“Wasn’t that your department director you were laughing with?”
“Yes.”
“What was so funny?”
“He was telling me about backing into his garage door this morning—for the third time!”
“And that was supposed to be funny?”
“Well…he was laughing at himself, so I just joined in.”
“I wish my boss was like that.”
One of the pillars of leadership credibility is to be personable. People want to know you. And they want to be known by you. If the only interaction you have with employees is about the business, if it is all business—all the time, you are falling far short of what employees want and need from you. You don’t have to be their BFF (look it up), but asking about their kids, hobbies, favorite team, etc., will go a long way toward creating a more than a number culture.
“People today demand personal relationships with their leaders before they will give themselves fully to their jobs.” Bill George, True North
Relationships take time. Why don’t you start today? Now? Walk down to the water cooler and strike up a conversation—about them!
You can spend time, or invest time. Relationship time is among the most important time you invest.
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© Copyright 2016 by Dick Wells, The Hard Lessons Company.
Who saves more lives: fire fighters or fire marshals? Think about it before you answer.
Fire marshals are rarely on the evening news. It is the fire fighters, who rush into a burning building to save the baby and cat, that get air time and accolades. And rightly so. They are putting their lives on the line for us.
Fire marshals are boring. They don’t get publicity or praise, but the truth is, they save a lot more lives than fire fighters. They spend their time looking for things that will prevent fires. They make sure sprinkler systems are to code and stairwells are cleared of hazards. They require upholstery in public buildings to have slow-burn rates and make sure that fire doors will auto-close when the fire alarm goes off. Oh yeah, they make sure the building has fire alarms to begin with. Their goal is to make sure the fire fighters have nothing to do except play cards and eat pizza.
In my manufacturing career, there was a tradition of making heroes out of fire fighters—the guys who “saved the day” by working all weekend to keep the assembly line moving. We did this even if the ones who “saved the day” were the ones who started the fire in the first place. I stopped that practice. We stopped making heroes out of fire fighters for putting out a fire they started in the first place.
Ben Franklin had some great advice: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
What takes less time and energy and creates less stress: getting an oil change or getting a new engine?
It always takes more time and energy to get new tires than to balance and rotate the ones you have.
It always takes more time and energy to fix a problem than to prevent one.
It always takes longer to lose 5 pounds than to gain 5 pounds.
The old adage is true: “We always have time to fix it.” So…
This 10th Leadership Credibility BE is Be a fire marshal, not a fire fighter.
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Copyright 2015 by Dick Wells, The Hard Lessons Company
Click below to read other posts in the Leadership Credibility series:
Your Leadership FICO Score
Be Honest
Be Visible
Be Available
Be Personable
Be Useful
Be Competent
Be A Bulldozer
Be Accountable
Be Consistent
“Can I see the boss?”
“I wouldn’t if I were you.”
“Why?”
“He came stomping in, said ‘Don’t bother me,’ and then slammed his door.”
One of the most important BE’s of leadership credibility is BE CONSISTENT. Leadership is hard. One of the things that makes it hard is there are No Bad Days Allowed.
Consistency is an important attribute for effective leaders. Your followers need to know what to expect when you show up. If they don’t—if it is everything is great on Tuesday, but stay away on Thursday—fear and reluctance will become pervasive in the organization. Followers will spend too much time deciding if it is okay to approach you and the information you need today may not make it to your office because they are waiting for a safe time. The safe time may be too late.
Leaders have to show up ready to lead no matter what. Flat tires aren’t an excuse. Lack of sleep is not an excuse. PMS or menopause are not excuses. Thirty over par on Saturday is not an excuse. The Titans losing on Sunday is not an excuse. And yeah, I really do mean every day—on top of your game—ready to lead in a positive way.
So this means that leaders have to do something that is really hard to do: leave emotions in the car—especially anger, impatience, frustration, inattention, and so on. Hard to do? Yes. Impossible? No. If you need to rant and rave and throw up, do it before you show up at the office. What’s at stake? Not much—just your credibility and effectiveness as a leader.
