In 1971, Mike Goadby’s western Australian rowing squad was chosen to represent his
country at the Munich Olympics.
What does that achievement
37 years ago have to do with his
athletic prowess today?
Absolutely nothing.
As president of the North
American division of Fisher &
Paykel Appliances Ltd., Goadby
uses that example to demonstrate how meaningless words
are without action. You can
claim to have done anything, he
says, but unless you actually go
out and perform today, you may
as well keep your mouth shut.
It’s been decades since Goadby
has rowed competitively — as it
turned out, only one member
from his old squad actually
moved on to the Summer
Games, and it wasn’t him — but
that hasn’t stopped the leader
from establishing himself as a
successful team player. Since
stepping into his role at Fisher &
Paykel just over 10 years ago,
he’s helped transform the appliance manufacturer’s humble,
10-person office into a thriving,
10-office network with more than
680 employees and fiscal 2007
revenue of $152 million.
Smart Business spoke with
Goadby about how to foster
teamwork with a good old-fashioned bake-off.
Don’t hesitate to take risks. Risk
is all about being prepared to
take it as you sit. If you’re not
prepared to have a go on the
sport field, don’t go out there.
It’s the same in the business
world.
If you make 10 decisions,
and every one of them was
wrong, you’ve made one good
decision, which was to make
some decisions. If you make
no decisions, then that’s totally
wrong because you didn’t have
the balls to go out and make
those 10 mistakes.
Create an open environment
where people are not frightened to come to you with
ideas. Be very clear that you’re
not some godlike human being
that can walk on water. Just
because I’m the president
doesn’t make me right; it just
makes me the boss.
Communicate in the kitchen.When I’m in a room, there is
no rank. It’s not, ‘What does
the president want to hear? I’ll
get into trouble if I say something else.’
I’m all about saying, ‘Look,
I’m here as an employee as
you are, and I need to know
what is really happening, not
what you think I need to
know.’ Try to foster that culture on an ongoing basis.
We do that by having social
events. We do cooking sessions here in our kitchens
where we encourage our staff
to do a monthly bake-off.
You get teams of people who
are formed together as groups
from the office. They go out
into our kitchen and create
some superb afternoon tea
piece, which could be ice
cream or could be a meat dish.
The rest of the staff come in
and sample it at 3 o’clock.
Then we have a judging panel at the end of it to decide
whose was the best delight.
(It makes them) feel as
though they’re a part of the
company. They participate in
something during work hours
that’s social, that I’m there,
and that they laugh and joke
about. They lighten up the
environment so that the people become more familiar with
me and are able to communicate with me very, very freely
about their feelings.
That’s a great way of breaking down barriers, where people sort of enjoy the camaraderie of the moment and
also the fact that you’re there
and in an apron getting dirty.
