BFF’s
Most of us have someone they “denote,” though sometimes just to themselves, as their best friend. And usually that’s a relationship defined by some combination of implicit trust, laughs and good times, shared experiences, and maybe even some hard times survived together. Interestingly enough, that’s probably a description that many managers would say is the nirvana of their relationship with their employees. Trust, shared experiences, good times, and mutual gritty survival in whatever dog-eat-dog world they live in. Yeah, that’s what I want!
I am not here to tell you that’s a bad idea. (even though it might be…) Because it’s only a bad idea if you mix your desire for nirvana too closely with your daily actions. Because this is one case where the end and the means are not all that connected.
One of the reasons why friendships have the potential to evolve to such an ideal state is that they typically are not ‘forced.’ In friendship, people gravitate to other people of their own volition, and let time and togetherness run their course. They also tend to be balanced – either party has equal latitude to ease off the gas and take the friendship back a few squares, usually without a ton of drama (unless you’re my teenage daughter, but that’s a different issue…)
So here’s my point: as a leader of a team, department, or organization, it’s easy to look for “shortcuts” to nirvana. Basically, by trying to be your team’s best friend first and leader next. Thus, the possibility of a ‘bad idea.’
And here’s the easy test to validate this: imagine working for your best friend. I haven’t figured out how to do surveys on WordPress yet, but my intuition says that if I took a poll most of you would say you would last about 3 weeks before you said, “I had no idea [insert best friend name here] was such a jerk…”
So if you want nirvana, start with commitment, fairness, shared credit, transparency and vision. You might be surprised where you end up…
Tags: communication, Corporate Culture, employees, loyalty, management, Retention
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