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Copyright 2015 by Dick Wells, The Hard Lessons Company
The Leadership Credibility series:
Your Leadership FICO Score
Be Honest
Be Visible
Be Available
Be Personable
Be Useful
Be Competent
Be A Bulldozer
Be Accountable
Most employees believe that leaders are too proud to ever admit a mistake, and unfortunately, often they are right.
Regardless of how hard you try, you will make mistakes, you will forget to follow up, and you will communicate something that turns out to be wrong. When you do, if you want to protect your leadership credibility, there is only one thing that will make a difference—admit it.
I experienced this in my first presentation to all employees in my first stint as a company president. I was giving the status—to the best of my knowledge—on each of our programs. On one of the programs, to the best of my knowledge turned out to be wrong, and many of the employees knew it. Their reaction: “he’s just another leader who doesn’t tell the truth.”
I had promised the employees I would never lie to them, and boom, right out of the box, they have me branded as a liar and my credibility is shot.
At our next all-employee gathering, this is how I started: “Before I cover where we are today, I want to correct something I said last time.” I recapped what I had said, told them what the real story was, and finished with “I was wrong.”
Their reaction: “I have never heard a president say that before.” The outcome was that my credibility was helped a lot more by “I was wrong” than it was hurt by my mistake.
The 8th credibility “Be…” is Be Accountable for every word you speak, every promise you make, and every decision you make. Remember that…
“One lie has the power to tarnish a thousand truths.” Al David (author)
“The words you say will either acquit you or condemn you.” Jesus
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Copyright 2015 by Dick Wells, The Hard Lessons Company
The Leadership Credibility series:
Your Leadership FICO Score
Be Honest
Be Visible
Be Available
Be Personable
Be Useful
Be Competent
Be A Bulldozer
21 October 2015
Do you remember the “work smarter, not harder” school of improvement? How did you feel when told you need to “work smarter”—inspired to go forth to do great things? Probably not. Most people don’t believe the dumb things they may be doing are their fault. “It’s management’s fault. They make me do it this way.” Now, whether that is true or not is not the issue. Employees will seldom accept that they are the problem. It is much easier for them to blame “the company” or “the pastor” or “the government” or….
A typical employee’s view of workflow is there are a lot of obstacles (policies, slow decisions, out-of-date equipment, etc.) that keep things from flowing smoothly. Again, it doesn’t matter whether it is true or not; it is how they view things.
EMPLOYEES’ VIEW OF WORK
So what, as the leader, can you do? BE A BULLDOZER! Proactively remove things that employees view as obstacles to productive work. If they are viewed as obstacles, don’t ignore them even if they aren’t.
REMOVE AS MANY AS POSSIBLE
Here is the key to this: remove as many real or imagined obstacles as you can, and people will work harder and smarter without even realizing it. They’ll be better off and the organization will be better off.
By the way, do you have someone who will tell you if you are the obstacle?
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Copyright 2015 by Dick Wells, The Hard Lessons Company
The Leadership Credibility series:
Your Leadership FICO Score
Be Honest
Be Visible
Be Available
Be Personable
Be Useful
Be Competent
What is the tradeoff between knowledge skill and leadership skill for leaders? I’ll give you a lawyer’s answer: It depends. Depends on what?
My barber for the last five years or so has been a horse-riding grandma named Genie. She cuts hair Monday-Friday and rides on Saturday-Sunday with her granddaughter. Genie has a one-chair barbershop. She has no employees. I go to her because I like the way she cuts my hair (no comments, please). I don’t give a rip what kind of leader she is. She needs a large dose of knowledge skill—almost no leadership skill.
However, if Genie decided to expand, add another barber or two, or even another shop or two, then her need for leadership skill would increase. If she was the senior leader at Supercuts (over 2000 shops), then leadership skill would be paramount; she wouldn’t need to know much at all about how to cut hair (though it would help if she did).
