he looks beaten to me. Congratulations.” Our human resources are all we have to offer at the end of the day.
On the day of the announcement meeting, the faces in the crowd were clouded with despair and resignation. Many looked downright hostile. However, I gave a lot of credit to the corporate computer operations managers who flew to America to present their re-organization plan at the meeting. They followed a script the executive coaches and I wrote for them.
They were straightforward and honest – no holding back details, no sugarcoating, and no hiding from the audience or from the truth. The only off-note was when the corporate human resources guy stood up and said, “Why am I here?” and he didn’t seem to have a credible answer to his own question.
I could see the looks on the faces in the crowd. At the end of the presentation, I stood up and said these are the plans; we have given the details to you as soon as was possible because we know these are your lives we’re talking about. “I promise that I will be involved and available for you. I personally guarantee that every right to which you are due by law, company policy, and morally because you are employees of this company, you will receive and I will fight for them.” I then asked Joe Tomaselli, one of the senior executive coaches we provided for them that day, to say a few words.
Joe hadn’t expected to be called on to speak at that time but he was (and is) a consummate professional. He came forward, stood in front of the audience and said
“I’m here to help you get through this time of major change. We all know this is not easy. I will help you by listening to your concerns and giving you advice. Why am I here? Because I’ve made every mistake in the book.” The audience’s eyes widened in collective surprise. “I’ve made mistakes that you might make and then some! And I’ve learned from those mistakes so that you don’t have to make them to learn too.”
He gained their trust in seven sentences because fairness trumps everything.
You Bring It With You
A leader’s credibility is the core of his or her ability to manage successfully. It is truly said that all you take with you from one job to another is your reputation. Without your credibility, your other management tools are useless. Managers like Joe live authentic lives that confirm their credibility and speak their reputations instantly. Leaders are both humble and bold. By speaking and living from the essence of their lives (“I’ve made every mistake in the book”), they relate to their colleagues immediately and their colleagues relate to and trust them.
“The lessons about a leader being both humble and bold cause me some thought. I’ve had too many examples of self-centered leadership.” Dr. Terry Ebert, Managing Director, The Ayers Group
My friend Peter, my first teacher in the freight business, told me, “A true leader is willing to go out on a limb in pursuit of the truth.” Leadership and successful management are not timid pursuits. Managers face problems and conflicting situations constantly. Although performing as a team is the most spiritually rewarding work environment, the daily tasks required of managers include uncooperative people, unrealistic schedules and disagreements among and sometimes with colleagues that defy easy resolution. The leader must be prepared (“Carry the right-sized stick”) to first understand and then conquer these challenges. There are many circumstances in which the manager’s manager isn’t going to accept anything other than a quick and sure answer.
No manager with whom I’ve ever worked expected me to predict the future; every manager with whom I’ve ever worked expected me to assist in planning for the future.
You are the leader in these situations. Your first goal is to be aware of your own moral priorities, your values, what your role is in these circumstances and how you are approaching these problems. The first place you look is within yourself. Ask, do I have a pre-existing prejudice about anyone or anything involved in this situation? What do I know about these people and circumstances and what don’t I know? Where and to whom do I need to go to listen and develop a better understanding?
You practice the rule “Listen more, talk less.” That means you pursue your open-ended questions (What can you tell me to help me understand this problem? How do you see this situation? What do you suggest we do to resolve this?) by hearing what each person has to say; by demonstrating with your attention span, facial expressions, body language, and follow up questions that what is being said is of value; and by respecting each viewpoint (especially the ones with which you might otherwise personally disagree). And although the workplace is assuredly not a democracy, it must be a place of fairness. The significant feature of a fair environment is not majority rule; it is the minority’s ability to speak safely and appropriately and be heard.
Rather than being confused or overwhelmed by conflicting information, you are strengthened in your problem resolution and decisionmaking abilities by having a larger picture of what is involved. Remember the Teamsters who suggested ways to cut their overtime. I would have never arrived at that conclusion if I hadn’t suspended my personal prejudices (Cost savings suggested by Teamsters!?). Respect everyone.
Instead of avoiding ambiguous information, welcome it. One of the benefits of ambiguity is that by considering it, you make yourself think about the problem in more depth. You know the management tendency to jump into a problem without taking the time to understand all the issues. Resist it. There are textures to problem situations that are revealed only when there is sufficient input. Do you want the quickest answer or the right answer in an appropriate time? Leaders appreciate Samuel Johnson’s wisdom of two-hundred and thirty years ago, “Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it.”
“ . . . commitment to openness means we have to make an effort to listen to others, to integrate their perspectives where possible, and to tolerate differences as long as the differences are peaceful. Testing our beliefs in the crucible of others’ perspectives will either make our beliefs stronger or create new intellectual alloys we never thought possible.” Max Borders, Rational Mysticism for a Young Movement
We haven’t touched on that tenth leadership element, “Assume good intent, but document everything,” until now.
The legal and regulatory world in which we work requires us as managers to protect our colleagues, our organization and ourselves from the ugly consequences of charges of deliberate unfairness, unlawful prejudice and a disrespectful atmosphere at work. These charges, whether they are not formalized but only whispered, they are made in the organization’s complaint process, or they are filed as legal actions, cost more than just managers’ time to investigate and attorney’s fees. They cost more than your potential personal liability that may be involved. These charges destroy the workplace if left unchecked and they deteriorate the organization’s credibility with both current employees and prospective hires and customers. They undermine productivity directly.
You know that most work problems are people issues. You are the leader of an important group of people, your team. Where there is a problem or a situation that is building into a problem, you are responsible for knowing about it and resolving it. In recent decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that “. . . companies can be held liable for the illegal harassing behavior of supervisors even when top managers had no idea that it was going on and were not negligent in any way.”
The Court is saying that you as the manager, as the leader must be aware of and are responsible for what is happening around you, even when your colleagues don’t tell you to your face.
This is part of the mantle of your leadership responsibility. You’re not expected to be clairvoyant but you are required to listen. If there is whispering, you must hear it. When your colleagues are testy with one another, you must inquire why. When productivity slows, you seek out the human reasons. Your people want to talk to you and they want you to listen – make that happen all the time because you don’t have the time to not listen.
When you are faced with a problem and you go through the steps to resolve it, nothing serves to protect all involved more than your documenting what you learn. A simple set of notes that are maintained properly are usually all