I recently received an email from my friend, Bill Curtis. Bill heads Porter & Curtis with his partner, Ken Porter. Porter & Curtis is a highly sophisticated insurance brokerage in Media, Pennsylvania, just outside of Philly. It’s a firm totally dedicated to serving their clients’ risk management needs. Bill was in Rome on a business trip, and he sent me a quick question. He then went on to tell me something very interesting that had just happened during his visit.
The previous evening, he had dinner with his friend, a priest from Philadelphia on a temporary assignment at the Vatican. The priest told Bill that a few days earlier, late in the afternoon, he was working, head down, at his desk in his office, when he heard a knock on his open door, looked up, and there stood Pope Francis with a gentle smile, asking “How are you doing?”
This priest told Bill that Pope Francis walks around regularly, checking in with people, asking how they are doing. He genuinely cares about the people with whom he works—all of them—not just the “chiefs.” Everyone!
This is a very, very important message to all of us in business.
Someone recently told me “I see our CEO occasionally, in the lobby of our building or at town hall meeting. It seems he’s always on the executive floor, in his office and in meetings.”
I know that we don’t always have time to spare—we’re already crazy busy. Yet, isn’t the spirit of our people as important as any other priority? Indeed, client and team member satisfaction are arguably our two most important priorities.
A true leader can have a very positive impact on organizational culture, the spirit of our team members, by showing a genuine interest in how they are doing—not via surveys, but by dropping by and having brief conversations.
How do we make the time? There is no simple solution to our packed schedules. Attitude is everything, though. I encourage all of us to figure out our own ways to spend less time in meetings and to get off the executive floor and be with our team members.
Let’s drop in and ask how they are doing, how we can help, how we can improve and what ideas do they have for us. They will definitely appreciate our asking.
More important, these brief, genuine conversations will have a cascading effect throughout the company. Team members will feel more connected and inspired to share ideas and seek solutions, rather than complain. When we encourage our team members, seeking their contributions and ideas, we set the standard for all to do the same. We show how we can best work together and have pride in our shared mission.
I recently came across this quotation, which exemplifies our need to be out with our team members, having conversations, letting them know we care: “To be a great leader, we must stand with our people, not try to stand above them.”
To Bill Curtis, I am so glad you told me that story about Pope Francis walking around, checking in with his team members. A simple, “How are you doing?” is so important to team morale.
Let’s make it a point to get out of our offices regularly and speak with our team.
