Professional Documents
Culture Documents
—Sherry Stephens
PESA President
leaders are there for everyone else You have to celebrate your successes—
this is very important, but I’m very bad at it.
When my team achieves something, I’m
Editor’s note: This essay is based on Robert but what holds them up is an innate fear of already thinking about the next big thing and
Workman’s presentation on what it takes to building a team that is more capable than what may be going wrong. You need to take
be successful, to lead people, and produce they are. It’s difficult to promote them time out to recognize time and effort. Stop,
results. Workman has led a 20-year career because someone else will have to make a take a breath, celebrate, and refill the tank
with National Oilwell Varco and is Group sacrifice to move them up. If you’ve got for the next big animal.
President, Distribution Services. people who can perform as well or better
than you, you’re easy to promote. Create Conditions for Success
I come to work with one purpose every Leading is producing results through
day—to make my team successful. That’s it. others. I am the boss, but we don’t act that way
At the end of the day, leaders are there for while tackling a problem. When we get
everyone else. Build a high Performing team together to talk about something, we’re a
This is my perspective on leadership, and group of individuals on the same team
no two people do it alike. But before you can Never take a risk on leadership team pulling in the same direction and there’s no
lead a team, you have to demonstrate the members. I’ve done it in the past—hired hierarchy with respect to how we work
qualities of a leader. It’s not about industry someone who had a great resume or just together. In order for that to happen, I—or
experience—most of my team didn’t grow interviewed well—I had to eventually part you as a team leader—have to lose your ego
up in the oilfield as I did. It’s not about your ways with them. If you make a mistake, and level the playing field.
degree—I didn’t have a degree when I first address it. The alternative is that you can You’ve put a lot of time and effort into
led this business unit. It’s not about age—I burden yourself and do everything you can putting together this team because you
was 32 when I took over Distribution to get them up to speed. Nine times out of wanted their skill sets and capabilities. If you
Services. ten, it won’t work and you’ve cost yourself don’t create a space for them to be able to
You become a leader by consistently years of progress. just spew out what they want to spew out
producing extraordinary results. If you can Team members will fail if they’re not with respect to whatever you’re debating,
do this, you can rise through the ranks and trusted, regardless of their skills. On the flip then you’re not getting out of them what you
be given all the opportunities to advance side, if they aren’t open, honest and went after in the first place. They can’t sit in
your career. You can’t be reliable if you’re trustworthy, move on. a room feeling like the conversation is a
inconsistent, so you can’t hit it out of the High-performers aren’t motivated by performance appraisal. Create a space where
park for six months and then strike out for money—this is an indisputable fact. That they can say something extremely stupid or
six months. said, if they’re producing extraordinary very smart, but either way there’s no
Be honest, have integrity and be a team results and you’re not rewarding them, they repercussions for them.
player—sometimes you have to make a will leave you. But if you have someone on You have to allow for a noisy system.
sacrifice that’s not so great for your group, your team that isn’t producing and you We’re noisy, we’re passionate, we want to
but it’s the right call for the larger convince yourself that changing their win, and you can hear it. We’re not
organization. Set impressive goals and compensation or setting up an incentive plan disrespectful to each other, because we
exceed expectations—setting a shallow goal will change their results, it won’t. High understand the difference between talking
and meeting it means nothing. And have a performers take pride in their work, and they passionately versus something else that
succession plan—some people I know are won’t produce bad work because they don’t makes someone uncomfortable.
perfect candidates for career path growth, like their income. n See leadership, Page 8
4 PESA News NEws
other eight, and your job as a leader is to warehouse, but every time I visit the field I
lEadERShIP make a decision and move on. You didn’t find pertinent information about the
Continued from Page 3 get to where you are as a leader in your organization. It’s the same with your
group by accident—you have a track record customers—you’ll find out things about how
I can pick out two times in my career of producing results, and sometimes you they’re serviced, treated, or what they’re
where I was nervous, and my team was have to go with your instinct. While that being told when you visit them.
nervous, because we felt that if we didn’t get might make some people uncomfortable, Your team’s attitude will reflect what they
something figured out, we’re jobless. We’d nine times out of ten you’re going to be see in you. Sometimes something goes
get out of the office, lock ourselves up in a right. wrong and I’ll be depressed about it, and
room, and work 12 to 14 hours a day trying will be moping and will notice people
to find a solution. Every time we’ve done it keep your team healthy looking at me. People feed off your attitude.
with a sense of urgency, we’ve exceeded our If you want to pout, go shut the door to your
own expectations. Employees that are not happy at home are office and pout. But if you’re in public with
A guy named Barnaby who used to run not happy at work. You can’t control your team, you need to act the way you want
E&I in Italy had a great analogy for that: if everything from that standpoint, but what them to act—if they feel like they’re
you’re doing a fire drill on a platform, you you can do is make your team understand winning, they’ll produce better results.
can tell everyone to jump in the water and that family comes first. If you know one of And don’t get discouraged, because
only a few will do it. Or you can set the your employees has been called to an sometimes timing is everything. We’ve sat
platform on fire and everybody will know important meeting, but his daughter is in a in conference rooms before and have come
what they’re supposed to do. Why do you play, make sure he goes to the play. You can up with the best, slam-dunk plans and they
have to wait for a fire in your business to work through the work stuff later. failed. There were other times where none of
produce results that are extraordinary? You, Focus on your team’s strengths, not their us felt great about a particular solution, and
as a leader, can create that sense of urgency weaknesses. Sidebars and performance it was amazingly successful. Sometimes you
and energy to do something extraordinary. appraisals are venues for discussing can’t beat timing, and sometimes timing can
weaknesses, but if it’s part of your routine, cover your weaknesses.
Remove Roadblocks you’ll demoralize that person. Always Finally, leaders don’t assume people will
remember people are your only true assets. follow because they report to them and can
There are times you have to put your foot Make sure you reward them and take care of fire them; they go out and earn followership.
down, but if there’s not a reason to burn a your top performers. And invest in It’s a much different scenario to earn
bridge, don’t. I’ve had employees become leadership development for you and your followership than to assume it will be there
customers, employees became vendors, team—the day you think you’re there as a or demand it. If I want to make a decision, I
vendors become customers—something leader, you’ve failed. You’re never as good don’t go in and tell them what to do. I go in
might happen and you’ll end up relying on as you could be at leading. and influence, which might take awhile, and
that person in the future. it may be painful—and sometimes I come
I try to work from a position of everyone never Stop leading out corrected—but at the end of the day, you
is pulling in the same direction because I want to be on the same page.
prefer that outcome. However, there will be You have to stay plugged into your If you’re leading and have made your
times when three people don’t agree with the organization. I grew up in this business and team successful, you’re successful and your
have worked up the ranks from the career path will be unlimited.