See the People

Patch Adams is a one-of-a-kind. A guy who approaches life much, much differently than most us.

On the other hand, his enthusiasm and love for people would be a welcome addition to almost any company…well, at least he would be welcomed by the employees.

A good friend recently wrote a Blog post regarding a scene from the movie Patch Adams (click here to read Steve Laswell’s excellent article). In this particular scene, Patch learns a profound lesson that would forever impact his perspectives on being a doctor. The lesson? See the people.

A pretty good lesson for managers, too, I think.

See the people. Don’t see “resources” to be manipulated. Don’t see “employees” that create problems. Don’t see “HR issues”. Or “interruptions.” See the people.

Late in the movie, Patch addresses a board that has been convened to determine whether or not he will be allowed to graduate from medical school. In this scene he says, “If you treat a disease – you win, you lose. If you treat a person, I guarantee you win.” This would be great advice for managers as well. High performance is a function of many things, but one of those things is a desire to perform at a high level. That desire will rarely be manifest for a manager that doesn’t see the person.

Click the play button to view the movie trailer starring Robin Williams.

What can managers do to “see the person?” Steve provides four excellent ideas in his Blog article, and I want to reiterate one of those ideas here; an idea that is foundational to 1-on-1 Management™. Invest in each employee one-on-one. As Steve asks in his article, do you spend “Real – uninterrupted – dedicated – “you’re important in my world” time with your employees? [Or...are you an accomplished multi-tasker? You might want to re-read the 1-on-1 Management™ Blog post on multi-tasking...]

The secret to great management is to develop the talent and potential of the people that work for you. Only then will you alleviate some of the stress and time pressure that you constantly experience at work.

To develop their talent you will first have to see the people.