DO YOU CARE?
Carol Kinsey Goman, Ph.D.
At a claim office of about 125 employees, the head of Human Resources spent the day observing the claim manager. This particular manager had received fantastic feedback on her company’s Quality Leadership Measurement System (QLMS) survey, so the HR executive was curious to watch her with her people to figure out what generated this great feedback. And as they walked through the office, conversing about the normal work conditions, the manager would often stop and refer to specific individuals: "Steve over there has been in our area for 15 years. Steve also coaches Little League. They won their game last Thursday.”
They’d move on to someone else, and as they left that person's area, quietly the claim manager would say, "Sally had some problems with her daughter this year. You know how difficult teenagers can be. We've had many sessions behind closed doors where Sally’s trying to sort through these problems."
Months later, when I interviewed the HR executive, that day at the claim office was still etched in her mind: “It became apparent to me that this manager knew all of her people. And I don't mean just knew their jobs. She knew each individual – their backgrounds and hobbies, what their concerns were, what got them excited. She knew when they were upbeat because things were going well, and she knew when they were struggling and needed her time and attention. When I asked, ‘How on earth can you do this for 125 people?’ she replied, ‘That's my job.’"
Great leaders understand that you can’t pay people to excel. You can only pay them to show up. But once you’ve got them there, the leader’s job is to encourage people to excel by create an atmosphere of caring, trust and inclusion. Sun Tzu, author of the Chinese classic, “The Art of War,” “Regard your soldiers as your own children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys. Treat them as your own beloved sons, and they will be with you even unto death.”
Carol Kinsey Goman, Ph.D.
At a claim office of about 125 employees, the head of Human Resources spent the day observing the claim manager. This particular manager had received fantastic feedback on her company’s Quality Leadership Measurement System (QLMS) survey, so the HR executive was curious to watch her with her people to figure out what generated this great feedback. And as they walked through the office, conversing about the normal work conditions, the manager would often stop and refer to specific individuals: "Steve over there has been in our area for 15 years. Steve also coaches Little League. They won their game last Thursday.”
They’d move on to someone else, and as they left that person's area, quietly the claim manager would say, "Sally had some problems with her daughter this year. You know how difficult teenagers can be. We've had many sessions behind closed doors where Sally’s trying to sort through these problems."
Months later, when I interviewed the HR executive, that day at the claim office was still etched in her mind: “It became apparent to me that this manager knew all of her people. And I don't mean just knew their jobs. She knew each individual – their backgrounds and hobbies, what their concerns were, what got them excited. She knew when they were upbeat because things were going well, and she knew when they were struggling and needed her time and attention. When I asked, ‘How on earth can you do this for 125 people?’ she replied, ‘That's my job.’"
Great leaders understand that you can’t pay people to excel. You can only pay them to show up. But once you’ve got them there, the leader’s job is to encourage people to excel by create an atmosphere of caring, trust and inclusion. Sun Tzu, author of the Chinese classic, “The Art of War,” “Regard your soldiers as your own children, and they will follow you into the deepest valleys. Treat them as your own beloved sons, and they will be with you even unto death.”
Labels: change management, leadership, management, organizational change
posted by ckg @ 9:19 AM
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