Earn support during times of opposition.
There are times when
you have to go against the
team. … So being able to stand
up and articulate your principles is important, but you better anticipate and handle the
disappointment and frustration they’re going to feel.
If you have a strong need to
be liked, then this is not a position you want because you
have a lot of opportunity to
frustrate people. You have to
have a clear vision of where
you’re taking the business, and
you have to maintain that
direction through the frustration of people who you really
respect.
But being a leader is working
through that short-term frustration to show them the way
to that long-term success.
When Wayland Hicks was
the CEO of Nextel, I ran the
largest region of the company,
and he and I didn’t agree on
more things than we agreed
upon. But he had the ability to
articulate to me my position as
well as I could, and if somebody could do that and decide
to do something different, then
I felt very comfortable supporting that.
I was surprised at how much
passion I would end up putting
into supporting his position
because he understood my
position and decided to go
another direction.
Anybody can do that. It’s not
a matter of communication
skills; it’s based on the investment of time. If you’re in a
rush situation, stopping and
taking the time to listen to
someone and then articulating
their position back to them
takes a lot of time. But if you
do it, then people know that
you listened and will support
the process.
Use your credibility to encourage
lofty goals.
You’ve got to set
bold, impossible goals, and
you have to be able to convince the team that they’re
going to accomplish those
goals. When I joined ShoreTel
… I made an announcement to
the team that our goal was
$100 million, and when I did
that, there was literally no oxygen left in the room.
We’d been working for seven
or eight years to get to $18 million and to have this person
come in and say we’re going to
get to $100 million was seen as
being pretty radical.
But you don’t send an e-mail
out saying we’re going to be
$100 million when you’re $18
million; it’s always done in person. They have to understand
from you that you’ve been able
to reach big goals before.
At Nextel, I was the 34th
employee, so it helps to share
that track record with them,
and by letting them see what
you’ve done, they see that you
know what you’re talking
about.
HOW TO REACH: ShoreTel Inc. (800) 425-9385 or www.shoretel.com
