MORE INTERACTION… LESS TRANSACTION!
In his 1982 book In Search of Excellence, management guru Tom Peters made the term “managing by walking around” famous in the US. Effectively, what became known as MBWA was an admonition to managers and leaders to leave their desks, wander the halls of their businesses, and essentially create random interaction with their colleagues. This was deemed as a fantastic way for these managers and leaders to create the opportunity to spend time with their people, get to see them where they were, and create the space for relationships with and amongst these colleagues to initiate, and then to grow and to prosper.
The benefits of this managing by wandering around are many. As we know, often there’s a perceived — or sometimes real — barrier that gets erected between leaders of a business and those ostensibly being lead. Sometimes the barrier is physical in that the executive suite or management wing is actually separate from the rest of the organization. And whether actual or implied, the message is that leaders are separate and inaccessible. On the other hand, however, sometimes this barrier is perceived or created by an aloofness or air of superiority being projected by leadership. And, as we know perception is reality. So, whether or not the leader is attempting to create this space between herself and her associates, given popular (and sometimes actual) culture, that gap exists and persists.
The benefits of this managing by wandering around are many.
So, back to MBWA. When leaders leave their offices — and their wings or suites — and spend time wandering around they have a real opportunity to eliminate or at least reduce that barrier. But, far from random, I suggest that leaders must be intentional about this practice. And, that intention must be on interaction at the expense of transaction.
If a leader wanders around and spends all of his or her time inquiring into projects, checking up on task lists, or making strong suggestions about how to invent or sell a product or design a solution, candidly all that she’s done is picked up her barrier and taken it with her to the people! That exercise reinforces that she’s the leader and she’s deigned to come to the people to do her leading. That meeting with her associates is transactional. Do this. Do that. I suggest this. Have you tried that? Call her. Call him…… You get it.
Instead, let me suggest that that time is spent better interacting rather than transacting. At Michelman we talk a lot about employing the whole person. We don’t just hire skill sets — accounting, or IT, or chemical, or engineering. Rather, we hire people who bring with them a lot of stuff. Yes, this stuff includes their skill sets of accounting, or IT, or chemical, or engineering. But, it also includes hobbies, and passions, and partners, and children, and vacations, and new homes, and graduations, and aging parents, and insecurities, and dreams, and aspirations. And, when leaders get out of their offices and wander around and actually interact with their colleagues they actually get to know these whole people. And not only do they get to know them, they let their colleagues know that they see them, they respect them, and they accept them; all of them!
"The more we create real interactions with our colleagues, then when it is inevitably time to transact, our colleagues will gladly, enthusiastically, and expertly complete those transactions."
I get it. In business we must regularly transact. We have to invent stuff, make stuff, sell stuff, bill for stuff, collect the cash, and close the books. In order to be in business we must be really effective at these transactions. But, in my experience, the more we create real interactions with our colleagues, then when it is inevitably time to transact, our colleagues will gladly, enthusiastically, and expertly complete those transactions.
So leaders, I implore you to get up from your desks, leave your office, travel from your suites or wings, and wander around. And, make sure that the focus of your wandering is really on interaction and not transaction. You’ll love it. Your people will relish it. And, when it is time to transact, those transactions will be more effective, more powerful, and more successful. So…Go wander!
