Be consistent
When Hanna’s firm was small, it was a lot easier to communicate and monitor if managers and employees understood messages. But as your organization gets bigger, you have to craft a consistent message so the meaning isn’t lost.
“There was a time I knew about every transaction that was going on here,” he says. “You do give up certain things along the way. You have to keep preaching the culture.”
As you grow, you have to build an organization that has a message and culture you believe in, and then communicate that down the line.
“You have to, No. 1, believe your management team has the total same philosophy and sense that you have to carry that message on and to relay that message and get that into everybody within the organization,” he says. “There was a time that I knew that it worked everywhere and everybody was rowing the same direction. That gets tougher to do — to make sure everyone is rowing in the same direction and has the same exact philosophy.”
You have to keep preaching the message and be consistent with your messages on how you do business.
“If you change the message too often, then I think people lose confidence in leadership and they lose confidence in the direction y
ou are going,” he says.
To stay on track with your message, find someone to monitor you. In Hanna’s case, his father and founder, Howard W. Hanna Jr. serves in that role. He will send Hanna or his sisters — Helen Hanna Casey, president, and Annie Hanna Cestra, executive vice president and chief operating officer — an e-mail every day, usually reminding them of something they are doing incorrectly.
“He gives critical information to us that is important,” he says. “It’s not negative because it’s usually right.”
You should look for someone with a stake in the success of your company and someone who can give you advice without getting their head chopped off. Also look for someone in a different age range and that is a different style of person than you.
“It would be almost impossible to have a peer friend, just to say, my attorney, who I pay a lot of my legal fees to — I’m going to tell him to keep me in check. That can be hard because they have a different type of relationship all of a sudden,” he says.
You can use your board of directors to serve in this role or use an outside consultant to help keep you in check.
“Consulting firms tend to be very good because they sort of come from a background of saying, ‘We’re going to tell you exactly what we think because that is what you hired us to do,’” he says. “Now, if the first time they tell you something and you take offense to it, well, they’re not going to last, and you’re not going to last.”
Having someone keep an eye on your leadership style and methods can also keep you from becoming ego-driven.
“People at the top of any organization can get very self-centered on their decision-making and then, when the decision isn’t working, be afraid to change that decision because they’d admit they made a mistake,” he says. “Then, they try to fix that mistake, which can’t be fixed, instead of turning back. If you don’t have anybody else to force you to change, you can get into a bad habit of letting your ego get involved in your decisions. Of course, usually when that happens, ultimately, if you do enough of that, you lose your leadership ability over those people who are supposed to be following you and listening to you because they have lost confidence.”
How to reach: Howard Hanna Real Estate Services, (800) 656-7356 or www.howardhanna.com
