Andrea Michaels doesn’t mind when people gush over her
employees.
After all, as president of Sherman Oaks-based event planning
and production firm Extraordinary Events, Michaels wants her
staff to hear the praise and feel lucky to work where they do.
“We are very well-respected in our industry, and I want people to
have a sense of pride in our company,” Michaels says. “I want them
to have the same respect for each other and the company that the
outsider does.”
To build that respect, Michaels emphasizes staff empowerment,
seeks feedback and works to foster teamwork and collaboration,
building a culture that has helped grow EE’s annual revenue to
approximately $15 million.
Smart Business spoke with Michaels about why letting others
make decisions can be the most important choice a leader makes.
Q: How would you describe your leadership style?
My leadership style is based on empowerment. I really believe in
training people to do their jobs and letting them do it, keeping a
watchful eye on everything and everybody, and stepping in only
when needed.
It’s not that I don’t understand what everybody is doing, and I
don’t expect anything of anybody else that I am not willing to do
myself.
When I see people about to make a drastic mistake, it’s a matter
of asking, ‘What would happen if?’ instead of saying, ‘This is the
way we’re going to do it because this is the way I demand it be
done.’ People don’t learn if they’re only told what to do.
It’s like kids — we’re all children in one way or another, and we
have to be allowed to grow up. That’s a very important part of business. You have to train people to make intelligent decisions.
It’s hard because, like anybody who is in an ownership position,
you have control issues. You want it done your way, but sometimes
other ways are better, and we can learn from other people, too.
Q: How do you encourage input, and how does it benefit your company?
This is a company like advertising, where you have to come up
with the best idea or you don’t get the business. When we need
ideas, we shut the doors, we turn off the phones and we do exercises with just, ‘Here’s the scope of the project. Let’s brainstorm.’
That means the accountant. That means everybody, because that’s
our audience. They’re all inspired and they are all part of it. Some
of the best ideas and some of the most profitable ones we’ve had
have come from the administrative staff.
It keeps people inspired and excited, and that’s more important
than money, at least that’s what the publications say. It also develops friendships within the company that keep a loyalty factor
going that might not happen otherwise.
With this kind of communication, people really get to know each
other pretty well. When they do, friendships form. That keeps
them interested in staying here.
Q: How else can a leader foster a team approach?
We have a program called ‘Walk a mile in my shoes,’ which
means that people who do production who don’t understand
the sales process and think that salespeople just go out and eat
a lot of lunches, they go out and cold call for a day. They are
required to spend one day cold calling and reporting on it and
doing everything a salesperson would do.
At the same time, the salesperson then has to take on their job
and work on production. Or they might have to spend a day as a
receptionist, answering the phones and faxing, mailing and
copying.
The point is, everybody here has to respect the position of
everybody else by understanding what it is, or we can’t operate
as a team.
Q: How does a leader’s responsibility change as his or her company grows?
The only way in which your responsibilities change is that your
job becomes to bring up new leaders and not just hire followers.
You have to take a look and say, ‘If I’m not here, how does the
company function?’ and set a plan in place that takes it beyond
you.
In my case, my son is very much part of the company now
and has been for the last few years and is being trained really
in all elements of the company. He’s a very different person
than I am. Whether the company will go on one day as I’ve
always known it or not, that will be his choice.
I’m trying to stand back and say, ‘It doesn’t have to be my way.’
That’s hard to do. I see that it is necessary, again, to the sense of
empowerment, that if I am ultimately making every decision, it
won’t benefit anyone else.
So I know when people come to me now and say, ‘What should
we do?’ my response instead of an answer is, ‘What do you think
we should do?
HOW TO REACH: Extraordinary Events, (818) 783-6112 or www.extraordinaryevents.net
