Poertner Consulting Group LLC

Where you stand depends on where you sit

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In Congress, the Democrats sit on one side and the Republicans sit on the other. Is it any wonder that the parties don't get along? Or that they lack the resolve and unity of purpose to find common solutions to our nation's huge problems?

Without a doubt, as Joe Reeder, a Washington lawyer and former assistant secretary of the Army, describes in his article, Break Up the Parties, "this segmented seating arrangement shelters our representatives from opposing points of view, reduces the need for common courtesy, reinforces the worst tendencies of a two-party system, and undermines efforts at cooperation."

Being physically and emotionally separated by party intensifies the partisan rancor that's innately alive.

What if, instead of being seated by party, representatives were seated alphabetically? You know, like you and I were seated in grade school. So the first half of fifth grade, I got to sit between Betty Oman and Bobbie Richards and the second half, Sarah Peters and Tony Quinlin. Is it any wonder that I still remember what all four brought for their lunches and if they had cats or dogs as pets. I got to know them. Intimately. And how they thought about things and what they dreamed about. And I learned how to get along with them, sitting two feet from them for eight hours a day, for four or five months at a stretch.

Is it just me, or is this a no-brainer? Mix up the members of Congress! If not alphabetically, then by birth date, or state, or by drawing names out of a hat.

But not by party.

Having assigned seating in grade school obviously doesn't eliminate all the squabbling, but letting kids sit only with kids they like certainly would not allow for learning civility, respect for differences, collaboration and compromise.

We know that without communication, trust and mutual respect, relationships won't be very strong. And without strong relationships, there won't be a spirit of unity toward a common purpose. And without a strong sense of unity, you won't have a strong team, organization, community or country. What if something as simple as a neutral seating chart for Congress eventually led to civility and bipartisan action?

One-on-one relationships are the key. Whether in grade school, corporate America or Congress. As Joan Baez said, "The easiest kind of relationship for me is with ten thousand people. The hardest is with one."

One person relating with another, like Betty Oman and Bobbie Richards. And Bruce Braley and Steve King.

Don't be afraid to be predictable

Do your employees find you intriguing, captivating and full of fresh new ideas? I hope so.

Do they find you predictable? Even more so, I hope so.

Being both intriguing and predictable seems like a conundrum—an enigma—like you couldn't be both. You can. But of the two qualities, if you could pick only one, I say, go with predictable.

Why? Because one of the most destructive management styles in the workplace is someone who's consistently unpredictable. You've probably experienced that kind of manager yourself, or know someone who has. They're moody. You feel like you have to "walk on egg shells" around them, because you never know how they might react. Everyone waits to see each morning what type of day it's going to be around the office because of how this manager shows up—in a positive mood or a foul one. That's a terrible environment in which to work.

From the time we're little kids, we crave structure, routine, predictability. We never outgrow that need for some sense of consistency in our lives. Consistently unpredictable behaviors on the part of a manager leaves employees feeling like they have little control over their environment. That's not good.

1. Can people count on you to do what you say you're going to do when you say you're going to do it? I hope so. That's being predictable. As John Langhorne says in the March 15, 2010 issue of the Corridor Business Journal, if your say/do ratio is low, people lose trust and respect in you pretty quickly.
2. Do you over promise and under deliver? That's a predictability gap. That's not good. Pretty soon, people start taking what you say with a grain of salt.

As a manager, how you show up every day at work has the greatest impact on your employees' overall attitudes, satisfaction levels, and performance. Provide the predictability they crave, and captivate them with your ideas.

Gaining Perspective Through Adventures

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Leading is an adventure. Especially in this fast-paced, rapidly-changing world. Regardless of the industry or the marketplace in which you play, few leadership competencies are more critical than perspective:

• Being able to think globally.
• Seeing issues and challenges from the broadest possible view.
• Posing future scenarios with ease.

Where does perspective come from?

It's not about graduating top of the class necessarily or coming up with 50 ways to build a better mouse trap. It comes from living a life as an adventure:

• enjoying a breadth of diverse interests
• looking for unique opportunities to experience new cultures, tastes, sensations—in new and unusual places
• being curious about how things work, how they connect, and "what ifs"
• enjoying Qs more than As, and absolutely loving "maybes"

Live life that way—every day—and as a leader, you'll have a huge repertoire to draw from when you need a new idea or a strategy for a situation you've never faced before.

Remember's history fascination and admiration of the "Renaissance Man?" It was perspective that fascinated us—their breadth of knowledge and interests and pursuits.

Leading is an adventure. Especially in this fast-paced, rapidly-changing world. Regardless of the industry or the marketplace in which you play, few leadership competencies are more critical than perspective:

• Being able to think globally.
• Seeing issues and challenges from the broadest possible view.
• Posing future scenarios with ease.

Where does perspective come from?

It's not about graduating top of the class necessarily or coming up with 50 ways to build a better mouse trap. It comes from living a life as an adventure:

• enjoying a breadth of diverse interests
• looking for unique opportunities to experience new cultures, tastes, sensations -- in new and unusual places
• being curious about how things work, how they connect, and "what ifs"
• enjoying Qs more than As, and absolutely loving "maybes"

Live life that way—every day—and as a leader, you'll have a huge repertoire to draw from when you need a new idea or a strategy for a situation you've never faced before.

Remember's history fascination and admiration of the "Renaissance Man?" It was perspective that fascinated us—their breadth of knowledge and interests and pursuits.