Howard Behar – Doug Dickerson on Leadership

What Floyd Dean-Shannon Taught Us About Leadership

Posted January 23, 2023
by admin

In a world where you can be anything, be kind. – Unknown

Perhaps you saw the story recently on social media. It was one of those feel-good stories that just restores faith in humanity on many levels.

It begins with a post showing Delta Airlines flight attendant Floyd Dean-Shannon sitting in the aisle on a flight from Charlotte, N.C. to New York City holding the hand of a nervous passenger.

“I’ve got you,” he’s quoted as saying as he gives comfort and reassures the nervous passenger that everything was going to be fine. He took the time to explain every noise and bump as he held her hand.

The beauty of the moment didn’t go unnoticed by fellow passengers who were so touched by this act of kindness that they couldn’t help but capture the moment to share with the rest of us.

It’s probably safe to say that Floyd Dean-Shannon didn’t set out that day to be declared a hero on social media for his act of kindness toward a total stranger. He’d probably just say that he was doing his job. But I hope that the rest of us won’t soon forget it.

John Maxwell said, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” And this is precisely what Floyd Dean-Shannon modeled. Here are a few additional leadership lessons we can learn from his actions that day.

Acts of kindness don’t diminish your leadership, it elevates it

We must never embrace the false notion that strong leaders don’t have the capacity for being kind. Not only did Dean-Shannon prove it, but judging by the response, it’s refreshing to see. In leadership, being kind is an asset, not a liability.

People are your business

Howard Behar, the former vice president at Starbucks said, “We are not in the coffee business serving people, we are in the people business serving coffee.” And this is the leadership lesson found at this moment. It always has been and always will be about people and how best to serve them.

One person truly can make a difference

Perhaps the greatest lesson that Floyd Dean-Shannon taught us is that one random act of kindness by one person truly can make a difference. But when we couple random acts of kindness with intentional acts of kindness soon big changes are made.

Mother Teresa said, “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.” As leaders, this is our challenge – to create ripples that make a difference. Thank you, Floyd Dean-Shannon for showing us how.

Please follow and like us:

Potential Principles That Matter

Posted September 16, 2018October 8, 2018
by dougdickerson

When leaders of organizations articulate and live their values, they drive them throughout the organization, and they become a way of being. – Howard Behar

Tune in to any talk in leadership circles today and you will hear all about living up to your potential. We instill it in our children from the day they start school and suit up for Little League. We remind them again at graduation and send them off to the real world full of promise and the hope that they will live up to the potential and hopes we placed in them.

But what happens when the realities of the real world sink in and living up to one’s potential becomes a dead end chase? Is there a way forward? Is living up to one’s potential still attainable?

Gallup research reported on in Inc. magazine says that “70% of employees aren’t working to their full potential. Adding insult to injury, 52% of those are just sleepwalking through their day.” The article states, “When a company raises employee engagement levels across every business unit through great management of people, it leads to higher profitability, productivity, and lower turnover.”

This sounds reasonable enough at first glance so where is the disconnect? Let’s take a closer look. “And therein lies the problem.” the article continues, “ to remedy the 70% crisis you first have to find those managers. Gallup reports that companies fail to choose the right management talent for the job a staggering 82 percent of the time.”

When companies fail to find the right managers 82 percent of the time, and when 70 percent of employees aren’t working to their full potential, then perhaps it’s time to rethink our approach as to what management potential looks like. Here are a few ideas for consideration.

Potential must be measured against values, not skills

Perhaps one of the reasons why so many companies hire the wrong managers is that they are looking at skill sets when they should be looking at values. Managers without a clear set of values such as honesty, integrity, trustworthiness, etc., can only lead for so long and take the company so far. Without a clear set of values in place, that leader has no true north, and the people have a leader with limited capacity. Click To Tweet

Potential and leadership development go hand in hand

Without question, companies want to hire highly qualified managers who can add value to the organization. No company purposefully sets out to hire the wrong managers. But along the way, companies are missing the mark. The good news is that it can be fixed. A great starting place is in leadership development.

