Manage One Person at a Time

By Chester Elton and Adrian Gostick

Who doesn’t recognize that personalization has become the gold standard for consumer products and services? Google makes billions by personalizing the ads shown to users, Netflix knows our viewing preferences better than our significant other. It’s time for personalization to be appreciated as today’s gold standard for managing people.

While conventional wisdom has been that all members of a team should be treated the same because that’s fair, with all due respect: Bwahaha! That’s old-school thinking; and it, for one thing, prevents us from optimizing responsibilities among team members according to their motivations and abilities.

Jacques Panis practices one-on-one leadership, despite managing more than 600 people in offices worldwide, including Detroit, New York, Hong Kong and Amsterdam. He is president of Shinola, which makes watches, bicycles and other goods. We sat down with Panis and asked him about how managers strive to best lead in his firm.

“If we don’t know what your needs are or what you are experiencing inside or outside of the office, how can we effectively manage you?” he asks. “Maybe you need a day off here or there or a pick-me-up lunch. Good leadership is about letting people know you care. It’s about understanding the unique challenges people have and how we can work through those together.”

Just as importantly, he added, one-on-one leadership is about helping people focus on their passions. “Individuals each need different kinds of motivation,” he said, citing the example of Willy Holly, who was a security guard in the building when Shinola moved in. “Willy heard what we were doing and took our visual and aptitude tests. Today he leads our entire Movement Assembly Operation. That’s one small example of what people are capable of if you present them with opportunity and a blank canvas to paint their future and next step in life.”

As cool as Hollis’ story has been so far, Panis says his journey hasn’t ended. “As incredibly important as Willy is now to our company in leading this operation, the question we ask is where does he go next? We have to look at everyone like that. We have to be aware of what they want and where they can go.”

Okay, time for a reality check. You might be thinking: Seriously? How can spread-thin managers possibly add one-on-one career discussions to the list of daily deliverables, customer needs, new projects, etc.—not to mention understanding and being empathetic to employees’ personal issues?

“It is hard on this scale, with 600-plus people, but there is no other way to manage effectively,” concludes Panis.

So the bad news: This style of leadership does take some time. The good news: There are few things more engaging to team members than a manager who takes an active interest in their career development and is sensitive to the unique challenges they face.

A few ideas on how to lead to the one:

On the personal side, a simple question we’ve seen asked by great leaders is, “How are you doing?” We know it sounds basic, but we aren’t talking a quick, “How ya doin’?” as a manager passes an employee in the hall, never breaking stride. No, leaders who are relevant to their employees’ experience take the time to sit down with their people and ask with pure intent: “Really, how are you doing?” This is especially important when a leader notices a change in a person’s disposition, interactions with others, or their output.

On the career side, a simple how-to is sitting down with each person individually and sculpting careers just slightly to give them the opportunity to do a few more things that satisfy their key motivations. We aren’t talking about making draconian changes, just small changes in their work assignments that allow them to do one or two things they find most motivating, while transferring or altering one or two assignments they find most demotivating.

Has a boss ever done this kind of sculpting with your career or got to know your life situation? If so, how did it work out? Did it make you more or less motivated? We love to read your comments.

Chester Elton and Adrian Gostick are the New York Times bestselling authors of The Carrot Principle, All In and What Motivates Me. They are also co-founders of The Culture Works, an innovator in employee engagement and leadership training solutions.