An Engaging Conversation
In the days that followed, Debbie realized that old habits were hard to break. On several occasions, she found herself engaged in all-too-familiar activities: specifically, fighting fires and making decisions that others should or could make. However, she didn’t do these things quite as often, and when she was able to restrain herself, she found that she had more time to think about the questions from her last meeting with Jeff. The more she worked on them, the more excited she became. She felt as though the picture of the future she was creating was generating some passion in her. Plus, as she began to share her vision, she found others wanting to get in on the action as well.
Debbie talked with each member of her team. With their help she was able to develop at least a partial answer to each of Jeff’s questions about Seeing the Future. She was eager to share her insights and progress with him.
The day of their next mentoring meeting finally arrived. As Debbie approached Jeff’s office, she was greeted by his assistant. “Jeff will be about five minutes late this morning. May I get you some coffee?”
“No, thank you.” As Debbie waited, she enjoyed the rare moments of peace and quiet. Minutes later Jeff walked in and hung up his coat.
“I apologize for being late,” he said. “I always try to be punctual. For me, it’s about honoring other people’s time. I’m very sorry, but I was finishing up an interview with a candidate for one of our new positions. It was our fourth and final meeting. I think we’re getting close to a decision.”
“You’ve had four interviews with the same candidate?” Debbie asked in a tone of disbelief.
“Yes. Why does that surprise you?”
“I usually spend thirty minutes with a potential employee.”
Jeff paused for a moment, as though making a mental note of her comment. “I look forward to hearing about your thought process on that at a future meeting,” he said. “For now I’d like you to give me a quick report on what you’ve done since our last meeting.”
“First, congratulations on your letter in the annual report!” Debbie said with enthusiasm. “It confirmed to me why I’m so committed to this organization.”
“Thanks,” Jeff said. “What have you learned since our last meeting that will help you and your team accomplish your vision?”
“Two big things come to mind,” Debbie replied. “First, I’ve tried to delegate more so that I can have time to think about the future. You really opened my eyes to my responsibility to do that. I realized that if I’m not thinking about creating the future, probably no one else on the team is going to do it.”
“True,” Jeff replied. “It’s been said that seeing the future is one leadership responsibility that cannot be delegated. It can be shared, but it’s the leader’s job to make time today to ensure that there is a tomorrow.”
It’s the leader’s job to make time today to ensure that there is a tomorrow.
“The second breakthrough is that I’ve decided to reinstate my team. I realized that the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages and that we are much more likely to achieve our desired future if we work together.”
“It sounds like it was a big month for you. Anything else?” Jeff asked.
“I talked with the team members about your questions. We have some initial thoughts on all of them, but we will continue to refine the answers in the days ahead.”
“Let’s take a look at what you have,” Jeff said.
They spent the next few minutes reviewing Debbie’s work. As always, Jeff listened intently and periodically stopped her to ask a thought-provoking question or two. Debbie was unable to give an immediate response to most of his questions, but she took careful notes.
“Let’s use the remaining time this morning to talk about your team,” Jeff said.
“I thought we were going to talk about the E in the SERVE model,” Debbie protested politely.
“We are,” said Jeff as he walked over to the whiteboard and wrote next to the E.
See the Future Engage and Develop Others R V E |
“As you can see, the E is for Engage and Develop Others,” Jeff continued. “Here’s what I mean by that. You must have the right people, in the right roles, fully engaged if you are going to accomplish the things you identified under See the Future. Everything that you will accomplish as a leader ultimately hinges on the people you have around you. Without this piece, your success as a leader will be greatly limited.”
“Tell me what you mean by ‘Engage,’” Debbie said with a curious look on her face.
“Gladly. To me, Engage has two distinct components. The first has to do with selection. If we do not select the right people for the right job, we have made a serious leadership error.”
“And then we have to fix it,” Debbie added.
“Yes, but never underestimate the time and energy necessary to ‘fix it.’ The costs of a poor selection are staggering. The ‘fix,’ as you call it, requires time, mental energy, and emotional energy. And while we’re fixing it, there are almost always other costs to the organization: the cost of declining performance and missed opportunities, as well as the cost of recruiting, selecting, and training a new person. And don’t forget the cost to morale.”
“What exactly do you mean by that?” Debbie asked.
“Other people suffer when a poor performer is on the team,” Jeff replied. “The team members will not always step up and say it, but it does impact them. They can easily become discouraged.” The serious expression on Jeff’s face told Debbie he was speaking from experience.
