There is no doubt in the minds of people who have met him, studied his management methods or worked with him over the two decades of his tenure; Jack Welch was a leader.

In contrast, Harold Geneen, the ex-CEO of the old ITT, was a manager. He kept detailed notebooks on each of the operations he controlled. He managed his divisions by knowing the details.

Jack Welch did not know what his thousands of managers and professionals were doing all the time. But he did know how to spur them on to greater achievements each year.

In GE, stars are rewarded very well. Underachievers are weeded out.

General Electric is not an organization for the faint of heart. But it is an organization where they have a lot of fun in their work and they get opportunities to handle incredible challenges. These challenges in most cases would scare the heck out of most people. Welch once blew the roof off a building with one of his experiments.

They would fail sometimes, but they always got another chance to get up and try again. They have a tough rating system. They are rated against the competition.
Leadership

Do you have what it takes to truly be an HR professional and a leader in your organization?

What’s your definition of a successful leader?

Here’s mine:

That individual must direct the activities of an entity, must be one who is respected for his or her professionalism and must be a key player in the organization’s decision process.

All three parts are necessary.

So you want to be a leader in your organization. What makes you think you have what it takes? Here is what happens to some HR professionals.

• Some will direct the activities of others, but not be respected or be a key player.
• Some will reach the point where they direct others, then wear out their welcome and leave, either voluntarily or by being encouraged to “explore other opportunities.”
• Some never get there.

What happened? Are there common threads in those failures?

In many cases, their lack of the skills needed to succeed should have been evident long before they got to the supervisory level.

Why were they promoted? Is the problem in the selection process?

Maybe it will depend on what the management team wants. Maybe it’s not always the HR professionals fault. If they only want someone to follow orders, then they will hire a manager.

But if the organization is in trouble and management decides that changes are needed then they will look toward a strong-willed leader to handle the function.

If you are wondering why you are not getting that top spot, maybe you may need to take a look at two things:

1. What is your management style?
2. How does your organization perceive your role?

If your style is detail-oriented, a go by the book and don’t rock the boat style and the CEO of your organization wants a General Patton type leading your function, don’t look for a promotion any time soon.

In fact, it’s not likely to ever happen.

Or it could be something as simple as the fact that he or she does not like the way you dress.

Don’t dismiss that notion!

If you are a casual dresser, regularly wearing your favorite pro sports T-shirt to work and your boss wears button-down oxford cloth dress shirts; that could be the difference.

Pay attention. Why do you think companies send executives to “charm schools” or hire performance coaches for some of them?

They should be on the fast track in the organization, but something is missing in their total image. It could be a need for a better knowledge of accounting or the operations part of the business.

It could also be that you have all kinds of talent, but you don’t have a clue as to how to act at a business dinner.

Or maybe it’s your clothes, like you wear them too many times before they are cleaned again?

Something else you will need to watch for. If your organization has a pattern of hiring from the outside for a position you have your eye on, you should plan on leaving the organization to find an equivalent to that position when you feel you are ready for it.

You are not likely to change the system, even if you can walk on water. So learn all you can and get ready to move on when the time is right.

Say you are ready and are now looking at making a move to another organization. Pay close attention to the structure of that new organization before you accept the job.

If you are looking for a position where you can really make a difference, try to find one where you report to the CEO, not to some other department head.

You don’t want to be buried that deep in an organization. It’s too tough to get yourself noticed. Just being a good soldier is not enough when your work is filtered before it gets to the top of the organization.

Now let’s examine how HR is perceived in a typical organization.

People in HR positions automatically come with more than a healthy amount of built-in respect or if you ask some employees, fear.

Face it. The HR professionals at a company know employee salaries.

They likely will have a voice in any increases or promotions given out. They know employee backgrounds; or at least have access to files that have that information.

They are aware of past missteps by employees. In fact, HR people can kill a future and there is a good chance that an affected employee will never know it happened.

Some HR professionals can’t resist the temptation to use that power in destructive ways. At times, the power, real or perceived, goes straight to their head.

More later. Take care!

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There are all kinds. What’s your style? Are you going to be your own person? Are you going to copy someone else’s style? Hopefully, you will be yourself and develop your own style.

For one thing, becoming a leader and then radically changing your style is not the way to go. For example, don’t go from being a hard working team member who works well with people to one who demands everything be done yesterday. It’s not the real you and your team will resent the change. And you will end up with more stress problems than you can possibly believe by trying to maintain a persona that doesn’t fit.

Rogue’s Gallery of Supervisors

There are several negative supervising styles. Will you see yourself in these examples? Take a look. See if any of them sound familiar. Then again, maybe they won’t because some supervisors never see that their style of supervision is not what it should be. They either lose the job under some other pretext or they just muddle along from company to company, never quite making it…and wondering why they never seem to get ahead.

Mr. Mood

Here is a classic example of what not to do as a supervisor. As you watch this guy walk down the hallway, it’s obvious that he hasn’t had a good day for a long time. Probably since the last time he fired someone? He walks down the hallway like he spilled a McDonald’s coffee on himself while driving to work. That can really ruin your day! From outward appearances, he seems willing to give everybody a fair trial…and then hang ‘em.

