I was a little overwhelmed, however very happy with the
positive response to my first blog. Thanks you to those who reached out to me
via email, comments and in person. I did
receive several requests to expand on the idea of relationship building between
managers and staff. I‘m happy to do that as it clearly falls within my passion
of building business.
I read somewhere online that you should never report to
anyone who you wouldn’t go out with after work and have a beer. Although
intrigued, at first read this made me a little uncomfortable. What did a beer and wings have to do with a professional working relationship? You wouldn’t see me doing this with my staff
members. The more I thought it about I began to see what it was really driving
at. It was not to be taken literal as if to say that clanging beer glasses
after closing the big deal would yield the best of relationships, but rather
that the concept here is the comfort factor between the manager and the team
member.
The good leader is always alert to ways to connect with
their staff. Some of the more unusual seem to work the best. In my current
employment, I do not sit in the office suite. My office is located right on the
working floor and shares a common wall with the restrooms. Each time a person
pulls paper towels from the dispenser roll or flushes a commode, I hear all
about it. At first I was a little put off by the arrangement; however it very
quickly became apparent that my direct reports as well as other manager’s
direct reports thought it was endearing. I could hear them talking amongst
themselves about the awkward sounds that sometimes disturbed meetings in my
office and the way we all laughed about it and then carried on with our
business. “He’s one of us to put up with that” I overheard one day. From that
time on it became a little running joke and I never complained. I actually used
it to breakdown manager/staff barriers and as a building block for stronger
relationships.
The key point here is that developing a relationship with
your staff is no longer just nice, it is necessary. Leaders must be sincere,
authentic and genuine. Admit what you don’t know, teach what you do know. Take
interest in the baby pictures, the baseball scores and the vacation plans. Yes
it does take a little more work, but the dividends it pays in retention,
engagement, morale and increased productivity are well worth it.
