With six decades in business and a firmly entrenched culture, revamping Turtle Wax Inc. was no small chore for CEO Denis John Healy
Jr. It may now be known as one of the best-selling and most recognizable brands in the car care products market, but the company that
would become Turtle Wax was founded in a small Chicago Avenue storefront in 1944 by the man who invented the chocolate-covered
banana. A year-and-a-half ago, Healy began a fundamental transformation of the company’s business model, which also required a
makeover of the company’s culture. Early results are positive, with Turtle Wax posting revenue of approximately $175 million in 2006.
Smart Business spoke with Healy about why leading change requires planning, monitoring and communication.
Embrace innovation. Change has to be part of
every organization at all times. If a company
is not always changing, always innovating,
always improving, you’re going to be stagnant.
It’s not necessarily looking at whether a
company is not changing enough, it’s really
that a company must always be changing,
looking for new opportunities and new ways
to innovate, update culture, forward thinking. A more team-oriented, discussion-based
and less top-down approach where the
entire organization is actually contributing to
creating and fostering change in the organization is really where an organization needs
to be.
The dangers of becoming stagnant are really all over the headlines these days. If companies do not continually change, they’re not
going to be able to seize opportunities. This
world is changing so much that a company
that does not reward risk and change and
new ways of thinking are really going to be
beat up by competition and fall by the wayside.
Plan and monitor changes. With all this change,
we’ve been a company in flux. We’ve outsourced our manufacturing and distribution,
and we have moved offices, so the culture
has been really in transition over the past
year and a half with all this fundamental
change.
The culture that we’re focusing on now is
one of continual improvement, of collaboration, one that rewards proper risks and one
that inspires enthusiasm and energy.
It really starts with laying out a clear direction of what the desired goals and objectives
are for the business as a whole, for each
department and for each individual. Then,
on a continual basis, you monitor that, looking at specific metrics to make sure we are
following the right path toward that new
direction or goal, whatever it may be, on an
individual basis and a companywide basis.
Keep everyone up to speed. People, on a basic
human level, are not always open to change.
We have to make sure people in the organization and the culture itself is open to taking risks, looking at continual improvement,
challenging themselves, challenging the individual, challenging the team, challenging the
organization in order to continually improve.
We have several mechanisms on an ongoing basis to evaluate and develop our people
through performance appraisals and other
methods. Having great people is really where
it all starts, and that has been my greatest
challenge.
We’ve had a lot of people in the organization over the years. It’s been a family business, and sometimes in family businesses,
you have long-term employees, which is
great, but really making sure that every
employee is up to speed on the most current
business strategies and tactics, using executive education courses or reading materials,
whatever it may be, to make sure that our
employees are up to speed and continually
developing their individual assets.
Use a multifaceted approach to communication. A
leader has to be there. They have to be in the
trenches, and they have to understand
what’s going on in the organization — not to
get bogged down in the details, but to understand and recognize the enormous change
that is going to be taking place, guiding his or
her troops through that change while also
being able to keep one eye on the future, saying, ‘Are we there? Are we getting there?’ It’s
all about being present, being available and continually monitoring the progress toward
that goal, that strategy, the overall direction
and then communicating that effectively on
a regular basis using a multifaceted
approach.
A leader can’t just have one address or
state in an e-mail that, ‘We’re going to
change, and this is the direction.’ The frequent and continual communication of what
that new direction, goal or strategy is going
to be through various methods — e-mails,
newsletters, postings throughout the company, town hall meetings — and also changing
the organizational structure.
In our example, that meant a more team-oriented, matrix structure really helped not
only change the culture but also made sure
we were always on the same page. The
organization is always aware of where we’re
heading and what our progress is.
Seek feedback from all employees. Successful
leaders have to be present, they have to be
there, they have to be open to new ideas,
they have to be honest, frank and they have
to communicate. That kind of all ties together in being a cheerleader, coach and teacher.
You’re always there, always assessing the
organization and making sure that you have
the right people, the right culture in place. If
the leader is not open and real and honest
and frank, it can be difficult for any leader to
really harbor the right kind of culture in the
organization to move the organization to further success in the future.
Open and honest communication from
anyone in the organization at any time, properly handled, can really foster a culture in
which the whole organization is aware of
where we’re going but also can contribute to
any adjustments needed on that direction
per any findings an individual might have at
any level.
Certain individuals in an organization may
be privy to certain nuances of the business
that may not be readily visible to an executive or CEO. Having that communication
open from multiple levels of the organization
as a two-way street is very important.
HOW TO REACH: Turtle Wax Inc., www.turtlewax.com or (630) 455-3700