These people really irritate the heck out of me. What is so dang hard about saying “Hello” to people! At least the first time you see them in the morning?

Some of you are going to say:

“Well, he is the boss. He doesn’t have to be cordial in the morning.”

The heck he doesn’t! He expects everybody else to be dedicated to the job, dedicated to working with people to get things done, making a cooperative effort, etc.

Who made him an exception to his own rules!

I don’t know about you, but seeing that moody face the first thing in the morning sure doesn’t do a lot for my morale or dedication.

Maybe these people are introverts who don’t like dealing with others. Maybe they really are in a foul mood. It doesn’t matter. There is no excuse for not at least saying, “Good morning” as they walk by. Sound familiar?

Mr. Retired

This person isn’t hard to recognize. He does just the minimum to get things done. Nothing exciting or interesting ever comes from this group. He is not about to make waves. They cause extra work! Don’t even think about asking him to deal with issues. His thinking is that if they are left alone they will go away.

Ms. Brass

She walks into your office and wants your immediate attention. It doesn’t matter if you have someone else in there or that you may be on the phone. She is the boss and you are expected to drop anything you are doing. Not even a, “My apology, but I have to interrupt.”

What she is really saying is:

“I do this because I am the boss and I like doing it. Besides, my time is vastly more important than yours.”

She doesn’t care if you have a weekend planned with your family. She delights in ruining it by sending you on a trip or calling a Saturday morning meeting. I remember one lady like this who, when you called her, you got her voice mail:

“I am out of town until Monday the 24th. I don’t intend to check my messages, so don’t bother leaving one. Contact me when I get back.”

But she had better be able to reach you in a heartbeat!

She will also holler at you after you have walked by her door, saying she wants to see you right away. Really makes you feel great, doesn’t it? Sound familiar?

The Detailer

Let me start off with an example here. This guy’s job gave him a huge amount of satisfaction. You know why? ‘Cause he got to make all the dang decisions! He was responsible for three manufacturing plants employing 800 people. His operations generated millions of dollars a year in sales.

The interesting thing here is that the staff of men and women who reported to him all made great salaries, yet none of them made decisions of any significance. They went from being capable, qualified individuals to being puppets subject to the whims of the manager.

Within two years of the time he took over he had pulled all significant decision making responsibility away from them. How did he do it? It wasn’t by edict or threats or by rewriting everybody’s job description. He did it by getting involved in the details of every department. As a result of his micromanaging and meddling, the decision process slowed to a crawl. He would, at times, sit on things for weeks before making a decision. Opportunities were lost while he studied things to death.

His subordinates, for example, were continually reminding him that they needed their expense reports signed. He would carry those reports around with him for weeks before he would finally get around to signing them.
While he carried the load of all the departments, he walked, talked and acted like the world was on his shoulders. His entire working world did sit on his shoulders because he was not going to trust anyone else to make a decision.

He delighted in being knowledgeable in everything. When a problem was being discussed in a meeting, he would grill the affected department manager, asking in great detail if the manager had tried various options. He was beside himself when a department head would admit that he or she had not tried one of the options he suggested.

As a result, the only person in that management group who got any satisfaction out of their job was the manager. The rest knew they were just figureheads and caretakers of their departments. They stayed there for the salary and benefits and marked their time until they could find another job. Eventually, the entire operation was moved out of the state, claiming that it was unprofitable to be there. Sound familiar?

A point to remember: There are many companies that rate supervisors on the turnover they have. No one is saying you should not have any turnover. Frankly, some turnover is likely good for an organization. The point is that if your turnover is higher than the organization as a whole, maybe you are the reason for it?

The Great One

No, we are not talking about Jackie Gleason here. We are talking about the woman who likes and absolutely believes she deserves all the trappings of office. Such as the company car, expensive office furniture, expense accounts, company credit cards, etc. She likes to show them off with expensive entertaining and many business trips, traveling first class, of course.

In her own mind she is the “great one.” She was appointed to lead the huddled masses. She will regularly let you know that she is the boss by withholding something from you, nitpicking your vacation schedule or arbitrarily saying “no” to a simple request. Sound familiar?

The Suspicious One

Totally believes his team is out to screw him up. Believes they are continually plotting to damage or destroy his career. In his mind, they are not interested in work. All they want is a paycheck. And they will goof off every chance they get.

One company had a supervisor like this. He couldn’t tell for sure if a crusher employee was staying busy because the man worked in the next building. He could see the conveyor belt that ran from the crusher to the storage silos, but because of the distance he couldn’t tell if the conveyor was moving or not. So he devised a great plan. He painted an “X” on the take up drum of the conveyor, so he could tell when it was moving.

Yeah, you get the picture. When the employee saw the “X,” he didn’t say anything. He just kept the conveyor running all the time, whether he was crushing or not. Sound familiar?

The Bean Counter

This lady believes all employees are either out to steal the company treasury or they are so incompetent, they will squander it if given half a chance. She spends dollars to catch dimes. Believes the only way to get ahead is over the dead careers of those she casts suspicion on. Favorite phrase is, “I told you so!” She spends hours poring over the monthly phone bill looking for two-buck abusers.

