Note: This is one in a series of articles based on some of the 200-plus interviews by Walton College Dean Matt Waller for his BeEpic podcast.
A well-established model by John Kotter notes that leaders are responsible for coping with change by setting direction, aligning people to a shared vision, and motiving and inspiring people. And one way they do that, according to Walton College Dean Matt Waller, is by developing and using the capacity to relate to others in all aspects of those primary roles.
Over the course of the last few years, guests on Waller’s Be Epic podcast have regularly described what “relating” looks like when it’s lived out by leaders, so here are a few examples based on those interviews.
Setting Direction
The art of conversation ensures clarity when setting direction, while also creating an environment of procedural justice that promotes buy-in throughout an organization. Effective listening and sensemaking skills, therefore, are essential communication skills whether leaders are relating with internal or external stakeholders to create and execute on the organization’s direction.
George Gleason II learned early in his career how this works with internal communications. On his first day as the leader of Bank OZK (then Bank of the Ozarks), Gleason had conversations in which he listened to his new employees, asked for their opinions, and then let them make key decisions. That approach became his standard practice and helped the company grow from a community bank to one with a national presence.
“Purely by accident, I had stumbled on to the reality that if we harnessed the good ideas and the aptitude, the wisdom, the experience of every single employee in the company, and we made the decisions, not based on what one man at the top thought, but what really was an accumulation of wisdom and aptitude from the staff, that we could make some really good decisions and do some very powerful things,” Gleason said.
For Lisa Williams, a former college business professor, the relating aspect of leadership was critical when she launched World of EPI and began selling retailers around the country on the idea of stocking multicultural dolls.
“Even to this day, when I’m talking to (retailers), I’m thinking very much that they are my students, meaning it is my job and my responsibility for them to understand why this product is so important to their consumer base,” Williams said. “It is my job to explain to them why this is gonna reach a revenue stream that they don’t currently have, and it’s my job to explain to them why this is good for society overall.”
Gaining Alignment
Relating to others facilitates the type of networking within an organization that is necessary for gaining alignment around a vision.
When J.B. Hunt Transport decided to expand into the brokerage business, it needed a leader who understood the traditional truckload business and could relate to employees, including other executives who might resist such a shift. One reason Shelley Simpson was assigned the role of starting that division was because she had worked in several areas throughout the company and could empathize with the experiences of employees in ways that fostered alignment.
“I’m not sure if it was more difficult to convince customers that we were in the brokerage business or our own people that it was good for our business,” said Simpson, who is now JBHT’s president. “It was probably the most difficult task I’ve taken on as an executive inside our organization. But it was also the most rewarding because I saw how much we solved for customers. And even more importantly, we were able to say yes to more freight, which meant more freight for our company drivers as well.”
John Furner, president of Walmart International, said alignment has been essential during dynamic changes retail is experiencing and that leaders at all levels must relate well to each other and to associates all around them on the organizational chart.
“This is definitely in retail a time of change, at least at a pace I’ve never seen before,” Furner said. “This kind of change has to be led in many ways from the top down. But if the top-down leadership team is not aligned, it just won’t happen. There’s just too much second guessing.”
Providing Motivation
People are more motivated to help leaders they trust, and trust is built on relationships that demonstrate mutual understanding and respect. These types of relationships take time, according to Coursera CEO Jeff Maggioncalda, because time presents leaders with opportunities to show themselves as trustworthy.
“When times are good, yeah,” said Maggioncalda, “but especially when times are bad, and especially for entrepreneurs. It’s not how do you perform and how do you act when things are going well? It’s how do you act and how do you perform when things are going poorly? And I do think that there’s a lot that can be said about relationships that have survived the good and bad times, and you see how people are and how they behave.”
Doug Parker, CEO of American Airlines, said one way to earn trust over time and build quality teams is to treat people with respect and honor their differences.
“The fun part is working to build teams and understanding the differences of your team and understanding how to get the best out of people and getting people excited about working together instead of as independent forces,” Parker said. “And what’s really neat is when you see even those that were skeptical maybe about how this team stuff is gonna work – when it all clicks and they see how well we all do when we work together and the light turns on, that's fun.”
