The Fish Stinks From The Head Down

 

For those of you who know me well, you know "The Fish Stinks From The Head Down" was a saying taught to me by my mother referring to upper management ... or possibly sometimes my dad! None-the-less, it became a saying that has stuck with me and reared its fishy head many times throughout my career. I cannot tell you how many times I have watched employees from differing companies and industries give the, "They Just Don't Get It" look, when discussing topics regarding their supervisors.

In the beginning, I used to believe it was the employees, maybe the employees didn't understand there were budget constraints or specific company goals and procedures. Unfortunately, as time goes on, I am beginning to realize ... often times upper management doesn't get it, AND THAT STINKS!

While I happen to be a technology lover, it is becoming evident to me how easy it is for management to become disengaged with "Real Time Reality", due to the infinite availability of online information. It has become a prevalent behavior for upper management to sit in offices and review reports, analyze numbers and pontificate strategies without ever having step foot on site or solicited first hand comments from the employees they entrusted their beloved assets to.

I think back (way back) on my days as a Leasing Professional and I try to imagine how I would have felt about call centers booking my appointments. Personally, I loved building the relationship over the phone, and for the most part, couldn't wait to meet the person and put a face to the voice. I remember asking tons of questions regarding furniture, children names, pet names and even getting them to share some hobbies or interests. I copiously wrote the information onto the guest card and carefully reviewed it before they arrived, so I could greet them by name and customize their tour based upon the relationship I had built over the phone and the personal information I had gathered from them. If a call center was responsible, I wonder how engaged I would be?

I think back (again way back) on my days as a Leasing Direct and try to imagine how I would have felt about online market surveys. Personally, I always found it very exciting to visit the competition, meet the Leasing Professionals I was competing against and see the product first hand. Today, that opportunity has been greatly reduced, with almost no need to communicate with the competition, all due to online access of market surveys. I wonder how engaged I would be?

As I rose in the ranks and reached that middle and upper management plateau, I remember us all being road warriors, visiting assets every week, meeting with community employees, always in the thick of things and experiencing it first-hand. Today, be it a focus on reducing travel expenses or pure convenience, I witness executives in every industry across the nation, sitting behind their desks scanning computer reports, analyzing from afar exercising little to no communication with the asset teams other than via email. I have to wonder, how engaged could they possibly be.

I remember reading a book, Lincoln on Leadership by Donald T. Phillips, and his theory regarding Lincoln being so successful was predominantly based on the fact that Lincoln got out and met the people, saw the problems, became aware of what laid ahead ... he was actively engaged!

Executives, when was the last time you sat down and spoke with housekeeping, grounds, maintenance or leasing team members? Are you engaged? These are the people running the asset ... and "They Do Get It"!

So dig that top hat out of the archives and go shake some hands … it is time to RE-ENGAGE! Do you get it?