This first article is an excerpt from the book Jim Taylor and I recently published called, Connecting Top Managers: Developing Executive Teams for Business Success. This chapter focuses on the challenge and opportunity of building connecting relationships fast.
You can download the PDF of the excerpt
here. Here is a brief section of this chapter included in the PDF.
Be Fast or Fail
There is an important difference in how relationships and trust are built at various levels in the organization that will affect leadership team success. Most of the time and for most people, relationships between supervisors and frontline team members build over time. They train and retrain employees, coach them, check in on them daily, see them at team meetings, and build familiarity at informal birthday cake gatherings and other conversations. The same scenario plays out between supervisors and middle managers and to a somewhat lesser degree between middle managers and frontline employees. They get to know and trust each other slowly and naturally. This is how most work relationships are fostered.
It is different, however, for senior leaders. You might see employees only once and for a moment. At a communication briefing. At the stockholders' meeting. Walking through the manufacturing plant. Passing each other in office hallways. Your reputation, which is how people come to know you, is created through these moments of truth and this means that you need to be able to build credibility, connection, and trust very quickly. Figure 5.1 shows this dynamic.
Figure 5.1 The speed at which senior leaders need to build relationships with employees who they see only on occasion
Relationships with those we work closely are built over time. We see these folks often and get to know them in much the same way that friendships are built in our personal lives. When you communicate with employees only once in a while, they form impressions about you based what they see and hear. You only have an instant (or a few instances) to connect with and be deemed trustworthy by employees, customers, and many stakeholders.
Every day you come in contact with or are observed by dozens of people. You are being closely watched and listened to - even when you walk from your office to the parking lot! Each observation is a valuable moment of truth. Your employees form their opinions about you, the leadership, and the company based on these moments.
Daily moments of truth are each opportunities - precious conversations and micro-conversations. You can use the time you have with and in front of employees to be proactive or responsive. Proactive situations include planned communications meetings. Reactive situations include problem solving, responding to questions, and chance or informal meetings.
