[Leadership Principles] The Power of One

Retain. Grow. Gain. These three simple words form the basis of a proven leadership strategy which inspired Ecolab’s growth for more than a decade and, according to James McCarty, president of James L. McCarty & Company and retired Ecolab senior executive, these three high-growth building blocks can help any company in any industry improve its business results. “I don’t care whose company it is or what it does, the company has to do those three things,” McCarty said. “And the key part of all three of those strategies is the people. In every strategy it begins with your people.”
McCarty began his career as an institutional service technician; as he continued moving up through each level of management, he became the inspirational leader of Ecolab Pest Elimination for more than a decade; then completed his 40-year career with Ecolab, Inc. as senior executive vice president of its institutional sector. Having held responsibility for five divisions, 4,000-plus associates, and more than $1.2 billion in revenue, McCarty has had the personal responsibility of growing a business from the ground up and guiding an organization and its people. It is the lessons learned through these years of experience that he shares in his speaking engagements and the chapter, “Leadership and the Power of One,” in the book, Applied Leadership (Insight Publishing Company, 2005).
 
THE POWER OF ONE. Before delving into the principles of Retain, Grow and Gain, however, it is important that leaders understand the part the individual employee plays in the success of this strategy. As described in the book and McCarty’s presentations, the “Power of One” is a leader’s ability to gain 100-percent participation toward the organization’s vision and goals. “The vision and goals of any organization are only as effective as the extent to which they are accepted by the men and women on the front line taking care of the customer,” McCarty says. A leader can post the vision on the wall and provide cards with the goals listed on them, but “it doesn’t mean anything if they don’t understand what is written on the wall or on the pocket card,” he says.
With all of his strategies, though, McCarty explains driving this understanding home to every associate requires a simple mantra: Communicate. Communicate. Communicate. “The only way people will understand is by you utilizing every physical means to communicate that message over and over and over.” And in these communications, he says, the leader should explain why the vision and goals create “a worthy place to go for the benefit of the employee and the customer.” Team members need to realize their individual roles in achieving the vision and goals, as well as what is in it for them, the customer and the company.
One way McCarty has communicated with his own associates is with audio tapes and CDs that can be played in service or personal vehicles. For one such tape, the company got permission to use country music singer Aaron Tippin’s ditty “I Can Help,” maintaining the initial words of the song, “If you got a problem, don’t care what it is/If you need a hand, I can assure you this/I can help …,” then changing lyrics as it went along to reflect and reinforce the Ecolab message in a fun way. 
“One of my strong beliefs is that in any of the things that [a company] does, there’s absolutely no rule that says you can’t have fun doing it,” McCarty said. “Having a leader that can have fun with a message creates a greater desire to accept what the message is.”
Another audio method which McCarty used very successfully was distributing periodic “May I Ride with You” recordings. Focused toward sales and service representatives, the tapes were sent to all divisional associates along with a response card. Sometimes compared to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Fireside Chats,” the messages were about a half hour in length and provided follow up to a recent meeting or other company communication detailing where the company was heading and why it was a good place to go. The primary purpose of the response cards, McCarty says, was to request feedback and ideas — and to seek personal commitment. “I asked them to put their signature on the card and send it back if they understood and were willing to support the message.” The tapes always included a pre-addressed, prepaid postcard, and the quarterly recordings averaged an astounding 75-percent response rate.
The return cards help you determine if your message is really getting out and if the field associates understand it, McCarty adds. “When you read hundreds and hundreds of cards, you get a pretty quick drift!”
RETAIN, GROW, GAIN. Throughout his applied experience and consultation practice, McCarty has discovered a universal business element: “Everybody wants to do one thing, that is, generate profitable growth — every person I’ve talked to, every place I’ve been.” Prior to making his presentations or consulting with a company, McCarty says, he does his “homework” to understand who he is working with, why they’ve sought his services, and what their objectives are. Invariably, he says, “they are trying to generate profitable growth.”
And, invariably, the answer is not about saying “‘go make more sales calls,’” he says, rather it is about applying a basic business strategy. McCarty’s strategy was developed 10 years ago in an effort to bring the company’s vision and goals to the individual level; to “martial the forces of thousands of associates,” he says, explaining, “I wanted them to connect their individual job responsibilities to our multi-divisional goals. I accomplished that goal with these three words: Retain, Grow, and Gain.”
It is a strategy which, at its most basic level, can be summed up in three sentences: Retain your people, your customers, your culture, your tradition. Grow your people, your culture, your customers, your finances. And gain new people, new customers, new ideas, always starting with “your people,” he says. “The people always, always, always come first.” A brief review of each of these key business principles, featured in the book Applied Leadership, follows.

