Speak with your actions. You, as a leader, are an extremely important part of getting the message out. You can’t leave it to your marketing people; you can’t leave it to your direct reports. You have to be out there and, as they say, walk the walk and talk the talk.
We put together this initiative called ‘Healthy Lives Under Construction,’ where we were going to get our employees to live healthy lives. You wouldn’t go to a dentist [who has] a mouth full of cavities. Well, would you go to an organization that doesn’t look the picture of health to get healthy? No.
That’s a great concept, but it’s easy for employees to dismiss. So as a leader, I said, ‘If I’m asking you all to be an example to the community, then I’m going to be the first to be out there.’ I put myself on the line and said, ‘I’m going to lose 50 pounds, and I’m going to get off my cholesterol medication, and I’m going to get off my sugar medication — or I’ll shave my head bald.’
And you know what, I still have a healthy mane of hair and I lost 65 pounds.
But I put myself out there. I could easily have failed; I led the way. I showed enthusiasm for the program. And I think because of it, people were encouraged. They saw me, their CEO, in a more human light, and so they connected with me much more on a human level, rather than an employee-boss level.
If you’re going to ask employees to do things, be out in front of it. Take risks. Risk failure because … success is just the end of a long line of failed attempts. You don’t reach success unless you risk. And if folks see you risking and really putting yourself out there, you’re more human and people are encouraged by that.
If they see you as communicating the vision personally, they’re more apt to believe that, ‘This is really something that’s important to the organization; it should be important to me, as well.’ While I don’t think you can train passion, passion is infectious, you can motivate others by having them see how passionate you are about your vision.
How to reach: YMCA of Greater Miami, (877) 969-9622 or www.ymcamiami.org
