Employers need to use horse sense

My e-mail friend, Dr. Deb Bennett, the equine specialist from northern California, is intriguing me again with her sophisticated work with horses. Dr. Bennett shared with me an article she wrote for an upcoming issue of Equus magazine, called “Five Rules of Requisite Love” for her two aging horses, Sadie and Painty.

She contends in the article that her five rules can help her horses live long, happy lives:

1. Buy good livestock

2. Give the horse your attention

3. Teach your horses tricks

4. Beware of cures worse than the disease.

5. Invite your horse to be well and happy – but don’t demand it

Again, I was amazed by the way Dr. Bennett’s rules for treating horses apply perfectly to the workplace. Here’s how I translate her advice for horses to advice for leaders.

Hire well – there’s no substitute for finding the right people who will understand the culture of your workplace. That old cliché about round pegs and square holes is tired, but accurate. You can’t force self-obsessed people to suddenly become team players. Before you interview prospective hires, assess your best employees and appreciate their traits. During job interviews it’s important you refer to a list of the crucial characteristics of your best employees. Ask questions that will help you judge whether this new employee will share the values and traits of the people you rely on most.

Make each employee feel like the most important person in the workplace – People want and need attention. Their self-worth must be affirmed frequently and sincerely. There is no substitute for time well spent with employees. It is folly to think workers are going to feel valued if nobody from the top of the organization even speaks to them. The best workplace cultures put a high value on personal communication and support.

Keep employees engaged by training them to do important, challenging stuff quickly. Nothing says you trust and value employees like assigning them important, challenging tasks. Leaders need to be actively engaged in helping each employee maximize potential. Saddling people with boring, unfulfilling work does not do that. Good employees want to grow and develop. That produces job satisfaction and pride.

Determine if problems with health, family, etc. are actually affecting performance. If they don’t, relax and back off. Caring leaders will know about the personal difficulties employees face, but only meddling supervisors will overreact and take on the personal burden of solving those problems. Make a clear assessment of whether performance is affected. If it’s not, then mind your own business and let the employee succeed.

Let the employees control their own destiny. You can only create the environment for them to succeed; you can’t force them to be happy. This may be the toughest lesson for well-meaning leaders to learn. Too many bosses think they can control happiness. They can’t. Some people will insist on being miserable. So be it. Let them wallow, but always insist on high performance and effectiveness. Usually a successful workplace will create happy workers and the peer group will positively affect the negative person.

In her Equus article, Dr. Bennett writes her five rules for requisite love “will make it more likely your horses will be happy, comfortable and productive for the whole span of their lives.” I think applying similar rules can create happy, comfortable and productive workplaces for people.