Senior Vice President of Real Estate Mike Smietana describes himself as an introvert who knows how important it is to make connections.
“I’ve taken pride in developing good relationships throughout my 44 years of service,” said Smietana, who retired as a Colonel after serving 26 years in the Air Force and has been with the Exchange since 2008. “I’m pretty solitary, but it doesn’t stop me from developing good relationships. Even an introvert can have strong relations.”
Smietana’s remarks came during a Sept. 23 LINK (Leaders Inspiring Networks & Knowledge) presentation on the importance of building relationships at work and elsewhere.
He cited a Harvard Business Review list of relationship-building tips, providing commentary on them:
Know what makes you great at your job — and share your gift with others.
“Don’t be afraid to talk about yourself and share what you do well with others,” Smietana said. “I think we don’t do enough of that. I’m not saying, tout what you do as being fantastic, but share what you know with respect to what you do well.
Understand how others see you — and shift your perspective from “me” to “we.”
“It’s often easy after you put such great effort into something to say, ‘I did this’ or ‘This is what I’m about,’” he said. “That’s not the way I think great leaders should act. It’s all about ‘we’ and the team. If you did 90% of the effort, there’s still a team behind you that deserves credit, and that’s a great way for a leader to talk.”
Mentor others to develop your leadership skills.
“We all have mentors,” Smietana said. “Most of them are unofficial. But I think you all realize who your mentors are, and the ones that naturally evolve are probably the best. If you don’t have that connection or that understanding, or that like that you need between two people, the mentorship is not as impactful.”
Learn how to work productively with personalities you find difficult
“[Difficult personalities] are probably the biggest challenges but can also be the most fruitful. If you can come to an understanding with someone who is difficult to work with, it makes you feel good, and it’s a measure of success as far as developing relationships.”
Harvard Business Review’s tips, which also included “set boundaries on work relationships,” set up a discussion of how building relationships fits in to the Exchange’s unique culture.
“We’ve been around for 130 years and our culture drives this organization more than most,” Smietana said. “Even though we have processes in place, relationships really help make this organization run, because we’ve been around so long and we’ve got so many folks who have been with the organization for decades. Our culture is real. Embrace it.”
Part of that culture is leadership development, which is intertwined with relationship building.
“Leadership and relationships go hand in hand, and they’re not two ships that pass in the night,” he said. “They are tethered together. One of the things our senior leaders have in common is they all have tight working relationships with the right people. That makes them more effective.”
Building trust and integrity — doing the right thing and doing what you’ll say you’ll do — is vital to relationship building, Smietana added. He segued into talking about his own journey, covering his Air Force and Exchange service and beyond, and how important relationship-building has been throughout. Building strong relationships is always a two-way street–there needs to be give and take, and each partner needs to benefit from that relationship.
“I grew up with two blue-collar parents,” Smietana said. “Both worked, worked very hard, taught me a lot of good life lessons, but they were on the opposite ends of the spectrum. My mom taught me ‘Do your job, keep your nose clean, work hard. You’ll get promoted, OK? You’ll move up and you’ll be the boss.’ My father, a little bit different, said, ‘It’s all about who you know, cozy up, develop relationships, you know, know the boss. It’s who you know.’
“And I have to say, in general, my dad was right. It’s really who you know and the relationships you cultivate.”
At the Exchange, he said, he was hired partly because of the relationships he had built during his 26-year military career.
“Real Estate had been struggling, trying to get support at our installations,” he said, adding that the people who hired him “realized that they needed a relationship-builder. I fit that bill pretty well…. And I took pride in that, that I had a reputation, that people knew me and respected me.”
LINK aims to strengthen workplace culture, boost morale and reinforce the value of connection. Each month, a senior leader hosts a session via Teams aligned to key business priorities. Next month’s speaker will be COL(R) Fred Hannah, senior vice president, supply chain.
Active associates who were unable to attend Smietana’s presentation can view it here.
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