What’s the most important thing good leaders–truly human leaders–do?
幸运的是, many are beginning to see how doing this one thing well can profoundly impact an organization. 在Barry-Wehmiller, 外围十大菠菜app相信这一件事, 比其他任何领导举措都重要, can set an organization on a path to a better future.
史蒂夫·冈德，公司总裁 冈德公司,同意. 大约十八个月前, Steve began devoting significant time to travelling regularly among Gund Company facilities to perform this simple yet powerful leadership action. 在每个地点, team members from all areas of the business gathered for a meeting so that Steve could do something that was crucial to the company’s future.
他听.
史蒂夫不说话了, 清空思绪, 集中注意力, 和专心, 深深, 积极地倾听.
换句话说，他像一个领导者一样倾听.
在Barry-Wehmiller, 外围十大菠菜app发现深度倾听, reflective listening– is one of the master keys to our truly human leadership culture. In most organizations, listening is a greatly undervalued skill. The conventional wisdom is that leaders tell people what to do and how to act. We believe that the most powerful thing a leader can do is to truly and 深深 listen.
在冈德公司, where they manufacture electrical insulation components for power systems, they’ve been very intentional about building great culture. 据史蒂夫说, for 60 years they’ve remained focused on three pillars — taking care of the customer, 照顾好生意, 互相照顾. “To achieve our goal of a virtuous cycle of continuous improvement, creating a culture centered around taking care of each other is the critical next step,史蒂夫告诉外围十大菠菜app. “因此, listening to our employees’ ideas about the behaviors we expect of one another is paramount.”
多年来, 冈德公司’s leadership team used survey data and focus groups to attempt to gather the best opportunities for improvement. “We had commitment and lots of good ideas but couldn’t quite figure out how to get the culture piece right,史蒂夫评论道。.
然后, 18in 2015, Steve participated in a course offered through our leadership development institute (now 查普曼 & Co. 领导学院, 点击这里阅读更多,) where he learned about the building blocks of good culture.
“The class helped us understand how powerful a culture built on listening could be in terms of helping us take care of each other. It was two solid days of in-depth discussion about the principles that guided Barry-Wehmiller, the importance of leadership that is people-focused, 以及文化实施方案, 或路线图, Barry-Wehmiller就是这么做的,他告诉外围十大菠菜app.
Based on the insights he gained through the leadership institute, Gund began holding the regular listening sessions throughout their facilities where he asked team members just three questions: What are we doing well?; What can we do to improve together?; and How are we doing taking care of each other? Gund’s role was to listen—truly, 深深, actively listen. The team members’ responses and ideas were captured on white boards and ultimately turned into action items and posted for all team members to see. The outcomes were so positive that the listening sessions Gund initiated are now held by each Facility General Manager on a monthly basis. “The key for us is translating that listening into understanding that results in improvements that drive our ability to take care of each other, 照顾好客户, 照顾好自己的生意.”
超越标杆管理, Gund and several other members of their leadership team signed up for the subsequent 领导学院 course, 联系, which takes a deeper dive into the entire communication process, especially listening. Two Gund team members who attended are now in the final steps of certification as professors so they can soon begin rolling out the 联系 training throughout Gund’s eight locations in four countries.
“Most of us go through life learning how to communicate on a trial and error basis,” Steve reflected. “We are excited for the next big evolution in our culture as we all learn to communicate more effectively based on the lessons from 联系.”
Whenever I speak to audiences across the country, 我经常遇到一些商业领袖, 比如史蒂夫·冈德, are fiercely committed to creating thriving people-centric cultures. Unfortunately most of them don’t know how or where to begin.
“We have been trying for three generations to get it right,史蒂夫告诉外围十大菠菜app. “但外围十大菠菜app在很多方面才刚刚开始. The 领导学院 helped us articulate our passion for taking care of each other and helped us understand how to translate that passion into specific leadership behaviors.”
The most important behavior of all is simple: begin to listen like a leader.
If you’re interested in taking a class through 查普曼 & Co. 领导学院 点击这里了解更多.