“Son, untie those shoes before you get into them or you’re going to ruin them!”.  I can still hear my dad’s voice in the deep recesses of my mind when I put on my shoes in the morning.

Hands up, how many of you heard your dad say something along those lines when you were a kid?

Remember when you were younger and you were desperate to get outside and play?  Who had time to untie their shoes?  Jam your foot into your runner as quickly as possible while the laces were still tied up, and then wiggle your heel back and forth to finally get your foot secured inside.

The wiggling of your heel to get in the shoe probably even took place while you were trying to run out the door with your foot half in and half out of your shoe.  Of course, in your attempt to scurry out the door while working to jam your foot in your shoe you crushed the back of your shoe down flat so it was now impossible to get your heel in.

And so, you had to really stop all form of movement, bend down, untie your shoe, fix the heel, put your foot in properly, and then tie them up.  If only we would have done that the first time, like our dads’ were telling us, we would have saved ourselves time, effort, and prolonged the life of our shoes.

Unbeknownst to us, our fathers were giving us a profound leadership lesson.  Perhaps even unbeknownst to them…

Now that we are all grown up we may on a daily basis, or from time to time, wear dress shoes.  Some dress shoes are “lace up, some are “slip on”.  It is impossible to put on a properly fitted, lace up dress shoe with the laces done up.  You have to undo them to get your foot in.

With slip ons you obviously don’t have to undo them, but you may still have some trouble getting your foot inside them.  In order for them not to be too sloppy on your foot you want them to fit fairly snug, so getting into them can be tough sometimes.

There is a very special tool that makes getting into dress shoes a very smooth and easy transaction.  In fact, I use this tool every time I wear my dress shoes – both lace up and slip ons.

It’s call the “shoe horn”.

A shoe horn helps keep the shoe open and provides a smooth surface for the foot and the heel to move, without crushing the shoe’s counter – the vertical portion of the shoe that wraps around the back of the foot that your dad told you not too crush.

According to Wikipedia, “Shoehorns appear to have originated in the late Middle Ages or Renaissance; in English a ‘schoying horne’ is mentioned in the 15th century, though the French word chausse-pied is only found during the last half of the 16th century. Elizabeth I of England bought 18 shoe horns from her shoemaker Garrett Johnson between 1563 and 1566.”

Bottom line: shoe horns make easy the tedious job of getting your foot into a snug fitting shoe.

And you know the old saying, “If the shoe fits, wear it!”

Leaders are like shoe horns: it is your job to ensure your people fit well into your organization.  You want to make sure your organization is tight, and it’s a good fit for all your people.  You want to ensure your people all work together to move in the same direction in an effective, efficient and sustainable fashion.

Leaders should make the transition into the organization as smooth as possible.  If your people have to struggle to fit into your company you have failed as a leader: either you didn’t size them up properly and they really don’t fit your organization, or you didn’t manage their entry into the company.

Hire well – don’t try to jam a size 10 foot into a size 9 shoe.  And, ensure new employees have a smooth orientation process so they immediately feel like they fit.

Leaders are like shoe horns – ensure your people fit in well.