Richard Giese’s mother used to tell him he had two ears and one mouth for a reason — he should listen twice as much as he
talked. Giese has taken that advice to heart as president of Mount Union College, a private, liberal arts school in Alliance. He
listens to his 362 employees when he drops into their offices, he listens to the board members when he visits them in their
homes, and he listens to the students when he sits with them in the cafeteria or invites members of the freshman class into his
home for dinner. Listening has helped Giese learn what his employees and students want and allows him to lead with a clear
vision for the college’s future and manage the institution’s $56 million budget. Smart Business spoke with Giese about how
listening to employees helps leaders realize that they don’t have to have all the answers.
Know your organization. It’s important for a
leader to get to know the organization and
the people when they first come in. You
cannot lead an organization if you do not
know it inside and out.
Part of this is knowing the dreams and
aspirations of those within the organization. History, traditions, policies and aspirations need to be understood. Once they
are, a leader is in a position to promote and
embrace those that are positive, challenge
those that need to be modified, or abandon
those that no longer are relevant to the
organizational success.
You need to spend the time in order to be
able to make an informed judgment of
where things should go. Sometimes a mistake can be made when someone comes in
and feels like they need to make all the
changes right away.
Don’t set lofty goals. In creating a vision, you
need to identify the strengths and the opportunities for your organization, and then
work with your team to create a vision that
is consistent with the mission of the organization but forces the organization and the
individuals within it to stretch to be better.
You also make sure that if they stretch it,
it is within their grasp to attain it. If you
have goals and a vision that are unattainable, if people recognize that they’re unattainable, then they no longer become motivators. You have to have steps along the
way that people can attain and see the
vision becoming a reality. It is important to
celebrate milestones that contribute to the
fulfillment of the vision.
If you set the vision just beyond the level
that people think they can accomplish,
they tend to rise to be able to accomplish it.
A good leader can make people accomplish more than they feel they can accomplish themselves.
Have the courage to accept change. Anticipate
the future. Analyze the past and learn from
it. Evaluate the present and study the
emerging opportunities and challenges
both in the immediate and long-range
future.
Expect and embrace change. As much as
you try to plan, you know that your plans
are going to have to change. The successful
leaders recognize this, and they embrace
change as a fact of life, and they’re willing
to adapt.
It’s important not to be afraid to fail, not
to be afraid to take chances, not to be
afraid to take risks. Only if you do that are
you able to push the envelope of progress.
The leader must create an environment
where people cannot be afraid to fail. If
they have setbacks or failures, you accept
them, but you don’t emphasize them.
For example, when a vice president fails
in a certain task, you might want to spend
the time assessing why things didn’t work
out. But it isn’t that you’re angry at them or
you’re mad at them. You want to encourage
them to try things so that you realize that
sometimes it’s not always going to work
out the way you want it to.
An environment that fosters change
involves taking calculated risks. Guard
against being satisfied with the status quo.
If everything seems under control, an
organization is not moving fast enough.
Acknowledge that change is always
occurring and is not to be feared. It is natural and should be comfortable — not scary.
Give positive reinforcement. Reward progress
and accomplishments. A good leader is
constantly giving positive feedback. This
can take many forms, from a simple pat on
the back to public acknowledgement to
performance-based rewards.
Financial rewards are great; however,
people want to know that their opinions
are valued, that their contributions are recognized, and oftentimes, that’s just appropriately placed comments at the right time.
When people receive that positive feedback, they tend to strive to do even better.
Be aware of changing relationships. You have
to be careful not to get too close to the people that you work with because you have to
maintain a little bit of a distance. You don’t
want to be perceived as favoring somebody over someone else.
You want to be close to your people on
an everyday basis at work, but more outside of work, you have to consciously
decide that, to a certain extent, being the
head of a company is a little bit lonely. You
can’t have the friendship levels that you
had outside of work with people at work,
like you might in another position.
Prioritize and stay on top of tasks. Make sure
that you’re making the best use of your
time, in terms of setting priorities for and
responding to what’s really important and
not just what’s imminent. You are always
confronted with a host of small issues that
seem like they demand your immediate
attention but may not be the most important use of your time.
Put together some kind of support network with your assistant or with other people so they can handle some of those emergencies, and you can focus on some of the
bigger issues.
HOW TO REACH: Mount Union College, (330) 823-6050 or
www.muc.edu