Chip Babst realizes that being on a first-name basis with all of your employees probably becomes impossible once a company reaches a certain size.
But Babst, Calland, Clements and Zomnir PC isn’t too big yet for him to know all 119 employees.
“It’s important to maintain that personal tie, recognizing that in larger businesses, that has to be done in a different way and is not going to be accomplished by one person at the top,” says Babst, the law firm’s managing shareholder.
He uses both formal and casual interactions to customize his approach to each employee to generate buy-in, set goals and check on progress.
Smart Business spoke with Babst about how to drive your vision with communication.
Q. How do you communicate your vision throughout the company?
The communication can be either direct or indirect. There are two ways to do that. One is through opportunities that you have to talk to significant numbers of people, whether it be at a meeting or a retreat.
The other way is making sure that you get around and talk to people on a one-on-one basis. During the course of a year, you should be in touch with many, if not all, of the people in the organization.
But in addition to that, if the people who are involved in management with you are coordinated in what you’re trying to do, then the message gets directed to everybody indirectly, which is, in many cases, more effective.
Q. How do you get others on the same page with your vision?
It’s a very personal approach, and I don’t know if there’s a formula that you would apply that’s one size fits all. You deal with individuals as they are. There are certain types of arguments that would be persuasive with some people and would not be persuasive with others.
I try to take the time to talk to people to find out not just what they think about the business but what they’re like as people. Just by getting to know people, you have a better feel for the best way to approach them.
