by Don Harkey
I was involved in an interesting discussion with a client recently. We were talking about important traits of a leader and the trait of character was brought up. While everyone in the room believed that character was an important trait, the question arose as to whether it was important in terms of leadership of an organization. Is high ethics and character really important to a business or is it just a trait that we like people to have? In other words, all other things being equal, does a person of high character make a better leader than a person of lesser character?
Have you ever heard that pets often reflect their owners? If you see a burly looking gruff guy walking down the street with a pit bull, I don't think I would pet the dog. While this isn't always true, the truth is that it is sometimes true. A dog owner who is rough and doesn't treat their dog nicely will often get a dog who is rough and doesn't treat anyone else nicely.
The same is true for management. Workers often reflect their managers. A McDonald's or other fast food place has very tight controls on how the restaurant is to be run. They hire the same people with the same food and the same procedures. However, you might hear someone say, "oh... that's a good McDonald's" or "that McDonald's isn't very good". What is the difference? Simple. It's management.
Have you ever complained about poor service at a business only to discover that the person you are complaining to is even worse? I got incredibly bad serve at a fast food place (there was nearly a riot in the place) and called the manager out who said, "what do you expect me to do?". That's funny... that is exactly the attitude the upset customers were seeing!
One of the largest myths in business is that hiring is search for "good people". The fact is that while people have widely varying strengths and weaknesses, they typically want to do a good job. A "bad person" is probably just someone who lived under bad management. A "good person" is probably just someone who lived under good management. Yes, it takes awhile to get someone to assimilate to a culture, but it is possible and very worth it. The thing is that the "culture" doesn't come from a procedures manual, slogan, or mission statement, it comes from the day to day reality of the organization. It comes from the walk, not from the talk.
This is why character is important in business and why people of high character are so much more valuable. A manager might really like their employees and truly care about what they do. If the manager lies to a client in order to protect the company, this might be considered a "tough decision", but justified. The problem is that employees see this and absorb the culture. They protect each other by not sharing information on mistakes. They hide negative feedback from clients. Pretty soon, leadership is not getting real information from the client that is needed to make good decisions.
Good guys really do win in the end. Hitler was a very strong leader with a clear (and horrifying) vision. In the end, his constant deceptions caught up with him as his people held back information. As the Allies landed on D-Day, Hitler was asleep. None of his people would wake him and none of them would give an order. This was critical in the course of the war.
If your organization has a lot of corruption, look at your leadership. If you have trouble finding the right type of person, first look for the right type of leader.
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"A "bad person" is probably just someone who lived under bad management. A "good person" is probably just someone who lived under good management."
ReplyDeleteDo you think it's also fair to say that good management helps develop 'bad people' into 'good people' and if they are not successful, good management will remove the 'bad person'? So I think it's entirely possible to be facing interviewees that are 'bad' workers. However, when they are placed in a different environment they may not continue to have the same work ethic or process. They might...but they might not. Usually, the choice is up to them.
Good point! The choice is ALWAYS up to the individual person and some people do choose to do the wrong things. Yes, good management can convert a "bad employee" into a "good" one but remember, changing habits of a person is like changing the culture of an organization. It takes time and it takes practice.
ReplyDeleteThe interview process should look at strengths of a person as well as attempt to assess how the person thinks about their job. Is it a punch card or is it something they take pride in? The challenge is whether management is willing to wait for the person to "come around" to their culture. It is interesting to note here that this means ANY culture (good or bad). A good employee going to a bad company might feel initially like a horse being broken. Some horses, good or bad, can't be broken.
This stuff is hard. When I was a supervisor, I had employees who were unreliable. The culture of the team when I started was "get your work done and keep your head down". Over time, I worked to change the culture of the team to one of helping each other out. Over months, I started hearing operators talk to each other about how good a position they could leave the next shift (rather than putting work off until the next shift arrived).
One operator made an error and dumped expensive resin onto the floor. I held the entire shift over to help clean up. There was a lot of grumbling about staying over to help clean up for one person's mistake. As people shoveled up drums of resin over the next 45 minutes, people got madder and madder. Finally when we were done, I called everyone over. I thanked them for staying over and told them, "any of us could make a mistake but starting today, we all have each other's back". Culture takes time and it takes bold action.