A Brief History about Steve

Valuing people and making connections is what matters to Steve Betros in his role as Walker’s manufacturing operations manager. He oversees all of Walker’s production departments, and according to Steve, caring about people is essential to the job. He says, “All of this equipment doesn’t matter if we don’t have good people to run it.” Steve finds his on-the-job interactions with his coworkers exciting. “I wish I could talk to every employee and shake their hands every day,” he says. “It can’t be done, but I’d like to make the rounds and say something non-work related to every person each day.” Steve finds it rewarding to achieve production milestones and celebrate them with his coworkers. Hearing about the efforts of others within the organization motivates him. He recognizes the importance of listening to people, and he enjoys seeing employees’ ideas turn problems into solutions, resulting in improved quality and productivity.

Leadership training and development are an important part of Steve’s role. He looks for people who will blossom into amazing and impactful team players. Weaving his prior experience (30+ years in manufacturing leadership roles) into a training class for supervisors, he enjoys passing on what he has learned to others. “I’ve learned a lot about what to do and what not to do,” Steve says. “I really like helping supervisors understand their role.” He enjoys seeing effective leaders make a difference in people, their teams and the company as a whole. Watching employees acquire new skills they can share is exciting for Steve. “It’s so cool when we hire someone new, and then he’s showing the next new guy something new,” he says. “To me, that’s what it’s all about. We are all part of something bigger. We are not islands here.”

Steve measures success by continual improvement, and he wants to help everyone improve each day. A data-driven guy with a penchant for statistics, he likes to extract meaningful information and understanding out of data. He relies on visuals to communicate progress and goals, and has been known to hang charts throughout the shop on anything from attendance to other departmental goals. If things aren’t improving, he believes in asking why and being honest with the data. Steve says, “I don’t like goals without clear actions to get there. Otherwise, it’s wishful thinking. We have to ask, ‘Where are we? Are we going in the right direction?’”

One of Walker’s core values, “always love people, use money,” is not just a platitude for Steve. It’s something he believes in, and he points it out to prospective employees during interviews. Steve says many other companies have this value reversed. At Walker, the generosity of the people amazes Steve. When employees initiate a fundraiser to help a coworker in need, Steve counts it a huge privilege to present the check on behalf of others. He says, “It’s such an honor and a privilege to give someone something they don’t expect.”

At the conclusion of his work day, Steve likes to walk through a quiet factory, reflecting on the work that gets done there each day. He says, “I sincerely appreciate what they do out in the factory. It’s not easy.” Someday, he would like to be able to do what Max Walker did and spend more time just talking and listening to people. He’d like to hear what’s going on in their lives and families, and genuinely thank each person for the work they do. Steve says he would find great blessing and satisfaction in that. Because he wants to do things of eternal value, Steve says, “I want to surprise people with a kindness or a love where they say, ‘Where does that come from?’ and point them to Jesus.”