Going Back to Basics

Last month I had the opportunity to see Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz speak at an Entrepreneurs' Organization event. Schultz spoke about his 2008 decision to shut down every U.S. Starbucks for a few hours in order to re-energize and re-educate his employees on how to make the perfect espresso. The goal of the closure was to revisit their standards of quality and improve the "Starbucks Experience."

I thought this was brilliant. And I decided to do the same.

Last Wednesday, LaSalle had a four hour hands-on meeting to re-gain our focus and re-educate ourselves on LaSalle's basic principles, values, and core competencies. 

We went over the basics of our business: recruiting, interviewing, and selling, but most importantly, I wanted to emphasize the importance of empathy, LaSalle's primary core competency. Whether it's client, candidate, or employee relationships, understanding what the other person is going through is key to success.

As I told all our staff in Wednesday's meeting, I have had their jobs. I audited time sheets, processed invoices, made collection calls, stuff envelopes, licked envelopes, did reference calls, recruited permanent candidates, cold-called companies for five hours straight, the whole nine yards. I did it all. I empathize.

Whether you're a new salesperson, a longtime manager or an office assistant, the key to success is putting yourself in the other person's shoes. Your livelihood depends on others success and theirs on you. While it's easy to get caught up in your day or your duties, your individual successes will come from having empathy for your co-workers, clients, customers, and in our industry, candidates.

Though 2011 is shaping out to be one of LaSalle's best years, as a CEO it's important to continually motivate and re-engage your staff. Whether it's re-teaching the basics, empowering employees to make a difference or instilling the value of empathy, as a leader it's important to take the time to re-instill these values. And if it takes shutting down the business for a few hours then so be it. The long-term gain is worth the short-term loss.