“Corey, I’m in trouble and I need your help!!”
“What’s going on Jeff?” I replied, rather surprised that he had called me. We barely knew each other, and we had hardly ever spoken other than exchanging pleasantries at our district meetings. I was a pharmacy manager for a large retail chain, and Jeff was a pharmacy manager at another store that was located about 50 miles south of my store.
“Well, I just had my yearly evaluation and it went, well, it sucked. The district manager is giving me 3 months to turn things around or I’ll be forced to step down. We just bought a new house, and I cannot afford the pay cut.”
“Turn things around?” I asked.
“Well, she was really upset about our sales. We are in a market 7 times larger than yours and our sales are about half of what yours are. Plus, she was really upset about our turnover rate and employee engagement scores. Let’s not even talk about our customer satisfaction scores.”
“WOW!” I thought to myself. “What do you think the problem is?” I asked concerned. Jeff seemed nice enough and I wanted to see him succeed.
“I have no idea; not even a clue,” he replied after a moment or two.
I suggested we switch stores for a couple of shifts so that I could try and figure out the issues he was having. He was okay with that, and we agreed to meet the following Sunday for coffee at one of my favorite writing locations.
“Well, what do you think?” he asked nervously as he approached my table.
“No worries, my friend. This is doable. Why don’t you get a cup of coffee and then we can get started?”
A few minutes later, Jeff had returned and had his notebook out. “Well, what do you think?” he asked again even more anxiously than before. I could tell the suspense was hard on him, so I jump right into it.
“Jeff,” I began, “of all of the people you could have called, why did you call ME?”
“Well, I mean everybody knows that your store is crushing it and even the district managers call you for help sometimes.”
“Why do you think that is?” I asked hoping to create more of an interactive discussion rather than a lecture.
“Because you are a natural born leader I guess.”
“Yeah, it only took me about 18 years of failure to become a natural born leader.” I said with a smile. “Someday, I am going to write a book called “The Natural Born Leader And Other Mythical Creatures”. Really what it is Jeff is something I call SPHERICAL LEADERSHIP!”
“Huh?”
“Well, after visiting your store and talking with the people who worked with you at my store, I learned absolutely NOTHING about you.”
“Wait, what?”
“Both stores told me the same thing. It was as if you were the invisible man. They both said you rarely talk or show any particular interest in the lives of your coworkers or customers, and you radiate a kind of anxious and nervous energy which they felt creates an anxious nervous environment. The consensus was that whenever you did show any emotion at all, it was displayed as anger and impatience. Both stores said that they felt like they were left to fend for themselves or that they had to walk on eggshells around you.”
His response was surprising. “I’m not there to socialize. I’m there to do my job. Personal lives belong at home. As for impatience, my pharmacist’s license depends on them doing their jobs correctly. I have no time for errors. As for the customers, I get angry with them because they get angry with me.”
Instead of responding right away, I paused to give him a chance to reflect on the gravity of his own statement.
After a minute or so, he looked up sheepishly and asked, “What were you saying about being a spherical leader?”
“If you want to be successful, I need you to think of yourself as the SUN.” I began. “Most people make the mistake of thinking that the sun sends light, heat, and energy to the Earth. But it doesn’t!! The sun sends light, heat, and energy in ALL directions and the Earth just happens to get in the way. This is how Spherical Leadership works.”
“Um, …”
“Jeff there are 5 qualities that you must develop if you want to successfully turn your store around in the next 3 months. Spherical leadership is not something you do. It is something you merge with. It is something that you become.”
I went on to share the 5 indispensable qualities of a spherical leader.
Spherical leaders:
- Display a sense of inner peace. Your team absorbs the energy you send out. If you develop a sense of inner peace, your team will absorb that energy and they will be able to relax and do their jobs much more efficiently and effectively.
- Build others up and support their success. The more you praise people and learn about them as individuals, the more they will respond and the better your results become as a manager. Help them achieve greater success and they will respond in kind.
- See themselves as the business owner no matter what their position in the company. Spherical leaders take the success of the business personally, and they resolve to learn to become the best leaders and supporters of employee development and customer outcomes.
- Are true Go-Givers. The best leaders put the interests of others first and foremost. They care deeply and are invested in the well-being of everyone on their team as well as everyone they serve. Consequently, the universe literally lines up to guarantee the success of all the players involved.
- Create an environment that fosters high performance. The leader’s number one job is to manage the emotional state of his team. Just as a great sports coach creates a winning atmosphere, spherical leaders actively create an environment that brings out the best in everyone around them.
“Wow, that seems hard, but I would like to learn more.” Jeff said, now smiling for the first time
“The key is to realize that how you do anything is how you do everything! You are a winner. Simply focus on trying to make everyone around you a winner as well, and I promise, everything will change for you.”
We had several more conversations over the next few months. I became quite proud of Jeff. As he began to expand his leadership skills, his store’s numbers improved and he was able to keep his job. The best part is he really began to enjoy his position.
♦◊♦
Sending warmth and positive energy to everyone around you is fun and rewarding.
As far as I’m concerned, it’s the only way to fly!!
Have there been times when building others up brought you a sense of joy and satisfaction?
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—Photo Credit: Flickr/Jon Gilbert Leavitt