Communicate the need to improve. One sign of a good leader is … you don’t throw people under the bus. When things happen, it’s all about, ‘How are we going to improve our organization?’
The fact that it was John Doe that did it really isn’t relevant to anything. In fact, it’s sort of good that John Doe did this because we’re going to be a better firm for it at the end of the day.
If I see something happening with an individual or individuals and I think it’s something that I worry could be pervasive or I can give people a heads up, be careful of that, I will then communicate, ‘Hey team, we’ve had a couple situations where this has happened. Obviously it doesn’t put us in the best light with people or clients. Just be sensitive to this issue.’
Offer openness in bringing up problems. They have to trust you. I encourage everybody here whenever they have issues or problems, they don’t have to come talk to me, they don’t have to go to HR. But they have to find somebody they’re comfortable talking to because often they have to be part of the solution to whatever the issue is.
If you treat people fairly and they know you have their best interest at heart, and you don’t harm them in any way, make fun of them or criticize them, they’re going to feel comfortable because they trust you. It’s all about trust at the end of the day. You have to be consistent. You have to treat them with respect. You can’t be up and down — up one day, down another.
Admit your own mistakes. We acknowledge that we’re wrong or I acknowledge that I’m wrong. We do two things: We try to right this ship and go another direction whatever that means. What I always do personally is I very rarely dwell on something that already happened. What I want to do is take away from it what can I learn and how could I (make) the process better or my decision-making better the first time around.
I acknowledge it in a meeting, I acknowledge it in writing, if I think we should have done something. I don’t try to justify it. I don’t try to rationalize it in any way. I am comfortable that people make wrong decisions.
You may have evaluated it properly but it turned out to be wrong. If you only look at it, as I said, for what’s the good of the organization — forget me politically in the organization, forget somebody else — but if you only care about the organization and its best interest, it’s easy to admit mistakes.
How to reach: Kreischer Miller, (215) 441-4600 or www.kmco.com
