By Matt McClellan
When Joe Lindenmayer received the
results of the Myers-Briggs personality analysis he’d administered to his management team, he confirmed his
belief that he built a great group at TSS
Photography.
The analysis showed how the personalities
of the seven members of the management
team both clashed and meshed in a way that
worked to the advantage of the company.
Some people were systems-oriented and
would likely focus on the tactical issues of a
product, while others were more concerned
with feelings and would be in tune with how
change would affect employee morale.
The results showed Lindenmayer,
president of the company, that the mix
of personalities provided an advantage
to the $30 million on-site youth and
sports photography company with
franchises in 45 states and Canada.
Smart Business spoke with
Lindenmayer about why it’s important
to give employees Commander’s
Intent — defined as “the commander’s
stated vision, which defines the purpose of an operation, the end state
with respect to the relationship
among the force, the enemy and the
terrain; it must enable subordinates to
quickly grasp the successful end state
and their part in achieving it.”
Q: How do you motivate or empower employees?
I’m a big believer that a leader can
demotivate people, but he can’t motivate them. You either wake up wanting to do your job and be passionate
about what you do or you don’t.
The military teaches us how to
develop the unit by giving
‘Commander’s Intent.’ If the intent is to
grow the company by 12 percent, then you
hire the right people, tell them what the
goal is, make the resources available to
achieve those goals, but then you get the
heck out of the way.
When they need you, or if you just pop in
to check on things, you do that. But if you
have the right people, they’re going to
have creativity and ideas and work as a
team and handle conflict and do all the
things you need to do to achieve your
objectives.
Q: How do you keep pace with changes in
your industry?
Competition changes, vendors and suppliers change; setting your strategic plan
months in advance can be trouble when it
comes time to execute a new product launch
or a new program or alliance.
If you haven’t updated and adapted that
plan and given your company leaders the ability to shift on the fly in order to achieve those
objectives, they’re going to get locked into a
program or a certain system that may be
completely obsolete and doomed to failure.
Sometimes, if you’re too distant from
what’s going on, your tendency is to get in
there and throw down an edict. You can’t
just say, ‘Just make it happen.’
You’ve got to be able to give them the
resources and the management. A good
leader shares their vision. You can’t tell people what the business plan was three days
ago and expect them to execute that after
everything changes. You’ve got to have the
flexibility to adapt to the environment you’re
in at the time.
Q: What are the keys to getting everybody
on board when going through a change?
The first thing is to identify and recognize
your early adopters. Get the people who are
comfortable with change, who are typically
on the leading edge of technology and who
want to be because they want to do things
faster and better.
The first thing we did was approach those
guys and say, ‘You’re going to be our first
folks into this platform, and we want you to
evangelize it for us. The faster you convert
the network, the more quickly we can lower
our prices.’
Our franchise owners are sharp.
They’re going to figure out the economic benefits compared to the time or the
frustration element. And if you can
show them the business sense behind it,
nine out of 10 of them will say, ‘Yeah,
that’s good business sense. Let’s figure
out a way to do this.’
Q: What are some pitfalls a leader
should try to avoid?
A typical one is not staying connected to
what’s happening. You start looking at
things at such a strategic level that you
aren’t listening to what’s going on at a tactical level. You have to maintain a balance.
I’ve struggled with that at times. You start
looking so far down the line and you’re
such an agent of change and constant
improvement that you don’t celebrate your
successes enough.
You’ve got to look your team in the face
and say, ‘Hey guys, you did great. Let’s celebrate.’ It could be anything from recognition to a party to just saying thank you.
Also, there are a few books out now that
deal with the issue of the overoptimistic
leader. When they put together their business plan, they make assumptions of what
they want to happen, instead of likely case
scenarios. What happens if we’re under revenue by 20 percent? Can you still survive?
I’m such an optimist that I’ll always see the
positives in things. I’ll acknowledge the negatives, but a challenge for a good leader is to have
someone — if it’s not you, someone around you
— who can be a devil’s advocate at times, so
they can keep you honest and realistic.
HOW TO REACH: TSS Photography, (678) 740-0800 or
www.tssphotography.com