It’s funny how something as simple as walking around chatting with people can become a style of management. Proponents of MBWA claim that:
- it allows managers to solve problems as they are happening.
- it fosters the development of informal networks.
- it keeps managers fingers on the pulse of the organization
Successful CEOs such as John Connelly of Crown Cork and Seal and Mike Duke of WalMart were famous for walking the shop floor and the loading docks, just chatting with employees. MBWA may have allowed them to uncover hidden problems but it was something more than that. It made them leaders.
MBWA is about making an emotional connection
If you want to be a great leader, you’ll need to make an emotional connection with people and MBWA is a great way of doing that.