Champion Your Team
Why would your team care for your business if you don’t seem to care about them? Think about it. Would you put out your absolute best work for someone who looks down on you? Be honest with yourself. Under ideal conditions, a worker would always do his of her best because of personal pride.
You may not realize it, but you need to understand that you work for them.
Do your associates feel any emotional investment in your organization? Do they feel proud to be working where they are? The current economic climate may be obscuring the fact that many businesses are full of people who appear to be loyal but are simply waiting to make their moves. Is this really only because “it’s hard to hire good help?”
Summing up what I’ve tried to impart in this chapter, I see two themes: Consistency and Balance. The people you deal with, both inside and outside your organization, have a right to expect that your relationship with them will stay on an even keel. The balance equation means keeping the human aspects of a relationship in mind when business decisions are being made: What will be the negative impact of what I’m about to do and how can I mitigate against long term harm? Running a large organization successfully was once described by a senior leader as being the equivalent of “balancing a battleship on the head of a pin.” Consistency and balance will help you keep the battleship where you want it.
