will encourage your
employees to buy in to your plan and bring their support to
your leadership.
“If you’re not sincere in what you’re doing, people read that,”
Miller says. “You might get away with it for six months, but
you’ve got to be real about everything you do. Let people know
that you are real and that you really care about the company,
them and their families. Treat people like you want to be treated. If they don’t accept it, maybe it’s not the company they
should be with.”
Stay on top of problems
As you establish trust with the employees you count on to
help you grow the company, you also learn who it is that does-n’t fit in to your plan.
Miller knew the company had a problem with theft and decided to tackle it head on.
“I laid on the roof many nights,” Miller says. “If I suspected somebody, I would just climb up on the roof and see what they were carrying out.”
The action convinced employees that Miller wanted to
improve the work environment for employees who
approached their jobs with honesty.
“Most people within the company knew about it, they were
just afraid to say anything,” Miller says. “The good people saw
what was happening. I had a few phone calls and letters from
husbands and wives thanking me for doing things with the
company to make it a safe place.”
When dealing with issues that are not always openly discussed, it is crucial that you do not let rumors fester.
“I don’t spend time with rumors in a company,” Miller says. “If
you want to make a recommendation or you think something
is wrong, tell me what’s wrong and tell me how I can correct it.
They are the stars, the ones who see a problem and have a
solution for you, too.”
When you learn of a rumor at your company that could create problems, it’s best to be upfront with it.
“I tell them, ‘I’m hearing something. Now, let me set the
record straight,’” Miller says. “I tell them if there is an element
of truth. Just be honest about it because if you don’t and three
months down the road, it pops out and three months prior, you
told them there was no truth to it, they look at you like you lied
to them. Don’t ever put yourself in that trap. Tell the truth and
then you don’t have to worry. If you want to keep it strictly to
yourself, don’t tell anybody.”
While some problems require a bit of secrecy, for the most
part, the ability to deal with and discuss issues in the open is
one of the most important attributes of a successful leader.
Miller’s strategies to put Associated Grocers back on the path
to success have paid off. The company posted $600 million in
revenue for fiscal 2007 and now has 350 employees. Miller also
expects revenue to double over the next several years. He
credits his style of engaging others in the running of his company with its success.
“People come up with some amazing things,” Miller says.
“Maybe that’s what has helped me the most. I’m not afraid to
listen or say, ‘I don’t know.’ If I don’t think I know the right
answer, I’ll go out and get it.” <<
HOW TO REACH: Associated Grocers of Florida Inc., (954) 876-3000 or www.agfla.com
