Dean Aloise has big shoes to fill in Pittsburgh and he knows it. Aloise, principal and Pittsburgh market leader of Buck Consultants, took over the position in January 2011 after his predecessor was promoted to managing director of the East region. Aloise is a young guy in his early 30s but is up to the challenge of leading the 70-staff employee benefits consulting firm.
“I’ve actually been fortunate in transitioning to this leadership role,” Aloise says. “My predecessor, Harry Rienhart, has moved up in the Buck organization. My transition has been eased by the fact that part of what I’m expected to do is continue that momentum that Harry created. That’s one of my main goals, and obviously, what I’m trying to do is build further on what he created.”
Smart Business spoke to Aloise about his appreciation for his new position and looking to make his own mark.
Examine the organization
You have to understand the current history and culture of the organization that you’re in and the successes that your firm has been built on. Really embracing that, recognizing it and respecting it is a huge part of understanding where you fit into all of that. Going forward, you will be accepted a lot more as a leader that understands where he might fit within the organization’s history.
You have to spend time with the people that you know got the organization to where it is. For example, say there’s an account that’s been around for 50 years and there’s an account executive that’s run that account for the last 25 years. That’s someone you need to get to know, that you need to understand and that you need to respect. Those are the types of people that you absolutely need to spend time with.
Get to know employees
To become familiar with the role, you need to be very involved. You have to really get to know all the people that you are working with. It’s the personal relationships, whether it’s with your client base or with your employees that are required in order to build trust.
Trust is where you need to get to really be firing on all cylinders. To get that trust in a leadership role you have to put in the time on a personal level to understand people and put yourself in their shoes, have them get to know you and establish a rapport with all of your employees and all of your clients. Unless you do that you’re never going to connect to the level that you need to connect.
It might seem simple, but … take the time to go to lunch one on one with employees. Spend a solid hour talking about them and learn to truly be interested in them and in their well-being. Similarly with clients … get together with them to learn about them and get to know them and have them get to know you so you can establish that trust.
First steps
You need to figure out who you are as a leader. I think to be successful, you can’t just show up in the position and exist without putting some specific thought into how you want your organization to work and how you want the culture of your organization to exist. Part of that might be reading leadership books and finding what parts of those books resonate with you and trying to establish your identity, who you truly are, but really getting to know who that is and then you have to deliberately work to try to live that out in your job every day.
Focus on leadership
Always be putting your team and the people around you first. Always be looking out for the best interest of the folks around you. It might seem counterintuitive, but you as a leader should be the last person on your own mind. If you’re taking care of your team and the folks that work around you and your clients, then things probably will work out the best for you in the end.
HOW TO REACH: Buck Consultants Pittsburgh, (412) 281-2506 or www.buckconsultants.com
