When was the last time you unloaded a truck, scrubbed a toilet, or answered the customer service hotline? Immersing yourself in the day-to-day tasks is the surest way to become educated about what goes on in your business. Did you just deploy tablets to your workforce? Get out to the field, where you'll use it yourself. That case you bought to protect the tablet becomes mighty heavy after eight hours. And the internet speed in remote locations is slower than the broadband speeds you enjoy back at HQ or at home.
At The Vitamin Shoppe, we have a formal program for our corporate employees to work in the stores. When I worked for Brookdale Senior Living, all of the executives spent a week in a senior community, working with the staff and interacting with the residents. These moments with the seniors were very moving, increasing my resolve to do my best to provide them with a high quality of life. Regardless of what industry you're in, interact with your external customers.
The pace is much quicker in a retail environment than in a retirement home. If your IT help desk answers a call in three minutes and resolves the problem in five minutes, you're probably feeling pretty good about those metrics. Now view that interaction from the other side of the phone. You're working at a cash register, and the system locks up while you're ringing out a customer. You call the help desk and go through a confusing phone tree. You are now on hold as the seconds slowly tick by. The customer, ready to go, begins to fidget and look at their watch. Soon another customer joins the line, and the queue is two-deep. As you're following the troubleshooting steps, the customer at the front of the line drops their items in disgust and walks out the door. More customers join the line, and now the queue is four-deep. Finally the register works again, but you have an unresolved transaction to clear, and there is a negative buzz in the store because all the customers are frustrated. What feels like a win for the help desk is a nightmare in the store.
Another way to become an expert in your business is to read everything that your business publishes. If you work at a public company, the financial reports are filled with valuable information. If there is something you don't understand, ask your CFO. Even better, jot down all your questions and take the CFO to lunch to review them.
Learn about the history of the company. Read old documents, and get long-time employees talking. Knowing the past will help you become a true expert on your company.
Ask to attend meetings across the organization. Involve yourself in every aspect of the company: sales, marketing, operations, and manufacturing. If you don't attend board meetings, you need to get in there, even as a fly on the wall. Ask your CEO to include you as part of your career development. When you're invited, be on time, be polite, and keep your mouth shut.
In Part VI, “Straighten Up and Fly Right,” we explore the professional behaviors that all aspiring leaders need to adopt.