WHAT WAS ONE OF YOUR BIGGEST CHALLENGES OUT OF THE GATE?
The first year went by like a flash. You want to make change, but not too many too fast. Once the team believed in me as a CEO, things could move faster. I made mistakes. And humbly realized it really didn’t matter what I thought. Some of the teams really weren’t as far along as I hoped in accepting me as CEO. The board took some time. And initially, I took for granted what I did have, which was an outstanding executive team.
HOW DO YOU DEFINE YOUR CEO STYLE WHEN IT COMES TO INTERACTING WITH YOUR TEAM?
I always communicate with my executive team, but more importantly I want them to always communicate with me. I depend on their collaboration and buy-in. If we get to the end of working through a particularly challenging problem, and I know there’s not agreement at the end of the day, then I know we have more work to do, and the matter is not a closed book. If you want to get on my bad side, just agree with everything I say. That’s not practicing the philosophy, that’s just kissing my (you fill in the blank).
HOW DOES THIS STYLE TRANSLATE TO THE INTERACTIONS WITH YOUR FRONTLINE STAFF?
You can talk about open door policies where staff are encouraged to bring forth ideas, concerns, and suggestions to management – but often it’s just fluff. In the past we talked it, but the staff wasn’t used to putting it into practice. I addressed this quickly, and now, even if a team member needs to vent directly to me that’s okay. I’m glad. Issues, opportunities and new ideas are going to surface. There is nothing that happens in an organization that can’t be addressed. When you don’t act, you not only hurt the credit union, you hurt the employees. You address people directly and handle each issue appropriately.
More of my conversation with Thad next week...
No comments:
Post a Comment