Cover Story
Healthy guidelines
Smart Business Detroit | October 2008
Page 2 of 4
Listen first
Loepp had been with the company for more than five years
and knew he wasn’t going to just step into his new role and
pick up where Whitmer left off.
“What you don’t realize is that it’s a different job,” he says.
“When your colleagues become your associates, your responsibility factor, even though it was probably high, is much higher.”
Loepp started by listening to what employees had to say.
“I think you end up doing a lot better using your ears than
your mouth oftentimes,” he says.
In order to be a better listener, you need to go beyond just
hearing what someone says. For example, in a staff meeting, you
should follow up statements made by others with good questions.
“Which means, you have to be prepared, but where you’re not
pontificating,” he says. “[You do this] by sort of laying back a
little bit and listening and then asking the two or three tough
questions and then listening again. Generally, that probably
heeds well.”
Though not every idea he hears may be useful, getting others
to throw ideas out there can benefit the company.
“Sometimes what people say, you aren’t going to use, but by
getting a wide variety and really meeting and sitting down with
a wide variety of employees, you really do get a wider perspective on where people are coming from,” he says.
For tough decisions, Loepp will listen to the information
given to him, but then tends to go with a gut feeling based on
all the facts provided.
“Then, invoking the 12- or 24-hour rule is not a bad thing either,”
he says. “You allow yourself to run it though your mind again, to
look at the stuff again, as opposed to making a knee-jerk decision. Sometimes you don’t have that much time and you have to
do what you’ve got to do. But generally, most decisions you
make, you can invoke that overnight or next-day rule and then
sort of sleep on it, and if you’re in the same spot, it’s time to go.”
