“MBWA”–The Key to Relationship Building
“Back in the day” while working with Giant Food going through their Career Development Program (CDP), I was introduced to “MBWA” which stood for “Managing By Walking Around”.
Many in the business community credit Hewlett-Packard in the late 70’s for introducing “MBWA” into the workplace as noted in the 1982 book “In Search of Excellence” by Tom Peters. But in reality, Giant, having previously noted how innovative they were, created and put into practice “MBWA” long before HP–that’s from my own personal experience.
Mr. N.M. Cohen’s son, Israel, better known as “Izzy”, but still out of total respect, Mr. Cohen to me, took the reins of Giant from his father in 1977 and continued to build the company into the powerhouse it became in its heyday owning 43% of the market share in the Washington/Baltimore metro area.
“Izzy” was enthralled by “In Search of Excellence” when it came out in 1982 becoming the preeminent business book selling more than 4.5 million copies. Taking a group to Stew Leonard’s, one of a number of companies showcased in the book which happened to be a grocery store in NJ, for how they displayed and sold bulk strawberries–which was totally contrary to the then current accepted practice of hand-wrapping strawberries by the pint before putting them on display.
Even though Giant was extremely innovative and ahead of its time, one of “Izzy’s” theories was Giant was not out to “reinvent the wheel” so to speak, but would merely “steal” a practice or concept from a competitor and just to it better. WTBS, once the group returned from NJ, within a week Giant was selling bulk strawberries in all of their stores and with great success!
As the Assistant Manager at Giant #133 (Kettering/Largo), I became acquainted with many of Giant’s executives including “Izzy” as the store was considered a “test” store being located near the general offices in Landover.
Service stations still pumped your gasoline “back in the day” and Esso was rebranding themselves as Exxon kicking-off a multi-million-dollar national advertising campaign stating when you pulled into one of their gas stations for fuel, a uniformed service attendant would not only fuel your vehicle, but check your oil, and clean your windshield.
One afternoon, “Izzy” stopped by the store and asked me if I would accompany him on an adventure. Well, what was I to say except of course! So off we went with me behind the wheel on a near empty gas tank as we drove into six Esso/Exxon gas stations checking to see if what they were advertising would actually be what you’d experience when you pulled in to gas up. Come to find out, only two of the six gas stations performed up to expectations and this for “Izzy” was an “Aha!” moment. Giant was always providing a teaching moment and this was no exception as “Izzy” declared Esso/Exxon was wasting millions of dollars in advertising a service experience which, disappointingly, wasn’t taking place. If you’re going to execute a plan, be sure the plan will be executed he would declare.
Giant had a Learning Center for their CDP and all on the program, of course, received a copy of “In Search of Excellence”. Additionally, because of the book, the Learning Center developed a program ran by a “facilitator” going over the case studies examined in the book, thus, helping to develop us into the leaders who would personify and deliver the rather simple Giant mission statement of “Quality, Value, Service” (“QVS”).
As a General Manager (GM), our schedule was 7:30AM-5PM three days/week, 7:30AM-8PM on Friday, 7:30AM-8PM one day on a rotating basis, and off on Wednesday. We were also required to work one full Sunday/month or two half-Sundays/month–our choice. I’m here to tell you, if you weren’t in your store by 7AM, you were “behind the eight ball” and probably weren’t going to catch up.
At Giant, “our people made the difference” and in order for them to be able to perform beyond expectations, they needed to be happy, so excellent store morale was of the utmost importance in you having a successful operation and creating happy customers. As soon as a GM “hit the door”, they were to conduct their first complete store tour–not checking store conditions, making store notes, or giving directions–just “MBWA” and building relationships with their associates.
“MBWA” was a time to speak with every store associate greeting them with a big smile and a hearty good morning normally accompanied by a handshake, hug, or pat on the back, being certain to take all the time needed to interact with them individually. It was so vital they knew you were much more than their boss–that you actually cared about them and most GM’s “back in the day” were genuine. Over time, the relationships you built with your team of associates grew to a point where a bond existed and a sense of trust where they would confide in you. GM’s not only got to know their associates and their likes and dislikes while building these relationships, but became very acquainted with their families as well.
Late afternoons are when the evening associates arrived for work and, yep, we repeated our “MBWA” tour once again greeting and welcoming those on that shift. Twice a month, I’d come into the store extra early just to visit those working overnight in order to practice “MBWA” and it was always greatly appreciated, but little did they know it was I who actually had received much more from the experience.
Giant was able to create an extremely loyal workforce where generations of family members spent their careers always faithful, devoted, and dedicated to “QVS” in maintaining a loyal customer base all due, most likely, to building relationships and practicing “MBWA”.