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FROM THE FOUNDER
Are your expectations for your people high enough, or are you letting everyone off the hook with lower expectations for them versus yourself? Getting the most out of your people
I t’s time for brutal honesty. It has always bothered me when someone completely disconnects from work from Friday afternoon at 5 until Monday morning. They don’t respond to any emails or calls or anything on the company-wide communication/PM system. They completely shift out.
Mark Zweig
Sure, a complete disconnect from work could happen every now and again (although I never do that myself), but it’s when you see the pattern – the steady diet of it with people you desperately want to be fully engaged and part of the “team” that’s a problem. I say it’s a “problem” not just because everything slows down and less gets done – maybe your business can tolerate that – but it’s really a problem for the employee who does this. Why is that, you may ask? It’s because you aren’t doing them any favors by letting them think this is OK for a professional who wants to advance in their career and make more money to support themselves and their families. Because given a choice of who I trust and will give additional responsibilities and opportunities to, it’s not going to be someone who regularly shifts completely out.
I’m sure just writing this will elicit a response from someone out there who will get on their podium about the need for work-life balance and how dare I (as an employer) expect that kind of constant connection with work? And sure, I know not everyone we hire in every role will have this level of engagement. But you can call me “old school” or “out of step with today” or whatever you like, and you won’t stop me from my quest to build a highly committed and engaged team of people who don’t “shift out” every evening or weekend in any business I am a part of. Because I know that when I get enough of these people together in one organization – with a clear mission and some guiding philosophies about how we will do things and what our goals are – that’s when the magic is going to happen.
See MARK ZWEIG , page 6
THE ZWEIG LETTER MAY 20, 2024, ISSUE 1538
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