One accountant I knew had one of her finest hours when she secretly set up a monitoring system to record when anybody signed onto the Internet. It took the president of the company to tell her point blank that she was to remove the system at once.

Hey, this lady made you feel guilty when you got a cup of the company’s free coffee!

The problem with supervisors like this is they can hire an entire staff of clones. Their sole purpose in life is to catch someone doing something, regardless of scale. Sound familiar?
In a Fortune magazine article (September 1998), author Tim Carvell, gave examples of bosses that were hated by their staff. Here are some classics from his article. You may recognize them.

• The woman who had her entire department bugged so she could hear what they were doing even from her home.
• A man who rigged the phone system so he could listen in on the employees’ telephone conversations, even the cell phone calls they made from the parking lot.
• A man who threw phones, verbally abused staff and expected 16-hour days from everyone. And believed no one should work for him for more than two years. Who would want to?
• A plant had a lot of quality problems, so they brought in a new manager. He talked and listened to everyone for months, gaining people’s trust. Then he started firing people. He admitted that was his plan all along and commented, “I can’t believe these people are so naïve as to have bought that line.”
• Carvell related a story about a CEO of a company that asked a consultant to find out what the employees thought of him. He received quite a shock when the consultant said:“Most of your employees, if they saw you in the parking lot, would speed up to hit you.”

Of course this couldn’t be you, could it? Carvell says there are a few things you could look for that might give you an idea that your team does not care for you. Like your phone is glued to the receiver or his article is taped to your desk?

More later. Have a great New Year!!

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An open door policy is a fascinating policy. Most organizations claim to have such a policy. But don’t you dare use it! Your head will be handed to you if you do.

Do you have an open door policy for your team? Of course, but is it just words or do you mean it? Your open door policy says that you want your team to bring their problems, concerns and opinions to you. You want them to know that you are approachable and willing to listen. Right?

A Wyoming organization had a well-touted open door policy. They even had it posted on their bulletin boards.

They also had what you would call an executive row. All the department heads’ offices were down one hallway. This section held the offices of the HR Manager, General Manager, Accounting manager, Customer Service Manager and various other managers. This is where they said they wanted you to bring your problems, concerns and opinions.

People trying to use this policy ran into a few minor problems.

A. The hallway had a very light tan carpet. The walls had light tan paint. How many employees from the operations area are going to walk down that hallway in their dirty work boots?

B. The hallway walls were decorated with a variety of awards, plaques and other things meant to impress visitors. It impressed the employees too…in fact it intimidated the heck out of most of them!

So where were the HR Manager’s and the General Manager’s offices in this row? The HR Manager’s office was almost at the end of the hall. The General Manager’s office was at the very end. Kind of made the typical hourly employee feel like he was about to walk “The Green Mile.” That’s code for death row (if you haven’t seen the movie or read Stephen King’s book).

Both of these managers had secretaries that you had to get past before you could see either one of them. The General Manager’s secretary had a standing order not to let anyone in without an appointment.

So much for an effective open door policy!

As a leader, you have an obligation to be accessible to others. And that means making sure there are no barriers preventing them from getting to you. You can say all you want about needing privacy. I don’t disagree.

That’s what a door is for. But shut it only when you need privacy. It is hard enough for employees to make up their minds to come to your office in the first place. Don’t make it any tougher.

Also, never sit with your back to the door. Having your back to the door is a signal that you really don’t want company, whether the door is open or not. I learned that for a different reason. In the Marine Corps, I learned it was not wise to sit or stand with your back to any door.

And a final piece of advice for you. Like the example above, if you have anything to say about it, don’t let people in supervisory roles group up in the same area. They belong in their respective departments, not on “Kings Row.”

The Grapevine

Webster says it’s ‘a person-to-person method of spreading rumors, gossip, information etc., by informal or unofficial conversation, lettering, writing, or the like.’

You need to listen to what is out there. What is being said and who is saying it. Never ignore or try to shut off the grapevine. It could help you, your supervisor or even the organization, dodge a bullet coming your way.

You also have to know how to use it. One tactic that works is to be receptive to information offered to you, but be very selective about what you pass along. You don’t want to be seen as an active participant, particularly to your boss. And you don’t want to pass along false information. So check it out, discretely, before passing it along.

Remember that information passed along by you, whether true or not, will appear to be true because it is coming from you, a leader.

Again, there is always the exception to the rule. You have a responsibility to pass along to your supervisor information that may impact her or the organization. More than once supervisors have been blindsided by events they should have known about. And they are going to wonder why someone didn’t tell them.

When that happens, your supervisor is first going to look at you and other immediate subordinates and wonder why none of you said anything. Of course, sometimes it could mean a supervisor is so disliked there is a deliberate withholding of information.

It doesn’t matter if you care for your supervisor or not. You have an obligation to keep her posted as to what you hear in the workplace. Think of it this way. She will owe you.
Now doesn’t that make you feel better?

More next time!

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