George Ball wants all of his
employees to be all-stars.
The chairman of Houston-based Sanders Morris Harris
Group Inc. views his role as
leader of his 684 employees
similar to that of the manager
of a baseball team.
If someone dictates the starting lineup to the team manager,
Bell says that tends to create in
the manager a subliminal desire
to achieve defeat. But, if the
manager establishes the batting
order himself, he is motivated
to show that he’s made good
choices.
That’s why Ball allows his
managers to make their own
choices at his $185.8 million
financial services holding company instead of dictating behavior to them.
Ball’s firm provides its clients
with money management, trust
services, investment banking
and brokerage services. Fifteen
years ago, Ball joined the firm’s
New York office — one of many
locations throughout the United
States — and moved to Texas
in 1996. He expects the firm’s
2008 revenue to reach nearly
$225 million.
Smart Business spoke with
Ball about how he delegates his
authority and how he empowers
his work force.
Delegate, but stay involved. My leadership style is probably
more that of an involved delegator than an order giver. It is very
difficult for people to manage
following the dictums of another person.
On the other hand, delegation
without involvement is abrogation because you are simply saying, ‘Here is the job. You go out
and do it.’ If you don’t counsel,
aid, involve, motivate, hand-hold
with a person, then you’re really
not doing anything to enrich
their abilities.
Don’t micromanage. I ask people
questions about what they’re
doing. I’ll probe them on the
‘why.’ I’ll challenge them on personnel decisions or strategies
and not to try to superimpose
my will but rather to get them to
think thoroughly about their
direction.
My father was a college professor, and he said he would
never tell a student an answer.
He would talk with them, work
with them and coax them until
the student got the answer.
You really don’t learn simply
by having a fact handed to you
and then regurgitating it. Your
cognitive facilities are enriched
only when you are able to articulate an answer or a theory, and
that’s what I find works best for
me most of the time.