Get buy-in for the vision
When Nance goes to court, it’s often the culmination of several years worth of work and preparation involving not just himself but young associates, legal assistants and specialists, as well.
“The person who stayed up late at night copying the documents in the duplicating room needs to understand what role they are playing in achieving that overall objective so they take pride and they’re motivated and they get up every day and come to work and think, ‘I’m part of a bigger whole,’” Nance says.
Everyone needs to be linked to that bigger whole in some sort of way.
“I know that it seems kind of hokey to talk about mission statements, but unless organizations have a clear, articulated set of objectives and a stated dedication of leadership to moving the organization forward, then it’s hard to get people to recognize what it is that you’re trying to accomplish,” Nance says. “Once you have a clear set of objectives, you have a mission statement, you have a collective goal, then you integrate into that your understanding of human nature — what it is that turns people on, what it is that motivates them to get behind a particular set of objectives — and you figure out a way how to integrate everyone in the organization at all levels and understanding whatever their job is and whatever they’re doing is furthering the final objectives.”
At Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, the ultimate goal is to provide excellent client service.
“Excellent client service can only occur when everybody at every level of the organization understands that objective and buys in to it, is recognized for their participation and particularly for excellence and success, and is pulled into your organization,” he says. “If you can motivate people at every level by sharing a clearly identified objective and mission, it makes it that much easier to get the best out of people because we’re basically all the same — all of us need motivation to do the best we can do and indeed sometimes under stressful situations to go above and beyond what we think we’re capable of doing.”
There are a couple of ways that he makes sure this happens in the firm.
“You’re more likely to do that, A, if you have been integrated into the organization in a way that you understand the part you’re playing, but B, if you have strong leadership,” he says. “It’s again just human nature that people are more willing to push themselves beyond what they believe they’re capable of doing if they believe there’s someone in a leadership position who’s doing that and who is selfless, who is dedicated to the institutional interests, and who is going to do whatever they can to make your organization successful. I think that’s true in for-profits and nonprofits and all different large organizations because it’s a function of human nature.”
Nance says that the ability to intertwine your employees’ goals and needs with those of the company is an integral key to successful leadership.
“There is a certain level of technical proficiency that is necessary to advance in your career that is required of everyone,” he says. “To people that advance beyond that or who move into leadership positions, often are those that have people skills and emotional intelligence where they have not just the ability to communicate with others but the ability to empathize with others, to see things through the eyes of others and to be able to relate to others’ objectives and goals and weave them into the institutional objectives and goals.”
Doing all of this comes down to communicating your vision effectively.
“The more clearly you can articulate the vision, you can hopefully inspire others to first see it, and then again, it’s figuring out how to let others see how they can play a meaningful part, meaning, not everybody can be involved in every project,” he says.
You may roll your eyes at reading another person talk about the value of communication, but don’t underestimate its value in getting people on board with your vision.
“(Communication) may be an overused word but one that is very, very important because … oftentimes, employees feel disconnected — they’re punching that time clock, can’t wait to get out and go home, and need the paycheck,” Nance says. “Well, that’s one way of doing business, but if you are able to figure out what is important to your employees, … most people are going to buy in, most people are going to want to play their part.”
But there’s more to communication than simply having a town-hall meeting or sending an e-mail.
“Communication isn’t just telling people what to do,” he says. “Communication includes listening. Communication includes receiving feedback and being able to explain what it is the company or the organization is trying to do in view of what people’s needs, what people’s desires are — what people would like to see done in the community.
“[If] you listen to people and provide them with a vehicle that lets them help in the way they want to help, you’re more likely to get buy-in.”
The more you’re able to do this, the more you’ll be able to work toward your vision.
“With respect to your business, yourself, your industry or your firm, listening to people as to how you can do things better within the profession is one of the best ways to drive some of this innovation that everybody is looking for today,” he says. “Again, you can have a institutional mindset where, ‘We’ve done things in a certain way, we’re always going to do them that way, and if you start to question it, you’re a troublemaker,’ or you can have an environment where, ‘If anybody sees a better way of doing this, not only do we want you, we’re going to recognize it, and if it works, we’re going to reward you, we’re going to do things like that to help move us forward, and we want you to understand that w
e want to know if you think there’s a better way of doing things,’ is clearly the corporate culture and the collaborative culture of the future.
“If you extend yourself that way as opposed to thinking that your business culture ought to be to make sure that everybody does what they’re told and only when they’re told, in today’s economy, your business is going to be that much more successful and that much sooner.”
And you can’t use your business’ size as an excuse to not do these things.
“I don’t think it really matters the size of the company because however big the company is, the company, the firm, we all interface in either supplying goods or services at a very defined level, and there are always ways to do it better, and oftentimes, the people who are doing the work to make it happen, understand efficiency perhaps better than a person sitting in an office somewhere looking at numbers on a pieces of paper,” Nance says. “You have a culture that encourages people to speak up and promote innovation, those are the companies that are on the cutting edge these days, and that is an attribute that is rewarded. Again, ultimately, it’s self-interest, but it takes vision recognizing doing things differently and accepting input from people at all levels is part of what it takes to be innovative, and oh by the way, it also creates a positive business culture — a corporate culture that begins to develop upon itself. It can become a competitive situation always trying to come up with new ideas.”
HOW TO REACH: Squire Sanders, (216) 479-8500 or www.ssd.com
