Be visible
Hoeflinger says the worst thing you can do when leading a company is sit in your chair in your office and manage from there. To be
effective and create an open and transparent culture, you need to
get out and be seen and interact with your employees.
“The higher up you get, the lower you are on the food chain of communication.” she says. “… It’s harder to get that direct sense of where
you are going as a company any other way than getting out there, getting involved, managing by walking around, understanding what’s
going on day to day and understanding how it’s impacting the customer.”
With her employees scattered across the state, Hoeflinger relies
heavily on constant communication to make sure she is connecting with them.
“You have to do it more than once, and you have to do it in several different ways,” she says.
Keeping communication open sometimes requires it to be a little
less formal so that employees feel comfortable coming to you with
questions and concerns. Meeting with employees on their level is
one way to do this.
For example, Hoeflinger spent some time recently in customer
service to learn more about what types of calls the representatives
were receiving and what they were hearing from members. She
says it sometimes can be a little scary at first for the employees on
the front line when you come to meet with them. But if you just sit
down with them and start to have a conversation, they understand
why you’re there and their fears start to fade.
“You can’t just shoot off an e-mail and ask what our top three
calls are,” she says. “If you’re not getting out and understanding
from the people who are taking them what’s going on, then you’re
not getting a flavor.”
Being a hands-on leader requires you to set your ego aside and
not get emotionally tied to your title.
“You are now in the position of your people who work for you
will make or break you,” Hoeflinger says. “So ensuring that you
understand what motivates them and ensuring that you’re out
there energizing them and moving them in the right direction,
(because) without that you won’t be successful. And if the teams
from them on down don’t believe in the direction or they don’t
believe in you because, A, they never see you or, B, they never hear
from you and the only communication you’re getting is from sitting
in your chair, you’re going to live a short life in that seat, so enjoy.”
When you’re out meeting with employees and they tell you about
a problem or issue they’re having, they need to know you’re actually listening to them. If you follow up on the problem, they know
you are hearing their concerns and you will develop trust with
them.
Hoeflinger makes sure she has accurate information on the
issues so she can follow up properly. For example, she might have
the head of her sales team take notes during a meeting on follow-up items. She’s then able to follow up with that employee, whether
it’s through e-mail or a note or phone.
“They’re always surprised when you make that call,” she says. “But it’s fun. A great part of my job is being able to reach out and
work one-on-one with people.”
If an employee brings up something that can’t be done, you still
need to follow up and be honest with them about the situation.
“If they ask a question, I tell them exactly what I know, and then
I continuously have to follow through on where we are,”
Hoeflinger says.
Constant and open communication does take a lot of work, but
it also keeps people energized and moving forward on achieving
the vision and goals. Hoeflinger has seen higher employee engagement at Anthem through her transparent communication, and
those engaged employees are, in turn, more productive.
“It’s so much about getting out and communicating in different
formats, in different locations, and getting the message out and
hearing the message back,” she says. “It’s two-way communication
and feet out on the streets from that perspective. The way you’re
going to learn how things are going, how your message is being
received and what the vision is on the ground is to get out there.”
HOW TO REACH: Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Ohio, (513) 872-8100 or www.anthem.com
