Storms, They Are A Comin

When reading Bringing Out the Best in People I was really intrigued by the chapter about allowing storms to come in leading people.  I had always thought that it would be better to just keep the calm, but when reading this section it helped me realize the importance of having these storms because this is often where the best ideas come from and where people often more freely speak their minds.

 

I most often encounter storms during times of change.  Whether its introducing a new product, having a new manager put into place, or simply a shift in the members of a team, teams seem to bring up issues and or concerns during these changes.  I have found that the best way to manage these changes is to listen, ask the team what they would want to do to change it and give them control of making those changes.

Listening is first and foremost.  If you aren’t willing to listen to a team member or a customer and what their concerns are, you will not be successful.  Their needs need to be important to the leader in order for the team and or customers to be on board with the changes.  By simply listening to what they have to say, you will find that the trust level increases and the change will go smoother.

Asking the people affected by the change how they would do it different, or what they don’t think is working is another important step.  The change, while it may be unavoidable, may be something that can be modified, revisited or adapted depending on individual needs.  Every person operates differently and has different thoughts and opinions, so their involvement is huge.  The ideas they bring to the table may be better than the ones you had in the first place, and being open to them will really help improve communication and future changes as well.

Finally, I have found it best to give the overall picture of what we are trying to accomplish, and then allowing each team to make the decision on how they implement the change within their location.  As long as we get to the end result that is desired by the company, I think that each group should be able to work toward the goal in the way that works best for them.

While change is inevitable and we all have to go through it, there are storms that come with this change and these storms will often bring about the best ideas for going forward.\

photo credit –National Geographic

What’s Gonna Work? TEAMWORK!

Too often leaders think that they have all the good ideas.  I personally believe that the best ideas are those we haven’t even thought to ask for.  This past year the company I work for has really been focused on growing the business.  I have taken this very seriously and have made my team aware that I am taking it seriously as well.  Because of this, not only have we come up with new creative ideas to help to grow our business, but we have been able to really help our team members feel that their ideas are not only valued, but are welcomed.

In Bringing Out the Best in People McGinnis says that collaboration is a huge part of being successful.  I couldn’t agree more.  When I think back to the times that my team has worked together to come to new goals, it has made me proud of the great ideas that have come from the interaction.  Believing that all the good ideas are going to come from the people who are already in leadership positions is not only naive, it will not help your company to move forward.

So how do you get people to get on board?  TEAMWORK! 

T- think about their needs, what are they struggling with and how can we help them overcome it

E- expect them to bring forward the things they find important and how we can assist them in this area.

A- always be open to feedback, by allowing teams to speak their minds when they aren’t liking something, they will be more willing to come forward with other ideas.

M- manage by leading, not manage everything.  By taking a step back and really just leading the team in the right direction you will be able to really make team members find you approachable.

W- wait to respond to ideas when you aren’t sure they will work.  When the answer is immediately no, it can be discouraging.  Think through if there are ways it can work; ask the team members how they anticipate it coming together, etc.

O- organize times for team members to be able to come together and really brainstorm, those times are often the most effective

R- reiterate how well they are doing with coming up with their own ideas and implementing them.  Remember that continuous feed back is one key to success.

K- keep them informed, by going back to their ideas and letting them know that they will or will not be implemented will keep them coming forward with things in the future.

Remember, the best ideas are often those of people who aren’t in leadership positions.  Collaboration is very critical to success in companies, and is one way to better lead a team to success and teamwork.

Appeal Sparingly to the Competitive Urge

One way to really get people going is to build competition, but what happens when that competition goes to far or becomes unfair or demoralizing, that is when it’s critical to take a step back and really make a connection with your team and find things that work for them.  In management often times we have to take a step back from the everyday mundane competitions we put out there for our teams and think about what makes them really want to work.

 

This goes back to the verbal praise and public recognition being more important than winning prizes or being given an incentive.  When we appeal to our team and put everything into competition mode, it can often come back to be less effective in the end.  While some healthy competition is great occasionally, when you begin to bring it into every day activities, it loses its value and the short-term gain does not out-weigh the long-term loss.

 

So when putting competitions in place to make team members perform remember these three little things:

1.  Use it when it makes sense; don’t just incent people to incent them.  It becomes insincere and unimportant.

2.  Focus on what really matters; don’t make a competition for something that isn’t critical for your company success.  If you are not performing in the area of customer service, make that the focus, when you make the focus about something that is not underperforming it will be less successful.

