Learn to celebrate
When you’re the one in charge, it can be a challenge to accept that you may not have all of the answers. But if you want a culture in which others don’t just feel like they have to but they actually want to join your cause, you need to learn to do it.
“Some of the worst patients out there are presidents and CEOs because quite honestly, they’ve reached the pinnacle of their success and talent and knowledge and skills,” Gentile says. “But their talent, skills and knowledge isn’t enough to get their company to the next level. Particularly if they are in an industry that is very dynamic and changing and becoming more complex.”
One of the toughest things to accept can be the achievement of a victory.
“Sometimes the expectations are too high, and I’m not one to say lower expectations but establish realistic ones,” Gentile says. “Establish yourself in a situation where you have some very capable and trustworthy associates that you are working with and that you can depend on giving you honest, reliable and candid feedback.”
The point here is that your employees need to feel like their efforts are paying off. So celebrate the small victories when you can.
“Someone said to me that you’re never happy all the time; you have moments of happiness,” Gentile says. “You’re not ever totally satisfied. You’re satisfied with certain issues and elements that you are contending with. If you can manage yourself to that understanding, then that certainly helps to maintain the right perspective.”
Perhaps the best lesson Gentile can point to regarding small victories and their benefit to the worker was his first job as a kid selling the Boston Globe.
“In those days, you would go to their house and collect,” Gentile says. “If I did some extra things, if I put the newspapers in a plastic bag and I put it in the right spot and was timely on delivery, there was a direct correlation between good, solid customer service and what my tips would be. When someone later told me that compensation drives behavior, I said, ‘Yep, I can see that.’”
How to reach: Independent Stationers Group Inc., (317) 845-9155 or www.isgroup.org
