As an accountant, Karen L. Talbott loved helping clients solve problems, so when Visiting Nurse Service and Affiliates became a
client, she was intrigued by the concept. Talbott says she believed in what the in-home health care company did and loved
working with the elderly, so she made the leap from accountant to administrator. Today, she serves as the company’s president,
overseeing 800 employees and helping the company grow and achieve 2006 revenue of $50 million. Smart Business spoke with
Talbott about how belief in the company and passion for your job helps create a successful leader.
Live your vision. Creating a vision comes
from your head and your heart. A leader
can draft a vision, but it takes a group to
perfect it. You have to really help employees relate the vision to what they do.
You’ve got to put it all in perspective. You
can’t just pass out a sheet of paper and say,
‘Oh, here’s our vision, by the way.’ You have
to get input, and you have to bridge that
gap in terms of the vision itself and how
employees see themselves relating to it and
how they are going to be a part of helping
to achieve it.
You have to create that shared ownership
of the vision. People have to feel passionate about their vision and their goals, so
when they go home at night, they think, ‘I
did a good thing; I helped somebody.’ If you
can ask yourself that, and you can get
excited about that, then you are living and
sharing the vision.
Everybody’s job is important. And if
everybody doesn’t do their job, the vision
isn’t going to get accomplished. Everyone
has a role to play, and it’s an important role.
Walk the walk and talk the talk. If you, as a
leader, aren’t willing to do what you are
asking others to do, you’re not going to
have that trust. But if you do that, you will
most likely have a trusting relationship
with your employees.
You have to be consistent in what you do.
And be accessible. These are all things that
build trusting relationships.
You get better through perseverance, just
continually trying to grow in that area.
Staying in touch is very important. Leaders
are like everybody else; they only have 24
hours in a day, and there’s a lot to be done.
But communication has got to be a priority; you have to be disciplined to make it a
priority.
Do whatever works best in your own
environment. Certain things work well in
one company and not another. And still,
you’ll get folks that say, ‘Well, I didn’t know
about that.’
Evaluate performance. It’s important for
employees to know how they are doing.
You can’t expect employees to improve if you haven’t told them what they need to
improve in and also get their buy-in to that.
They have to know the reasons why you
feel they need to improve in certain areas.
Stay focused. Realize that you can’t be all
things to all people. When you lead a company, you want to be all the things you can
be to all the people, and you can’t do that.
You have to stay focused. When you focus,
you have a much better chance of leading
your company and carrying out their vision
and their goals.
Stay true to your core competencies. It’s
trying to look at what you can be the best
at and going about and trying to be the best
and not getting diverted into things that
you’re probably not going to be the best at.
Or leave it to others. But you can’t dilute
your energies.
It’s hard to stay focused; it takes a lot
of discipline to do that. You can hear
about a new program and think, ‘Golly,
we should try that,’ but maybe you
shouldn’t do that. Maybe someone else
could be better at that than your organization. You have to continually reassess
and stay with your core competencies
and your core business.
Model your culture. Culture goes back to an
organization’s values, and those values
are a reference point for how employees
should live their professional lives as a
reflection of the organization. You promote a healthy culture by having good
two-way and honest communication
with employees, by modeling culture, by
having those good hiring practices, and
that ongoing nurturing and building of
trust.
I like to greet new employees. I always
thank them for choosing us for employment because there are a lot of different
places that they can go for employment,
and I want them to know that we appreciate that they have chosen us.
Create synergy through passion. There’s
power in synergy. A good idea brings out
the best in people, and it brings the best
people. You put synergy around a good
idea, and good people will come forward.
The people you talk to about the idea
have to sense that you’re very passionate
about it. I can’t imagine ever doing something that I didn’t want to do or believed
so passionately in. If you don’t get up in
the morning and look forward to what
you’re going to be doing, you’re probably
not in the right position. You never
should come to work thinking any day is
going to be normal, because it isn’t.
If you truly do believe in your vision,
and you truly do try to live the values of
your organization, that’s what keeps that
excitement alive.
HOW TO REACH: Visiting Nurse Service and Affiliates, (330)
745-1601 or www.vnsa.com