“I’ve seen that happen,” she offered.
Jeff nodded. “As leaders, if we do not own up to our bad decisions and rectify the situation, we lose credibility with our people. Yet it’s not always easy for the leader to admit the mistake and take the needed corrective action. That’s why the best leaders work diligently to select good people. It’s also why I just completed my fourth interview with a candidate.”
“Are four interviews really necessary?” Debbie asked.
“Most of the time, yes. Not only do we have to be sure about the candidate, but we also want the candidate to be sure about us. One of the things I do with all candidates is to give them ample time to interview me during the process.”
This idea sounded utterly foreign to Debbie. “Interview you?”
“Yes, I always allocate time for them to ask me any questions they may have about me, the job, or the organization. You can learn a lot about people by the questions they ask. So it’s really a win-win situation. They learn what they need to know to make a good decision, and so do I. I want both of us to get as many of our questions answered as possible, before I add them to my team.”
“That’s a great idea,” Debbie said.
“There’s one more part of the process,” Jeff added.
“What else can you possibly do?” Debbie asked in disbelief.
“I give candidates a copy of my personal and professional references so they can check me out. I’m going to check their references, so why not let them check mine?”
Debbie could not believe what she was hearing. In most cases, she spent less than half an hour with her candidates. She had not been treating this part of her leadership responsibility with the seriousness Jeff seemed to believe it deserved. Maybe this was the answer to her high turnover problem.
“Anything else?” Debbie asked, half jokingly.
Jeff thought for a moment. “Yes, there is. I always spend some time during the last interview trying to talk the candidate out of taking the job.”
“You’ve got to be kidding! After all you have invested in the process, I would think you would be trying to close the sale.”
“If I can talk candidates out of accepting the job, they don’t need to join our team. I would rather have them decide now they don’t want to work here rather than six months or a year from now. I would rather lose a candidate than a team member.”
“I’ll need to think about this for a while,” Debbie confessed.
“Good. Let me give you one quote to consider. It’s from Peter Drucker, the management and leadership guru. Drucker was asked, ‘What is the most important decision an executive makes?’ He responded, ‘Who does what.’ Getting the right people in the right jobs is the first part of the term Engage.
“Another part of Engage has to do with the level of buy-in people have for a cause, their work, and a leader. You want to do more than enlist their hands—you want to engage their heads and hearts also. I often say that with every pair of hands you hire, you get a free brain. Unfortunately, many leaders operate as if that were not true. It’s as if they have a large sign that hangs over the front door of their business that says:
Check your brains at the door. They will be returned to you as you leave the building. |
“Although I’ve never actually seen a sign like this, I see leaders treat their people this way in businesses large and small all over the world. It’s a tragedy! The wasted human potential is incalculable. Great leaders don’t tolerate this type of environment.”
Debbie could sense Jeff’s intense passion on this particular issue.
He continued, “The only way to get the use of these free brains is to engage people in the cause and the work. And when you get their brains, you can often get their hearts as well. Then you’ve really got something!
“One of my favorite historical examples of this is the story of Spartacus. He was a slave who led an uprising against the Roman government. If you’ve ever seen the movie, you probably remember the scene near the end when the slaves had been captured by the Romans. The Roman general tells them that if they reveal Spartacus to him, he will spare their lives. At that moment, Spartacus stands and says, ‘I am Spartacus.’ Unexpectedly, the slave next to him stands and says, ‘I am Spartacus.’ And then the next one does the same thing, and the next, until the entire legion is standing.”
“I’ve seen the movie,” said Debbie. “It’s quite an inspiring scene.”
“That’s one of our primary challenges as leaders,” said Jeff. “To create levels of engagement such that when we, as leaders, stand on an issue, our people will stand with us.”
“But how do you engage people like that?” Debbie asked.
“We may not always engage them to the extent Spartacus did,” Jeff acknowledged with a smile. “However, we all have a tremendous opportunity to capture the hearts and minds of our people. As a leader, you’ll invest a huge part of your life trying to figure out how to do that.”
“Could you explain that more?” asked Debbie.
“Let me ask you, what are the things that fire you up about your work? What are the conditions that led you in the past to be fully engaged?”
Debbie was silent for a moment. “As I think back to the times when I was really involved in my work, a few things come to mind.”
