Give your plan substance
If you expect your people to open themselves up to your plan and buy in to your leadership, you need to give them a good example to follow. You need to show them that’s it’s more than just fancy bells and whistles and that there is substance behind your words.
“You have to live it,” Chapman says. “It’s not what you say; it’s what you do. You have to live that commitment to your people. You can’t just go around preaching. You have to actually mean that you want to engage people in creating something of value for everybody and that you value their input. It’s not one meeting and then we go back to normal.”
You have to show that beyond the initial pomp and circumstance, which often comes with a new way of doing things, that you want your plan to endure and you want them to participate in its development.
“If I don’t engage them in this vision and in a dialogue and I don’t get them to buy in to it, then this vision is under a rock,” Chapman says. “It’s never going to be embraced. We said we could either print this out and put it up on the wall or we could engage people in a dialogue about it every day. We need to put it in people’s heads and hearts and take it off the wall.”
One of the ways Chapman shows his commitment to the principles of his vision is through a leadership checklist. It’s about taking those values that you want your people to embrace and making sure they stick in terms of everyday action.
“Every day when someone walks in our company, you purposely go through a thought process of what you need to do,” Chapman says. “We have a purposeful process each day that focuses on people and performance.”
The list is made up of things it takes to be a good leader at Barry-Wehmiller, taking into account the vision that employees have heard and bought in to.
“They are just things you need to think about as a leader each day for the fulfillment of your teams,” Chapman says. “The leaders need to genuinely embrace it and then you need to find a way to live it. You can’t just run in one day and say, ‘We’re going to do this.’ There is a process to everything. You can’t decide you’re going to be a great chef tomorrow and say, ‘That’s what it takes to be a great chef.’ It takes time to develop these habits and skills and processes.”
In driving home the importance of your vision, you have to make sure you stay aligned with it. In the case of Chapman, that means remember that you’re part of the team, too.
“You don’t instruct them,” Chapman says. “You go with them to create it and live it. You’ve got to live the principles you’ve articulated.”
Focus on finding the ways your people are living your values and make an example of them.
“I spend my day trying to find goodness where people have done something right and I hold up good behavior,” Chapman says. “I don’t look for broken behavior. I hold up good behavior to inspire people and to recognize the people that showed good behavior and to encourage others to do the same.”
Chapman rewards this good behavior by giving employees who demonstrate the company’s values a Guiding Principles of Leadership Award. Employees are nominated for the award by their peers, which puts them on the lookout for people who are adhering to the vision.
“I sit down and I have a dialogue and remind them of what we believe in and how we’re trying to live it,” Chapman says. “I engage them in a dialogue from their perspective so that I stay in touch with their heart and soul. I’m not just sitting on the pinnacle of our company and looking down. … Leadership is not an accident. It should be a purposeful process each day that we consciously think through to allow people to fully reach their potential.”
How to reach: Barry-Wehmiller Cos. Inc., (314) 862-8000 or www.barry-wehmiller.com
