What Do You Want To Be Remembered For?

The question that changed everything.

I oversaw multiple facilities, each with a manager and its own culture. It was night and day going from building to building. There was the building that ate lunch together, the team that avoided eye contact, the team that said the right things but always did the wrong, the team that underperformed, and the team that overperformed.

Inconsistent leadership from the facility managers to the executive team led to what the executives believed to be the corporate culture (completely out of touch with reality) and the facilities operating in micro-cultures. Fixing this would be a heavy lift. I couldn't fix the executive team without a lot of time but I could certainly fix the culture within Operations.

I gathered the facility managers and supervisors. Two layers of facility leadership. And here is where I took an approach that was different.

Most leaders ask their teams what they want to achieve. But that's short sighted. We had OKR's and we had metrics but what we lacked was a common vision. Asking what you want to achieve is short-term. This problem was long term. How do I get the team to come together in a way that would open the campus to collaboration? How would I get these managers and supervisors to think beyond their building? Beyond today? How do I take the Core Values and Guiding Principles off a wall and put it into their leadership? The question asked was simple but powerful.

“What do you want to be remembered for?”

Is it the person that ran a facility or is it the person that extended their influence - their expertise - their life experience - their talent - beyond one facility and across a campus?

The answers revealed everything - values, priorities, motivations, blind spots, and the kind of impact they truly want to make. Some said: “Being the person people can count on.” “Improving how we work, not just getting the work done.” “Elevating others, not just myself.” "Having an impact." "Touching lives."

The results - managers began collaborating, they visited each others facilities, offered advice, made suggestions, looked out for one another, improved facility performance, improved EBITDA, improved employee morale, shared labor, improved safety, and grew into leaders that have gone on to do great things.

When you understand what someone wants to be remembered for, you understand how to lead them. It turns a job into a mission. It turns a task into ownership. It turns individuals into leaders. And it turns a team into something that actually means something.

It’s one question that changes the whole conversation. Give it a try!