Andy Grove has demonstrated that, to flourish, the best and highest technology needs the best and highest standards of leadership. A manager's most important task is to get peak performance from staff. They need to be selected, motivated, trained, set stretching aims, appraised, and rewarded by leaders who set a powerful personal example.
Modelling the role
Motivation and training — the two key means to the end of peak performance — are both demanding tests of leadership. The more you participate as face-to-face motivator and trainer, the more effective your leadership will be. Every leader is a role model, for better or for worse. You must show the same drive for high achievement that you demand of others.
Above all, concentrate on creating an environment that values and emphasizes output. High motivation and training are useless if they do not advance the output of the unit and the individuals in that unit. Cross-examine yourself regularly with these three questions:
Have my actions contributed to higher output?
Is my contribution visible to others?
Have I shown commitment to higher output still?
Getting your message across
Being a visible role model is easier in a small organization. But even in a small unit, where contacting people face-to-face is easy, you still need to find a way "to project your determination, will, and vision". You can never, says Grove, overclarify or overcommunicate.
Project your Vision
Give a lot of talks to employees.
Visit them where they work.
Explain over and over again.
Answer employees' questions.
Do not be afraid of repetition.
Working one-to-one
Personal interviews are crucial to leadership. Grove singles out two especially difficult tasks — selecting the right employee and keeping somebody who wants to leave. But one-on-one meetings are essential tools for other purposes, too, and the same three rules always apply.
Three Rules of One-to-one Meetings
1 Have a clear purpose.
2 Use the interview to learn.
3 Make use of what you have learnt to achieve your aim.
Applying the rules
In a job interview your purpose is to discover all you can: about the candidate's technical knowledge and skills; how well the person used those abilities in the past; any discrepancies, failures, and problems; how well the candidate will fit the organization and its needs. Get the candidate to speak for 80 per cent of the time.
When someone you value says they want to quit, use the three rules to persuade them to stay. Follow Grove's approach:
* Drop what you are doing and deal with the issue at once.
("Your initial reaction... is absolutely crucial.")
* Let them talk — do not argue, lecture, or panic.
* Look for and learn the person's real motives.
* Buy as much time as you can and need.
* Seek help and advice as required.
* Make an offer that the person cannot refuse.
Giving Interviews Top Priority
Candidates at Intel may be interviewed by as many as half-a-dozen people. The interviews are always given top priority.
One interviewer would not stop to take a phone call from the chairman, Robert Noyce, because "I have a candidate". Even Grove gets involved in hiring new graduates. When one star seemed likely to accept an offer from any of a dozen other would-be employers, Grove signed a personal letter telling the young man why he should join Intel - which he did.
