My Employees
By David Long
If you truly want to become a Top 10% Manager in your company, listen up! You’re about to learn how to set yourself apart from the pack! To do that, you’ll simply need to start holding weekly "Book Club" Meetings with your team.
“Say what?!! What the heck is a ‘Book Club Meeting’?”
Yeah, I thought you might ask. We’ll get to that in a moment, but first let me explain by telling you how I discovered the power of this principle of “educating my people.”
I’ve always been interested in improving my knowledge and skill set by reading books and attending seminars that I felt would help me become more successful. It all started when my father, the late Rev. Dr. J.W. Long, Jr., handed me a book by Dale Carnegie, titled "How to Win Friends and Influence People" when I was 14 years of age. He said, “Here, son. This is a great book to help you be more popular at school.” Well, who doesn’t want that? So I got started on the book right away! Wow! Excuse me, I meant to say “WOW!!!” because it was that powerful! The lights really came on for me.
I distinctly remember how reading that book helped open my eyes to certain principles of dealing with other people, and how I could improve my relationships with practically anyone. When I finished it, I immediately reread the highlighted portions I had just marked so I would not forget anything. It was awesome! If you’ve never read the book, please put it on your list immediately. It’s a classic, for sure. It will amaze you as you study and truly learn how people think.
Dale Carnegie’s book was the first of many hundreds (if not thousands) of books I have read, and I continue to read several books every week. Having started on the quest to never stop learning, I find myself feeling rather unfulfilled each day if I don’t read for several hours. I literally have “reading withdrawals.” I can’t possibly tell you who the latest Hollywood sensation is, but I can doggone, for sure help you build your business and increase your chances of success in life!
All right, let’s continue with my story…
Approximately ten years ago, I read a book by my friend, Dr. Tony Zeiss, titled "The 12 Essential Laws for Becoming Indispensable". (Dr. Zeiss is the long-time, highly successful President of Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte, NC, the largest community college network in the country, and I am indeed fortunate to call him my personal friend and mentor.)
After reading and highlighting his wonderful book, I knew I had to share what I had learned with my own employees, so I ordered them each a copy. And that, my friend, is how our Book Club meetings began!
I called a brief meeting with all employees, handed out the books, notebooks, and a highlighter to each of them and said,“I want you to each read chapter one of this book by next Wednesday at 11:30. As you read it, please write your thoughts down in the notebook I gave you, and come prepared to talk about what you, personally, got from this chapter. I will have pizza delivered so we can enjoy lunch together as we share what we learned with each other.”
Crickets… Dead silence… Nothing but blank stares coming my way… Get the picture?
OK, so not everyone was jumping up and down with joy and loudly cheering, “Dave, that’s an awesome idea!” when I told them what we would be doing. Nope! In fact, several of them were rumored to be rounding up the villagers, with torches and pitchforks in hand, searching for the evil monster who came up with the idea!
Oh, believe it or not, it gets worse...
About ten minutes after our meeting had adjourned, two of my rather introverted employees privately came into my office together, and told me they were “uncomfortable talking like that in front of others.” I listened, thanked them, and replied, “I appreciate the fact that it makes you uncomfortable, but you’re among friends here, and we all will be sharing, so relax and enjoy our time together as we eat lunch and learn as a team.” They reluctantly said they would try, and promptly left the office.
I’m definitely not going to sit here and tell you my Book Club idea was accepted with open arms. It wasn’t. By the way, rarely if ever, are things that make you successful easy to do, or implement.
Then the day finally arrived for our first meeting...
OK, I’ll admit it! During our first Book Club meeting, people didn’t know what to expect. They’d never done anything like this before with any of their former employers, and the last time they were in a reading group was the fifth grade, and let’s just say they did not remember it fondly! They definitely had reservations as to exactly just how much they felt they could share, but, as we ate our pizza, I set the example for our group by sharing stories from my own past to help reduce their anxiety.
That first chapter we read in Tony’s book happened to be on Attitude, so I shared a story of how having a negative attitude had affected my life for a few years after losing a job. I wanted them to see I have been-there-done-that too. I showed them I was human, and I had made many mistakes along the way. Sometimes I shared things my siblings and I had experienced growing up as preacher’s kids. After hearing my stories, it seemed there was always someone ready to share their story.
Then, it happened... One by one, each member of the group felt compelled to speak up, and began to open up about themselves and their experiences in life. It was fascinating to see how it just started to flow out of them. We laughed, and sometimes even shed tears together, as each chapter reminded us of stories from our own lives.
By the fourth week or so, every employee’s reservations to share had all but completely evaporated. What we found was that we were coming together as a team. People, who had historically ignored employees from other departments, soon established new friendships. Some even started doing things together away from the office, such as going to lunch or to the gym together.
During our Book Club meetings people shared their humorous (and sometimes not so humorous) stories from their childhood, and how it relates to the chapter we had read that week. Many times we recounted how something we had perceived as a disaster in our lives turned out to be a wonderful blessing. Some team members had been kicked out of their homes, or left because of an alcoholic, abusive father or mother only to tell us how that experience had forced them to grow up.
Occasionally, you could glance around and see others begin to get a little misty-eyed as someone recounted their personal struggles in life. OK, I’ll admit it. I did myself a few times too. Hey, I’m human!
