Manage by listening. I would
rather our employees believe
in the process and then have
them do it and have their support as to why it is a good
idea, rather than pound it
home, be dictatorial and say,
‘You need to do this.’
People are much more
inclined to do something when
they understand why they’re
doing it, feel like they’re part of
the team, feel like they’re
empowered in their own way to
carry out what the plan is and
support what you collectively believe. The other important
piece of that is if you’re going to
be inclusive, support people
and not be dictatorial, you’d
better be a good listener. You
have to listen to people and
openly want their comments.
Over time, you’re just watching people’s skill sets. If you
are not dictatorial and you are
inclusive, by nature, that’s a
characteristic that comes with
you. Being smart-aggressive
means you are a listener, and
you make sure whatever risks
you take have a high probability of success.
By smart-aggressive, I mean
that we are always in a proactive mode to grow the firm, to
create opportunity for employees, to operate with total integrity and to come up with business
plans that are conducive to a
high probability of success.
Lead collaboratively. It’s not just
me as the leader. I’m working
with 28 other owners in our
firm. I feel like I work for those
28 people, like I work for the
300 employees in the firm.
I recognize that outside perception says I’m the leader, but
it really is our plan. You have
to live that day to day — that
you consider everyone in the
company as important as you
are; you just have different
roles and different functions.
Through honest communication in that regard, I think people will begin to understand
that you truly do care about
them and understand their
importance to why you are
successful as a company.
HOW TO REACH: Schneider Downs & Co. Inc., (412) 261-3644 or www.sdcpa.com
