(National Hardwood Magazine is reaching out to company leaders across the industry to solicit their input on key issues that impact overall business success. In this publication, Burt Craig shares his insights.)
Burt Craig, President, Matson Lumber Company, Brookville, PA
www.matsonlumber.com
About Matson Lumber Company:
With three facilities in Pennsylvania, Matson Lumber Company is a vertically integrated organization that provides over 20 million board feet a year of high quality kiln-dried Hardwood lumber both domestically and abroad. From the management of company lands, through all aspects of the production process, down to a distribution segment providing less than truck load quantities, the focus is always on customer satisfaction.
Q: Company culture is a top priority for any CEO. What factors contribute to your company’s culture and how is your company’s mission defined?
A: We have a vision statement that we review regularly, which reads in part “we are known globally for exceptional yield, presentation, and consistency, as well as our commitment to excellent customer service”. My personal mission is for the company to be as profitable as possible. At Matson Lumber we believe the only way to achieve either is by producing a high quality product that meets and exceeds our customers’ expectations. To carry it down further, we maintain that our mission is only achievable through an engaged workforce that focuses on that objective, and strives to do it effectively and efficiently. The initial opportunity for us is educating all of our employees on the significance of the contribution they make. We ensure that we spend ample time with a new lumber piler to make every effort to convey to him that the first thing our customer is going to see when their load is delivered is the package that they made. A similar undertaking is made with those that lay sticks, and explanation is given as to the magnitude of loss if done incorrectly. A quality control department serves to provide consistent feedback that functions to keep us focused.
But quality is not only an attribute that we want to apply to describing our product. There are so many other facets; how our logging jobs look when we complete them, the accuracy of our shipping documents, our stewardship status in the community and in the industry to name some, and of most importance would be the working environment we create for our employees. Our operations are hot in the summer, and cold in the winter, but that doesn’t negate our responsibility to treat every employee with dignity and acknowledge the value of their contribution.
Q: How important do you believe it is for company leadership to lead by example in creating a positive, productive, cohesive workforce?
A: I would not choose to describe it as important, I would choose to describe it as imperative. Years ago I first heard a concept defined by Tom Peters in his book In Search of Excellence when he coined the phrase “management by walking around.” Since that time others in academia have attempted to capitalize on the concept and I more recently see it portrayed as management by wondering around. At Matson Lumber we believe the principle is solid; you have to be approachable and receptive to the input of all that work in a corporation, and success is often better when it occurs on the employee’s home field. I refuse to believe that somebody can do a job eight to ten hours a day, and not know more about it than I do. Conversely, if a dedicated tenured employee’s livelihood is linked to the performance of the company, you bet he wants to know the state of the business, what the future looks like, what impact will state COVID regulations have on our operations, do we have more logs coming, why do we keep changing the container bookings, and a continual multitude of questions of that nature. At Matson we believe it is our obligation to force and maintain that open dialogue and understand that a conversation involves both talking and listening.
Over the years there are other adages that I have heard that have resonated with me. The one that says that in the absence of information people create their own, and my all-time favorite is that if you haven’t heard a rumor in the sawmill by ten o’clock, it’s your job to start one. Constant conversations, continual feedback, information postings and distributions, one on one discussions, and activities as simple as buying pizza and showing up to eat it with the gang all contribute to foster the climate that we all want to be a part of.
Q: What programs and/or incentives do you have in place to motivate employees so they are not simply “going through the motions”?
A: We choose not to discount the value of an “at-a-boy” and try to reinforce good performance when we note it, but admittedly we probably miss a lot of opportunities. That is why we believe it is essential to share macro performance numbers periodically and speak at groups as to what their combined efforts have resulted in. Ours is a team effort.
As much as I believe that compliments are appreciated, money still remains the preferred form of flattery. Toward that end, we give out gift cards for good performance, we pay for safety suggestions, we provide bonuses for those that mentor new hires, we award vacation time for participating on the safety committee, we buy lunch for those that help us catch up on Saturdays; small ways to hopefully instill the quality aspect that we continually pursue.
Q: Briefly describe any recruitment/retention programs that your company offers.
A: Regretfully, like so many others, we are developing into a two tier organization. The majority of our employees are our seasoned veterans that are undeniably the reason behind the success of our company, yet we still have many entry level positions that seem to be that revolving door and the source of turnover at our facilities. With new employees we offer a sign on bonus, share with them the fact that the overwhelming majority of management and skilled positions in our company started working on a chain, we put them into a training program, and we meet with them through the course of their onboarding process. We formalize and structure portions of these programs by adhering to a 90-day review process that provides feedback from supervision, both positive and negative. We schedule time to have upper management go to meet with new hires toward the conclusion of their review period to reiterate the importance of their position, meet more of the management of the company, and solidify our open door policy. Our commitment remains to this effort, and we are convinced it is the right path, yet it is not as rewarding as we want with the unemployment stimuluses’ as lucrative as they are today. In the difficult times, it has reaffirmed the value and contribution that our tenured employees make.
About Burt Craig:
I’m a simple man that was blessed to marry out of my league to my wife of many years, JoAnn. Duck hunting is my only passion which I enjoy two months out of the year with my wife’s support and encouragement, but for that liberty she requires the other ten months to utilize at her discretion. If I’m lucky I find enough time to golf a dozen times a year, try to stay rooted in church, and am most at peace when I’m out to eat with my wife, or we are floating down a creek, or riding through the woods – life’s small pleasures are my greatest.