Jeff said, “Write them on the board. I find that it often helps me to see in writing what I’m thinking.”
Debbie stepped up to the whiteboard and wrote the following list:
• My goals were clearly established. • I knew how to do what I was supposed to do—I was well trained. • I was given the information I needed in a timely fashion. • My boss had confidence in me. • My boss was there when I needed help. • I was making a contribution to the success of the team. • My team and I were all learning and growing. |
With that, she sat down and looked at the list. Her memories of those days were wonderful.
Jeff said, “It appears that you know exactly what an engaging environment looks like. I’ll bet I can add a couple other things you didn’t mention. First, I’m guessing your boundaries were pretty clear.”
“Yes,” Debbie agreed. “I knew what they were when the project began. All the team members did.”
“And you were also expected to think for yourself rather than just execute what your boss wanted done,” Jeff added.
“Right. I was told what the objective was, and I was given quite a lot of freedom on how to get it done. I could bring my brains to work.”
“My guess is that you also were accountable for the outcome.”
“Oh, yes. I knew what had to be produced, by when, and at what cost. I was accountable. We all were.”
“The result?” Jeff asked.
“It was wonderful! I did some of the best work of my career as a part of that group,” Debbie said with a broad grin.
“How did you feel while the project was in progress?”
“The work was hard, and we were putting in a lot of overtime. We were tired, but we were energized. I remember my supervisor coming to one of our late-night meetings. She brought pizza for all of us and told us how proud she was of the work we were doing. She reminded us that this project was going to make a difference.”
“I thought so. You felt valued and appreciated,” Jeff said, emphasizing the last three words.
“Yes, I don’t think I ever stopped to think about it, but I did. We all did. The work mattered to the organization, and it mattered to us.” As Debbie thought about this, she became curious. “How do you know so much about our project?”
“I don’t know anything about your project. But I do know some of the principles for engaging people. The projects change, the people change, but the principles don’t. When leaders realize in the long run that they work for their people, these things get done.”
Debbie studied the list and considered the points Jeff had raised. “I’m afraid that I don’t provide these things for my people often enough,” she said, thinking out loud.
“But you do know what you need to provide. I have confidence that you will do the things necessary to help your people enjoy the same positive experience you described to me.”
The best leaders invest in the devel -opment of their people.
“Thanks! Your confidence means a lot to me. I just need to work on ways to engage their heads and hearts, not just their hands,” Debbie offered.
“Exactly!” said Jeff.
Debbie looked again at the SERVE model on the whiteboard. “I think I get what you mean by Engaging Others. But what about Developing Others?”
“It’s pretty straightforward,” Jeff responded. “The best leaders invest in the development of their people. Lesser leaders don’t.”
“What does it look like to develop others?” Debbie asked.
“It can take many forms,” said Jeff. “Developing others involves creating the expectation for learning and growing; creating training and development opportunities; providing educational resources—”
“And mentoring!” interjected Debbie.
“Yes, even mentoring,” said Jeff. “You may want to add this topic to your Personal Development Plan for next year,” he added.
Debbie made a quick note about a Personal Development Plan. Not only did she not have one, but she wasn’t even sure what one would look like.
“Do you have any parting questions for me to think about this next month?” she asked, pen poised.
“I do,” said Jeff. He spoke slowly and deliberately so that she could get it all down.
• How much time do you invest looking for talented people to join our organization?
• What are the key characteristics you look for in the people you select?
• To what extent have you successfully engaged each member of your team?
• What are ten specific things you could do to engage individuals more effectively in the work of the team and the organization?
• What have you done to suggest to them that when it comes to Heads Down implementation activities, you work for them?
• How are you encouraging the development of your people?
“I’ll get to work on these right away,” Debbie said. “This is really helping me, and I believe I’m making progress.”
“I know you are. I’ll see you in a few weeks. If you have any questions along the way, give me a call.”
At home that night, John listened as Debbie recapped what Jeff had taught her about Engaging and Developing Others. Skeptical at first, he asked several questions—often the same ones she’d asked Jeff.
“Okay,” he said at last. “It sounds good, but how are you going to apply these concepts to your situation at the office?”
“I’m working on that,” she said. “By the way, Jeff made a reference to something called a Personal Development Plan. What is that, exactly?”
John shrugged. “I’m not sure, but it sounds like a good thing to have. Maybe it’s time to visit the library again.”
“Good idea,” said Debbie.