Putting People first

Introducing a new book from Insperity’s Paul Savardi

Paul Sarvadi is a busy man, but then he always has been. Starting in 1986, the Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of Insperity led his startup from a modest personnel management company located in Kingwood, Texas, to the powerhouse it is today, with more than $3 billion in revenue. Along the way he developed a friendship with Arnold Palmer, who was a spokesman for Sarvadi’s company; he launched a PGA TOUR Champions event, the Insperity Invitational; and he helped countless businesses to find their best success, something he continues to do. Along the way he’s navigated the ups and downs of volatile markets, dynamic cultural changes, and challenges with service providers, experiences that have given him a world of perspective. But in the end, he says, success has come down to one thing: people.

That’s evident in Sarvadi’s new book, Take Care of Your People, published by ForbesBooks. In it, Sarvadi delves into the reason why people are a company’s greatest asset and offers 10 strategies for getting your human capital strategy right, which is key to any company’s long-term success.

Here, in this edited excerpt, Sarvadi explains one facet of Insperity’s leadership model, which begins with service:

SERVANT LEADERSHIP

The style we practice at Insperity is servant leadership. Over time, servant leadership has become a central part of our company’s culture, so much so that it’s something that employees, regardless of their position, often model. In fact, a recent corporate employee survey revealed that more than 90 percent of employees agreed that they’re responsible for demonstrating servant leadership qualities at work.

Servant leadership turns the conventional notion of leadership on its head; instead of a top-down orientation, the people at the top work for the benefit of everyone else, from the bottom on up. It’s based on inspiring people to work to achieve individual and company goals. Rather than relying on coercion, the goal of servant leadership is to empower our employees by giving them the freedom and flexibility to work well, innovate, and advance without fear.

Jerry, the company’s other co-founder, always wanted to make sure that everyone felt safe to fail, which is part of learning and part of any healthy corporate atmosphere. He understood that being afraid is harmful to workplace culture, and he didn’t want anyone to be fearful of making a mistake. I agreed with this concept, with the caveat that if we fail, we should fail fast, learning from our mistakes and expeditiously moving ahead. Trial and error is a proven method in business, but if it occurs slowly, the organization will suffer. Over the years, fail fast has become an important mantra in our culture.

Beyond that, our version of servant leadership is based on the following six principles:

1. Being leaders rather than managers. Now, there’s nothing wrong with managing. Good management is an essential part of a well-run organization. Company heads should be skilled at both leading and managing. But leadership is something distinct from management. It is the skill of influencing people to work enthusiastically toward common goals and for the common good.

2. Relying on authority rather than power. Power is using your might or position to compel someone to do something he or she might not otherwise do. It is implicitly coercive. Authority is more of a skill rather than a blunt exercise of force. It means getting people to willingly and even eagerly do what you want, because your relationship with them confers some degree of personal influence. That’s the key word, really: relationship. Cultivating healthy relationships is a great source of authority because it means the people who work for you want to contribute and aren’t just acting because of the fear of getting disciplined or fired. Power benefits only the few, the elite, the ones who hold power. Authority benefits everyone.

3. Using inspiration rather than motivation. Motivation can be a powerful driver of behavior. But motivation is a carrot and the stick mechanism. It’s a more animalistic way of getting people to act, reducing one’s impetus for doing things to the threat of punishment (the stick) or the promise of reward (the carrot). Inspiration is a better method, and one that is more conducive to servant leadership. Inspiration relies on understanding and support to motivate people. Helping people understand the sum of their life experiences; understand their capabilities, their inclinations, their desires, and their capacity for mounting the obstacles in front of them. In short, helping them discover their calling. That’s inspiration, and that’s what servant leaders should create.

4. Cultivating commitment over cooperation. Cooperation is obviously beneficial, but its power is limited. It’s temporary and shallow. Cooperation is, hey, can you help me move this table? Commitment is long-term and deep. It’s more sustainable. It relies on good relationships built over time. The way you lead determines whether your people are merely cooperative, or whether they’re committed. Cooperation is good for achieving simple tasks. But the big-picture items, the grand vision, the innovative thinking that truly great companies seek—you’ll need commitment for that. The key to commitment is reciprocity. It’s a two-way street.

If you demonstrate your commitment to the people who are following you, they in turn will commit to you and to the success of the organization.

5. Listening vs. caring. For managers, for leaders—for everyone—the importance of listening is self-evident. It’s a valuable business and interpersonal skill. Really, no collective human endeavor can function without it. But caring is something else entirely. Listening results in understanding, but caring results in a relationship, and relationships are what will carry you further as a leader. Listening is focused on the other’s problem, but caring is focused on the other person. Caring is the reason behind why you’re listening: what you seek to understand, what you want to do with the information. Listening establishes communication, that’s a good thing, but caring establishes a connection and that’s a nobler objective to which servant leaders should strive. Don’t just listen. Care.

6. Optimism vs. faith. This one’s a bit tricky, since these two values may seem synonymous, but they’re in fact quite different. Optimism hopes for the best, where faith takes action in expectation of a specific outcome. Optimism looks for good from others; faith sees the good in others. “I believe in you” are powerful words out of the mouth of a leader. They mean, “I believe you’ve got the commitment, I believe that you have the skills, I believe you have the capability, and I’m going to help you.”

That’s faith. And when you have faith in others, others have faith in you, too. At Insperity, we extol both optimism and faith. In fact, one of our core values is looking to the future with an abiding faith and optimism. Faith attempts and achieves what no one else believed possible. Optimism creates a positive environment, but faith creates a sense of purpose, a sense of calling, a sense of mission that’s powerful and inspires action toward achieving objectives.