Tag: Respect

The One Mistake to Avoid as a New Leader

The One Mistake to Avoid as a New Leader

Jon Rennie

You got the new job. You accepted the promotion. You’re in charge now. Whether you’re a first-time leader or an experienced manager in a new role, the first 100 days are critical. It’s important to set the tone early.

One of the biggest mistakes I see new leaders make is when they spend all their time working in their office. It’s even worse when they work with the door closed. It’s natural to feel the need to work hard when you are moved into a new role but isolating yourself is the worst thing you can do as a new leader. You need to get out of your office and go to where your people are. You need to employ MBWA.

“See and be seen. Get out of your office, walk the talk, make yourself visible and accessible.” J. Willard Marriot

MBWA stands for “Management by Wandering Around.” MBWA means getting out of your office and wandering around in an unstructured manner. The goal is to walk through the workplace to check with employees, equipment, and the status of ongoing work. MBWA was originally used at Hewlett-Packard and described in detail in the book, In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America’s Best-Run Companies. It’s a great way to “see and be seen.”

Here are 4 reasons why you should get out of your office and employ MBWA:

Observe. Go to where your people are and see what is going on. Observe the conditions, the mood, the work-in-progress, the activities, and the potential problems. In Lean Manufacturing terms, observe what is happening at gemba, the place where value is created. Don’t rely on reports of what is happening, go see it yourself. What is working? What isn’t? What problems do you see? What areas need improvement? A leader that observes his team understands their challenges.

“Expect what you inspect.” W. Edwards Deming

Listen. Listen to what your team is saying. People love to talk. Ask them what they are working on. Find out what they like and don’t like about their jobs. Ask them for areas they think should be improved. You’ll be surprised what you learn. Many employees have great ideas but they are reluctant to share because they were ignored by managers in the past. It may take a while to get the best ideas but keep at it. The more you listen, the more you show you care.

“One of the most sincere forms of respect is actually listening to what another has to say.” Bryant H. McGill

Be seen. One of the biggest reasons to get out of your office is to be seen. Your team will appreciate the fact you took the time to see what they are doing. It shows you care. They will also be observing you closely so you can use this time to demonstrate your values. If you spend time looking at the safety of the workplace, they will know you care about safety. If you pick up trash, they will see you care about having a clean workplace. Don’t underestimate the power of your presence.

“Quality requires your Presence.” Eckhart Tolle

Communicate. Spending time with your employees in their work environment gives you the opportunity to communicate one-on-one. This is when you can get to know your people more and answer their questions. It’s hard in large meetings to communicate the reasons for your actions but one-one-one time allows you to clarify. Listen and talking to your team shows respect and it demonstrates you care.

“Honest communication is built on truth and integrity and upon respect of the one for the other.” Benjamin E. Mays

Don’t make the mistake of spending all your time in your office and away from your team. Get out and be with your people. See and be seen. Communicate and listen. You will learn new things and observe what is really going on. Your team will appreciate that you took time out of your day to be with them.

What do you think? Have you tried MBWA? How did it work? What else can we gain by getting out of our office and going to where our people are? Let me know in the comment section below.

3 Reasons Why Punctuality Will Help your Career

3 Reasons Why Punctuality Will Help your Career

Jon Rennie

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I’ve always been on time and I think it started with my father.

My dad was the guy who always showed up 15 to 20 minutes early for everything. He liked to be on time. I remember when my sister graduated from Boston College. He wanted to get there early. The graduation was downtown and he had always hated Boston traffic. When we showed up to the stadium, I had to laugh. We were the first people there. We were alone in a stadium that seated more than 40,000 people.

“Early is on time, on time is late, and late is unacceptable!” Eric Jerome Dickey

Maybe that’s where I first learned about punctuality. It was also reinforced when I was in the Navy. I’m not sure where I first heard it, but there was a common expression in the military that, “five minutes early is on time; on time is late.” That expression has been my guiding principle throughout my life when it comes to punctuality.

Whether it was my upbringing or my military experience, I’ve always believed that being on time is important. Especially if you consider the impact on other people. When you’re late to a meeting, for example, you’re wasting everybody’s time. If they’re sitting there waiting 5, 10, or 15 minutes for you to show up, you are affecting everyone. In my opinion, it’s disrespectful.

“Being punctual shows respect for the people with whom you work.” Angela Duckworth

A simple thing like punctuality can make a big difference in your career for three reasons:

Punctuality shows respect. When you’re on time, you’re being considerate to others. You are acknowledging their time is valuable and you respect it. Being respectful to others helps you build your political capital in the organization and will get you noticed. People want to be around colleagues who are respectful and considerate.

