Another great blog from HBR. The blog, “Seven “Non-Negotiables” to Prevent a Bad Hire”, is required reading! What are the seven?
Respect, Belief, Loyalty, Commitment, Trust, Courage and Gratitude
I have been in industry since the stone age, and have worked for dozens of managers and with hundreds of co-workers. Many of these people were technologically brilliant, hard working, intense individuals. However, the ones I remember, the ones I would go to battle with, can be singled out based on the magnificent seven above.
This is especially true in the last few decades, where I have spent my time in small (<50) person organizations. To elaborate:
Respect – The fastest way to lose a ‘subordinate’ is to treat them like a subordinate. I don’t know why this happens, I suspect insecurity in the management ranks….
Belief – Nothing will deflate a team faster than a non-believer. Naysayers drag everyone down. I have had extremely talented people in an organization that were POISON. There has never been a situation where one of them has left and things got worse. They have always improved!
Loyalty – Loyalty to the organization AND loyalty to the individual. I have worked in companies where organization trumps individual. This is the ultimate demotivator. Management sometimes forgets that the organization IS a collection of individuals.
Commitment – Commitment isn’t “I’ll try”, or “I’ll give it my best shot”. Commitment is “I’ll get it done”. One of my coworkers here is fond of saying. “It’s a problem, let’s fix it”
Trust – I had a job once where, when my wife met one of the executives, she said “He wouldn’t look me in the eye, I don’t trust him”. She was right. Unfortunately, I didn’t catch on for quite some time. If a team member is not trusted, respect belief, loyalty, commitment won’t be possible.
Courage – I remember a poster that said something like “If you can keep your head at times like these, perhaps you don’t understand the situation”. From the outside, this is not always recognized as courage, but that’s what it is. I’ve had coworkers in the past say, “The boss just doesn’t get it”. The truth of the matter typically is, the boss DOES get it, but the boss has to have the courage to push it aside.
Gratitude – I’m not stupid. I know the difference between gratitude and pandering. We ALL do.
Great blog HBR!
– RTR
Real Time Rick 
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