Moving Feet & Opening Ears: Leading Team Member & Customer Loyalty

MBWA – Managing by Walking Around: In 1982, management consultants Tom Peters and Robert H. Waterman wrote a breakthrough book, In Search of Excellence. Peters and Waterman advocated for a management style called MBWA (Managing By Walking Around) in that book.  Anastasia Belyh, co-founder of cleverism.com, describes MBWA as: The theory is both simple, yet often misunderstood. Although the main core is to have the management moving about, you can’t just expect aimless walking around the company to solve problems. The method is essentially a management style in which the managers walk around in unstructured and unplanned manner amongst the employees. The objective is to interact with the subordinates and supervise their work, while they are performing it. According to the proponents, this kind of interaction will allow the managers to better understand the issues, ideas and concerns of the subordinates.

Like all management approaches, MBWA’s popularity and practice have ebbed and flowed since its introduction.  Critics of MBWA view it as time-consuming and inefficient. Advocates (of which I am one) see it as a powerful style for driving team member engagement and innovation.  Carl Lindberg, author of Interpersonal Communication and an MBWA practitioner, writes:  Management By Walking Around is incredibly effective in workplaces that involve teams, routines, tasks, production, and knowledge workers. The approach is far more effective than arranged visits, as managers gain truthful insight through dialogue and witnessing operations firsthand.

LBWA – Leading by Working Alongside: At the height of the pandemic, MBWA wasn’t possible.  Instead, leaders “dropped in” unexpectedly on team meetings.  However, the practice is experiencing a resurgence and is even being enhanced by something I refer to as LBWA (Leading By Working Alongside).

Here’s an example of what I mean by LBWA.  In the context of a Harvard Business School study that showed CEOs spend, on average, only 6 percent of their time with rank-and-file employees (and less time with customers), Laxman Narasimhan, Starbucks CEO, vowed to spend half a day a month working in Starbucks stores. Laxman’s LBWA approach parallels that of other leaders, such as DoorDash CEO Tony Xu and his executive team, who make DoorDash deliveries once a month.  Similarly, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky (who I worked with for my book, The Airbnb Way) Consistently rents his home on the platform and books his stays from Airbnb hosts.

Tips for LBWA: Assuming you want to increase your time with team members either in the context of MBWA or LBWA, here are a few tips to consider:

1. It’s Not About You – Spending time with the front line shouldn’t be done to impress the field that you are a “regular person” or be part of a public relations initiative.  These leadership styles are extensions of people interested in learning from team members in the trenches and observing customer behavior firsthand.
2. Be Open & Ready for the Unvarnished Truth – All too often, leaders hear what people around them think they want to hear.  The more time you spend in the field (especially if you are working alongside your team), the more likely you are to see things from which you might otherwise be shielded.
3. Take a Genuine Interest – Don’t walk about or work alongside team members unless you are there to hear and observe what is important to them at work and beyond.

My experience tells me if you want to know the engagement level of a team:

Ask their manager about their team members’ ambitions, struggles, interests, and family.  The more the manager knows, the more the team members and the company will grow.

Written by Joseph Michelli, Ph.D.

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