Giving People Permission To Succeed

How do prepare others for success? Who said, “I believe in you”? Fred Smith outlines four ways to give people permission to

By Fred Smith

Giving people permission to succeed can be done in four ways:

1. Verbalize it. For some reason, many people find it difficult to tell people they have permission to succeed. It's easier to do the opposite, to talk negatively. Often I hear people say to their organizations, "Now, we can't expect to do miracles here. I mean, we're just a little organization; we're just a band of believers."

But if the people in our organizations are going to reach their God-granted potential, it will usually require leaders' saying, "You've got it. God hasn't fenced you in capriciously. The psychological barriers you might have of how important you are or where your family comes from or your education — they'll limit you only if you let them. You have the permission, my permission, to go as far as you can go."

2. Reinforce it constantly. One of the most powerful reinforcements is telling stories of people who are successful.

I walked into a plant the other day to meet the president for lunch. He's a pragmatic, engineer type. I knew it is uncharacteristic of him to verbalize his belief in people, and I wondered, " How does he give his people the permission to succeed?"

Then I saw on the wall a chart that showed the company's production and sales for the past five years. The figures started at $200,000 and this year reached $5,000,000. With that chart he's saying, "Every year we have grown. Every year we've been more successful. Next year we expect to be more successful." He's giving the permission.

As I recognize success, I try to stretch people's horizons. I might say, "That was terrific!" but I don't stop there. Tomorrow I might return, repeat the compliment and say, "Last year, would you have believed you could do that? You may be surprised at what you can accomplish next year."

3. Implement it. Then we need to give people opportunities. In Worcester, Massachusetts, I created a task force of managers but put on it an hourly employee who hadn't been recognized. That assignment gave him the opportunity to run in a different league, and he sprinted! I knew he would; he had the talent and simply needed the opportunity.

4. Demand it. You don't start by saying," It's your responsibility to be successful" because you'll overwhelm a person. You start by saying, "You have the permission to be successful." That fuels his desire, and if he has the drive and desire to be successful, he will. But after the person has become successful, you switch from giving permission to making it a responsibility. You say, "God's given you something to develop. It's your responsibility to take that and do as much as you can with it."

Toscanini, for example, demanded near perfection from his musicians. Robert Merrill told once about singing under Toscanini's direction and repeatedly missing the syncopation in a particular short passage. Toscanini kept bringing him back to it. Finally, he walked over and with his baton tapped the beat lightly on Merrill's head. Ever after, Merrill, said, whenever he sang that phrase, he could feel Toscanini's baton on his head. Toscanini demanded greatness, and he produced it.

Demanding success may sound harsh, but when done in the right way, and while there are still time and opportunities for the person, it's one of the most caring things we can do. First, demanding success means keeping people off dead-end streets. As a young man I wanted to be a concert vocalist. My voice teacher did me a lifetime favor --- he told me that I had motivation, work ethic, enthusiasm and desire ---- I just didn't have talent. He saved me from a dead end.

Second, demanding success means keeping people from irresponsibility. I had breakfast recently with the chairman of the board of a corporation. He said, "Fred the thing I need most is the accountability of Christian friends. I want someone to ask me, "Are you really being a good chairman of the board? Are you working as hard as you did twenty years ago? Are you arrogant?" We all need leaders and friends who will see irresponsibility and point it out.

Third, demanding success means keeping people focused on results, not effort. A mediocre leader thanks people for effort without realize that unsuccessful effort is a great waste. The time to thank people is when they've produced results. I had a boss once who taught this to me in a dramatic way. I didn't have good results to show for a certain project, so I was telling him how hard I'd worked on it. Finally, he said, "Fred, show me the baby; don't tell me about the labor pains." He was right: what we're here for is the baby. And he helped me become more successful by teaching me to focus on results.