Some time ago, Jack Zenger writing in The Harvard Business Review shed light on the fact that we wait too long to train our leaders. His research points out that the average age of managers who receive leadership training is 42, but the average of supervisors in these firms is 33. Zinger states, “It follows then, that if they’re not entering leadership training programs until they’re 42, they are getting no leadership training at all as supervisors. And they’re operating within the company untrained, on average, for over a decade.”

And this is the disconnect between someone not living up to their potential and someone with it. Leadership makes the difference.

Your potential and capacity is not defined by others

The premise of the Inc. article states the reason people are not living up to their potential is that companies are promoting the wrong people to management. While the argument has some merit, I believe that the premise lacks clarity.

To be sure, bad managers can be a drag on the culture of the organization. But it doesn’t have to be a deal breaker. You can reach your potential without them. Click To Tweet It’s no excuse for “sleep-walking through the day”, and opting not to perform at your best. Commit yourself to growing, learning, and developing your skills and your potential will be realized.

To be sure, bad managers can be a drag on the culture of the organization. But it doesn’t have to be a deal breaker. You can reach your potential without them. Click To Tweet

When your potential is grounded in your values, in leadership development, and individual responsibility, you can certainly reach all of your potentials. It will make a world of difference for you and to the organization you serve.

Please follow and like us:

Growing Big, Staying Small

Posted March 9, 2017
by dougdickerson

Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it. – Henry Ford

In his book, It’s Not About the Coffee, Howard Behar, former president of Starbucks International, recounts a fascinating story about attaining the kind of culture every company wants. Behar says one concept that he learned and developed from Howard Schultz was, “The fundamental task is to achieve smallness while growing big”.

It almost sounds like a contradiction upon first glance. How does one actually go about achieving smallness? What does it look and how can it improve the culture of any company? How could it improve yours?

Behar relates one custom that became part of Starbucks culture. The writing of cards. Each month he would write birthday and anniversary cards to everyone in the organization. It started with about sixty cards a month. Behar says that by the time he retired he was sending out more than five hundred a month.

In a time when company culture and employee engagement are the buzzwords and people are trying to figure out what it means, is it possible that we are simply over thinking it?

Maybe it has nothing to do with how big we are thinking and the grand schemes and plans of making improvements. Is it possible that employee engagement and company culture is not working as it should because we are not thinking small enough?

At the end of the day here is what we must remember: it’s all about people. Call it company culture, employee engagement, call it whatever you wish- but it all boils down to people and how you make them feel. Do they feel appreciated? Do they feel valued? How are you showing it?

An article in Talent Culture revealed that employees who “feel valued by their employer are significantly more likely to be motivated to do their very best (93 percent vs. 33 percent).” In addition, it said that “those who do not feel valued are significantly more likely to seek new employment within 12 months (50 percent vs. 21 percent)”. Look within your organization. How many people are motivated to perform at their very best? How many people do you suppose are looking for new jobs?

Growing big and thinking small is not a mutually exclusive goal. But it will require intentional thinking and action on your part as a leader. Here are a few ways you will have to do it.

Think small relationally

It makes no difference if your vision or goals are big or small, it only comes into existence through the dedication and hard work of your people. Every leader should take the advice of John Maxwell who said, “Always touch a person’s heart before you ask for a hand.” You must connect relationally before you can ask people to help you reach your goals.They must first buy-in to you before you can expect them to buy-in to your vision.

Think small serving

It was a brilliant quote I still remember from the late Sam Walton who said, “The bigger we get the smaller we have to think, customers still walk in one at a time”. Whether it’s your employees whom you are serving or the customer base your organization caters to, the way you treat each individual makes a world of difference. Too often we worry about pleasing the masses and forget we still serve our employees and customers one at a time. If you do right by one, you will do right with many.

