Editorial draft based on Alan's leadership themes. Final text subject to his approval.
A CEO once asked a department head to walk through the office and shop floor, offering colleagues a word of appreciation, a thank you or a simple acknowledgement.
Some employees welcomed the gesture. Others became visibly uncomfortable or kept their distance. The same manager had approached them in much the same way, yet their reactions could hardly have been more different.
The important signal was not the gesture itself but the history of relationships behind it. Trust cannot be switched on for a management exercise. People interpret the present through what their leaders have done over time.
This is why accessibility, consistency and fairness matter. A leader who wishes to be welcomed on the shop floor must earn that welcome long before the walk begins.