As an example of our sharing our stories with each other, I explained how we would not have been sitting there eating lunch in our break room that day, if I had not been fired many years earlier. I shared how I went through seven jobs in three and a half years, lost everything and then, at the age of 31, had to pack up my wife and three children and move back in with my parents. I asked them, “How many of you have had to admit defeat, and move back in with your parents with your spouse and children in tow?” Not one single hand went up.
They started to say things like, “Wow, Dave, I had no idea you went through all of that!” They had a newfound respect, and empathy, for me as their leader. I was sharing my heart, and I was forming a deep bond with my people. In essence, we were becoming “one”!
Oh, yeah! I almost forgot to tell you this. Remember those two employees that came into my office and said they were uncomfortable sharing and speaking in front of the other employees? Well, after only a few weeks, one of them came and said, “Thank you for making us participate, Dave. I would have hated to miss these meetings, and if you would have made it optional, I would not have come.”
Remember this: “A great leader will take you places… you would never have gone on your own!” You are taking your people, sometimes kicking and screaming, to places they never would go in their lives, and they will remember you forever for it.
Let me show you some proof of that… talk about perfect timing! Here’s a very touching comment I received from one of my former employees (from many years ago) named Drew Crosby. I noticed on LinkedIn that he had taken a job as a ski instructor and golf pro at Crested Butte Mountain Resort in Crested Butte, Colorado, so I sent this short note of Congratulations to him.
"Living your dreams, son! I’m very proud of you, Drew!"
- Dave Long
And here was his very kind reply to me:
”Thanks, Dave! I couldn't have done it without you. I constantly talk about your open, honest, efficient, but simple approach to business. You made me interested in what goes on behind the scenes, and because of the books you had us read, I have made myself indispensable. Not many ski instructors around here have real estate investments, retirement planning knowledge and half a year's salary in savings. So, thanks for your mentoring. It did not fall on deaf ears!"
- Drew Crosby
I’m sure you know that Drew’s comment meant a great deal to me. I printed his message and added it to my personal “treasure chest” of heartfelt notes I’ve been collecting for years. In fact, my employees gave me the chest, a few years ago, for Christmas. In it they each placed a heartfelt message telling me what I have meant to their lives. Let me just say this. If there was a fire in my house I would grab the family pictures, and then I would grab my “treasure chest.” That’s how much the cards and letters of my employees, family, and friends mean to me. I’d probably grab my wife in there somewhere too! Ha!
Think about this: I’ve read that Mel Gibson has won 29 motion-picture-related awards. You probably think I’m crazy, but I wouldn’t trade Drew’s or any of my employees’ personal messages to me for all of Mel’s awards! I have hundreds of comments from employees, former employees, friends, and family telling me how the time we’ve spent in our Book Club meetings, or the advice I’ve given them, has changed their lives. Man, that’s inspiring to me!
Yes, these Book Club meetings are powerful, but ONLY if you make them happen with YOUR team. Here’s a little more of what you can expect when you open up with your team: When you share, they share. As soon as you dismantle, brick by brick, that false wall of separation (between yourself and your employees) and allow your employees to get to know the real you, that’s when the magic happens. The changes are subtle, at first, but you’ll see the welcomed progression as time passes, and as you share more about yourself and your mistakes (and the lessons learned) in life.
If you recall, I mentioned earlier that I ordered pizza (or sub sandwiches) when we began the Book Club meetings. It’s a very small outlay of cash, but it gives a huge return on investment. Knowing that, you may be confused by what I’m about to tell you. I no longer buy lunch for the employees when we hold our Book Club meetings.
About now, you’re thinking... “What? You cheapskate! Why would you stop buying the pizza?” We stopped because, as we grew together as a team, our company began to grow at an even faster pace (adding more and more employees), and we could no longer hear each employee’s thoughts on a particular chapter each week. There simply was not enough time.
Also, sometimes employees' personal lives (such as doctor appointments) caused them to miss the lunchtime meetings. Something had to change. The whole purpose of WHY we were holding the meetings was to bond together as a team and hear each other’s input. Anything that prevented that from happening was unacceptable.
Now, if you think buying the pizza was more than you wanted to spend on my idea, and you’ve already decided you weren’t going to do it anyway... "Listen Up, Sparky, and get prepared for a HUGE Shock!" Though I stopped paying for lunch... I started PAYING every employee to be in the Book Club meetings for an hour EACH WEEK!!! Yep, I paid them all, while still on the clock, to sit in a room with me for a whole hour every week!
“Oh, Dave, you’ve lost your ever-lovin’ mind, son! There’s no stinkin’ way I am going to PAY my people to sit in a room for an hour a week instead of doing the work they’re getting paid to do! Not a chance!” Remember the Abraham Lincoln quote I shared earlier? Here it is again...
“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening my axe.”
—Abraham Lincoln
To maximize career potential, it’s imperative that you spend sufficient time sharpening your biggest, most efficient, and impactful “axe” (your employees) FIRST… before anything else is done. If you fail to do that sufficiently, you’ll never reach your full potential as a successful leader. However, if you invest the time needed to help develop their skills—and show them they matter to you enough to spend quality time to help them become successful in their careers—there’s no limit to how high your career will soar! The beautiful thing is, you’ll do it together, working alongside each other as you work to improve your lives and incomes.