Help Make Things Better

This is essentially a rewrite of a leadership article from two years ago. I am posting again as I believe helping to make things better in our work is critically important and is key to our advancing, even though we contribute ideas not for self-serving reasons, rather as we feel a responsibility to the company with whom we work.

As leaders make things better, so can all of us, everyone in a company no matter our position. Seriously, whether we are a very senior executive, or a mid-level manager, an up-and-comer, or working behind the scenes, we can spot ways to save time, or reduce costs, or offer a new service or product, or improve morale, or strengthen our relationship with a client(s), or identify a potential new client, or enhance our reputation in our community.

Generally, morale in most companies is not good. Many, well most, employees do not feel appreciated and valued and admit that they are not fully engaged.

Satisfaction at work very often depends primarily on one’s immediate manager (“boss”), e.g., is my boss:

• humble
• asking for our ideas (including how she/he may be more effective)
• positive and encouraging
• a good communicator
• helping us grow, succeed, and feel good about ourselves
• addressing problems promptly, having the difficult and important conversations
• treat us with respect and as we all are valued teammates
• and does she or he embody the many other key principles of highly effective leadership?

I wrote my book, Make Things Better: The Path to Success in Business, as I see a need for important messages:

• lead with humility and empathy
• leadership by questioning
• active listening may be our most important skill
• remember names
• be early, always
• respond to people as soon as possible
• address problems and difficult people promptly
• and many more…….

I work with and or am friends with a number of very fine and capable people who I feel should be even more successful than they are, and should advance to higher levels within their company/organization. They are intelligent, hard-working, reliable, great teammates. They care about the success of their team and team members.

A common denominator in these people is that they struggle with self-confidence. They are hesitant to speak up, to offer their ideas. They do their job very well, and help their teammates do very good work. However, it seems they are hesitant to offer their ideas and to initiate improvements, as “that is not my job”.

We can do more than simply our job, and it need not take extra time.

The best ideas are bottom-up ideas and businesses do better when ideas flow up, rather than a culture of top-down directives.

Again, as leaders make things better, so may everyone else. Anyone and everyone can be alert to possible improvements, be it reducing costs, saving time, streamlining a procedure, a potential new service or product to offer clients, ideas for promotion of our company in our community, a new prospective client, and how to draw closer to our present clients.

If we are alert, see something or think of something that might make things better, then speak up, to our manager or in a meeting, and in addition, explain our idea in writing.

Speak up with our idea and be sure to put it in writing, as well.

Concerned that our idea might not be a winner? That is okay, everyone has ideas, some great, some not great at all – and failure is a door we go through on the way to success.

The quantity of ideas is as important as the quality of ideas for a business.

We should think like an owner. I observe people who work in a variety of businesses and the ones who seem to take an interest to assure that things are as they should be, and have a personal as well as a professional interest in the business, are the ones who stand out!

Everyone’s responsibility, no matter our position, is to help our company/business be successful.