Ralph Ellis Classification
Ralph introduced Roy as Mr. MacDonald who has held a series of positions with the chain and who has lived in half a dozen countries working for them. He and his wife moved here recently, though they still spend a lot of time in Vancouver. Roy has jumped right into Rotary and is co-chair of Party on the Dock.
Roy started off with a happy 15 - 10 for being back from flying his float plane to Vancouver and back and 5 for a wonderful career. He spent 30 years with MacDonald's, mostly with training and orientation. He's lived in Canada, the US, UK and USSR, always with the terrific support of his wife.
How MacDonald's got into Russia. The company owns a bus it lends to charities and it was carrying part of the Russian Olympic team around Montreal when George Cohan spotted it and invited himself on board - his bus after all. One thing led to another and a partnership was born. Roy took it on - thousands to hire and train, locations to find, no refrigeration and a currency that was not convertable to foreign currencies in a country that was experiencing hyperinflation and where few spoke english.
There were a few cultural differences too. 10% wastage was built into budgets to account for theft and integrity meant something a little different to them. One vodka factory ended up with more product than the plan called for so they wrapped the bottles in cheescloth and broke them, rebottled the vodka and took it home and reported adherence to the plan.
He found he had to consider the history and culture and to respond to their needs as he understood them through these lenses. A benefit to us would be dental care - to some of his female employees it was perfume. He had been told to expect a lot of absenteeism so he initiated a dependability bonus - 50% of salary for showing up. His successor dropped this and immediately people stopped showing up so he had to put it back.
He learned that management needs to make informed decisions quickly and avoid bureaucratization, especially during hyperinflation when delays cost people. He paid them in US dollars. During the coup he had 35 expats in his care and he brought in a jet and got them out 8 hours before head office called to ask what he was doing about it. This does not mean that other cultures don't have lots to offer and it's important to let people have input, especially in their country.
Pizza Hut had two lines in their outlets - one for people with hard currencies and one for those with Rubles. Rubles were not convertable but MacDonald's took them, converted the rubles to vodka, and other products, and exported those. Pizza Hut failed in Russia. People should try to have fun, too. Yeltsin was cutting a ribbon at an opening and he asked one of the managers how much she made. She said a million rubles which, he said, was more than he made. George said she had a very important job though.
Roy was recruited by the Head Office to build back the stock. It had gone from $50.00 to maybe $13.00. The stores had lost their lustre. They laid off high level office people, made cuts, hived off non core businesses and saved $52 million. They had to move forward, stay relevant and reinvent the company. Roy quoted Jamie Tripp who spoke at the last BIA meeting regarding the big box stores and malls. 'I don't worry about them, I worry about my customers'. Jamie went on to say it was important to know who you are and to play to your strengths, to know what contribution you can make to the community and to listen to the customers and the employees and to work with them to make them happy because happy employees make happy customers.
Roy had some lessons learned. Don't move non performance sideways. Tie staff into success through compensation. Let people tell you what you don't want to hear. Have a vision and plan for it. Embrace measurement and accountability. Be employee inclusive and customer driven. Play to your core capabilties. Manage noise or it will manage you. If you are not serving the customer, serve someone who is. He said often IT people, accountants or lawyers start to thing they drive the company. They don't. They should be making it easy for the front line staff to serve the customers.
Plan for succession. Have a strategy. Review your structure and take out the unneccessary layers in your organization. Work on crises management, labour relations, and executive coaching.
Roy said that over the years he had been able to give back by writing checks but he was appreciating the opportunity the Rotary Club was giving him by letting him give back with the gift of time. He thanked Fred for sponsoring him and for starting the Party on the Dock - the foundation which he and Ralph are building on; Ralph with logistics and Roy with promotion.
The weather will be good, the volunteers are in place, there will be two bands, Passport and Golden Harbour who are excited to be here again. The gates open at 6:30 and the goal is $50,000.00.
Dock radio will be there for a live broadcast and they've been promoting it heavily - $20,000.00 worth of advertising from them. There are other media sponsors, the Mirror, the New Chez, the Free Press and lots of businesses and marinas. 2,500 fllyers went out in the Bayport newsletter, 500 more in the Chamber's. There's a website and an 800 number, BIA are decorating, there'll be prizes and 500 tickets are sold already. Now's the time to turn it up and more ads are coming on line now.
Neil thanked Roy for sharing his life, his work and for the behind the scenes glimpses. He said the Club is pleased that he decided to be a Rotarian and grateful for all his work on the Party.