When I migrated (in 2000) from aerospace (large/complex) to a Gulf Coast commercial shipyard (small/simple by comparison), I learned the hard way that my leadership skill wasn’t enough. To be successful, I needed a lot more knowledge about the maritime business. This story did not have a happy ending.
You must have the knowledge skill appropriate for your job. And you must have the leadership skill appropriate for your job. In small/simple organizations, the leader’s knowledge skill is most important. In large/complex organizations, the leader’s leadership skill is most important.
It’s important for you to know where you are on the knowledge/leadership scale. Which do you need the most of? The questions you are asked by employees will tell you. “How” or “Help” questions require knowledge to answer. “What” or “Why” questions require leadership to answer.
Get this right, and your Leadership FICO Score will increase; good for you and for the organization.
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Copyright 2015 by Dick Wells, The Hard Lessons Company
The Leadership Credibility series (click to read):
As I was walking the factory floor one day: “Mr. Wells, could I talk to you for a minute?”
“Please call me Dick. What’s up?”
“Well….”
He was a brake press operator (you don’t need to know what a brake press is to get the leadership credibility principle here). The short version is another piece of equipment was located such that he could not operate his brake press in the most efficient and productive way. If the other machine could be moved a couple of feet, then he could be more productive, less frustrated, etc.—all good for him and the company. The machine was too heavy for him to move and I happened to be walking by (being available and visible), so….
It was a chance for me to be more than just visible (8/21 post) and available (8/29 post), it was a chance for me to be useful, to make a difference. I made a call, the machine was moved that day, and my leadership credibility soared with that employee and all those who heard the story.
Being honest, visible, available, and personable are great aids to raising your Leadership FICO Score (8/10 Post). But there’s more to it than that—add being useful to the list—do something that makes a difference in the employee’s workday. It doesn’t have to be grand and expensive: fix a water cooler or broken chair; replace burned out lights; make sure their workplace is cleaned regularly. The leader’s job is a lot more than “be likeable and look good.” Those will wear thin rapidly.
Employees are on the job every day; most are trying to do their best in spite of less than ideal working conditions. Most don’t expect ideal working conditions. However, there is almost always something you can do—however small—that will impact their workday for the better.
Look around. If office 201 was yours, what would you want to do? Would a rubber pad make a difference for an employee who is on his/her feet all day? Is the air conditioner—or heater—adequate? How about moving some clutter—or a machine—out of the way?
Now I realize that some things are expensive and can’t be done now or ever. But do something! It will demonstrate you are a leader who cares and listens and I promise, your credibility as a leader will rise.
Why don’t you go find something to do for an employee today? How about right now?
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Copyright 2015 by Dick Wells, The Hard Lessons Company
The Leadership Credibility series:
Your Leadership FICO Score
Be Honest
Be Visible
Be Available
Be Personable
In his great book, True North, Bill George says “People today demand personal relationships with their leaders before they will give themselves fully to their jobs.” Do you agree with that? I do. The starting point for a “personal relationship” is simply, Be Personable.
If you are the leader, people want to know you. And, they want to be known by you. They want to know what you do on Saturday (fish, football, or flowers), but more than that, they want to tell you about their kids, hobbies, church, or crazy uncle. They want you to know they are more than Employee #7933 (my number at Bell Helicopter years ago).
Being personable doesn’t mean becoming best friends. It means listening, being interested, being kind, being ________ (you fill in the blank).
A couple of requirements for being personable are:
#1 You have to get out of your office.
#2 You have to invest some one-on-one time with people.
#3 You can’t fake it. If you are just going through the motions because you read this blog, they’ll know.
#4 You can’t pollute “being personable” time with organization issues and problems.
The alternative to being a personable leader is being a jerk boss. Which will prompt your employees to “give themselves fully to their jobs”? You know the answer, so….
