Plourde

"Bouchard quickly discovered that Plourde possessed the skills of a watchmaker: he had a genius for connecting gears and parts in such a way that the machine as a whole would function smoothly and efficiently. He knew how to work with employees, to delegate tasks and responsibilities, to break down steps, to motivate teams to achieve goals that were realistic. He was a master of organization, and had an incredible gift for understanding human nature."

"“The company was too small to have so much talent,” Bouchard thought. He set about acquiring other small manufacturing companies, and gave Plourde the responsibility for running them. One company manufactured security modules that were installed at entrances to stores to detect theft. Another produced eyeglasses lenses. “We were making money, but it was a major distraction"

"“Those are management theories that are totally void of sensitivity,” his human resources manager responded. So what should be done with the least productive workers? “We’ll put them in the right place, where they’ll learn to be productive,” Plourde told Bouchard. It was the price to pay to obtain loyalty from employees, rather than obedience; long-term commitment, rather than mere submission."

"Of course, more had to be done. Accounting requires a certain amount of regularity to be effective; the same goes for establishing team spirit. For that reason, Couche-Tard instituted a mandatory meeting during which each division would report its results every four weeks. Holding the meetings in person was impossible: The territory to cover was too vast, the distances too great and upper management’s time too valuable. Telephone was overly impersonal; it wouldn’t help unite the senior management team effectively. They decided on video conferences. These virtual meetings—innovative then—would become an integral part of Couche-Tard’s business cycle. They would involve comparing gross margins earned on each product line: gas, food, cigarettes, etc. Earnings, however, were not the only measure for business performance. Was store traffic growing? Did the manager turnover rate exceed the limit, fixed at 20 percent annually? “If a division is at 30 percent,” says Plourde, “there’s a problem with human resources management. You’re either picking the wrong people, failing to integrate them or not training them properly.” It’s a signal that it’s time to look closely, to find the root cause and make the necessary corrections. Failing to do so will inevitably start to affect morale at all levels. This will have an impact on customer service and, in turn, store performance. The same logic can be applied to many other indicators: the number of workplace accidents, absenteeism rates, use of overtime, employee attendance for training offered by the company. All variables were measured, compared and discussed in Couche-Tard’s meetings."