I joined an international company whose corporate philosophy was to maintain a positive mental attitude. Any and all words ending in ‘t’ had to be removed from our vocabulary: words like ‘can’t, shouldn’t, wouldn’t allow, and couldn’t’ couldn’t be uttered at work. The only thing you couldn’t do was FAIL. Failure was NOT an option.
Shortly after joining the organization, I was briefed on what it would take to be promoted to management. Individuals were judged on 4 specific criteria: character, ability, attitude, and performance.
After only 6 months, I was nominated to attend a very organized and structured Management Development Training Program.
The training was very intense. It consisted of a full week of classroom training each month for six months and completing two workbooks each month. During the training program, I was promoted to a Level 1 manager and assigned 6 staff members to manage. We were trained and motivated to manage people instead of processes. We had to manage the behavior, attitude, work habits and performance of our people.
In the management training program, we were all given the path of how to rise to higher management levels. We were told that in order to receive the next promotion, we needed to have 2 or more people on our team who were trained and developed to be as good as or better than us. The principle adopted throughout the organization was known as MYTO, or “Multiply through others.” As a manager at all levels, our primary focus that we were responsible for was developing people. The results we achieved were secondary.
I worked there for several years and worked my way up from salesperson to vice president/director national and international management development training. This is where I was able to apply the lifelong principle of sharing: “what you share will multiply, but what you withhold will diminish and die.”
Upon moving to another much larger domestic/international company, I was assigned to the worst performing division within the organization’s nine operating divisions. My job was to manage 80+ employees in a failing division for the last 4 years. I immediately noticed that although these employees worked side by side, they never communicated with each other, not even to say “Good morning.” They didn’t discuss business or their current work projects with each other, even if they were working on the same project, so they had no idea of the impact their work was having on the entire division.
The challenge was daunting, but because of my previous management training and development, I decided I couldn’t fail. The question before me was how do I go about being successful? Answer: Share what you know, teach as you go, and lead from the front.
I began teaching and training all employees under my supervision on the basics of greeting each other each morning. Yes, it sounds elementary, but we had to start communicating with each other in a friendly, formal and professional way. It took time, but it began to work wonders.
I set very high goals and even higher expectations for the entire division, department by department. We were going to go from last place to first place, where we belonged, beginning in that first year of my term. Most of the employees scoffed, but we got one win at a time, no matter how small the win was. After a short time, we were winning bigger and bigger wins and the staff caught fire. Unfortunately, we couldn’t finish in first place. We came in second, however we had a record year for growth and profitability.
I shared my knowledge, experience and expertise with all members of my staff, regardless of their position. I kept everyone informed each week on where we were in relation to our goals and what we needed to focus on to achieve the stated end result. Everyone at all levels was involved and everyone was expected to make their maximum contribution to the goal of the division. When we had meetings, my initial expectation was that everyone should participate. None of us was smarter than all of us. Everyone had to give ideas, suggestions, tips and advice on how we would achieve our goals as a team. This was completely new to all of them.
Never before had anyone asked or expected them to think, only to act. They are now expected to think and contribute at all times. They also felt inspired and motivated to share what they knew, because doing so will multiply.
We finished in first place in year two, year three and year four and enjoyed five record years of growth and profitability. Our division grew from 80 employees to more than 450 employees during our race to the top, among the other nine operating divisions.
I adopted the teacher, trainer and coach management style for all staff. These are management techniques taught to me by many others, applied and taught when I was a subordinate staff member and junior manager. The lessons that had been shared with me were multiplied through me with others. This has been a personal and professional winning principle that has guided my entire career to this day.
In today’s workplace, many managers at all levels refrain from sharing their knowledge, experiences, and insights with their subordinates for job security reasons. These managers want and need to be the only authority and the only expert within their group. They fear that if any of their subordinates know what they know or are perhaps as good or better at this job than they are, the company may eliminate them in favor of one of their subordinate employees. This is a bad management idea. The more you develop others, especially those who report directly to you, the faster and higher you will rise in any organization.
As a father, I passed on what I had learned about sharing what I know, my experiences and my insights and have applied them all his life, to this day. If you ask each of his employers, they will tell you about his strong work ethic, his positive attitude, his personal and professional character, his honesty, and his integrity. It just doesn’t happen by accident.
I, like all other parents, want my children to have a better life than the one I had. I sincerely believe that I was successful in this endeavor.
The principle of personal and professional life is “What you share… multiplies”
Share your life experiences, your experience, your knowledge, your know-how with family, friends, co-workers and others. Share a part of you that is good, positive, and productive. When you do it will multiply. When you do, you are multiplying yourself through others (MYTO).
Note the second half of this life principle. “That which you hold back will diminish and die.”