Page 132 - The Voice of Authority

suits are found in favor of doctors, experts advise that a
dose of good old-fashioned bedside manner—spending
more time with patients, answering their questions, re-
turning their calls—would reduce such lawsuits. In short,
connecting with people as people rather than connecting
only as clients or coworkers will save untold time, energy,
stress, and money.

Engage—Don’t Just Report the News

Early in my career, I wrote an inspirational book based
heavily on interviews. Having finished the first draft, I sent
a few chapters to my editor and asked for feedback.
“Too much like a newspaper article,” she said. “Where’s
your voice? I don’t want a news story on what they said. I
want your perspective on what you heard.”
Many managers make the same mistake—they just re-
port the “news,” what they hear from their own boss. A
senior executive from a large manufacturing organization
called recently to say that they were having difficulty with
those on the assembly lines “buying into” management
philosophies, policies, and practices—even those geared to
the employees’ own safety and those that put money in
everybody’s pockets.
Later as the executives in the meeting explained it:
“When we pass on news, information, or a change, the
leaders themselves don’t ‘own it.’ They just report it. And
the way they pass it on makes it clear to their people that
either (1) they don’t fully understand it or (2) they don’t
support it.” As far as I could tell from the symptoms of the
problems, it was a correct diagnosis. No engagement—
with the news or with the executives’ point of view on the
issues and no concern with how their staff would cope with
the change in policies or procedures.

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