The problem with business is people as the old joke goes however there is truth in those words.  I deal with failing companies as a line of endeavor and from experience I can tell you that the single largest factor in companies that fail are the people.  This is not something that I say lightly; generally speaking the root cause of the problem generally lies with the management and more time than not their lack of "people skills".  I have been in situations where managers adopt the "flog them until they drop" approach to managing the workforce.  These situations never produce the desired result in fact they tend to stifle any positive outcome. 

I had the benefit of working for a company and in particular a manager early in my professional career who taught me what I have referred to throughout my life as Leoisms.   The first one is benefit of team building.  He explained it to me like this, picture it like a football team and you're the quarterback.  If your team mates are with you then they will perform their jobs at the best of their ability and protect you from getting sacked.  However on the other hand if they don't have any skin in the game then you are going to get killed.  The second lesson had to do with playing the career game and I quote.  As you go through your career and life in general remember that "it will be as easy or as hard as you choose to make it" and the people that you have to dismiss in business are not the ones who cause you problems, it's the people you don't".

I am not advocating that the managers in the house so to speak walk out of their office and lynch their subordinates that is not the idea at all, rather just the opposite.  Please remember that we cannot succeed in business without having the team on our side.  This can often cost no more than just treating our co-workers with the respect and dignity that they deserve. 

Most of us have had a Leo in our lives if we reflect back on our career the question is were we listening and if so did we understand? 

The truth is that in corporate America we haven't gotten better at understanding this in fact we have gotten worse.  I like to call it the "Corporate Divide".  As time has gone forward and the size of typical business unit's increase we have left some of the fundamentals behind and created a greater divide between management and the workforce.  The problem originates when we as managers spend too much time staring at the results and too little time understanding what generates these numbers in relationship to the human element.

If you take away nothing else from this article then understand the importance of the people who we depend on day in and day out to perform the task necessary to profitably operate a business.  Get involved with your work force; take an interest in who they are and what they are.  You will not believe the benefits to your business that it will generate.

This is a lot more than just a philosophy it is an absolute requirement.  Don't believe what I say well then consider this, I took a business unit that I managed for one of the big three automaker's and doubled its revenue in less than 18 months.  How you ask, it's easy I got the employees on board.  There are a variety of ways to accomplish this and most of them are so easy and inexpensive that it would amaze you.  I had eight sites that I managed and each month I would go out and hold a site meeting where all the employees were required to attend.  It only takes about 20 minutes from the day but the rewards are much bigger then you might imagine.  During those meetings I would review the prior months results and tell them what we were doing poorly and how we could fix it and then I would finish up by telling them what we were doing right and give them a pack on the back.  I would also remind each one of them that there is no such thing as an un-important job in the plant.  Each and every one of them had a part to play and that it was important and I wanted them to know that.  After these meetings I would spend about 30 minutes each with the site manager and site controller and the remainder of the day I spent on the floor asking the people how they could do their job better.  The fact is they all know but no one ever asks them.  You will not believe how fast you can turn a business around just by performing this very simple task.  The net result here is that the numbers start heading in the intended direction. 

Your mission for the day, get your team mates on the train heading in the direction that you want to go.  The people you work with will excel if given the opportunity to do so.

The corporate structure continues to change in that companies are continuing to increase in size through mergers and acquisitions.  As this progress goes forward it seems that we have lost sight of some of the basic elements that make companies successful to begin with.  Most of us in the corporate world find ourselves in situations where time is critical to meet pace with ever changing demands.  The pitfall here is that we tend to loose sight of some of the necessary elements that insure success.  As I mentioned in a previous article some of us still manage our workforce using the "flog them until they drop" philosophy.  The problem here is that this approach typically leads to a workforce that is stressed beyond belief and pushed to the point that they just don't care anymore.  What I see typically are people who feel like they have been disenfranchised by their employers and will tend to gravitate towards the path of least resistance typically to the detriment of the employer.

The problem as I see it is that these same exact people given the opportunity to excel will do so if provided the opportunity.  This is something that should not be taken lightly in that it affects the overall productivity of the workforce.  The question then becomes what to do about it.  The answer is often not that hard, but as with any problem that exist the first step is to recognize it.  Often the cure amounts to no more than giving the employees the feeling that they are involved in the process and important to the outcome.  The lack of interest typically displayed in corporate America today comes from the sense that the employee doesn't feel like they are involved.

The cure for this is making the effort as managers to insure that the employees do feel a sense of importance.  I would encourage each and every one of you to give the employees a sense of involvement by making the effort to let each one of them know that the success of the company depends on it.  The truly amazing benefit of this is that your life as a manager will get easier and more importantly the bottom line will reflect it.