Q. How do you get people to
let down their guard and talk
to you about the problem?
‘You’re not your normal
happy person, what’s the
problem?’ or, ‘I’ve noticed a
change in your attitude, what’s
going on?’ I don’t talk to them
any differently than I talk to a
family member or my brother.
I just really did have that situation last week. It turned out
to be, it’s a 20-minute conversation where it really ended up
being, ‘Well, you did this with
one person, and you didn’t do that with me.’ I said, ‘Well,
how could you think that?
Let’s talk about that first. What
you are saying didn’t even
cross my mind, but it crossed
yours. How could that happen? We don’t do that here; we don’t think that way.’
A lot of times, it’s baggage
from another employer or
position that they’re bringing
with them or distrust.
Actually, that happens a lot.
Q. What advice would you
have for a leader who’s not
picking up on those signs?
Usually, it’s because the
leader is not being part of
everybody else. You’ve drawn
a line where employees are
at this level, and management is at this level, and the
owner is at this level.
In my opinion, that’s not a
good way to run a business. I
think the owner needs to participate and be with all levels.
If you do that, No. 1, it’s
good for morale. No. 2, if you
put yourself in a position
where every employee — no
matter what the position that
they’re in — will communicate
to you what they think is in
the best interest of the business because they perceive it’s
their business, they perceive
they are part of the team, then
your business will move further ahead. … (Instead of)
where you have certain levels,
and the president doesn’t ever
go out with the employees and
the management, they don’t
ever eat lunch in the lunch-room. I think that is wrong.
Like today, I have everybody
whose birthday is in a certain
month. I take them all out
together. It’s a special thing,
and I do that every single
month. So, not only does it put
people together that maybe
wouldn’t normally hang out
together (to) be together to
break bread, but I think it’s a
recognition of everybody.
HOW TO REACH: America Group Retirement Strategy Centers, (248) 353-6570 or
www.americagrouprsc.com
