Q. How do you interact with employees?
I get my cup of coffee and walk around, knock on your cubicle and start a conversation. Recently, I went into an employee’s cubicle and noticed a picture of Oprah Winfrey. I said, ‘Tell me what your connection is.’ Her sister works on [Oprah’s] staff. So it led to, ‘What do you like about Oprah?’
Or [it] might be a picture of kids with a soccer ball or something. I get to know the employees, what makes them go, what organizations are they a part of, why [they’re] involved. It just helps me get to know who they are and how I can help them in the everyday business environment.
Q. What’s the benefit of connecting with employees?
When I asked this one highly acclaimed CEO, ‘What do you attribute your success to?’ he said, ‘Lots of people wanted me to succeed.’ Sometimes one of the main benefits is people want to do this for you. They want you to be successful and, of course, they’re counting on you, that you’ll be looking out for them, as well.
Chemistry in the locker room has a great deal to do with how people will react on the field. If you care about your teammate, you have more of a tendency to work as a team.
Watch the interaction in meetings. You gauge how one person may propose an idea; what’s the reaction from the rest of the group? Does the rest of the group react, ‘Oh, that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard of,’ or do they react by adding to the idea?
A lot of people have learned over time to work very independently and sometimes very autonomously. I try to break that down through group discussions about a particular project; I always bring other people in to get involved.
People will watch how I react to a question, saying, ‘I don’t know the answer to that. What do you suggest?’ Sort of like follow the leader — ‘Oh, he wants to have a very open meeting; anybody can give a suggestion.’
Q. How do employee relationships affect client relationships?
You have to understand who’s best to be in front of the customer. You have to obviously understand who your customer is. Some customers are so technically oriented [that] they only want to talk to somebody who is on the same technical level. I have certain customers that wouldn’t know a test tube from a tire iron. They don’t want the scientist; they want somebody who’s going to be their account manager.
Part of the business acumen of how this all comes together is as you get to know your staff and you get to know the personalities, you can tell who you should bring to the meeting for a particular client.
How to reach: RJ Lee Group Inc., (800) 860-1775 or www.rjlg.com“>www.rjlg.com
