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The Treatment of Others

"If you treat an individual as he is, he will remain as he is:But if you treat him as if he were what he ought to be and could be, he will become what he ought to be and should be."

Goethe

What is the difference between management and leader­ship in the relationship to others? What is it that can benefit all of our friends, co-workers, and employees that management can't provide, but that leadership seemingly does without thinking? The answer may be nothing more than the recognition that all people have the same basic needs as management. Leaders perhaps, are nothing more than managers that have come to that realization, and work hard every day to maintain those principles.

In their book, The Human Touch, William (Bill) Arnold and Jeanne Plas make every attempt to demonstrate this. Here is a case in point. Arnold, the CEO of Centennial Medical Center, explains: one day while his head was preoccupied with some "unusually worrisome fiscal and strategic" is­sues concerning the medical center he was approached by one of his managers. The concern was the unusually poor condition of one of the employee lounges in the basement.

This lounge was used most often by the housekeeping staff and its condition was deplorable. Upon inspection, Arnold saw a lounge filled with chairs held together with duct tape and with the stuffing coming out the sides. Still other chairs had loose legs and arms that were missing. Bill was concerned with the contrast between his newly remodeled office suite and that of the lounges.

The next morning Bill had his newly reupholstered confer­ence chairs exchanged for those in the housekeeping lounge. He states; "I could see the sparkle in the housekeeping associates' eyes and their big grins as they made the switch." Bill further points out, "Respect for the personal needs of associates who work in the basement has got to run as high as the respect that we give to the needs of our senior executives. That chair transfer was all about credibility."

"Experience is not what happens to you. It is what you do with what happens to you."
Aldous Huxley

Those old chairs remained for several weeks in the CEO's office before they were replaced, but the point had been made. Leaders recognize the importance of credibility, particularly when it comes to subordinates. Like Attila, Bill's credibility was strong among his people, not for what he said, but because of what he did.

Credibility has been an unrecognized problem for many years. Getting people to do what they ask is not the most important problem leaders have, it is overcoming the credibility block. Employees, managers, and leaders alike have many scars from promises made and never kept. As Bill Arnold demonstrated at Centennial, credibility must be built and maintained. However, that is not always an easy task.

A Leader Must Be More than a Manager

Not long ago a large Aerospace company troubled by defense cutbacks and business reorganization responded to employees' problems in the following way. For years this company had provided employees with a very friendly package relative to sick leave and personal time. Although it was expected that employees would not use most of the time, it was provided for emergency situations.

For many years employees did not abuse this policy, and in fact, it remains a benefit to this day. However, as defense cutbacks increased, business slowed, and layoffs began to grow. Simultaneously, as a result of restructuring and increased stock prices large management bonuses were being awarded. The upshot was increased employee unrest and decreased communication. This communication prob­lem manifested itself through an increased amount of absenteeism.

Management responded, leadership did not. At their annual review, employees were told that the amount of sick time taken was being considered as part of the review process. Excess absenteeism was to be counted against employees. Management's response to absenteeism was, let's get rid of the biggest offenders, this will help improve poor morale. In other words, it is much more expeditious to respond to the symptom than to solve the problem, but management didn't even read the symptoms correctly.

The point is, how might a leader like Attila respond to such a problem? Perhaps his view might reflect his belief in the importance of leadership rather than manager-ship. If a problem exists, it is the problem of the leader, and must be resolved by the leader, not avoided. Bill Arnold demon­strated this at Centennial. However, in the above situa­tion, the result of poor communication management's reacted to the symptoms, demonstrated by increased ab­senteeism. Leaders must use their energy to make every situation benefit as many of the group as possible. A leader benefits not from what he accomplishes but from what the group accomplishes.

"By union the smallest states thrive. By discord the greatest are destroyed"
Sallust

To be Continued