It's Lonely at the Top!

It’s Lonely at the Top!
Communicate, to become a better manager.

By William Brautigam

Since my first day in management I was led to believe that I had to make lightening quick decisive actions. Independence was my watchword. I was fortunate in that I was right more than I was wrong and quickly rose to the top wherever I worked This is what every aspiring new manager wants to be able to do. It was the decisive independence that served me so well that almost stymied my professional growth! It was just a short hop, skip and jump to become an autocratic egomaniac who rarely, if ever, looked to subordinates for counsel. Open bilateral communication is the key to effective management.

When I reached the pinnacle of my career and became the CFO of a major government contractor, employing over 1000 people, I found the buck literally stopped at my desk. What I lost sight of, while trudging my way to my happy destiny, was the fact that I was once one of those subordinates that I now feared to trust. My communication, like you know what, flowed downhill. My decisions were just that—mine, all mine! I viewed talking with subordinates about anything important, virtually everything I did, a sign of weakness. I feared others would pierce my impenetrable facade of infallibility. I spent many, many years secure in my position at the top, lonely though it may have been. I like to think that when I talked, they listened, and more importantly, followed my pronouncements. This is a good example of truly a one-way communication. The problem with this style of communication is I suffered from employee sensory deprivation. I wondered why no one was my friend—can you imagine that!

I was successful enough to retire from the corporate rat race. I became a consultant for lack of anything better to do with my life. I found out real quick that the name of the game in the consulting business is communication, communication and more communication. In the business world, knowledge is power. In the consulting world, knowledge is necessary, but the ability to sell others on the applicability of your knowledge to solve their problems can only be done through communication and the power of the argument and/or message. I could no longer order people to carry out my directives, as I couldn’t make any. I had to win people over to my way of thinking to be effective.

An old concept/idea was reborn in me. The concept is make people part of the solution and not the problem! I wish I had been able to see this when I was a big deal, in my own mind, in the corporate world. This is truly an idea whose time had always come and I was just too prideful, egotistical and/or insecure in myself to put it into practice. It works as well today as it did yesterday. I know it will work in any business—no matter the size, industry or structure of the business. Identifying the problem, determining whose problem it is anyway, and what can be done about it is the enigma that many a person in business has to face on a daily basis. I can tell you it is easier to identify a problem, determine a solution and effectively carry out that solution when you make the employees part of the solution not the problem!

As a practical illustration of this concept, I will draw from my experience with a client who had a real problem—the same problem every year—and no answers in sight. The client was a women’s apparel retailer. The problem was motivating the salespeople to dispose of the reduced below cost clothing from the prior season. It seems, every year, the seasonal clothes were put on sale, eventually reaching a price below cost, with some customers deferring purchase until the sale. I was called in to solve this problem and increase overall operational profitability. I knew little about the intricacies of this particular business, but was confident there must be a solution somewhere—all I had to do was find it.

I had nothing to lose by communicating with the employees and asking for their help in solving this annual enigma. We all met, discussed the problem and could not come up with any new ideas. I took them out to lunch in appreciation for their time and out of respect for their efforts—we talked about and agreed to meet the following week to see if anyone could offer a new idea. Surprise! We met and an idea was built from the thoughts of three employees meeting as a team for only the second time. Yes, the owner was present at both meetings, unimpressed at the first, reluctant to go to the second, impressed at the second, and all the richer for the answer and its execution.

The solution was to take last season’s clothes off the racks as soon as possible, carefully boxing them away. All employees used extraordinary care in doing this to ensure salability of the clothes. At the start of next year’s season there would be a special sale: “Buy Two and Get One FREE” One from last year’s stock, that is. Not only did this eliminate the old inventory, but it was a good drawing card. It required the full cooperation of the committed sales staff to make it work. Sales increased and product that was sold below cost was more than paid for through profits from the increased 2 for 1 sales. Business volume and customer traffic increased as a result of these actions. Employee morale went up and the owner now regularly makes the employees part of the solution rather than the problem.

The message of this article, if there is one, is that it pays to encourage, nurture and praise employees and this can only be done in a highly communicative environment where everyone is equally respected for their right to communicate. Swallow your pride and recognize that your peers have a lot of good things to say, if you will only offer them a chance.

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