Sheriff: Team building starts with talking, listening

When hiring new employees, EBR Sheriff Sid Gautreaux says he looks for three distinct qualities in measuring a potential hire: physical stature, mental capacity and character. “And if you don’t have that true servant mentality, you won’t make it,” says Gautreaux, who spoke this morning at the Better Business Bureau breakfast. Tasked with managing 900 employees and a $75 million budget, Gautreaux advises other business and organization leaders to earn the respect of workers rather than rule with rank. “To be a good leader, you have to be a good listener,” the sheriff says. When asked what he would do if he was starting over with a new team of workers, Gautreaux says he would first explain his philosophy and the services his office provides, and then ask others for their ideas and input that might advance the organization. “You have to build that team,” says Gautreaux, adding that he often hears about many great ideas from subordinates when asking for input. As for the structure of the sheriff’s office itself, Gautreaux says no bigger changes were forced on the organization than those that came following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the influx of people into the parish after Hurricane Katrina. He says community services—law enforcement, emergency services and hospitals—are still understaffed for the population as a whole. “We weren’t ready for what we were faced with,” Gautreaux says of the challenges following the hurricane. —Adam Pearson