Get to Know Your People: Why I Try to Meet Everyone at my Company
Heading up a growing company like CRG offers so many great opportunities for me to interact with our employees in different ways. Taking the time to meet the people we bring onto the team is something that I take very seriously, and I believe that any good leader should make an effort to get to know everyone who drives the success of their businesses.
I want to share some of the ideas behind why meeting team members is so important to me, and why I believe that other young leaders should also make it one of their top priorities as they build their careers and businesses.
Meeting Establishes Trust
Trust is the most crucial thing in working relationships. When you can really trust those who work for you, it benefits you as well as your employees. People who feel trusted also feel empowered, and it goes a long way towards making someone take ownership of their job and also keeps them interested in the bigger picture and mission of your business.
When you take time to meet someone, you’re creating a relationship with that person that exists and develops outside of just org charts and job titles. You’re acknowledging their importance to your company and also showing that you trust them as an individual. It creates a casual space where everyone is on equal footing and can speak freely about great new ideas and share different perspectives.
Meeting Establishes Open Communication
With trust comes the willingness to communicate candidly and openly with each other, which is another crucial part of doing business. When someone can put a face to a name, you’re helping to open up direct lines of communication with that person.
In my experience, people are far more likely to share their feelings, ideas, goals, and values with someone they have already met as opposed to someone they’ve never directly interacted with, and these open conversations are the fuel that keeps things moving ahead. Fostering more open communication is part of why I like to interview people at every level of my company since I can really get a sense of who they are as people and if they’ll fit in with the open culture we’ve created.
Meeting Keeps You Present
I’m not the kind of person or leader that likes to sit on the sidelines while everyone else does the heavy lifting. One of my most important goals is to always remain a present leader and be there for my team members. You can show your commitment to your people by meeting with them when they’re in the interviewing or onboarding process.
It shows that you care about your company, as well as those around you. It also shows that you’re present and taking an active role in who you choose to bring into your organization. You can’t be a present leader if you’re only meeting with your top management, and it goes a long way towards building knowledge of how things work if the culture you’ve created is benefiting your team members.
Meeting Can Be Fun
Let’s face it, meetings in the traditional sense can be dull and boring. No one likes to be forced into a situation where they don’t want to speak or share things freely. This is why one of the things I like to do is organize experience-based events for my teams. I find that it’s an awesome way to get to know people better and to interact with them outside of the office environment.
Experiences keep things fun, fresh, and casual. There are so many options out there now for planning social events to change things up, and it also gives you an opportunity to interact with the people you don’t see every day.
I think that all leaders in every sector should make an effort to meet with everyone in their company, not just top-level managers or staff members. It creates a more casual working environment where people can share their ideas, thoughts, and opinions, and also a healthy one that’s going to evolve and innovate in the long run. We each play a part in CRG’s story, and that’s why I know it’s crucial to meet everyone who makes what we do possible.