Punctuality sets the tone. Being early means you can allow for unforeseen circumstances. It means you will arrive on time and in the right mindset. How many times have you seen someone arrive at a meeting late, frazzled, and full of stories as to why they were late? They disrupt the meeting and it takes them 15 minutes to calm down and begin to focus. Punctual people arrive early, they have a clear head, and they are ready to go.

Punctuality demonstrates dependability. The person who arrives on time for everything is dependable. They are the ones that can be relied upon to get things done. As a leader, I’m always looking for talent. The employee who is consistently punctual stands out. They are demonstrating dependability. These are the people I’m going to give more opportunities and responsibilities to.

What do you think? How do think punctuality can affect a career? What is the general perception of people who are perpetually late? How about those who are always on time? Is it possible to be successful and be late on a regular basis? How are punctuality and performance related? Let me know in the comment section below.

Learn more about how to be a more effective leader in my new book, I have the Watch: Becoming a Leader Worth Following.

10 Steps to Survive and Thrive in Your First Leadership Job

10 Steps to Survive and Thrive in Your First Leadership Job

Jon Rennie

 

I had all the wisdom of a 23-year-old and all the experience of a junior officer who spent the past year in Naval training schools. In other words, I had no idea what I was doing. But I was in charge.

My first leadership job was taking over the Reactor Controls Department on the nuclear submarine, USS Tennessee. I had 6 or 7 guys reporting to me including a Chief Petty Officer who had joined the Navy when I was still in elementary school. My team knew vastly more than I did, yet in the wisdom of the U.S. Navy, I was assigned to lead them on our next deployment.

This same scene plays out countless times each day in businesses across the country when a new leader gets their first leadership assignment.

So how do you do it? How do you lead when you’ve never led before? How do you lead people who are older and have more experience than you? How do keep from looking foolish?

After leading men and women in the military and in business for the past 28 years, I believe there are some things that are essential for a young leader to do to earn the respect of their team. These techniques work for an experienced leader taking on a new team as well.

Get out of the office. The most important step is to get out of your office and go to where your people are. This allows you to observe your team and their work environment. It also makes you visible as well.

Set the tone. Do something very early to set the tone. In one manufacturing plant, I eliminated the reserved parking spaces for managers. In another, I addressed an obvious safety problem. Show your team what your values are early by taking a stand on something that doesn’t meet your standards.

Listen to employees. This is simple but it is often overlooked. Meet with your employees both at their work stations and privately. Get to know them and find out how things are going. Listen to them. Observe what is working well and what needs to be fixed. You will be surprised by the common themes you hear.

Visit customers. Seek out the people that your business or department considers a customer. Depending on your role, they could be actual customers or another department. Learn what your customers like about your team and listen to their concerns.

Evaluate your team. Begin assessing your team members. Who are the thought leaders? Who are the influencers? Who has the most respect from their peers? Who is going to be an early adopter to your leadership style? Who is going to resist you? Understanding your team and the potential dynamics will be important as you begin to roll out new initiatives.

Find a senior advisor. Look for someone on your team who will give you honest feedback on your performance and how it is impacting the team. This is often a senior employee who is not looking to be a manager and is well respected by their peers.

Fix the biggest problems. As you get to know your people, you will find a general consensus about several big problems they are facing. Attacking and fixing these issues early will garner their respect. As a leader, there are some problems only you can address.

Cast a vision. As you understand the directives of your boss, the capabilities of your people, and the feedback from customers, it is important to cast a vision of where you want your team to go. Leaders need to establish the vision and direction early. Even if the details are not firm, cast a vision to inspire them.

Look for early wins. Look for opportunities to gain an early victory to demonstrate your vision can be achieved. As an example, I had a manufacturing plant that shipped 80% of its revenue in the last week of every month. It was chaos in that last week and, I was told, it couldn’t be fixed. I set a goal to level-load the plant and ship 25% of the monthly revenue each week. It took several months, but we finally hit the weekly target. After that, there was an overall feeling we could finally fix the problem.

Celebrate successes. Confirm the importance of goal achievement by celebrating successes. Have a party when you hit your big goals. I once promised a lobster and steak dinner to a workforce of about 250 people when we reached a million hours without a lost time accident. When we hit the goal, we flew 500 lobsters in from Maine and had a big party to celebrate.

If you follow these steps and use a little common sense, you can be a great leader despite having no leadership experience. Leadership is a people business. Getting to know your team and listening to their feedback is critical. It’s also important to lead by example by being on-time, working hard, and showing respect.

What do you think? Have you used some of these techniques? How did it work? What is some other advice that can help young leaders? Have you seen young leaders fail? What did they do wrong? What are some pitfalls to avoid? Let me know in the comment section below.