Martha Corbett eschews the traditional perch above her employees, clients and community organizations. Instead, she focuses on creating lateral connections, with her networks stretching out like a web around her.
The way the PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP executive looks at it, she’s simply building relationships out in every direction to stay in the loop.
“I want to make sure that I don’t just have my own view of what’s going on — that I have a wider and broader perspective on what’s happening, what’s on their minds,” says Corbett, managing partner for the accounting firm’s Southern California/Phoenix market. “I don’t want to be the last to know.”
She doesn’t just stay in touch with the 1,200 employees in her region — which spans from Los Angeles to San Diego, Phoenix and Las Vegas — and their clients to form that knowledge. Her network also includes other organizations unrelated to accounting or auditing. Deeply involved with charities like The United Way, she encourages employees to find similar organizations they can support, and she makes connections for them within her web whenever she can.
Her focus is on sustaining relationships with — and between — all of those groups. Beyond building her own relationships with her constituents, she helps them do the same with their own co-workers, clients and charities. Her role is even built around the importance of those relationships, as she’s charged with coordinating teamwork across her market and honing relationships between her employees and their clients.
Corbett’s approach starts with the basics — an open-door policy and a philosophy of managing by walking around to get input from others — but also involves a steady flow of communication back at employees.
So while there’s an aspect of leadership that reaches out from the center, it isn’t dictatorial. Rather, Corbett thinks communication should be built on and feed off of your relationships with those around you.
“You often see leadership speaking from the center or speaking from a podium,” she says. “What’s even more important is the one-on-one relationships that you have with your people. You can’t just stand at the podium and espouse your vision and your strategies without really knowing what everybody’s thinking and what they’re able to do.”
Here’s how Corbett emphasizes the importance of relationships built on communication and how she keeps it flowing both ways.
