UpClose & Personal - John Fanuzzi

As I contemplate Up Close and Personal I thought it would be nice to share some of the inner happenings at Golden Ratio Woodworks that are presented monthly at our company wide meetings.

Once a month we gather all of our employees in the Wellspring Conference room and start out by introducing new employees and their positions. There are usually a few new people every month and we like to have them feel they are a part of the team. Next we announce the employee of the month who is chosen by the managing board. This selection is judged on outstanding performance, attitude and constancy. There is a bonus check and an accompanying certificate. We also reward ideas of the month that we implement which save the company money and improve product quality and customer service. We get all kinds of proposals and some of them are great ideas that we have not thought of before. We usually give a bonus check of $100 if that idea saves us money. Sometimes there are several winners.

GRW functions with an open book policy. We post everything so our employees can see year–to–year and month–to–month sales comparisons, our expenses, and our profits. Likewise our employees’ production and progress is also posted in their work areas. Our controller, Alan Hearn, projects our current financials on a big screen. This gives the staff a better sense of how much is available for raises, insurance, 401k’s, new equipment, etc. This has been a major step forward for our employees in becoming more aware and more efficient in all areas. For example our employees can see how much it costs for insurance - when we have accidents it costs them indirectly in their pay raises because our rates go up and our profits go down. It has been very beneficial for every employee to be "in the know" about what's going on financially and how we meet our challenges. The fewer secrets we have the more trust we can build. I can say from experience that playing with the cards up has greatly improved morale and eliminated rumors.

The next segment of the meeting is my favorite. This is where I get to share new products, sales trends, trade show experiences, competition, and all the latest news in the industry with the entire staff. I usually take digital photos at all the trade shows and produce a slide show so employees can have a sense of whom we meet and what the industry is about. I also include pictures of our customers, consultants, and distributors so our sales staff knows whom they are talking to. I always try to portray a positive outlook despite lulls in the orders, inordinate competition, and fears of a weak economy. I convey marketing strategies that we will be moving toward, changes in distribution policies and how we'll handle the "foreign invasion" of imported tables. Questions and comments are always welcomed and there are plenty of them.

The meetings are uplifting and something we all look forward to. At the end of our last meeting we brought out 3 new products—the Verona Royale, the Mermaid, and the manual version of our Versailles, and did demos. What a splash!

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http://www.GoldenRatio.com

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Email John: john@goldenratio.com