Made in the USA
Management
The management of a company can either make or break it. Seeing MD has been around for almost 45 years, we have obviously done a few things correctly. In the early days Charlie Emdy managed the family business quite easily because it never reached beyond immediate family members. His son Wayne took over in 1971 and employed a different strategy with a very tight management style striving to squeeze every second out of every process. I learned under Wayne and loved challenging myself to beat pre-established time goals. This concept was passed on to a number of our staff members as well. Chris Mercado in our tool and die division learned under Charlie and Wayne and set the pace for the rest of our manufacturing staff.
But Wayne’s limitations could only go as far as the number of people he could directly manage. This methodology had to be passed on to the next generation and the next level of employees for MD to be able to grow. Each division had to take ownership of their own performance to make them effective as possible. This is where trust comes in. One of our main hiring characteristics we screen for is trust. If we cannot trust an employee or a manager, we cannot empower them to reach for goals that are beyond the simple.
Each and every employee must have a view of the big picture as well as their own divisional goals; from the receptionist to the CEO. Without a direction, our company would not have one tenth the success we have been able to obtain. But the underlying foundation to management will remain “trust.” Managers are trusted to provide accurate and timely information. Project teams are trusted to have researched issues fully before presenting them before our board meetings, and the IT department is trusted to implement software in the best conceivable fashion after consulting with departments involved. Sure we try to review over information before implementing anything new but we do it with a level of trust believing that the employee or team did the best they could within the bounds of the assignment. This simply challenges each employee to do a better job each and every time.
Remember when your father or mother first trusted you to walk or ride your bike to the store alone. You returned to show them that you did exactly what you said you would do and they then wanted to trust you even more? This same trust principle applies to management. Misplaced trust and trustless superiors can destroy companies as well.
For all our dealers, take this to heart. Work on integrity with your employees and take special notes on trust. Encourage, reward, and recognize it. It will revolutionize your company.