Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/556112
May 2015 | Boating Industry | 31 [ Leadership in action ] www.BoatingIndustry.com Good leaders don't just receive feedback to change for the better; they also provide good feedback for employees, and that feedback helps employees feel empowered. Strother said leaders should ask employees to self-evaluate how well they are completing their goals. If the employee is stuck, effective leaders ask, "How do we help you move forward?" They also express that it's ok to be stuck sometimes and they want to help the employees get unstuck, rather than executing punitive consequences. A PDP for an employee, therefore, should include psychometrics to understand what makes each individual employee tick, said Strother. Ev- eryone is built differently and should be treated by how they are uniquely wired to reach their PDP goals. "How you get there is irrelevant – [what] matters is we get there in a way that's most effective for that employee," said Strother. "It's time to put right shoes on your right foot and left shoes on your left." "But what if they leave?" Developing and training employees is expensive; there is no doubt about it. And if a business invests in an employee and the employee leaves, that hurts. However, Parker and Yeargin both pointed to a Zig Ziglar quote they felt was important for the industry to keep in mind: "The only thing worse than training employees and losing them is to not train them and keep them." "There's always a risk when you invest," said Yeargin, "but if you don't invest in your employees then how are they able to help you grow the company and take it to the next level without training?" "It's [about] developing the person to help them get better at what they do," said Craig Brosenne, general manager of Hagadone Marine Group, most recently ranked as No. 15 in the Boating Industry Top 100. "Whether it's with our company or with another company, I want to see people grow. I don't want to see them stand stagnate in the same position for a long period of time." Lockridge said the way small marine businesses can leverage the loss of a good leader is to keep the pipeline of well-trained, high potential employees full throughout the business, recognizing that some of them may leave but there are more talented individuals behind them. "I always think good people don't cost, they pay. I've yet to see an organization that was blessed with really good talent that wasn't thankful they had it for the period of time they had it, and if they lost them, they wished them well and they've got more people ready to move up behind them," said Lockridge. "It's kind of a game where you've got to keep it flowing with good, young talent that can move up through your organi- zation [and] recognizing [you] can't keep everybody, but while they're there they are making a huge contribution." "I think some small investments and hiring the right people can really pay off in a big way, no matter how big the company is." — Russ Lockridge, vice president and chief human resources officer, Brunswick Corporation