Be consistent and genuine
The final part to building a culture
meant to motivate employees is probably
the most tiring: You have to take your
own temperature every single day.
If you’re trying to create a culture that
emphasizes caring about employees and
helping them grow, you can’t be Mr./Ms.
Nice Guy/Gal one day and Mr./Ms. Sour
Grapes the next.
“People need to have a certain comfort
on consistency,” Graham says. “With that
consistency, people get a good handle on
where you are and who you are”
Therefore, Graham takes the time to
think about what kind of things he can
say to employees the next time he sees
them to help improve relationships.
“You’re always testing your impact, how
you’re engaging people,” he says. “I think
about people all the time. They may not
know it, but I’m thinking about them. And
when I do think about people, I’m always
thinking about that one thing that, when I
see them, I can touch them. And it’s usually not a business thing, it’s a personal
thing — something that means something
to them and their families. The business
conversation is easy, it’s the other things
that people need to feel part of a greater
environment, that they have a worth.”
That consistency also comes from your
ability to handle people ad hoc. Remember,
if you’ve been encouraging people to come
to you, you better show that you appreciate it when they show up at your door.
“It has to be genuine,” Graham says.
“You don’t look up and say, ‘What are you
doing?’
“If they think you’re not sincere or
you’re an empty suit, the next time you
engage they’re going to have less trust or
believability in your delivery.”
Treating people with consistency does-n’t cost the company anything, but
Graham believes a little bit of empathy
goes a long way to motivate people for
their willingness to open up and helps
them become advocates that will move
you forward.
“Sometimes they’re shocked someone
in the corner office is going to do that,”
he says. “But if you bring it down to a
level where they feel comfortable, they
become advocates.”
Even in a culture meant to help
employees succeed, you’ll have to make
tough decisions, but you’ll gain a lot
more credibility if you treat people right
consistently and follow through on
things you say.
“If you do what you say you’re going to
do and treat people the way you want to
be treated, they will respect you,” he
says. “Now, they might not all like you,
but they’ll respect you … and they’ll want
to be part of it, and they’ll share that
with people.”
In Graham’s group, that policy has kept
his number of advocates growing. In his
nearly two decades of management in the
Chicago area, he’s never had a first or second quintile performer quit. And while
the other benefits don’t always pop up on
the balance sheet, he says you’ll see how
much impact a fulfilled employee can
make.
“In order to drive a culture, you have to
have the stability of good people,” he
says. “[Low] turnover is one benefit,
enhanced productivity is another. Getting
more employees engaged and involved in
things is yet another. They also become
recruiters to your culture. So there are a
lot of things that you can tangibly capture
if you’re attentive. Monetarily, it’s not as
easy. But, overall, there are a lot of metrics that you can look at and say, ‘Because
of stability, because of consistency,
because of respect for the individual,
because of engagement, these are
byproducts of that.’”
HOW TO REACH: Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc., (312) 869-6200 or
www.ml.com
