The Number One Secret to Motivate and Empower People
I sat down recently with Juan Quezada on the Uplevel Dairy Podcast to learn about his story of working his way up through the Wisconsin-based Milk Source dairy enterprise, starting as a milker more than 25 years ago, and today overseeing and influencing 650 employees as director of training and development.
So what does an incredible leader, filled with so much knowledge and wisdom, who has had his hand in the tremendous growth and advancement of an organization like Milk Source for a quarter century, teach employees through the company’s leadership classes?
He emphasizes this seemingly simple, yet so very powerful habit: Listening.
“I ask employees: What is the secret of the best salesman in the world?,” Quezada says. “And it is to listen.”
Assumptions are missed opportunities
The power of listening is a leadership principle that Quezada instills among his team. He explains, when we work with the same people every day, and even become accustomed to the same topics of conversation, it can be easy to assume what is on someone’s mind. Perhaps the usual banter is about a football game. And while it can be easy to bypass those conversations as unimportant or unproductive, each time we stop and give that team member time to listen, we open the door for what may be a critical conversation in the future.
“Sometime we assume that same employee is coming to talk to us about the same thing … but the next time, that employee may be coming to you with something very important,” Quezada says. “So listen. Take the time and stop for a couple minutes.”
Four words that destroy employee relationships
While stopping and listening opens a door to engage with others, Quezada acknowledges that there is one statement that can close the door very quickly and make it hard to open again:
“I don’t have time.”
The damage to the employee relationship isn’t just in the words, but in the overall message that response sends to the individual. Quezada adds, “That’s saying to me that I’m not important.” And that response can be internalized with that individual as “I’m not going to come back to you again.”
But so many dairy farm owners and managers are busy, and their time is stretched. How can you respond to an employee’s request when you don’t have minutes to spare, yet want to motivate and empower your team?
The simple answer can be to schedule a future time for the conversation, and following up on it.
As Quezada reassures, the key to motivating and empowering people is this: “Listen. Listen to what they want to say.”
Hear more from Juan Quezada on his “Five Principles of Leadership” from the Uplevel Dairy Podcat here:
