Vertical presence
My first consulting assignment was for the Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) of a European bank. At that time, the HR division spanned 400 employees.
The CHRO usually worked from the headquarters where all of the executive committee gathered, whilst the rest of the HR division was located in a separate building about a mile away.
At times, the CHRO would complain to me that only a few of his staff would speak out to him. And he was disappointed by that. He would say “I have 400 employees, yet only a handful will raise issues.”
So when I asked him “how often are you present in the whole of your organization?” he would quickly respond by saying “I don’t have time for that!” and continued “My door is always open, yet I am surprised so few people walk in.”
I reflected on that and one day—with my heart pounding—I suggested to him:
“You have a very busy schedule, and also you feel like your employees speak out too little. So how about you take two hours per week out of your calendar, for the next month, and invest that time to sit in with HR teams. Join them during meetings, workshops, and brainstorming sessions. Not with the mindset of an active participant, but to listen. And at the end of a meeting, ask one question: based on this session, what is something I can do to help you forward?”
This is vertical presence.
Whether you are operating at C-level or the shop-floor level, an in-depth understanding of the voice from within the organization is tremendously important to swiftly adapt strategy and improve forward.
So I invite all senior leaders for their next month to carve two hours per week out of their calendar and invest that time to sit with their teams.
Listen, and serve.