Q. How do you manage
passion?
Harness the energy in the
room and manage through it.
We have a strict rule about
being respectful to each other.
There are no bad ideas. We
direct it. If we start speaking
over one another, we know
enough to stop it.
If it’s not stopped, I’ll say,
‘OK, we need to take a break.
We have some good stuff coming out of this meeting. But we
all need to walk out and clear
our heads, and then we’ll
reconvene.’
If we don’t have a lot of energy and that passion for what
we do, we just sit around and
we won’t be coming up with
good ideas. There’s a ton of
good ideas that can come out
of a room filled with passionate professionals.
By giving everyone a chance
to speak, they know that they
are going to be heard.
Q. How can you avoid
conflict?
Take a look at what’s going
on and try to assess the situation. Apply logic to it. Getting
upset and screaming and
yelling upsets everybody.
I don’t bring everybody
together and say, ‘OK, we have
this problem.’ I go to my individual executive team members and say, ‘Let me tell you
what the challenge is. This is
what’s going on, and I want
your thought on this.’
I get it from them before
they’ve had a chance to listen
to somebody else come up
with a solution that perhaps
isn’t theirs. I listen to their
solution, I go down the
whole team, and then I bring
everybody together and we
collaborate.
We have a lot of type A personalities here. So no one is
afraid of speaking up and saying their piece. We’re going to
go with the answer that contains a lot of common sense
and with the person who feels
the most passionately about it.
Q. How can you facilitate
success?
Be open and honest. Be
able to express yourself
believably so they are not
thinking you’re just placating
them. I listen to what they are
saying, and then I think about
what they are asking me and
I give them the most credible
answer I can give them, and I
do what I say.
It’s communication and having respect for the customer
and respect for the employee.
It’s the Golden Rule that’s
applied to business.
HOW TO REACH: Specialized Marketing Services Inc., (800) 998-8600 or www.teamsms.com
