The Challenge: To create and fine-tune a teambased environment.

The Solution: Embarked on a developmental building block learning process to create a consistent language for managing self, others, and teams.

The Results: Dramatic improvements in problem solving, leadership skills, and diagnosis in regard to issues and development levels were achieved.

The Corporate Mission Statement for Butler Manufacturing Company in Kansas City states that it is a team of talented, ethical, and motivated individuals, committed to providing its worldwide customers with products and services that create extraordinary levels of satisfaction.

This is one company that puts its mission into motion.

“Our team-based culture allows us to get our products out the door more quickly, and that results in happier customers.” explains Wayne Thies, corporate training manager.

“We love Building High Performing Teams from The Ken Blanchard Companies because this product provides us with a continuity of learning. In addition, it meets the needs of individuals and intact teams,” Thies said. “And,” he added, “it gets to the nitty-gritty of the problems teams are facing.”

He said that the program at Butler takes employees who are team leaders from different areas of the company and exposes them to the entire Building High Performing Teams program. What happens next is that each of the team leaders sees a component of the program that solves a particular need for his or her intact team.

“It might be chartering, decision making, problem solving, or assessment, but, each team leader is able to use the component or components that most address the issues facing the intact team,” Thies said.

Established in 1901 by founders Emanuel Norquist, an inventor, and Charles Butler, an expert in sales and marketing, Butler Manufacturing Company is the world’s leading producer of pre-engineered building systems and architectural products for the nonresidential construction market. Some of its milestones include

• The production of a better stock tank.
• Introducing a pre-manufactured car garage.
• Winning a USDA bid for 30,666 steel grain bins, which represented 1.5 times the total industry’s production in the previous year, and Butler made the delivery in 60 days. Meeting this challenge is recognized as the pivotal moment in the company’s history.
• Restructuring to do a better job of serving customers.
• Experiencing a period of growing through acquisitions.
• Expanding to an international market.
• Using Situational Leadership II (SLII) training.

“We looked at lots of leadership programs,” Thies said, “and took a year to preview and select the best for our company. We wanted a program that would match our corporate culture and mission statement. SLII fit the bill and it was user-friendly,” Thies recalled.

“After using SLII, we began using Building High Performing Teams because it offered us continuity and reinforced what we had already learned,” Thies said. “Next, we want to introduce Situational Self Leadership (SSL) for those who are not necessarily on teams.”

Thies cited the “consistent language” of The Ken Blanchard Companies’ programs as a great asset. “Our employees have better communications skills and are able to work together more effectively because they now speak the same language,” Thies said.

Traded on the New York Stock Exchange, Butler Manufacturing Company develops products that are distributed through a worldwide network of 1,500 authorized “Butler Builders^®”. The organization currently operates manufacturing, engineering, and service centers throughout the U.S. and 15 other countries, with 4,000 individual dealers in the U.S. and around the globe. It serves customers such as Wal-Mart, General Motors, Best Buy, Toys R Us, Goodyear, Sears, Del Monte Foods, Procter & Gamble, and many others.

Thies said it is hard to measure the impact that programs from The Ken Blanchard Companies have had on the company as a whole, but he said the outcomes are clearly evident in individuals.

“Our people solve problems better; they are more confident with their leadership skills; and they are much better able to diagnose themselves and the issues their teams are facing,” Thies said.

Clearly, Building High Performing Teams has been a part of Butler’s goal—to achieve a common purpose transcending functional specialization and organizational boundaries.

At Butler, teams work!