I had a really interesting conversation with a man who is in the building trade the other evening. First of all he reckoned that his line of wouldn’t benefit from my type of skills. After he told me this story, he agreed that people are people no matter what industry they work in and that we actually think the same way.
He said that the way he manages his staff is based on his observations of two foremen that he worked with when he was learning his trade. His story was so simple yet so insightful…that I thought I would tell it again here…and let you decide which foreman you want to be…
Foreman A was always shouting at his staff, never provided any encouragement and never recognised the hard work being done by his staff.
As a result the man I was speaking to told me that he would never go out of his way for that foreman. That he would have left him standing alone rather than help him out. He didn’t like him.
Foreman B regularly praised his staff. He took time to explain tasks when necessary and provided opportunities to learn new skills. He spent time with his staff, working along-side them.
As a result, I was told that ‘backs would be broke’ making sure you did a good job for Foreman B. That he ‘wanted’ to do a good job and would put himself out just to do a good job. He liked him.
The guy I was talking to said he decided to be Foreman B, because that’s the type of person he wanted to be and thats’ the type of workforce he wanted to have. He told me that the difference it has made to his business is huge.
Seems common sense? Pretty obvious story eh? What results do you want? Are you being the type of Foreman that will glean those results?
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The sad thing is that whilst we understand the value of that type of person-centric “Authentic Leadership”, all too often that sort of leader is labelled as “soft”, particulalry in industries with macho cultures. It can be difficult to get across the message that task orientation can be good at a personal level, but leadership must be focused upon the people being led
Interesting point to highlight. How our behaviour is perceived can change according to situation, environment and culture…and there is a need to ensure that your behaviour is flexible. Providing praise on the building site may well sound different to praise provided in an office environment as the language, tone and infection would have to fit with the person and their environment. Just in the same way you may provide praise in public or private depending on the receiving person’s preferences.