Sergei Petrov, Chairman of the Board, ROLF Group
One of our subdivisions once had several automobile transporters with the new cars on the route Viborg - St. Petersburg. Suddenly one of the trailers capsized right on the road. It seemed to be nothing more than an annoying accident, where insurance would cover the damage. But suddenly it turned out that the driver was drunk. Clear enough, no insurance company would pay compensation if the responsible for a car accident was drunk. In our case the damage was sizable: the cost of cars without a trailer was more then $100,000.
Our automobile transporters are provided with the satellite systems that let us see their location and speed. So when the head of logistics saw another autocade belonging to our company not far from the place where the accident occured, he commanded the exchange of the driver. When the police came the new sober driver standing near the capsized trailer told them that it was just an unfortunate wretch. The police drew up a report according to which the company could get the insurance money…
Here we should interrupt the story to look some years back and recall the 3-day congress our company organized in the town of Nakhabino near Moscow. We gathered about 70 managers (today we have more then 600). I made a speech at the opening of the congress and explained the reason of the meeting: the company grows fast, I have no opportunity to solve all the problems myself and it is necessary to distribute powers among the managers in the right way. Therefore we should all together work out general principles to make decisions in the future. Of course, there is an alternative – to produce plenty of instructions and live in accordance with them. But since nobody wants to see bureaucracy grow we chose the first. To understand what are the criteria (principles) we can lean on in the future we should profess the same views on what we are doing.
After my opening speech the congress started the work. To begin with facilitators ‘squeezed’ me to give honest answers about what is my motivation in making business, what I like and dislike. Then all participants divided themselves into groups and managers discussed who and how interpreted what they have heard. As a result we have formulated the value code of our company: leadership, responsibility, reputation, openness, teamwork. And every manager tried these values on himself: if you share them, you are with us. Because all decisions should be transmitted ‘downstairs’: you must always be free to see and “hear” the situation.
And now let’s come back to the accident with our trailer. Among those managers who confirmed their complete adherence to the company’s value code was the one head of logistics that later decided to exchange the drunken driver for a sober one.
The accident happened on Saturday. And when on Monday our CEO Matt Donnelly and I learned the details, the manager was immediately fired. He was shocked: “What is the point? I saved the $120,000 insurance money for the company, and you fire me? Anyone in your place would have rewarded me for that!”
Matt in his turn asked him: “How we will explain the drivers what we have done? What if the insurance company discovers it? What will happen to the company’s reputation? The company’s reputation is one of our core values, isn’t? Why did we ‘vow’ to each other two years ago at the congress that we share it? Was it all lie?”
It appears that this man was nodding and agreeing, but deep in his soul he neither accepted, nor shared any of those values, and only repeated ’the right’ words.
This story is now well-known to many in our company and it’s worth to note that it “teaches” our managers much better then any instructions or bans, because it shows that there are rules nobody is allowed to break. And that we have no “holy cows”: no matter how valuable you are as a manager, breaking these rules means you are out of the game. The one who lied can not count on being a part of our team.
Only when there are values that can not be forfeited higher manager can count on secure delegation of powers to subordinate managers. Otherwise there will be nobody to delegate them to.
The original Russian text
