Talk to people
Richmond wants people to come to him with their opinions and ideas. But for some employees, approaching the boss can be a little intimidating. Richmond takes it upon himself to walk around and talk to employees, but you have to take it a step further. You have to be open with them and encourage them to speak up.
“Someone is probably not going to tell you that your company is really screwed up the first time you meet them,” he says. “But if you open the door to, ‘I’ve always wondered why we did (that) this way because it seems silly to me. What do you think?’ Then you get an opinion and it opens the door to bigger issues. That creates a comfort level where people will come to you more and talk to you more.”
But don’t make it seem like walking around is an orchestrated event you planned because employees will see through it.
“It’s more of an openness of meeting, greeting and sharing, and then seeing what comes back in return and building on it,” he says.
If you are going to try and walk around and talk with employees more, you will get some tough questions you can’t answer. When you’re put on the spot, it’s OK to say you don’t know something, but make sure you get back to that person when you find out the answer.
You will also get questions you simply can’t answer because they are asking about confidential information. In that case, just be honest.
“I just come out and say, ‘I can’t tell you that. It’s confidential information. It’s something that’s company policy that we don’t share,’” he says. “People respect that. People understand that there are things … that you’re not privileged to divulge.”
If you are asked a question that you can’t answer, but you know the answer isn’t favorable, don’t lie or mislead.
“I don’t give comfort where comfort isn’t due,” he says. “In other words, if I knew in my heart this guy is going to be out of a job, I’m not going to stand there — I might not be able to tell him exactly — but I would just tell him, ‘Look, it’s something I can’t discuss with you right now.’”
However, if you are presented with the opportunity to dispel a rumor, you should take advantage of that opportunity.
“If it was something that we were not evaluating that was not on the radar screen, I would make the extra effort to explain that,” he says. “‘Look, if this is what you are worried about, I can’t tell you specifics, but if you’re worried about whether this will impact you in the area that you are working in, I can tell you it’s not going to.’”
Whether you’re answering a tough question or just making conversation, remember that each person you speak with is different from the next.
“(It’s) understanding that not every individual fits into a specific box — their life experiences, their talents, their hobbies, the things that they do outside of work, quite often are things that could be invaluable to a company,” he says. “But if you never ask or you never tap that talent, then it’s a great loss.
“The one pearl of wisdom I would explain to any other fellow manager is that if you understand that every human being is a discreet individual who has unique and different life experiences — if you can respect an individual from that and understand them from that perspective, you are going to be a great manager. Because, at the end of the day, everybody is different.”