Think small growing

Intentional smallness is what Behar modeled by writing hundreds of cards a month. It happens with random acts of kindness in recognizing your people. It’s being intentional about building relationships. It’s about ensuring that your people feel valued, respected, empowered, and trusted. It’s about writing that card.

Growth begins to happens when you take care of building a powerful culture of smallness that gives you the momentum to become a big organization that held true to its most sacred values along the way.

Are you thinking small enough?

Please follow and like us:

Talk It Up: Three Conversations That Can Strengthen Your Company Culture

Posted February 17, 2016
by admin

values

Making good decisions is a crucial skill at every level – Peter Drucker

Writing for Talent Management and HR (http://bit.ly/1KWCe2t), John Hollon cites a survey concerning the state of employee engagement. Among his finding that employers need to pay attention to include: More than 54 percent of employees have felt frustrated about work; only 38 percent of workers strongly agree that their manager has established a strong working relationship with them; some forty percent say they don’t get their company’s vision, or worse yet, have never seen it; nearly 67 percent of American workers can name at least one thing that would prevent them from taking any kind of risk at work.

With survey results like the one mentioned above- coupled with all the talk about company culture- it’s safe to say that there is a disconnect between what we want and what we actually have. But does it have to be this way? What steps can be taken to turn it around?

All of the answers and possible solutions will not be covered in this space. But hopefully it will serve as a catalyst for an honest assessment and how to move forward in your own organization. I think it begins with priorities in what we communicate. Here are three ways to make a difference.

Talk up your values

Your organization is only as strong as the values you subscribe to and in the way you practice them. Building a workplace culture on clearly articulated values reinforces your purpose and gives a sense of meaning and buy-in on the part of your people.

In the book, Full Steam Ahead, Ken Blanchard and Jesse Lyn Stoner write, “Values provide broad guidelines on how you should proceed as you pursue your purpose and picture of the future. They need to be clearly described so you know exactly the behaviors that demonstrate that the value is being lived. They need to be consistently acted on, or they are only “good intentions”.”

If your values are not clear, regularly communicated and subscribed to, then your organizational culture is adrift. Talk up your values and keep them before your people. When your people know where they are going- and why- they will show up not out of duty but for a compelling purpose.

Talk up your purpose

Your purpose is your “why”. It’s your heartbeat as a leader. Knowing your “why” gives life and work meaning and direction. The same principle is applicable to your company culture. When your people know the “why” of the organization then they can understand the importance of the role they play in advancing it.

In his book, It’s Not About the Coffee, former Starbucks International President Howard Behar writes, “At Starbucks, I’ve always said we’re not in the coffee business serving people, we’re in the people business serving coffee.” And this is at the heart of knowing your “why” and why that is so important. Do you know the answer to your “why”?

Your people will never rally around and devote themselves to an organization that doesn’t know its “why” and how it relates them and to their future. If you want to build your culture start by talking up your purpose. If you don’t know your “why” then neither do your people.

Talk up your vision

When some forty percent of workers don’t know their company’s vision or have never seen it then it’s time to get real about company culture. So let’s take a moment and get real: As an employee, do you know what your company’s values are? As an employer, when was the last time you communicated your values?

When your organizational values and purposes are clear in the hearts and minds of your people then they will naturally gravitate to your vision for the future. When team members buy-in to the leadership, and understand the “why”, then they will begin to look at their role in a different way.

Talking up values is not a one-time proposition or something to tuck away in a discarded employee manual. As Blanchard and Stoner state, “Visioning is an ongoing process; you need to keep it talking about it.”

The challenges of building a healthy company culture are real and ever-evolving. It takes a leader with insight, a teachable attitude, and a willingness to improve on all levels to make it work. By talking up your values, your purpose, and your vision, you can instill in your people a greater understanding of where they are, why they are there, and where they are going.

Talk it up!

Please follow and like us: