Why Leaders Need to Walk the Halls Now More Than Ever Before
It was October 1987 and I’d just landed my first (successful) role as a Sales Associate. Proving myself in the field, I was able to put behind me the fact that I’d almost gotten fired due to being a slow learner of the complicated insurance concepts. The organization required that we memorize, verbatim, a 9-page presentation. This was how we enrolled our clients. I may have been slow learning contract language and provisions, but I rocked that presentation. And I got to keep my job!
Here we were in the Paramus, NJ sales office. The atmosphere was electric. Young professionals bustled about, carrying account binders or stacks of insurance enrollment kits. Delivery boxes with fresh Washington State apples littered the floor of the admin area. Drivers hustled to get materials out to our clients in time for our crucial enrollment meetings. I lived in Harlem, and it was my greatest joy to spontaneously meet up with Manhattan territory reps to lend a hand at their campaigns. These blitzes were called “apple vans.” They were gutsy. We stood outside organizations distributing literature and apples to facilitate enrollment in our health care option.
The organization made it easy for us to be successful. US HealthCare was the darling of the managed health care industry. Our collateral was forward thinking and whimsical. We had an unspoken code of conduct and outworked our competitors.
Here I am celebrating my US HealthCare five-year dinner!
At hours-long health fairs, we never sat down. We stood in front of our displays to engage prospects, rather than sitting comfortably behind the tables, as all our competitors did. We looked great and impeccably showed up while being suited down. In terms of office camaraderie, if we found ourselves working late, we’d order takeout, laugh, look at who was ahead on the leaderboard, and get to work. The camaraderie was “sick!”
Back then, there were no Teams, Slack, Zoom, email…no electronic collaborative tools…In fact the Internet was just coming of age. So how in the heck did we communicate with only admins taking pink message slips, and then later on, voice mail? In an era before electronic devices, how did we ever perform as a cohesive team?
I can sum it up in two words. Leadership Communication.
Our District Manager, Tim Nolan, scared me at first. He was serious, almost stern. He walked the floors daily to check in on how our accounts were progressing. After I got to know him, I realized he walked the floors not only to take a pulse, but to ensure that we had everything we needed to be successful in our territories. His seriousness was the way he focused.
One evening during “crunch” time (the period between October – January when more than 50% of our cases renewed,) we were working late in the office. Finally finishing my work, I went to the huge refrigerator to snag two cases of apples for my account in the morning. Oh no! You could blow frost rings in that refrigerator and see every corner. There were NO apples to be had. Showing up without apples was a no-no. Damn. What was I going to do?
I went back to my cubicle and put my head in my hands. Tim walked by and said, “Case, what’s up? Are you getting out of here soon?” I said, “Yeah, Tim, I am, thanks. But there’s no apples for my account and the meeting’s tomorrow at 8AM.” He calmly said, “where’s your meeting? Give me the address, phone number and contact info. Now get home.” I have no idea how Tim did it – after all, it was after 11:00 PM when I walked in my door. But I showed up the next morning and there was a table full of apple boxes greeting me and all my prospective clients.
What did Tim do that was so extraordinary? Well, he certainly came to my rescue and got me what I needed, for one. Second, he knew what was happening in my business…and with a team of over 50 people to manage, he was on top of what every one of us was doing. He remembered individual details of what we were working on…he listened, had an open door and made stuff happen.
He walked the halls. He exemplified Leadership Communication.
So, how can you “walk the halls?” We are in an age where workers are dispersed and it’s rare for 100% of any team to be in the office at any one time. We are exceptionally distracted. We’re besieged by pings when we’re in meetings, many of us being triple booked as colleagues seek our time without even checking calendars to see if we’re free! Looking at a client’s calendar recently, I didn’t see where she even had time for a bio break.
Walking the halls. Is it needed now more than ever, do you suppose? How can you include a physical, as well as virtual, walking of your halls every single day? It’s important for communication, for cohesion, and for morale.
Please provide in the comments below what you’re taking away from this story!
Casey Carpenter is an executive leadership coach, speaker, and author. She founded Speak & Own It Communications for organizations and people who want to improve their communication, presence, and leadership so that they make an indelible impression and nail it every single time.
