Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/556112
May 2015 | Boating Industry | 29 [ Leadership in action ] www.BoatingIndustry.com "The most effective models in America are based on mentoring and coaching. Our ex- perience and expertise is developing leaders in the trenches." That being said, training is not useless. Russ Lockridge, vice president and chief human resources offi cer of Brunswick Cor- poration, said Brunswick offers training to its managers in technical and people skills. To develop people skills, Brunswick will offer classroom training for leaders to learn how to provide good feedback, communicate well with their team and become open-minded to ideas from their employees. "Most people fail on the people side, not the technical side," said Lockridge, who added training should always be supple- mented by coaching. "When 'training' is followed by effective 'coaching,' both documented research and [Spader's] experience over the past 40 years has shown that more than 80 percent of all performers are likely to develop and demon- strate more effective leadership attitudes and practices," said O'Connor. Strother believes that the marine busi- nesses best poised for success in the future are those that utilize every resource they have to develop effective leadership and give every employee a personal develop- ment plan (PDP). "They're pouring their resources into their people all the way down to the guy that drives the tractor into the yard bringing boats into the garage for the mechanics to work on," said Strother. "There's no thought pattern that every single one of them is going to become a CEO of a boat dealership, but the belief is that every employee needs to have a PDP. They're moving forward and those employees are being developed. They're growing and those boat businesses are seeing insane profi ts right now. That is the new model of boat business and I'm re- ally excited about it." Lockridge noted that Brunswick works to provide its employees at all levels with challenging assignments over the years as a primary development vehicle. "We do training but I think it's secondary to moving people, giving them new oppor- tunities," said Lockridge. "We're constantly coaching our presidents, when they have good people that are promotable, to give them air time in meetings whenever the pres- ident [or] CEO comes through. … We work hard at getting that exposure for people." Brunswick has a management succession process, which the company calls a "talent review," where the CEO and Lockridge re- view their top managers within Brunswick. They talk about those managers' potential and performance, where they are in their career progression and who of those people have a high potential to be promotable for new opportunities. "It's a process that we fi nd very useful and that's how we're able to move people so readily, because we kind of have a list of peo- ple needing moves and whenever there's an opening, we can work to get the right person into the job," said Lockridge. "We promote from within about 75 percent of the time." Similarly, Correct Craft asks its employ- ees to fi ll out a skills assessment and all open positions are posted internally, encouraging employees to apply. "This has been extremely benefi cial as we have been able to utilize our employee's skills in other departments when a position becomes available," said Correct Craft CEO Bill Yeargin. "Correct Craft is still growing and is looking at other potential companies. As things change there will be more oppor- tunity for employees to grow." » Amount of time a new leader typically needs before feeling fully comfortable in a new role; for a mid-level leader, the time period stretches from 24 to 36 months. — Deloitte University Press » High-impact companies in the United States spend more than $3,500 per person each year to develop mid-level leaders and over $10,000 to develop senior leaders. — Deloitte University Press 18 months $3,500 18 $3,500 GENERATIONAL AND ENTREPRENEURIAL DEALERS Strother identifi ed two general types of dealer- ships: The dealerships that are entrepreneurial, where the current principal built the business from the ground up, and the dealerships that are in the second or third generation of the family. He said it is important to understand which one a dealership is because the metrics of leadership are signifi - cantly different. For entrepreneurial dealerships, the entre- preneurialism requires creating a new lifecycle, building systems along the way and the ability to visualize where you're going without being there. For generational, the metrics are relationships. Change is more diffi cult and slower, and it involves multiple family members and generations. "An entrepreneurial dealership does not need to have the relational skills of working with peers that a family dealership needs to have," said Strother. Strother said one challenge for dealers, gen- erational or entrepreneurial, is the moment when the existing principal hands off the business to the next generation. The persisting question is "Will I feel confi dent handing leadership of my boat deal- ership to the next generation and can my son or daughter do the job like I did it?" "Our kids are never going to do it like we did it. One, they're not like us but two, the Millennial just thinks differently. So it's kind of hard for ol' Dad here to pry his hands off a business, not because our children can't run it as well – it's because [Dad] thinks they have to run it [his] way and it's really hard for ol' Dad to get it in his brain that 'You know what? They're not going to run it my way but they're going to be just fi ne.' That's a harder, more diffi cult challenge … but that's been going on for the history of the world." Developing Millennials for leadership is no different than previous generations, said Strother. While they may think differently – are more explor- ative and likely to question the methods for doing something – the results are unchanged. "The outcome is still the same. The ability to lead people, initiate change and move an organiza- tion upon its agreed-upon goals and objectives are the same whether you are a Builder, Boomer, Gen Xer or Millennial." To read more on managing intergenerational dealerships and how to plan for ownership succession, see the feature article in the February 2015 issue of Boating Industry at BoatingIndustry.com