Posts tagged engage

The grocery store has more sway than we give it credit for, and it has nothing to do with food.

Let me explain.  

Communications and leadership practitioners know the importance of integrity, transparency and approachability. We appreciate the art of earning trust and respect from others. And we heed a number of other routinely tweeted and emailed must-dos.

Yet there is a detail easy to overlook: The people we work with have lives outside the office. They are more than their profession.

They have families. They have friends. Some have pets they adore more than families and friends. And they have – I’ll go on a limb – what all of us have in common: good times and bad, birthdays, responsibilities, opinions, worries, bills, wants, needs, dreams and all the other material of humanity.

It’s easily forgotten because life at work tends to be mobile, fast, partitioned and sometimes, alas, a tad cold. We focus on initiatives and strategies. Outcomes are crucial. Results must be measured and reported. The work subsequently tends to take the spotlight over the people doing the work.

Yet most of us – especially communicators and leaders – want to connect with the people in our organizations so we’re successful with our initiatives, strategies and outcomes. But that’s difficult to do well if we don’t consider the whole of the individuals with whom we work – and remember they are more than their profession.

A grocery store, of all things, helped to influence me in this.  

For a period of time when I was a corporate communicator, I was accustomed to what I call interactive anonymity. I lived in a large city, worked from home and offices, and I traveled often. Communication was predominantly through email and phone. I interacted with people every day, but it was from afar, was nearly always scheduled, and often focused on the work.

Relocating later to a small town (population 15,000) to lead an operations center changed everything. Now, part of my job was about visibility with a large team. I interacted in person, scheduled and otherwise. I hosted town-hall meetings where, besides hearing what others said, I could see the unsaid. And as I talked with people, I learned more about them personally.

Altogether these things impressed on me the importance of personal connections, knowing the whole person and treating people honestly and fairly.

I also learned that, in a small town, it was probable in the grocery store to run into someone from the office. That did not happen where I lived before. Furthermore, it was likely their significant other, kids, grandparents, cousins or friends would be with them.

This was significant in that it prompted an important realization in me: If whatever I’ve done or said in the office was replayed among my co-workers’ friends and family in the grocery, would I still stand by my actions? Would I still feel I had acted with integrity and respect for others?

It influenced me then, and it remains powerful insight to this day. And it helps to remind me that we all are more than our professions.