There Is No Box by Simon Cleveland

Author:Simon Cleveland
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781637741955
Publisher: BenBella Books
Published: 2022-08-18T00:00:00+00:00

EARNING AND GAINING TRUST

How do you get to the point of trusting your people enough to defend them to anyone—the general public, the general manager, the owner of the store, or other management?

Trusting others comes from wanting to get to know them and caring about them. If you just want to show up, manage some people, and go home, then leadership may not be right for you. You have to want to talk—and listen—to your team.

In an interview for this book, Meyer said, “Probably the hardest part about management—and by extension leadership—is talking to people. It’s getting to know them. More than that, it’s being able to relate to them.”6 He further shared that he believes it’s a real skill set if someone can talk to an attorney at 10:00 am and a janitor at 11:30 am and make them both feel comfortable in that person’s company. In order to connect with other people, you have to talk to them and use language and experiences they can understand and relate to.

Why do you work here? What do you get out of your job? What parts do you like or not like? What about your coworkers? What about your work space? These are the types of questions a leader should ask their employees. It almost doesn’t matter what the leader asks as long as they’re asking about their employees. Engaging over these types of questions gives insight into who the employees are and what attitude they hold, and this builds understanding. With a foundation of understanding, a leader can defend employees in the areas of their expertise because he’s cared enough to get to know them.

Beyond earning and gaining trust among leaders and their teams, relatable leaders must know how to identify emerging leaders. The best part of Meyer’s job is developing emerging leaders. He developed his leadership competencies by observing. He observed the people he worked for and learned what was effective and what was ineffective about their leadership styles. As an adult, he returned to college and observed the professors and learned how they handled the content as well as managed the classroom. As an administrator for a vocational school, he observed the director and admired how she would listen to everyone.

Now as a leader himself, observing is the method he uses to identify emerging leaders. The first thing he looks for is a sense of humor. He believes humor is an expression of native intelligence. If you’re going to lead people, you must be intelligent.

In addition to these getting-to-know-you queries, Meyer watches people over time. He watches how they comport themselves in various situations and circumstances. He observes if they know what to say and how to say it. If they are sincere or humorous. If they can diffuse a potentially toxic or explosive situation. If they can deliver bad news or cheer someone up. He identifies people who excel in these areas and encourages them. He shows them how they can take on more responsibility and what life would be like in a leadership role.

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