Gauge buy-in by attitude. Seeing is believing. They need to work side by side with you — at least on a few deals, I mean five, 10, 20 — and see how we approach the project. You can sit there and tell them what to do all day long, but the only way is to show them and let them experience it personally, sitting next to you. Then they see how it works, and it’s like a light bulb goes off all of a sudden.
It’s easy to tell by their performance, first of all, and it’s easy to tell if they have buy-in just by their overall attitude on a daily basis.
I evaluate the solutions that they’re bringing to me. You can tell a lot by those solutions.
If they’re coming in with a solution that is very expensive and it’s pretty obvious that there’s a less costly solution that may not make as much money for our company but it would save the client more money, they’re not bought in.
You can only work with them so long. If that type of performance continues, they don’t belong here. Do we kick them out the door the first time or two? No. You have to evaluate the person’s personality, their attitude, what you believe their capability is. That factors into how long you’re going to keep them here. Somebody you may give 90 days to buy in; somebody you may give three years to buy in.
Maybe they didn’t come up with the best solution but once you bring it up, they run with it gladly. You’re going to give that person a little more time. The person that fights you and doesn’t appreciate your critical analysis and doesn’t look at it as learning, that person’s going to be short-lived here.
Let them go. I don’t know how you can grow and micromanage. If you do grow and micromanage, I don’t know how you’re going to sustain growth or be successful.
You make sure they’re prepared before you release them. Once you release them, you’ve got to let them do it. You’ve got to let them make their own mistakes, and you’ve got to let them make their own successes.
Of course, if there’s a gross mistake going on, you need to bring it up and discuss it with your staff or the individual that’s working on it. But you’ve got to let them go with it, no matter how hard that is. Otherwise, you’re not going to continue to grow your entire organization.
How to reach: Environmental Operations Inc., (314) 241-0900 or www.environmentalops.com
