Be a team player. When I go to
one of my direct report’s staff meetings and sit in … my
position is, ‘I’m here, I’m
learning, you guys are the
experts. I’m here because I
want to deep dive this a little
and maybe offer some solutions to it,’ rather than offering that they are doing something wrong.
At the end of the day, there
is a high motivation with the
way that I do it. It’s inspiring
the mission. It shows a sense
of urgency and a caring to all
because it is a cross-functional
type of thing.
It definitely shows that I
believe in the teamwork and
that goals can be met
through the team atmosphere. Then, it broadens the
employees’ abilities, and it
gives them exposure versus a
more of the old-school leadership style with intimidation. I think that’s a demotivator. You have a leader, but
it’s like a football game.
You’re not going to win the
Super Bowl if the coach is
one hell of a coach, but none
of the players want to play
for him.
A lot of the old-school-leadership-style people will
go down that path, and
(employees) give you a,
‘Yeah, I’ll do it.’ Out of fear,
some of them will do it. Most
of them will be productive to
a certain level and, at some
point and time, it becomes
frustration and watercooler
conversations happen.
They don’t support it, don’t
believe in it, and you can see
it in your results.
HOW TO REACH: NLM Inc., (313) 736-8000 or www.nlmi.com