The Clueless Boss.

From the time I started working in high school I was familiar with the concept of the clueless boss. Most employees are. “He has no idea what I do, and probably no idea what any of us are supposed to do.”

Ok, so it’s not usually that bad, but I have to admit to some clueless moments myself. And I wasn’t clueless because I didn’t care, but because I was too busy to ask the right questions. One on one meetings have been a HUGE help to me here.

Understanding what my people do, what motivates them, when and how they are most productive and how to remove critical obstacles to their productivity has helped me understand my company culture.

One on ones help me see when the team is enthusiastic, when they’re exhausted, or when there is a gray cloud over the team. The meetings allow me to give individualized attention to each staff member, which helps them feel known and served.

Keep your best people

Regular one on one meetings are a HUGE benefit when thinking about retaining your best staff! Statistics show that highly engaged employees are 87% less likely to leave their companies than their less-engaged counterparts.

Here are some of the issues we discuss in our one on ones that help me get a feel for my staff and my company:

• We talk about values and virtues I want to see them exhibit.
• I ask about their team’s health, and how they have impacted their team.
• We talk through personal and professional development.
• We talk about ways I can help them.
• I ask when and how they were most productive, so we can put together a plan to make that the normal scenario.
• I solicit their feedback about the job I am doing (scary, but I do get some interesting, helpful comments)

If you’ve done a good job building trust, these meetings can be your most valuable resource in creating the kind of department/company culture that people love and work hard to maintain. When done regularly, the meetings can be held in 15-20 minutes. It’s a small price to pay for the benefits, as ultimately it makes life better for employees AND managers!

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I love historical biographies.

John Adams, Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill and others have SO much they can teach us. We can learn from their breathtaking successes and their stunning defeats. We can learn from their brilliant insights and their bone-headed stubbornness. To ignore these influential giants it to miss out on an education that only hindsight can give.

A couple years ago, I read a book entitled, “His Excellency: George Washington“. (I had just finished reading David McCollough’s 1776, which, of course, included many details of Washington’s life in that year.) Since I have loved reading about our presidents since I was about 8, much of the information in the biography was review for me. What was new, however, was a three-dimensional Washington. A Washington with ego, vanity, brilliance, courage, and, occasionally, a man who looked like he had problems making decisions.

The beauty of leaders like Washington, however, is that THEY learn from their lives, too, making mid course adjustments when the game is on the line. The attack on the Hessian encampment on Christmas Day after crossing the Delaware was daring, risky, and altogether brilliant. WHen it was showtime, Washington, the leader, had his “A” game.

Enter Tim Tebow. I know, a football player has no right being placed in the same sentence as one of the world’s great leaders. Still, while I personally like Tebow, I was among the throngs of people laughing at the Broncos when they drafted him. I thought his throwing motion looked like he belonged in high school, and that professional football players wouldn’t follow a guy who had such marginal skill.

I, like most everybody, underestimated the power of a leader.

Yes, he looks horrible for most of the game. Yes, it seems unimaginable, even to the uninformed observer, that Tebow has a job as a quarterback in the greatest football league in the world. But, in those key moments, when other players shy from the spolight, Tebow shows up. Again, and again, and again.

Champ Bailey, an almost sure-fire Hall of Fame cornerback, spoke for the rest of his teammates after Denver’s improbable 17-13 win over the Jets last night when he said, “I know people are still going to talk bad about us, but I don’t care. … We always have a chance with 15 as our quarterback.”

Sure, the bubble may burst. But there is no doubt that Tebow is another illustration, (albeit a more temporary one), of the importance of leadership. We know it’s true because we see it in history.

Past and present.

I’m not sure why I’m doing this….perhaps because everyone else is doing it? But is that a good reason to do it? The fact is, I think most of the things that everyone is doing are things I definitely don’t want to be doing. Anyway, perhaps it will be a helpful communication too. I’ll try not to bore you with too much else!