RETAIN. Retention is based on “one of the most important skills a leader must use,” McCarty writes. That is, “communicate, communicate, communicate.” While seemingly simple, poor management communication is the most frequently heard complaint from the rank and file, he says. In addition, McCarty explains, the multiple emphasis of the word is to stress the ongoing need for communication. A leader must continuously repeat his message over and over, to the point at which associates are almost tired of hearing it, “and at that point, start all over again.”
It is imperative that senior executives communicate to all levels, but it is just as important that individual supervisors communicate with their teams. Adding detail to the adage that “people don’t quit companies, they quit supervisors,” McCarty notes, “this is usually because the supervisor doesn’t communicate.” And along with communication, he asks, is the supervisor modeling the behavior which the associate is being asked to emulate? “Have you, as the leader, successfully communicated and modeled what you are asking me to do?” he asks. “Don’t say, ‘I want you to do …,’ then not do anything to model the behavior. You’ll be laughed out of the room.”
In addition to communicating the message, the leader needs to communicate encouragement to the team, not only verbally but in writing. In his presentations, McCarty asks attendees if they have a file holding the many letters and notes of personal recognition they have received during their career. While 95 percent of the people say they do have a file of such notes, fewer than 4 percent say they regularly send such messages. Why? The universal answer, he says, is “‘I don’t have the time.’” As a leader who has made it a habit to send personal messages, such as the 400 hand-written postcards sent to one group of managers prior to a divisional meeting, McCarty says it is not a matter of time, but a matter of desire. “If you have desire,” he says, “you can always find the time.”
While these examples focus on communication with employees, the same strategies can be applied to customers, McCarty says, and used to build a culture and tradition of success within the organization.
 
GROW. The key to growth is understanding it’s not about programs but about people. It’s about gaining 100-percent participation of the people in achieving profitable growth, which is an outgrowth of “treating people as human beings, not the ‘program of the month.’”
One method McCarty used to do this was through regular visits with both field and staff members — thanking them for helping the business to succeed and asking, “‘How can our management team make it easier for you to service our business units, associates and customers?’” Such visits elicit information which can help your company grow, but they also provide the opportunity for appreciation of the staff members. “Growth will be the by-product, when your employees feel appreciated,” McCarty says.
Growth is also a function of management performance, particularly in relation to management responsibilities, and what McCarty calls the “management gap.” The gap is the difference between what a leader expects from the manager and what the leader is willing to accept. If a manager realizes that the leader is willing to accept less than what was posed as the expectation, McCarty says, “future results will only get worse,” negatively impacting a pest control company’s ability to grow.

GAIN. The most important aspect of gain within a company is understanding the importance of change, McCarty writes, explaining, “If you always do what you have always done, then you always get what you have always got.”
To emphasize the importance of gaining new ideas for business and personal growth within the organization, McCarty provides an exercise that leaders can implement with their direct reports: On a white board, write the three strategies (Retain, Grow, Gain). Then ask each person for an example of actions and decisions done differently over the last year to drive profitable growth or associate development. The next question is, “Are they making a difference in your business results?”
McCarty also has used a two-dollar bill in his presentations to illustrate the properties of Gain. “What is the difference between a one- and a two-dollar bill?” he asks, holding up both. While a number of answers come back, they generally revolve around the same key points: the two-dollar bill is more valuable, more unique and rare. Applying these same attributes to your product and service offerings will enable you to gain market share and beat your competition, McCarty says.

RESULTS. Whether you choose to employ these strategies or some variation on them, the most important phase of any strategy, McCarty adds, is the execution of the ideas. It is important to gain knowledge, but it is even more important to do something with the knowledge that is gained. McCarty applies that thinking to leaders who are reading this article, or any article in this issue. “The issue will only be as good as the people who read it, highlight the ideas that are good; then execute those ideas. Otherwise you’ve wasted your time.”
But how do you know if your strategy is working? “By the business results,” McCarty answers. “That’s the ultimate barometer.” What are your associates doing in the field? he asks. If they are doing what you’ve asked; if they are trying to make changes and improvements, then your leadership activities are working.
“The ultimate measure of the effects of what the leader and company are doing is whether it makes the people want to continue to be a part of the company’s future,” McCarty says. When the service specialist or field manager is working alone — as is generally the case in the pest management industry — how do they feel about the company; are they dedicated to doing a good job for its future?
McCarty first used the phrase more than 30 years ago when working with Ecolab technicians, and says it is even truer today: “You are who you are when you are alone.” The ultimate result of your leadership role is The Power of One — 100 percent participation. Have you, the leader, communicated the message, vision and goals so that your people feel good about who they are, what the company is, and where it is headed, so that they are truly dedicated — whether in your presence or alone?

A frequent guest lecturer for the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business, James L. McCarty joined the National Speakers Association following his retirement from Ecolab. McCarty credits his career success to his Ecolab associates and customers who provided insight and guidance which led him to “share these lessons with others, so that they too might grow in their own positions and...success.” To purchase copies of the book or request information about his consulting services, contact Jim McCarty by email: jimpwrofone@aol.com.

The author is a freelance writer based in Champlin, Minn.