Go Where Your People Go

This article is excerpted from Five Frequencies: Leadership Signals That Turn Culture Into Competitive Advantage (Logos)

“I don’t think you can have an accurate understanding of the culture if you’re not out there frequently. You can be misled.” That’s according to Tim Rausch, Chief Nuclear Officer for the Tennessee Valley Authority. So, he blocks off time for “getting out there” three days a week. He often grabs a next-level leader and they walk together. Tim will say to them: “Tell me what you see. Tell me what you hear.” He’ll watch how that leader interacts with people out in the field. And if he thinks they can be more observant, or more engaging, he’ll (discreetly) coach them on the spot.

When he was a plant manager and then a Site VP, he came in on Thanksgiving and Christmas to ask his people how they were doing. They’d typically ask: “Why are you here?” And Tim would say, “Because you are.”

On one occasion, the company sent a civil engineer to the top of a 500-foot cooling tower to do a walkdown. Tim asked the engineer: “What are you looking for while you’re up there?” The engineer mentioned concrete that’s falling or cracking, the handrail weakening, things like that, and then joked: “You should come with me.”

Joke or not, Tim thought seriously about it. Tim’s boss discouraged it. But Tim said, “If it’s not safe for me up there then why are we sending an employee?”

Word of Tim’s plans got out and a multitude assembled below to watch him climb the tower, after which he conducted a three-hour inspection with the civil engineer. Tim used the time to ask him if he thought there were ways the plant could better utilize his skillset. Back on the ground, Tim acted on the answers.

That’s the kind of leading you can’t do from your office.

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