Smart Business Magazine, August 2017

66 Smart Business Cleveland August 2017 COVER LUBRIZOL CORP If people are really clear about what they are accountable for and they are really clear how that ties back to the results of the business they are going to be more engaged in helping us to be successful ERIC R SCHNUR CHAIRMAN PRESIDENT AND CEO LUBRIZOL CORP commercial opportunity to the customer If we can combine the chemistry and the applications and get really good at understanding the end user in a way we havent before not that were going to reclassify us as something other than specialty chemical but well be different than most other specialty chemical companies That ability to aim higher and deliver a product that customers may not even know they needed is what drives growth Its not like were just wanting growth because we cant think of anything else to aspire to Schnur says If the company doesnt grow people dont get opportunities you dont get to invest in other cool things and support the community the way you would like to as a healthy company Everybody recognizes we need to grow Sometimes they just cant see how what they do impacts that Were trying to make that clear Create more accountability Schnur wants everyone at Lubrizol to be clear about how they can impact the companys financial status How do you make money he says Either you sell more product and make more on what you sell so your margins are better or you spend less money making and selling the product get more efficient and reduce your costs Everybody no matter what they are doing can impact this in some way Telling people to think about that doesnt necessarily solve the problem Accountability can help in that effort So the company began what Schnur describes as a fairly rigorous process of defining accountability for everybody We take pride in the small company feel and being informal and that has persisted over the years Schnur says But weve outgrown the point where you can just tell people to go work together and get it done We have to define who is accountable for it That gets a little bit scary because accountability to some people is trying to find someone to blame for things But if you do it well or even if you dont do it well you just do it somewhat intelligently its all about speed and efficiency Youre responsible for making that decision So good bad or otherwise make the decision If its the wrong decision youre responsible for helping us learn from it When employees understand what they are accountable for and have a clear sense for what the company is trying to accomplish the path forward becomes easy to see Why does a job exist Schnur says Its real basic but people havent thought of it that way Ultimately within a fairly short period of time if people are really clear about what they are accountable for and they are really clear how that ties back to the results of the business they are going to be more engaged in helping us to be successful This review of accountability includes everyone from the top down Schnur says One thing he doesnt want to be as the company analyzes its processes is a bottleneck to growth and progress Earlier in his career at Lubrizol he spent time working at the companys Singapore location @ LubrizolCorp