Page 148 - Roy W. Rice - CEO Material How to Be a Leader in Any Organization-McGraw-Hill (2009)

You Develop Others to Take Your Job • 129

You and your job are important, but no more important than other
jobs in the company. Don’t think that you or your work is above any-
body from cooks to custodians, to accountants, to executives. Value
and trust all employees as vital in the organization. Those people
need to be, first and foremost, treated well by the executives. They
are the basis of what will make your company successful. They don’t
owe you anything. You owe them everything.

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We’re all the same rank. I’m just the one sitting in the chair.

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Never ignore another person, no matter what that person’s role is.

When you give acceptance, the recipient usually lives up to it. Even
the trainer for the winner of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness said,
“I told him [the horse] he had to step up his game, and he did.” If it
can work for a horse, it can work with Rashid, Mary, Margaret, Rock, or
Juan, too.
Giving acceptance does not mean tolerating poor conduct. Nor does
it mean that you let people slide. You owe it to people to help them grow
and develop. Do not tolerate poor performers. Tolerating subpar work is
not giving acceptance. Address and correct (err, attack, if necessary) con-
duct, performance, and behavior. Don’t attack the person’s character or
motive.

If you accept others’ motives, character, and abilities, then you can
deal with behavior.... If I doubt the motives or character of an
employee, I fire them. In a colleague, I transfer. In a boss, I quit.

Set straight the behavior of others in a pleasantly assertive manner.
Do not be mean-spirited; you can be tactfully honest instead of brutally
blunt.
Be firm in your convictions, tough, and resolute while still talking
to others like you wouldn’t mind being talked to.
Think about yourself. A boss who tells you “This report stinks. You’re
an idiot, and I doubt your honesty” will get less from you than the one