See Your People – 1 On 1
Trouble recruiting or keeping talent? Do you know employees’ needs and ideas for how to grow the company? Here’s a leadership tactic with a pattern of success for fast-growing and successful organizations.
I recently met with Scott Beck, who leads the largest family-owned seed company. He just finished a journey to meet and listen to every one of his more than 700 employees. It took more than a year.
The idea flashed into his mind one weekend morning when he was asking in prayer about what else he could do to better serve his company and customer. He tested the idea and came up with a set of objectives for each conversation:
• Tell me about you and your family.
• What do you enjoy about your job?
• What you like about the company?
• What would you change?
• What advice do you have for me?
• How do you create an exceptional brand experience with customers
or employees?
All this was covered in 27 minutes. Scott chose “27” because of an earlier project where his dad, Sonny, asked every employee to find a way to save $27 a day.
People could choose to meet one-on-one or in a small group. Most chose one-on-one. The revelations were breakthrough. Scott was surprised how much it meant to the team. A favorite insight was how often he heard “I love the people I work with!” and how much people enjoyed coming to work.
More Examples of Success
Quintiles is a Fortune 500 company now, but it got there through the same kind of love and interest Scott had for his team. As president and chief operating officer, my good friend Sandy Costa helped to build that company from $90 million to more than $1.6 billion in just six years. That was through 60%+ organic growth. At the end of every week, he sent a missive called Good News Friday to share successes and bright spots that came from his one-on-one conversations throughout the company. He ran weekly worldwide sales meetings and met as many employees as he could. He asked nearly the same types of questions that Scott did.
Terry Theye founded Future Now. In the early ’90s, it was one of the fastest-growing companies to hit the Fortune 500 in history. He spent one or two weeks every month visiting locations throughout the U.S. and met with every employee once or twice a year. Meeting mostly in groups but also one-on-one with people at all levels was key to his process, and he had an “open door.”
How Connected Are You?
What is your reason for not getting out and meeting with as many of your employees as possible? Now is one of the most important times in history to take such dramatic action. Talent is rarer than ever. Attracting it and keeping it is your key to success. Culture is king. Go see your people, and listen one-on-one.
