The People Difference

While corporate excess, greed, and mismanagement are exposed on a daily basis, last night I saw a news piece on NBC called Making a Difference which showed the difference between some large corporations and many small businesses. The piece featured Joe Works, owner of B& W Trailer Hitches from Humboldt, Kansas. Although business had slowed, he didn’t feel right laying off his employees, many of whom had become friends. Instead, he kept them on the payroll and sent them out into the community to fix what needed fixing: a baseball diamond, children’s playground, a church, and more.

Joe hasn’t forgotten his roots. He and his partner started the business in a garage in 1987. His partner, Roger Baker, had been having difficulty in his classic car restoring business, and Joe had been having trouble keeping the family farm. They joined forces, initially, to make the best truck bed. They accomplished that goal, producing a durable bed that looked good. As their reputation spread, they branched out into headache racks, tool boxes, matched paint, and pin striping.

Then they designed a hitch which revolutionized the gooseneck hitch industry. At that time, the best way to get rid of a hitch when it was not in use was to install it on a large plate that folded down. The installation required cutting a hole in the truck bed. Joe and Roger addressed this problem and designed a ball hitch which could be pulled out, turned over, and stowed underneath the truck bed when not in use. They called this new hitch the turnover ball. Today, every manufacturer of gooseneck hitches uses a variation of Joe and Roger’s ball and storage system.

Joe and Roger designed a better truck bed, a better hitch, and a better business.

In 2006, B & W was chosen one of America’s top ten machine shops. The award was based on safety, quality, productivity, on-time delivery, employee training, employee retention, and continuous improvement. Joe’s commitment to these factors has not wavered. With slow sales, his focus is still on his employees. He views them as human beings, friends, and neighbors. He also sees them as an important part of B & W’s operation.

Therein lies a substantial difference between many small businesses and many large corporations. Most small business owners care about their employees. They see their employees as individuals. They understand how much their employees contribute to the operation of the business.

Many corporate managers view employees as only people occupying positions. They see their employees as nameless, faceless, meaningless parts of the organization which may be changed or discarded at will with no consequence to the business. They don’t care about the individual. They don’t understand how the individual makes or breaks a business.

That is one of the reasons why many large corporations are in trouble right now.

Valuing employees’ contributions to the business and respecting them as individuals contribute to the health of the operation. These are reflections of management’s attitude toward customers, too. Customers are handled with the same respect, or lack thereof, as are the employees. Management sets a culture as to how people are treated, and that culture permeates the entire organization. Whether it pertains to an employee or a customer, how a business treats people makes the difference in its success or failure.

How does your business treat people?