{"id":7489,"date":"2024-09-17T12:59:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-17T17:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/?p=7489"},"modified":"2024-09-17T09:44:13","modified_gmt":"2024-09-17T14:44:13","slug":"seeing-and-appreciating-people-for-all-that-they-are","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mhisolutionsmag.com\/index.php\/2024\/09\/17\/seeing-and-appreciating-people-for-all-that-they-are\/","title":{"rendered":"Seeing\u2014and Appreciating\u2014People for All That They Are"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Executive Viewpoint<\/h4>\n
\"scottBY SCOTT SUMMERVILLE<\/span>, PRESIDENT AND CEO, MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC AUTOMATION, INC.<\/figure>\n

T<\/span>here was a time when I thought the business end of work was all that mattered, and personal relationships weren\u2019t as important. It was immature and na\u00efve, and I was young.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a journey since then, and I\u2019m fortunate that I\u2019ve had the opportunity to do some resets in my career along the way. I\u2019ve learned how essential it is to understand people and to express compassion. I\u2019ve learned that honesty, openness and collaboration are key to success. Today, my door at Mitsubishi Electric Automation, Inc. is typically open, and I encourage anyone to stop by.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been at the company now for about five years. Within about nine months of being hired as president and CEO, we were in lockdown mode due to the pandemic. It was a terrible time for a lot of people, for a lot of reasons. A lot of people died.<\/p>\n

I won\u2019t minimize that loss. That said, looking at that time from strictly a leadership perspective gives a different view: It was something none of us had ever encountered before. It was challenging and, in some ways, exhilarating. People in positions like mine had to rise to the opportunity. We had to figure things out. And we needed to communicate in new ways.<\/p>\n

At that point, I was one of only a handful of people in the office. I started doing weekly videos, updating everyone on how we were doing, the number of COVID cases we were seeing, that kind of thing. It was my primary vehicle for keeping in touch with employees. But we went a step further: I\u2019d also do one-hour video chats with six or seven employees every week, chosen by my manager of organizational development. That was about getting to know them better, learning what they did at the company, where they were from, their likes and dislikes. I got so much out of these conversations, and I believe others did, too. They loved it, and they were so much fun. They loved the engagement and the transparency, and we kept that up for a handful of months. We didn\u2019t share those conversations with the whole company; it was just for those on the call.<\/p>\n

After that, we kept it going, but dialed back the frequency. It morphed into an ongoing monthly financial update video, talking about the finances of the company, opportunities, major orders, shout-outs, that kind of thing. It\u2019s typically about 30 minutes, and it\u2019s freeform. As for the employee chats, I continue those with new employees, usually once a quarter. I don\u2019t just ask them questions\u2014I encourage them to ask me about anything, too. Fire away!<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve learned a lot through this process, and not just about our roughly 500 employees. I\u2019ve also learned some things about myself. To be completely honest (like a lot of people, I think), it used to be all about me. My loving, understanding wife will still tell me that sometimes. But I\u2019d like to think I\u2019ve evolved.<\/p>\n

Click here to read the full article.<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Executive Viewpoint BY SCOTT SUMMERVILLE, PRESIDENT AND CEO, MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC AUTOMATION, INC. There was a time when I thought the business end of work was all that mattered, and personal relationships weren\u2019t as important. It was immature and na\u00efve, and I was young. It\u2019s been a journey since then, and I\u2019m fortunate that I\u2019ve had …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":7490,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,10],"tags":[3901,3605,3900,3604,442,1902,1907,466],"class_list":["post-7489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-departments","category-industry-trends","tag-business-strategy","tag-communication","tag-executive-viewpoint","tag-leadership","tag-mhi-solutions","tag-mhi-solutions-magazine","tag-mhisolutionsmag","tag-supply-chain"],"yoast_head":"\nSeeing\u2014and Appreciating\u2014People for All That They Are - MHI Solutions<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mhisolutions-digital.com\/mhiq\/0424_volume_12__issue_4\/MobilePagedArticle.action?app=false&cmsId=4218339\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Seeing\u2014and Appreciating\u2014People for All That They Are - MHI Solutions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Executive Viewpoint BY SCOTT SUMMERVILLE, PRESIDENT AND CEO, MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC AUTOMATION, INC. 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