We over I

“When ‘I’ is replaced by ‘We’, even ‘Illness’ becomes ‘Wellness’” – Malcolm X

I found this quote years ago when writing about leaders bringing people together to make a better workplace for all of their employees. This quote emphasizes the importance of togetherness and collective effort in moving away from organizational illness (selfish agendas and camps) to reaching organizational wellness (shared goal setting and achieving). Moving away from an individual (or small group) focus with a collective approach, we can overcome challenges that predictably break down teams and compromise organizational performance. Considering and valuing all employees and their input inspires people to give what is known as “discretionary effort”, energy they otherwise hold back. Valuing all employees and their input makes leading the organization easier, less stressful, and achieves better, much better, outcomes.

Early in my career, I had a boss whom I resented because I thought she had it in for me. She insisted that I didn’t have the type of relationships at my school site that would assure my success. She said I wasn’t collaborative enough and that I spent too much time on my own projects. She pointed to my behavior as a reason that things weren’t going as well as I, or the District, would like to see. I was working hard, putting in hours, and had good relationships at work, but I wasn’t the type of leader that all employees could relate to or trust. It was my first assignment as a principal, and it was not going well. Most days were a struggle, and I couldn’t figure out why or how I could work as long and as hard as I had but could not build a positive culture at my site. I was the problem. At the time, I could not, or would not, see it. She could, and because I disagreed, our relationship was strained.

Later, I moved to another site and decided to prove my boss wrong. I goal was to focus on being collaborative with my staff. In fact, I would be extremely collaborative and show my boss the error of her ways. That would shut her up for good, so I could move on and run my school. What I learned changed my career forever. People really responded to it. I found that people were more willing to work with me and were less likely to undermine the work we were doing. Two years later, I moved to another site and put all my energy into being collaborative and supportive. What happened blew me away. I was assigned to what was considered a very difficult site with a staff that was described as obstinate and unwilling to work as a team. The story was that they were very willing to run a principal out of town. Within 6 months, we transformed that site into a place where people were respected, heard, and they were willing to do things that made our school a great place to teach, learn, and have an awesome experience. At both places, good relationships were at the core of my success.

In 2020, I wrote an article about the relationship between money and employee engagement, Money Can’t Buy Love Or Employee Engagement. In it, I included a study done in 2010 where researchers found that there was a weak relationship between money and employee engagement. At your job, they offer you raises, shirts, food, and other tchotchkes your employer believes might ignite employee engagement. Money and things don’t do it, it will never work until the employer engages with employees in a meaningful way. Money and things are enhancers of what people think about you. If they think you are a manipulator, the gifts will be seen as a manipulation. It will reinforce what they think about you, making their opinion of you stronger. If they believe you are in their corner, the gift will be seen as evidence that you have their back. The gift will reinforce what they think about you, making their opinion of you stronger. Yes, the same gift (or raise), given by two different people, can elicit opposite feelings by employees.

In that article, I also included five rules that will help build employee engagement much more powerfully than money or gifts.

1. Make work an enjoyable place to be.
2. Remove Barriers to their success.
3. Meet with employees regularly, connect.
4. Give them space and grace.
5. Celebrate!

I’ve been involved with athletics, playing, coaching, administrating, and supporting since I was 7.  Over the past, maybe 10 years, a new interest has been put on successful coaches in college and the pros. When asked about how to build a successful team, the coach will spend the most time talking about his relationships with his players. The time he spends with players, and the way he demonstrates his concern for them as people more than players. Dawn Staley, Head Coach of the Women’s Basketball team at the University of South Carolina, got an interview with the Portland Trailblazers the last time that job was open. What does she report the conversation was about? Her relationship with her team and how she would build relationships with the Trailblazers. It seems that wherever you go, if you want to be a successful leader, relationships with your employees have to be the priority.

Also, in that article I wrote in 2020, I had to laugh at myself. The 1964 hit by the Beatles, Can’t Buy Me Love was remade by Blackstreet, an R&B band in 1997. I knew of both versions, but because Blackstreet’s was so unique, I never knew it was a remake until the time I was writing the article. In the song, Paul McCartney ( and then Teddy Riley) sang that love was more important than money. People want to know that you have their best interests at heart and that you care about them. Your employees want to know that you are together in this fight for whatever you’re trying to accomplish. I learned it trying to spite a former boss, I learned it in negotiations, I learned it researching for an article, and I even learned it watching sports. Now, it’s the only way I’ll ever do it. Close the gap between you and your employees. Put the team before your own and anyone else’s agenda. Let them know you care. Draw them in. Don’t take the long road I did. Put ‘We’ over ‘I’, follow the rules, and watch your work life get brighter by the day… Or swing by Lone Pine USD!

William A. Brown

Superintendent/Principal, Lone Pine Unified School District

The Power of Healthy Relationships at Work

Money Can’t Buy Love

The Beatles – Can’t Buy Me Love

Blackstreet – (Money Can’t) Buy Me Love