No person who has kept abreast of what is happening in organizations and institutions in our society can escape the conclusion that a revolution has started—a human relations revolution of great significance. People want to be treated with respect and with dignity; people are demanding to have a strong voice in their own working lives; people are less willing to be coerced and exploited; people want the right to achieve self-respect in their work and have work that is meaningful and rewarding; people are rebelling against inhuman working environments in very human ways—by job-hopping, absenteeism, apathetic attitudes, antagonism, and malicious mischief.
For leaders who already recognize “that the human element is paramount” and accept the predominant place of good human relationships in organizations, this book will provide invaluable skills and methods. If you want to avoid the destructive effects of coercing people with your power, you will find many non-power alternatives in these pages. If you want to move away from making all decisions on your own, you’ll find out how to develop a decision-making team. If you want open and honest two-way communication so that you can better influence your group members and they in turn better influence you, our Active Listening and I-Message skills will accomplish that for you.
A final point: there is one thing this book will never do. [L.E.T.] It will not tell you what specific outcomes or results to expect from applying this leadership model. L.E.T. only teaches you methodologies. Through their use, different results will be achieved in different organizations, influenced by a variety of factors: what your organization does, the type of people you work with, the economic and financial limits within which your organization operates, and so on. Your new leadership skills may bring a reduction in costs and higher morale, as in one company I know. Or your human relations skills may bring similar results to those experienced by American Freightways [now FedEx Freight], a transportation company of 17,000 employees. George S., Learning Center Manager, reported the following outcomes of the L.E.T. training:
• Improved job satisfaction of associates
• Increased contributions of new ideas and procedures in operations
• Improved retention of associates
• Enhanced job competencies and skills
• Increased productivity
“The results are very positive; supervisors now approach their work and their associates in a more collaborative way working towards a common goal. However, what has been most powerful is the multitude of personal success stories we have heard from L.E.T. graduates. So many supervisors and managers come back to me and tell me how their personal relationships were saved or improved.”