Leadership: ‘Finding Your Voice’

Posted July 22, 2016 at 10:45 am

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(l/r) Tyler Fowler, Mountville Mills Inc.; Michael Croatti, UniFirst Corp.; and Peter Brown, Mickey's Linen

Success in leading a business is often a matter of perception. In other words, a company executive or CEO may appear to be successful in terms of growth or finances. But unless his or her employees are fully engaged in the business, performance will likely lag and the bottom line will too. That was the message that consultant Dick Heller brought to a dozen operator and supplier executives who attended a July 20 “Young Leaders” meeting in Chicago.

Heller, a former television producer, shared an anecdote from his own career with the Public Broadcasting System to make this point about leadership during the morning seminar at the Allegro Hotel near the city’s “Loop” downtown.

“We were doing great,” Heller said, speaking of Zoom, a popular children’s show he produced early in his career. “We were on time. We were on budget. The kids were doing great. Everything was going just perfectly. One day my boss, the executive producer, called me into her office. She said, ‘Dick you’ve got a problem.’ I said ‘I’ve got a problem? What could possibly be wrong?’”

She said, “’Your problem is the production associates Dick.’” These were two staff people who helped the children learn their lines, etc. “’They think you hate them.’” “I found myself responding, ‘How could they possibly think I hate them. I never talk to them!’ And it hit me. That’s feedback. I was so focused on me, my job, my stuff, that I was taking them for granted.”

Heller subsequently initiated various outreach efforts to make sure that the production associates understood that their work was appreciated. As a result, morale improved.  

In this highly interactive workshop, attendees shared their own stories about leadership challenges that they’ve faced comparable to the one Heller described. The critical point of his presentation was that companies can maximize their productivity and growth when every employee knows his or her role and is motivated to do the very best they can to help the company reach its goals.

Key takeaways from the program included these ideas/suggestions:

  • Focus on success as champion athletes do, with an emphasis on teamwork. You don’t always have to strive to be the smartest person in the room. Let others contribute. “You’re paid to lead; not just for your skills,” Heller said.
  • A key test of leadership is “coalition building.” All executives face the “uphill battle” to overcome media clichés of nasty bosses. These range from Ebenezer Scrooge to Montgomery Burns, the evil supervisor in the Simpsons TV show.
  • Employees see bosses with “two eyes,” that is they watch what they do and how they do it. Executives who don’t show concern or take time to interact, coach and guide employees tend to get cast in negative terms. This hurts morale and productivity.
  • As business conditions change, executives need to be open to input from other staff members about new business opportunities. One attendee described a major change at his company when it switched from food and beverage services to healthcare. This generated controversy at the time, but a rigorous – and very lively – dialogue helped the staff reach a consensus that enabled the company to move forward with unity of purpose. If you need to talk out an issue so that all voices are heard – do so.
  • Employees need a “direct line of sight” on how their work impacts the business. Heller described a medical instruments business that was having problems with deliveries from a warehouse. The warehouse staff were taken to hospitals to see how the products they “picked” were used to help people with life-threatening illnesses. This helped them understand their roles better, and their performance improved. This is comparable to having finishing department staff in a laundry ride along with route service reps occasionally to see where the products they work on are going.
  • Leaders should apply a “bifocal” approach to management, i.e., they have to deal with today’s challenges, yet not lose sight of the need to advance the broader vision of the business.
  • Leaders must project optimism and find ways to let employees know that they matter and are part of a broader corporate community. Heller cited survey research from Gallup showing that in many companies a significant number of employees are “actively disengaged” in the business. Beyond hurting their own productivity, these employees with bad attitudes can poison the atmosphere for other staff members and drag down the business. Sometimes this leads to bankruptcy.  
     

Taken together, mastering these “psychological” aspects of leadership are essential for top managers to “find their voice” as executives and thereby maximize their company’s success by inspiring their employees to achieve more in their jobs.

The workshop concluded around noon. Attendees then took a ride on the “L,” or elevated train, near the hotel to Wrigley Field where they watched a baseball game between the Chicago Cubs and New York Mets. To learn more about the Young Leaders group, contact TRSA President and CEO Joseph Ricci at jricci@trsa.org

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