Relationships take time. You can spend time, or invest time. Be Personable time is the most important time you invest.
Be Personable is #4 on the path to leadership credibility. How are you doing on the first three: Be Honest (8/14 post); Be Visible (8/21 post); Be Available (8/29 post)?
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Copyright 2015 by Dick Wells, The Hard Lessons Company
6 September 2015
To the people you are trying to lead or influence (employees, customers, congregation, etc.), what is more important: your ability or your availability? Yes, I know you’re busy, but if you are so busy you aren’t available when they need you, your leadership credibility will suffer.
The foundation of leadership credibility was integrity: Be Honest (8/14 post). Second was Be Visible (8/21 post). Third on the list is Be Available. What your followers want most is your time, not your brain—they have one of their own.
Almost all leaders say they have an open door policy. For those that really do have one:
The door will actually be open.
People will feel free to walk in.
The admin staff doesn’t feel that their primary job is shield the leader from the minions.
When people do walk in, the leader gives full attention and listens to what they have to say.
Office location and arrangement is part of the Availability equation:
“When I arrived in Nashville, the company had a long dark 1940s style “mahogany row.” It was separated from the factory by a sign on the door: OFFICES. In other words, “Don’t enter unless summoned”—like when you were in junior high school. Fortunately, our change-for-the-better-oriented president got rid of the sign, and although we didn’t spend the money to get rid of mahogany row (prohibitively expensive because of so much asbestos in the walls, ceilings, etc.), he did mandate that our office doors were to be open at all times unless we were having a truly confidential conversation. It is surprising how such a simple thing changed the look of the hallway from a “restricted area” to just another hallway where the president happens to spend his time.” (Excerpt from 16 Stones, chapter 12.)
Get a can of WD-40, lubricate the hinges on your door, then open it—really. You’ll be surprised at how your credibility will rise.
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Copyright 2015 by Dick Wells, The Hard Lessons Company
In your personal financial life, a good FICO score is essential—it is your credit-ability score. Credit cards, mortgages, car loans, even job opportunities are dependent upon or influenced by your FICO score. Above 750±, you’ll get the fastest approvals and the lowest rates. Below 600±, you’ll get high rates or nothing at all. Your FICO score is a reflection of your intent to repay and your ability to repay. In other words, trust and confidence in you are wrapped up in your FICO score.
Leaders have a credit-ability score also—it is your Leadership FICO Score. It measures your credibility as a leader. Is it important? Oh, yes.
“…more than anything, people want leaders who are credible. Credibility is the foundation of leadership…. Loyalty, commitment, energy and productivity depend upon it.” (Kouzes & Posner, The Leadership Challenge)
“…if he has not built credibility with his people, it doesn’t really matter how great a vision he has.” (John Maxwell, Ultimate Leadership)
Every day, your employees show up and decide how much of themselves they are going to give you. You are paying for their hands, their labor, their knowledge. They owe you that because you are giving them a paycheck. But you need more. You need their hearts and their heads—their best. Employees don’t give their best to the company—they only give their best to you. They will decide to give you their best based on your Leadership FICO score—your credibility. What is leadership credibility?
Leadership credibility is the combination of trust and confidence that motivates people to follow and work for you—all in, giving their best—because they want to, not because they have to.
Companies don’t have credibility—people have credibility. People do not trust companies. They trust people. People do not have confidence in companies. They have confidence in people. Your company (or department) does not have credibility apart from your personal credibility. To your employees, when it comes to credibility, you are the company or church or college or….
You do not have leadership credibility because of your position. To have credibility, you have to work for it, because credibility has to be earned. You earn credibility by what you do and who you are, not by your title or what you say.
Credibility is the single most important attribute/characteristic of leadership. Without it, you can’t lead; you can only be a boss. So how do you earn it? Stay tuned—that’s where we’ll start in the next post.
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© Copyright 2015 by Dick Wells, The Hard Lessons Company
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