Do You Even Like The People You Lead?
Or what about kicking it up a notch as Emeril would say, do you love the people you lead?
Some years ago I was part of an event in Boston in which several sports coaches, among them were Red Auerbach, John Wooden and Tim Gallwey, they were sharing their ideas about coaching with a few hundred executives.
One of John Wooden's comments has stuck with me over the years. He said, "I would not have a player on my team I didn't love, that I would not be willing to invite home for Sunday lunch or even let date my daughter". At the time, I am talking the mid 90s, that was a pretty radical notion for most executives.
The L word in business, are you serious?
Have Things Changed – And If So How?
Well most executive recognize that command and control, and instilling fear in people does not work. Apart from the fact that turnover is higher in fear-based organizations which is a competitive disadvantage, innovation and creativity does not thrive in an atmosphere of fear.
But going from making the atmosphere less fear-driven, to liking the people you work with, to creating an atmosphere of love and caring, may be a step too far for many executives.
The Case For Love And Caring
John Mackey Co-CEO of Whole Foods and Raj Sisodia Marketing Professor and Bentley University have just published their latest book, Conscious Capitalism: Liberating The Heroic Spirit of Business.
It goes without saying that Whole Foods is a very successful company. Anyone who has had the experience of shopping at Whole Foods can hardly miss the fact that the people who work there are bright, engaged, knowledgeable, helpful – just all around nice people.
Well, if there is a secret sauce to creating a great company of engaged people, Mackey and Sisodia have just let the cat out of the bag.
They take us way beyond the cultural myths about what it takes to succeed in business like: only the paranoid survive and nice guys finish last, to a perspective that will be challenging for may executives. Challenging because many of these myths are deeply ingrained and, for some, they are not myths but truths.
In my coaching of executives I ask executives to have the point of view that their organizations are a reflection of their own values and ways of being. Mackey and Sisodia say it this way, "Most corporate cultures don't value love and caring enough, because their leaders have not fully integrated these values into their own lives."
The Key Elements of A Conscious Culture and Leadership
I invite you to add to this list with the values you consider are essentials – to be lived in day-to-day interactions:
- Trust
- Being truly purpose-motivated
- Fostering conscious leadership
- Recognizing that trust is reciprocal
- Transparency
- Love and caring
- Banish fear
- Making tough decision with love and caring
- Acknowledgement and appreciation
- Personal responsibility and accountability
- Open honest and direct communication, engaged in with caring and compassion
- ...
1 comment:
Well, I am not a psychologist so I don't engage with people at the level of their early traumas.
I do know though that when people have a shared purpose, a shared set of values and shared goals people seem to be able to access parts of themselves that transcends their past history and allows for a really nurturing and supportive culture.
Nowadays I see more and more examples of leadership being demonstrated in every part of the organization, so the behaviors or whims on a hierarchical leader of the past is less of an issue. And those executives who do try the command and control "leadership" style have a much tougher time imposing that style - besides suppressing people, suppresses results and usually leads to a short tenure.
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