CASE STUDY

How Jeff Fullam of General Motors learned to delegate, improve morale and performance and get a better social life

“We can’t build cars fast enough to meet demand in Russia,” says Jeff Fullam, Lean Warehousing Manager at General Motors Europe. He is part of the global supply chain and logistics group and currently has responsibility for ensuring there are enough parts to supply the after sales market in East and Central Europe, including Russia, Poland and Turkey.

General Motors has witnessed some contraction in its traditional markets in recent years, but is really benefiting from demand for its cars in emerging markets. This year Russians will buy nearly five times more Opels from GM than last year and demand for Chevrolets is even stronger.

This creates a problem for Jeff, who, after a high flying 28 year career at GM, is responsible for ensuring that the 200,000 sq ft warehouse just west of Moscow is full of parts sourced from all over the world. Demand is escalating so quickly that the warehouse is being expanded to 600,000 sq ft by 2011.

Instead of panicking, Jeff is planning. He is working closely with his superiors and direct reports to ensure there is a good understanding of what is required and by when.

“The key skill in my job is to be given and to delegate clear, precise work tasks and deadlines,” says Jeff, adding, “and I learned that skill through coaching.”

When Jeff joined GM as an engineering apprentice in 1979 he quickly became known as ambitious and trustworthy – putting in 12 hours a day, often seven days a week, an effort that put a strain on his personal life. Four promotions later, as manager of materials management, he was running a team of 30 people across Europe.

The problem was, he could not delegate and felt the need to follow all items himself along the supply chain. As a result the demands he made on his team created low morale and poor performance. When the Personnel Director learnt about this, he suggested to Jeff that he did some work with a coach and recommended Robbie Steinhouse of he Coaching Consultancy in London.

When Jeff started receiving coaching with Robbie, he was also finishing his part time MBA degree. He learnt a lot about business in the MBA class, but it was coaching that taught him how to understand people’s reactions and needs, how to delegate, how to get better performance from himself and his team and how to manage his time better so that he could have a social life, too.

“Over about six months I would meet Robbie for face-to-face coaching sessions or we would talk on the telephone or even send emails to each other. He quickly identified my issues and started with the theory of how to get the best out of organisations and people.

“This then graduated into sessions of practical learning that would emerge not from Robbie but from our discussions of how I would handle situations, the blocks I would run into and how to unscramble them. ”

“Over time, I learnt how to create realistic goals for people that they felt comfortable buying into. This meant there was a mutual understanding of what had to be done by when and that if the tasks were not done or deadline met, I could make it known to them that they had simply not delivered. This process also made me feel comfortable that things were under control and I did not need to have my eye on the entire supply chain. I began trusting my people.”

When the company introduced a new appraisal system that was task oriented and allowed for objective rather than subjective appraisals, Jeff and his team were able to adopt it immediately.

Morale improved, performance was better, and for the first time he started to enjoy a good social life, unspoilt by the demands of his job and his terror of failure.

“If I were to suggest coaching to someone else, I would advise them that to keep abreast of all the jobs they are doing, they should learn to prioritise and agree with each of their employees what is expected of them and by when. Coaching differs from other self development processes in that it is very practical and helps you to develop an awareness of what other people are feeling, what skills they need to learn and how to establish mutual goals.”

The effectiveness of the coaching, adds Jeff, depends on the coach’s ability to establish the coaching contract, create confidentiality and trust, facilitate planning, goal setting and actions and manage progress and accountability.

With the new skills he has learned, Jeff can start building a support team in his latest promotion and help the team in Russia, where 75% of employees have less than a year’s experience of the work they are doing.

He is loving his work and his social life and helping his company to meet the insatiable appetite for GM cars in Russia and beyond.



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