Page 150 - leadership-experience-2008

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Leadership Mind and Heart

When Larry Walters took over at Qwest Communication’s Idaho Falls call
center, many people thought the situation was downright hopeless: Doors
slamming. People crying on the phone to their friends. Rampant absentee-
ism. Rumors that the center would soon close.
Walters soon realized that most of the frontline supervisors at the
center managed through fear and intimidation. One of his fi rst moves was
to tell them they were expected to help people be their best rather than
bullying and harassing them in an effort to improve productivity. Four of
the supervisors refused to go along with the new approach and were fi red,
sending a clear signal to employees that it was a new day in Idaho Falls.
Walters set clear performance standards and posted the results so everyone
would know how the center was doing compared to its peers. But he soft-
ened this strong focus on results by letting people know he genuinely cared
about them. His fi rst question to an employee in the morning wouldn’t be
“How are your numbers?” but “How was your son’s Little League game?”
or “Did you have a fun weekend?” Walters got out on the fl oor and got to
know people by name. He listened to their frustrations and made changes
to alleviate them where he could. He stood on a desk in the middle of the
building and told people he loved them and believed they could accomplish
great things.
Before long, people were accomplishing great things. The center buzzed

with activity and enthusiasm as figures for sales and customer service con-
sistently went up. Senior executives were so impressed that they decided to
expand the center. Walters cried along with employees as the announcement
was made. Down to just 65 people and with the lights out in half of the
building when Walters arrived, within two years the Idaho Falls center em-
ployed around 400 in two buildings and was the largest Qwest call center
in the country. 1
Larry Walters created a new model for the Qwest Idaho Falls call center,
one that puts a priority on people and relationships rather than treating
employees like production machinery. In many of today’s organizations,
leaders are beginning to talk about building work relationships based on
trust, caring, and respect. Employee engagement has become a motto for
companies that want motivated and committed workers. In a study of com-
panies trying to transform, Harvard researcher Christopher Bartlett found
that the biggest obstacle was leaders’ inability to engage employees and
give them a sense of purpose and meaning in their jobs. At West Point,
2
where future Army leaders are trained, cadets are taught that the great
leaders are those who genuinely care about their soldiers and never ask
others to do anything they aren’t willing to do themselves. A former Yahoo
3
executive even wrote a book titled Love is the Killer App to emphasize
that compassion and empathy are essential characteristics for leadership
4
in today’s world. Many leaders have a growing appreciation for the fact
that the strength and quality of relationships with employees, customers,
suppliers, and competitors is just as important as formal rules, contracts,
plans, and even profi ts.
Making relationships rather than rules and schedules a priority is not
easy for traditional managers who have been accustomed to thinking emo-
tions should be left outside the company gate. However, smart leaders are
aware that human emotion is the most basic force in organizations and

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