Aspiration is an Eagle; Apathy a bit of a Serpent

Aspiration is an eagle; apathy a bit of a serpent.

You do people a great service when you expect much from them.  It is no favor to let others slide, to not aspire.

Apathy, on the other hand, eats away.  It erodes you.

I think it lends itself to envy and envy is a deadly sin.

So from those general statements I write this week about one way to create a sense of aspiration, fight apathy, and have a positive impact on those around you.  It starts with a basic premise.

You can’t inspire and get people to be aspirational if you don’t know their name. This might seem self-evident but if you don’t know somebody’s name you do not have a relationship.

Further, to really have an impact on those in your orbit you must know something about them and they must know something about you.

This needs to happen somewhat organically and it is difficult to force.

It absolutely takes good listening skills and the ability to ask interesting questions. You must be ready to open up about your strengths and maybe be a little vulnerable.

Folks will appreciate your input more when you readily ask for theirs.  It is great to spend time on what is important to them.

Professionally, a weekly rap with subordinates is great.

I believe the weekly rap needs to be a combination of personal and professional elements. Ask your colleague to come with topics: ideas for improvement, processes, behaviors, or activities. Ensure you frequently ask about their development and what they feel that they need to learn to move to the next step.  Make sure they have a brief idea of your goals….don’t spend more time on your personal goals than theirs!

They also need to hear from you what you perceive as their opportunities.  Be a friendly critic, a safe harbor. Always remember the sandwich when providing constructive feedback: good-bad-good. You can’t have a great relationship with subordinates if they don’t think you care about their future.

Subordinates need to care about the team’s goals and that is unlikely to occur if they don’t feel that the team cares about them.

Think about any great team. They have the interest of each other ahead of their own. Every week I make some reference to the Marine Corps and here is this week’s. The Marine Corps is based on the importance of the unit over the individual and each individual cares about the unit. Yet that only works because that unit cares deeply and desperately about the individual.

No Man Left Behind stuff.

Management by walking around, sometimes called MBWA, is another element to great communication and getting to know others and having that relationship. Great leaders, whether CEO’s or floor managers or local Little League presidents, make others’ contributions feel valued. They can only do that if they meet and create relationships.

By virtue of walking around frequently, the boss becomes part of the culture, part of the background, part of the fabric of the organization. It keeps the boss from being seen in corner office seclusion.

“What more can we do?” is a great term to use during MBWA. Whether in that weekly rap or in MBWA, asking what more can you/we do elicits responses which create fodder for future development. Because the ideas come from the field they have a higher likelihood of being honored by the field.

Motivation is getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it.

What better way to have this occur then have the goals be aligned with the feedback that you receive from those in the know.

Then, you can ask much of others. Set High Standards. You do colleagues no favors by asking little of them.

Encourage them to stand up.

In conclusion on this portion of the blog I want to circle back to knowing the individuals name. Know everyone’s name.

Little of the feedback you receive from others means much without the relationship in place.  Its packaged.  And everyone knows it.

I’ll segue now to a religious angle on this subject. If faith offends your sensibilities, then the balance of this article will be of no interest to you.

If you do have faith in God or if you are open to that conversation I’d like to call your attention to some lyrics in a well-known Coldplay song:

“for some reason I can’t explain I know St. Peter won’t call my name.”

How bad does that sound?

What if you get to the pearly gates and are greeted with “who are you?

Just as knowing someone’s name and having a conversation with those around you brings you closer to those people, communication with God brings you closer to Him.

I believe in the Jeremiah reading which says God knows every hair on your head.

Yet as I thought about the potential that God doesn’t or won’t know me, I thought about the communication I have with God. Even for those who pray frequently, I suspect few really listen to God.  We do most of the talking maybe? I think listening to God is really underrated.

Quiet time in a church while others are praying the rosary mesmerizes me.  It doesn’t happen right away.  It is not a snap of the fingers.

The third, fourth, or fifth time that you hear The Lord’s Prayer or the Hail Mary as the rosary is being prayed isn’t when get you there. The transition in my head is more gradual. Think of walking into a dark room and the gradual way that your pupil dilates so that it can capture more light.  That transition that happens gradually.  Asking God his advice.  You have to ask and then get wait.  During Lent Kathleen and I go to Stations of the Cross on Fridays, and it creates that same sensation.My feeling is that if people don’t allow themselves to get there, to listen to God, then they don’t end up having that relationship. When I started to write this week’s article about relationships I couldn’t help but think of the most important relationship and how it needs fostering too. Thus the add-on.  God Bless You.