“Team Leadership – What Comes First?”
by Chris Reinhardt, feedlot specialist
I recently had a family emergency which required me to travel out of state, and miss an important planning meeting. When I contacted the organizer of the meeting to explain my necessary absence, the response was immediate and sincere: “Go take care of your business.”
Not, “fill out the proper forms”, or “let’s check the employee handbook for compliance issues”, but “Go take care of your business.”
My sister also needed to cut short a business trip on the East coast. In fact, her colleagues did not give her a choice—they insisted she leave and took over the needed duties.
It raises the question of “How does your team deal with personal adversity?” It is not something that can be managed or mandated, but instead can only be instilled and encouraged, trickling down daily from the team leader. Concern for colleagues cannot be directed or taught, or learned from a manual. It is experienced, daily, starting at the beginning of the hiring process, through sick leave and holidays, and culminates when personal challenges arise that will interfere with the individual’s physical or psychological ability to perform.
Like the Culture of Safety, the Culture of Caring cannot be simply “turned on” whenever a teammate is challenged but instead must be practiced daily by all team members. Do we demand all people use eye protection when using grinders because it’s company policy or because we genuinely care about preserving people’s eyesight? Do we insist on helmet use with ATVs because it lowers our workman’s comp premiums or because we care about people’s safety?
While we can insist on compliance BOTH because it makes business sense AND because we care for people, “box-checking” doesn’t change long-term beliefs, behaviors, or attitudes, but a rising tide of Culture change does.
