Danny Cox

Lesson 9

When my boss announced that the search for my replacement was on, I did what any sane and logical manager would have done. I went to the beach. My salespeople needed some breathing space, as much as I needed to be alone with my thoughts, the waves, the sand, and a legal pad of paper. That's where I realized that there was a barrier or fence in my organization. My people were on one side of the fence and I was on the other. And the fence looked different, depending on which side you were on. With this revelation came my first major team-building technique.

There was only one uniting factor in all of the people on the other side of the fence. They all hated me. It wasn’t a healthy bond, but it was strong. I needed to end our segregation. I could have invoked the power of my position and ordered my people to join me on my side of the fence. But, I knew that yelling at people doesn't produce real cooperation. Another option available to me was to crawl over to their side of the fence and try to recreate the wonderful camaraderie we had when I first came on board as the new sales person and they took me under their collective wing. But, that wouldn’t be leadership either.

Then I realized that I was not going to reunite with all of my people at one time. At best, I was only going to earn their trust on an individual-by-individual basis. My first thought was to go after the highest producer in the office. But, something told me that could foster professional jealousy among the other team members. The situation could become even more divisive. I needed to get someone over on my side of the fence that the others would listen to.

It dawned on me that the most influential member of the team was the person whom the others respected the most--not necessarily the superstar--but the person most respected by his or her peers. Using this new criteria, I rated my team members starting with the most respected, the next most respected and so on. I was incorporating the values of my people into my thinking. The ratings I used were their ratings, not mine.

So, I went to work on the number one most respected person on my list. Before long, that person was actually saying some decent things about me. Why? Because that person was beginning to truly feel as if I was open and receptive to the team’s way of thinking. Soon, number two on my list headed for my side of the fence, then numbers three, four, and so on. Once I won about a third of the people over, the most respected third, others started heading my way from the far side of the fence. Your people vote every day to decide which side of the fence to be on.

Here's how to get started on the Fence Technique:

Determine who is the most respected among my team members.
Identify which qualities make this person so trusted.
Rank your team members in order of peer respect, but keep the list for your eyes only.

“Determination makes failure impossible.”