The Novus Management System: One With Clear Accountabilities

Speaker A My name is Kevin Maori. I'm director of customer supply chain at Novus International. I've been with Novus for 18 years. Of my 29 professional years in the industry. I was present an employee of Novus when the system was first introduced, and it was a gradual process for us, so we learned together. I kind of grew up with the system at Novus in that respect. It was a learning experience because my previous employer had already had a well established management system that was well understood and well disseminated throughout the organization. And so one of the challenges that I faced as a manager in our company was to quickly learn the system myself and also disseminate it throughout the organization. That presented some unique challenges in communication and training for the organization. But overall, I found that the Novus management system to be well suited to a company, fast paced company like Novus, specifically because of the establishment of clear accountability throughout the organization and the establishment of clear roles with respect to cross functional teams, which we have used quite extensively at Novus. So the management system at Novus not only establishes clear accountability within a hierarchical structure of the organization, but when you're working across functions, makes it very clear about what your role as you interact with another part of the organization is, whether it be an auditing or prescribing role. That all becomes very clear in the Novus management system. Makes for a very effective cross functional relationships. I think it does an excellent job in identifying and matching people with their roles and capabilities. We have a system that with clear accountability that there's no question about whether eventually whether a person is capable of the role that they've been assigned. I think the system with the level three assessments that we use also helps managers determine beforehand to a large extent what the capabilities of the individuals are with respect to their roles. My experience has been positive with respect to always having suitable challenges in my role and be able to mold the role a little bit to my strengths and abilities matching with corporate objectives. So I think overall my experience has been very positive in that area. I've never had a time where I felt that I was in over my head or inadequately prepared for a role. I think that's a key aspect of the Novus management system. I've been a mentor for my Sors and I have been mentored by my Mors, by a number of different does. It each one each Mor has done it slightly differently, but I think I've always found it be a very positive experience. Constructive input, career path discussions. I've had some formal and some actually document the Mor discussion with a two or three page memo summarizing the substance of the discussion. And I've kept all of those throughout my 18 years with Nova, so I reflect back on them to get the perspective of different Mors also. So in my mentoring role. I tried to make it as constructive for my Sors. To make sure that have a sounding board for their career aspirations. That is a valuable piece of their career development process.