There are only 2 Management Mindsets: TAKE YOUR MEDICINE and THE CALL TO GLORY
This post’s great advice comes from one of my own clients and friends, David Payne. His leadership efforts took a factory that was losing 3.6 million dollars a year and turned it into his company’s most profitable production center.
David’s predecessor was a hard-line manager who exemplified the “take your medicine” approach to management and leadership. His method for motivating his workers was to threaten them with the loss of their jobs: “If you don’t get production up, they’re going to close this factory.” This approach produced astonishing results: the factory he managed went from a 3.6 million dollar annual profit to a 3.6 million dollar annual LOSS.
When David took the reins, morale was at an all-time low; there was a year’s worth of backlogged unfinished inventory; and discipline in the ranks was in shreds. He made a series of practical and strategic moves that got production moving again, and the factory was profitable within 18 months. At the heart of his leadership was his positive mindset: challenging people to give their best.
To keep things moving forward, David supported his brand of positive leadership by finding creative ways to recognize and reward workers when they responded to the challenge: simple, but tangible expressions like a Bar-B-Que to celebrate fulfilling their first on-time production deadline; factory-wide meetings where David shared information and thanked them for their hard work and dedication; taking the factory maintenance cart out to the floor, to personally deliver ice-cold bottles of water to his hard-working employees during a heat-wave; and countless face-to-face handshakes and expressions of appreciation to individual workers during his twice-daily factory walk-throughs.
David’s constant and consistent message to his workers was positive and powerful: “You are the secret of our company’s success! Our competitors are afraid of you! They fear your skill, your hard work, and your commitment. They fear you because you have the ability to put them out of business, AND THEY KNOW IT.”
What is YOUR management mindset? How do you challenge YOUR team? What do YOU tell YOUR people? Do you tell them, “Take your medicine… do your job because that’s what you’re getting paid for!” … or do they hear you saying “You are the champions, the heroes of this organization – our customers are counting on you, and I believe in you!”
If you want to be a successful leader like David Payne, keep tuned in to this blog—I’ll be sharing more valuable insights from other leaders like him—leaders who can show you the way to new levels of effectiveness and impact!
Until next time… Yours for better leaders and better organizations,
Dr. Jim Dyke – “The Boss Doctor” ™ helping you to BE a better boss and to HAVE a better boss!
