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Welcome back. Weíre talking today with Joe Scarlett, Chairman of the Board of Tractor
Supply Company and weíre talking about the issue of coaching. Joe, when we broke a few
minutes ago, I wanted to ask a question that I think Iíll start with now. As youíre coaching
people, wherever that may be, have you found that the universal topics or universal issues
that should be coached, that people should be aware of, that regardless of who it is,
that they might have this particular need? I would say there are some very common themes,
but you have to structure each conversation based on the individual you are with. Common
themes would have to deal with team building, have to do with, in very many cases, personal
leadership skills, how people conduct themselves, how they present their selves. I would say
there are some common themes, but there is a lot of individuality that would have to
be tailored into each coaching session. Is there anything that is off limits? There
are a lot of things that you need to sort of customize and tailor for each session,
but is there anything that you always leave alone and never touch at all?
If itís a business related topic, if it has to do with the performance of the individual
or the group, I never avoid it. However, I do try to avoid personal issues. I donít
want to become a counselor for people who have personal problems of one sort or another.
I donít think thatís my role and I try to avoid that all costs.
Okay, alright. You mentioned a while ago in our earlier segment that a lot of your coaching
actually happens on the highway between stores. Let me ask a sort of a more probing question
relative to location and format of coaching sessions. Have you found that there is a wonderful
place, though, to have a coaching session and if so, what kind of format do you follow
in those kinds of circumstances? The format varies by the individual and, as
I said earlier, I never leave any topic off limits, but I like to be in a quiet place
where weíre not rushed. Weíll often stop at a fast food restaurant in the morning and
in the middle of the afternoon and just sit down and have coffee and just talk for an
hour or two or three or over dinner at night, but I like to do it where itís quiet and
we have time to think and converse directly with an individual.
So itís possible that in the course of day, with one of your district managers, regional
manager, vice presidents, whoever you are traveling with, that youíll spend eight hours,
nine hours, ten hours. I mean from the time that you get in the car in the morning or
from breakfast before you get in the car in the morning all the way through dinner that
nightÖ Weíre early risers. Weíre often on the road
at 6:30 in the morning and donít finish dinner until 9:00 at night, so we have long days
and rather intimate discussions about various topics.
Is there any difference in coaching for the moment, maybe a certain situation or circumstances
come up in one of your stores or something that youíre hearing thatís happening in
the industry versus coaching for the long term or the long haul?
Well, I think coaching for the moment could be solving a particular problem or handling
an individual situation thatís happening then. I prefer to focus my time on the long
term and what are we going to do to improve that individualís performance over a period
of years to make that person a better leader. I like to work with what we call high potentials
or hy-pos in our company. People who have the ability to move forward because I think
that is the best investment of my time. Okay, now youíve said something that really
has my antennae up ñ hy-po, a high potential individual. What does a high potential individual
look like? Give me characteristics. Donít just leave me hanging there.
High potential are people that are committed to the job who we believe have the skill base
to get beyond where they are, people who are particularly assertive and aggressive about
what they are doing and insightful in the business. People who continue to work hard
and people that typically overachieve. Okay, we got high potential people who are
spending hour upon hour upon hour at least occasionally with the Chairman of the Board
in this individualized, tailored, customized coaching effort. Do you ever find anybody
who doesnít necessarily want to be there? I mean this is just a little too much high
pressure. Well, there are people who donít want to
be there, Iím sure. I try to do everything I can to make people comfortable. I think
my personality generally is maybe less daunting than some CEOsí would be. I try to make it
easy for them, but if people are not responsive, I just donít waste any more time withÖIím
trying to help people get better and be better performers and move up the ladder in the company
and expect them to receive that in a positive way. If they donít, I just move on and typically
those people are not really high potentials. Okay, but the key I got from that is that
you are really not there to make it a high pressure kind of environment. Youíre really
trying to help them and they sense that in terms of time and the energy and the attitude
that you explore or that you use through the exploration of this coaching effort.
That certainly is my goal and I hope thatís the way it works out every time. Iíve had
very few people unresponsive to my coaching. Alright, with that said, you havenít had
very many people who are unresponsive, have you a lot of success with your coaching? Can
you really put your finger on and say that success that that individual has had, is having
or will have, is a direct result of the coaching from me or from someone else?
I relate to a lot of instances and a lot of individuals where I have felt that I have
seen improvement and Iíve seen people move forward. Probably the biggest success of all
is something we started a couple of years ago called Tractor Supply University. We coached
a group of about 20 individuals and I spent personal time with these individuals on about
20 different occasions over a two-year period both individually and collectively coaching
them to move forward. Of the group, three quarters of them during the two-year period
were promoted and I think that my coaching of those people helped in their career and
helped them move forward. Okay, so they see the benefit, theyíve grown
in their business, in their professional life, their business activities. What about failures?
You said a few minutes ago you basically donít spend a lot of time with people who are not
the high potentials, hy-pos as you referred to them, but have you looked and you really
thought you had a winner and you spent a lot of time and you dedicated maybe two years
of your life to this person and it just didnít work out? If so, why didnít it work out?
Why do people sometimes not take to coaching? Well, I donít know why people donít. Sometimes
people are stubborn and they think they either know it all or theyíre not receptive to change
or learning. I tend to identify those things early on and not spend a lot of time with
people like that. I want to spend time with the people who I call hy-pos who can really
make a difference for the company in the long term.
Okay, but Iím going to press you even further still. Whatís your greatest disappointment
as a coach? My greatest disappointment are the people
who just do not respond, where you spend a lot of time and you work with them and they
just donít get any better. I never know quite whether they donít have the ability or they
donít care, theyíre just stubborn or whether they have a mental block of one sort or another,
but I try to get those disappointments behind me as quickly as possible.
Do those people tend to have a relatively short life, business life, with Tractor Supply
or are there places in the organization for people who basically have plateaued in their
professional career? Thereís plenty of room for what we call high
performers who have reached a certain level and are doing a great job, but donít either
have the potential or the will to get beyond where they are. Where our company isÖwe have
lots of lots of people like that and thatís just fine. You want people like that.
So high potential gets a lot of coaching, high performance gets a lot of support and
encouragement to continue to do the things that they are doing.
Well put. Okay, listen, weíre going to take another
break and weíre going to ask that you stay with us as we come back in just a few moments
to continue our conversations with Joe Scarlett from Tractor Supply.