Page 213 - Leadership Lessons of the White House Fellows

THE LESSONS

around. The intent is to stay connected with the department in a way that
is more meaningful than the way we usually communicate these days.
It’s beyond e-mail or voice mail; it’s outside of exchanging drafts, and it’s
outside of formal meetings. You must have a way of being seen, of being
accessible, and of giving your folks an ability to connect with you quickly
and easily.”
To achieve that aim, every day before lunch Khichi leaves his desk and
starts making his rounds. He walks from one office to another and makes
face-to-face contact with each of his twenty team members. He greets
them warmly and asks how they are doing and then listens to what they
have to say. Khichi repeats the series of personal meetings again each after-
noon. “My folks call them ‘drive-bys.’ It’s probably not the perfect name
for them because they do end up being more than a few minutes some-
times, depending upon what we end up talking about,” Khichi explained.
“My team members know that this is their opportunity to raise issues with
me and that I’m there to listen. The feedback I’ve received indicates that
they like this way of communicating because it avoids the formality of
scheduling appointments or going through e-mails, and I like it because it
keeps me connected in real time. The goal is to have two touch points with
each employee each day. Do I sometimes only get to have one? Sure, of
course, but the goal is to have two. I’ve found that this technique creates
a culture of openness and accessibility and helps my team function more
effectively.”
Retired four-star admiral of the U.S. Navy Charles “Chuck” Larson
(WHF 68–69) also believes in the power of mixing and mingling with one’s
team. Whether he was serving as superintendent of the U.S. Naval Acad-
emy, Commander in Chief of the U.S. Pacific Command, or commanding
officer of a nuclear attack submarine, Larson was never one to sit back
and wait for his people to come to him. Instead, he engaged in what he calls
“walk-around leadership.” Whenever someone wanted to brief Larson on
an issue happening in his or her space, Larson frequently offered to go meet
that person on his or her own turf. He also would pick different sectors of
the organization randomly on a regular basis and go there to meet the peo-
ple and see what they were working on. “On the submarine I was always
walking around talking to people on their watch stations, asking them what
they were doing or watching maintenance being conducted,” Larson said. “As
Superintendent of the Naval Academy I made a decision that I was going

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