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10 FEDA News & Views T here are a few "givens" how-to coach and author Jim Ambrose has come to expect at the start of one of his workshops. Although, leadership boot camp may be more fi tting to describe the intense two-day brain drain that covers the gamut of distribution, starting with sales productivity and account manage- ment to identifying the customer's value stream. Not to be confused with value stream mapping, it's a phrase Ambrose uses to characterize the ideal hand-and- glove fi t in any customer-driven sector, i.e., a business's resources paired per- fectly with a customer's expectations. "This is not a build-it-and-they-will- come industry," he says. "For a business to grow, you have to identify what the customer values, determine if you have the resources to invest in that value and then build the operation side to provide that value. Anything else that's eating up your time and money should be scrapped." Given No. 1 is that managers within the realm of distribution tend to give themselves too much credit. Meaning, most are not as competent as they think they are when it comes to articulat- ing the vision and leading their people. That's according to the feed- back Ambrose routinely collects from the employees of workshop attendees. He's been surveying them for 15 years, prior to the start of each workshop, and the results rarely stray. "Most of the time they show that their employees do not have a clear understanding of the business plan," he says. "They say, 'we like our boss, he/she is friendly but he doesn't communicate enough and we are not sure what we should be doing to grow the business.'" The shock that follows after the results are aired is the other given. What do managers typically say when questioned about their vulnerabilities? The majority, many of whom are trans- plants from sales, admit that they could use more training in analyzing fi nancial data and managing salespeople. But when asked the same question, their employees point to a lack of communi- cation and leadership skills, shortcom- ings that Ambrose partially links to the grind. "I talk to a lot of wholesale distribution managers," he says, "and the world at the branch level is very busy. Prior to each workshop, I call every attendee to break the ice and, invariably, they say, 'we are very busy, Jim. I hope I get something out of it but it's going to be a tough two days because we are so busy run- ning the branch.'" Running the branch—he hates that phrase and prefers driv- ing the branch because it denotes intent. "The manager that is just running the busi- ness…they are the button pushers and the lever pullers," says Ambrose, who served in multiple levels of manage- ment prior to starting his consulting business. "They know how to get opera- tional things done but their leadership skills are lacking," he says. "Be it branch manager or the owner of a company, to succeed in today's competitive land- scape, a manager needs to be aggressive and have the business skills and leader- ship tools to grow the business profi t- ably above market growth." That's where the fundamen- tals come into play—"Acquiring a 5,000-foot View," "Becoming a Great Communicator," "Building Strong Teams," "Improving the Productivity of Sales," and "Developing a Sound Understanding of Accounting Basics." Ambrose, a former regional manager for General Electric, likens them to a bundle of must-haves that were vital to his success, in addition to many of the branch managers he supervised during his 41 years in distribution. He wrote 5 Fundamentals for the Wholesale Distribution Branch Manager to high- light the signifi cance of the branch manager's role in moving a business forward, as well as to provide a guide to help others improve their business and leadership skills. "When I left the industry I was V.P. of Sales for a global manufacturing com- pany; it was just before 9/11," says the 5 Fundamentals author. "Stepping back gave me an opportunity to really refl ect on the take-away, that despite organi- zational structure or the size of the company, the success of the company strategy ultimately rests with the skills of the local person at the market level. "Over the course of my career, I've been responsible for more than 150 branch managers and when I look at them across the spectrum, the ones The Fundamentals of Branch Management NAW Author Jim Ambrose on the Essentials That Every Branch Manager—and Any Other Leader—Should Have to Drive Profi ts & Motivate People