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It’s About The Relationship, Stupid
Today, Management-Issues comments on a recent report produced by Robert Half International and CareerBuilder.com which says that employees trust their manager more than their senior executives. Yep. Not a lot of surprises there. Just consider the number of interactions between an employee’s manager compared to their VP or CEO. Put to a ratio, it’s going to lean heavily in the direction of the employee’s manager. This is the failing of the traditional organizational hierarchy and there is no cure for this problem until that wonderful little thing called the org chart shifts from vertical to horizontal.
The old, old-school mindset of command and control is always about getting other people to do what you want them to do. If your organization’s still hung up on this old chestnut, how’s it working out for you? Employees don’t want to do what their boss says to do. After all, is their boss on the phone with a customer who needs a solution to their problem now? No, most employees (or at least the ones you want to keep around) want to do what they need to do to get things done. They need to know that their manager AND their executives understand this and are willing to do whatever it takes to support this initiative. This involves the element of trust and the only way you gain and share trust is through a strong relationship. Which means that most of our corporate executives need to get out from behind their desks, open up some of the time on their calendar normally reserved for meeting with the media, corporate partners, etc., and visit their employees.
Here are three common reservations that executives have:
I’m too busy running the organization or my part of the organization. No kidding. So is everyone else in the company. Think that your call center staff is just sitting around with nothing to do? Think your marketing team hones their solitaire playing skills on company time? Then, you definitely need to visit. More than likely, you’ll find that they’re busy helping you run the organization, as well.
And here’s the kicker: it doesn’t need to be an all-day marathon task. It can take as little as five minutes. Rosa Say has a great model called the Daily Five which is well worth learning and building into your schedule.
I’m (secretly) scared of what I might find. Yeah, it might be painful to hear about the challenges of the day-to-day work. You might find that your employees don’t respect you. It’s called feedback and can help you grow. Some day it might actually save your job.
I don’t need to visit…that’s why I have management. Your department heads and junior management can’t replace you. If you strive to be a leader, be a visible leader. Else, you’re merely a puppet master using your managers to initiate commands.
And don’t rely on your junior management to build rapport for you. Middle management is always in an awkward position and it’s only made harder when the senior executives and ground staff don’t have good relationships. If your employees trust you as CEO, then they’re far less likely to go to their immediate supervisor and complain that the latest initiative from headquarters is full of shit. If they know you and trust you, they’ll either try to understand and move on or feel free to tell you directly that it’s shit. That’s the kind of frankness that every manager should strive for, right?
No one ever said that building relationships was easy. But here’s the thing: strong , open relationships are not just the glue of today’s organizations, they are the lubricant. Friction is a fact of life whenever you put two people together. That friction only multiplies when adding more and more individuals to the group. But relationships built on honest communications and trust keep the inner workings moving smoothly instead of grinding to a halt.
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Aloha Chris,
Thank you for the good words about the D5M; it’s become the staple of all the coaching I do with the executives in my program because it achieves exactly what you suggest here – it gets them talking one-on-one, person-to-person, with everyone in the organization that they should be accepting total responsibility for. You can’t lead if your people don’t know you, and admire you enough to follow you. As you point out here, they also expect you to empathize with what they go through in the trenches … no one’s gonna follow a leader they think has blinders on.
Good coaching!
Hi Rosa. As your clients will surely confirm, the D5M works. It’s just important to start with something. Imagine what would happen if executives would at least do a weekly five minute program. And then make it a habit. Make it a time to really know who is working for you and with you. How much more successful would our businesses be? Keep up the great work you do, Rosa. It’s an inspiration to all us mainlanders