Manufacturing
Sharing the burden
Keep employees positive by letting them in
By Mark Scott
Smart Business Akron/Canton | January 2009
Page 1 of 2
Zircoa Inc. has not been immune to the problems that have plagued Ohio manufacturers,
but John Kaniuk is a survivor. He says that resisting the urge to be a hero who seeks control
on every key decision is critical to getting by when
the economy takes a dive.
“Have it be our plans, not my plans,” says
Zircoa’s president. “Show trust by saying, ‘I trust
your input, and I trust you to make a good decision of how we’re going to go ahead and do it.’ ...
They have to be involved in the process so they
feel like they are part of it.”
Take actions that show that you want — and
value — broad input around key company decisions. Kaniuk says you need to display this collaborative attitude when conducting meetings to
prove to employees that it’s not just lip service.
“The people in the meeting, they make up their
own minds of who are the right people to be in the
meeting,” Kaniuk says. “It can be the hourly folks.
They can say, ‘Hey, I need so and so in here, and I
can run it.’ It depends on what level it is.”
Kaniuk has made a constant effort to engage
people in his leadership of the 150-employee company. As a result, the engineer and manufacturer
of specialty ceramic materials has continued to
prosper, posting 2007 revenue of $28 million and
anticipating an estimated $31 million in 2008.
Being upfront with people about the challenges
you face is one of the most important steps to getting through a tough time.
“If something has happened overnight or something like that, I would walk around and discuss
how we’re going to handle it so everybody has a
chance to talk to me individually,” Kaniuk says.
“Even if I don’t have the answer, at least I’m discussing it with them.”
Talk to your people in meetings, but also make
it a point to have conversations outside of the
conference room with employees who are more
reserved.
“I go out of my way for the people who I think
will have negative thoughts or some critical
thoughts to go out there and talk to them offline so they’re comfortable to do it in the communication meeting,” Kaniuk says. “If they do it, I’ll say,
‘Hey, I’m glad you brought that up.’”
Honesty is the best way to build the trust you
need.
“Look people in the eye, and you tell them truthfully what you think is occurring,” Kaniuk says.
“They have a tough question for you, you have to
answer it in a straightforward manner.”
To get through the tough times, put the talents of
your people to use. After all, it’s their livelihood
that’s at stake, too.
“We put in some reward systems in the tough
times and said, ‘OK, if
we come out of this,
here’s how you will
win as well as the
company could win,’”
Kaniuk says. “I didn’t
mandate it on them. I
trusted them to come
up with a good package of rewards. Really
trust your employees
to make decisions.”
Just as employees can feed off your negativity,
they will also buy in to your optimism when it’s
genuine.
The idea is to be prepared and to not appear
devastated in front of your employees when
plan A doesn’t work.
“That’s what instills confidence in people,”
Kaniuk says. “‘Here’s our scenarios, here’s our
plan of attack and here’s what we’re going to do
if this happens or that happens.’ That puts people in the frame of mind of knowing, ‘OK, I
know what needs to be done.’”
HOW TO REACH: Zircoa Inc., (440) 248-0500 or www.zircoa.com
