What's 1st in Leadership? Breaking all the Rules!!!

"Wait, what?...Break... BREAK all the.. Rules??! 

NOOOOOO!!!!!"

YES, Dwight. 

That's the first step to becoming a great and innovative manager, believe it or not!

My group and I were assigned to read "First, Break All The Rules" by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman, both a part of the Gallup Organization. This organization set out to find what the methods of the most effective managers are in attracting talented employees, keeping them, and increasing the overall profit and sales of the company. The organization dedicated the time to interview over 800,000 managers in the span of 25 years to gather helpful and unique pointers to guide current managers to discover their personal style of managing, as well as incorporating the effective methods mentioned by other inspirational managers into their work. The book focuses on the techniques of managers who break the conventional rules of the business world to lead their employees and the company to success.

This book has completely changed my view of leadership. I have always heard the basic, and almost trite sayings, "Treat everyone the same", "Leave your emotions out of the workplace", and "Fixing your flaws makes you stronger", and I have always believed them, not giving them much thought as my thoughts have been subconsciously molded into standardized thinking of the workplace. However, reading one of the interviews within the book that the organization had conducted with a fine-dining restaurant manager has opened my eyes up to the completely opposite set of ideas, and has made me see leadership in a whole new light. This manager, referred to as "Michael", stated that he does not treat his employees the same, as every individual is different and needs to be treated differently as well. He also mentioned that he STRIVES to create relationships with his employees rather than shutting out emotional connections from the working environment, and ENCOURAGES his employees to embrace their strengths and work on becoming the best "them" they can be, rather then spending time trying to "fix" themselves. 

YUP.

I have always believed in focusing on people's talents and strengths and positioning them accordingly to make the best use of what they can do, also allowing them to grow in their area of talent. I have also always believed that employee satisfaction leads to a brighter and inviting working environment, which would lead to more focus, motivation, willingness, and more profit. Instead of thinking that it is the duty of the employees to work, and the manager to overlook everything, I focus on the equal balance between the manager and the employees; the manager serves the employees, and the employees give back to the manager. This book touched upon this relationship greatly, and focused on how the concept of employee satisfaction is influenced by various factors such as good facilities, convenient and helpful gadgets (for example, back massages being able for employees who sit at the desk all day), and close, understanding relationships between employees and the manager. Great employee satisfaction contributes towards having longer-staying employees, a healthier workplace, and an increase in profit. 

Gallup's focus on creating a measuring stick to measure the strength of the workplace based on employee satisfaction really grasped my attention! The organization came up with 12 questions in measuring the strength of a workplace, with employees answering to these questions from a scale of 1-5 (1 being "Strongly Disagree", and 5 being "Strongly Agree"). These 12 questions represented the four business outcomes of customer satisfaction, profitability, production, and retention. After Gallup collected results after surveying a mass group of employees from various companies, they realized that employees who responded more positively to the questions worked in workplaces with higher profit and productivity; this result indicated to me that every little aspect of the workplace influences each other, combining together to influence the workers' opinion of their work experience. I believe Gallup's approach in measuring the strength and effectiveness of the workplace by examining the employees' feelings about their work environment rather than just examining profit or numbers is very thoughtful and touching.  

WHOA. My mind is blown.

Another thing that was mentioned in the book that grasped my attention was the idea that employees leave their managers, not the company. I have always thought of managers to be a person of status and authority, and an individual who tries their best to maintain an effective and peaceful workplace. I never thought of the manager to be the KEY to the company, or section of the company they work in, and that they are the ones that actually create the environment that the employees work in. I have never thought about how every single little thing the managers do or say influences every individual around them, ultimately influencing a talented employee's decision to either leave or stay at the company. An employee may join a company for its reputation, benefits, and pay, but how well the relationship between the manager and the employee is determines how productive the employee will be, and how long they feel they should continue working at the company. WHOA.

I... am so confused.

"The most essentially human tasks: sensing, judging, creating, and building relationships" (Buckhingham 23). This is the one thing I was confused about. Not about why these tasks are essential, but confused as to why many of the managers today do not know that these things are essential. I always thought establishing good communication was a basic thing that everyone should know, especially managers! Every little thing that I do in my daily life has a social aspect to it, and I always make sure to make connections and build relationships with others around me before jumping into any kind of action. Whenever I am part of a group and I am in charge of assigning tasks to each member, I can't expect group members to listen to me or carry out their tasks if they don't know me, and I don't know what kind of person they are! I always make sure to establish a good communication and understanding of each individual before acting out anything. Learning about others and creating connections allows human beings to build trust-> encouragement -> willingness -> motivation -> great productivity!

This book was applicable to my current role as an employee. I have been working close to a year at the Schottenstein Arena in Guest Services, and though I greatly enjoy working there, I have recently started questioning what I could do to improve as an employee and mature as a person as well. Reading about the "mountain" that all workers have to climb in the workplace has been such a big help to me. This "mountain" that is presented within the book describes the several steps needed to get to the summit of the mountain, described as questions:

1."What do I get?"----> What you, as an employee, benefit from your job.

2."What do I give?"---->What you contribute and provide to the society through your job. 

3. "Do I belong here?"----> Do you feel you "fit in" at the company with your work methods?
4. "How can we all grow?"---> What can you do to support the whole of the company to success, and help the company grow as one, mature organization of people?

By looking over these questions, I have began to look more into my job and have been motivated to fully understand what my role in the workplace is, and discover what I can do to support the whole of the working environment and not just focus on improving my work ethic. I will try my best to reach the summit, where our focus is clear, we have an understanding of ourselves and others, and where we will have the ability to welcome challenges with open arms!!

This book has really opened my eyes up to creative and effective methods of management.

 I greatly recommend it!! Just make sure you read the book before it devours you ;)