3.  Get them involved; ask the team themselves what they think is important, what they want to focus on, and how they want to focus on it.  Do they even believe that competition is the best way to get results?  Remember, the people who work for you are often your biggest asset when it comes to the needs of the team and the customers.

 

Reinforcement is Important

When leading people it is very important to talk to them about their goals.  After setting the goals if you just leave them and don’t do anything about them, the goals will be forgotten and they won’t be accomplished.  Step eight in Bringing Out the Best In People is to employ a mixture of positive and negative feedback.  When we set a goal with someone not only should we continue to frequently revisit the progress on the goal, we should be sure to give them feedback both when they are performing well at their job as well as when they aren’t meeting the goals that were set for them and helping to redirect them back to how they can better meet the goal.

Here are a thing that I have found successful in making sure that those who work for me are finding their goals attainable and have eventually reached their goals and found continued success.

1.  Have them be involved in what the goals are and how they are set:

–  When the person who you are setting the goal for is able to be involved in the process of what those goals are and how they will accomplish them, they are more likely to stay involved in the process.

2.  Have frequent meetings to keep the team member up to date:

            –  When the goal or goals have been set, having frequent meetings to keep them up to date on those goals is critical.  I recommend having monthly one on one meetings in which we not only discuss their goals, but how they feel that they are working toward them and what they feel are obstacles that are in their way to making them a success.  These meetings have been extremely beneficial in making the team member responsible for what they accomplish and leaves the ball in their court.

3.  Give them incentives for meeting the goals and reprimands for not meeting them:

            –  When I set a goal with someone, I give them steps along the way that I want them to reach.  When they reach those small milestones I find ways to incent them.  With my team candy goes a long way, but everyone has different teams with different expectations.  Meeting small goals along the way will help the team member to feel that they are making those changes.  When you set a goal and they don’t meet it, there needs to be follow-up that as well because they will continue to not meet the goals when there isn’t any follow-up to sub par performance.

Good Job!

 Step 7 in Bringing Out the Best In People is Recognize and Applaud Achievement.  This is a critical step in making an employee achieve higher goals. Employees love to know that they are doing a good job, but many times we are too focused on what we need to improve and simply overlook the good things that our employees are doing. 

So, what small things can we do to recognize and applaud our teams for a job well done?

1.  Give them a pat on the back; there is nothing better than a thank you and a good job from someone you are trying to help and to impress.  When I am working on something and my supervisor tells me that they appreciate the job I have done it makes me realize that my hard work is noticed and that it is valued.  By simply giving me that pat on the back I feel as though I have accomplished more than I would have without the reinforcement.  I once asked each of my employees what motivates them to do a good job and how they would want to be recognized, and 80% of them said that they would rather be told that they did a good job than receive a monetary gift. 

2.  Monetary compensation often makes team members feel valued.  When you reward someone with a gift be it for reaching a sales goal or simply accomplishing an everyday task that has been lacking, the team member will feel as though you went out of your way to recognize them as well.

3.  Public rrecognition always makes a positive impact.  This type of recognition goes two-fold, because not only does it make the person who received the praise happy, it also encourages others around them to step up because they want to hear that recognition. 

4.  Recommend them to another supervisor; one of the biggest compliments I have ever been paid in my professional career was when one of my bosses bosses called me to tell me what a great job I did on a project and that they appreciated my hard work.  This was even better than my own boss calling me because it let me know that my hard work didn’t just stop with the person who directly oversees me, but also went one step further to the people that he reported to.

By making the people you work with feel valued, they will in turn be higher performers and will want to come in and work hard for you each and every day.

Step 6: Find Ways to Encourage Success

In his book McGinnis says that it is critical to find ways within your company to encourage success.  Do you find that setting goals works for your team?  How about having competitions or incentives?  Many different strategies work to encourage success among teams, what is important is finding ways to do it that your own team respond to.  Because everyone is motivated by different things, simply doing what would motivate you will not necessarily make for strong results with others.

 

So what can you do?  One simple way to find out what works for people and how to get them excited about the goals that are set and the success that they can accomplish is to start at the source and ask them what it is that motivates them to do well.  I always start in this place to see if what we are doing will even work to keep them motivated to meet the goals.  If someone is only motivated by cash and that is something that you aren’t able to use as an incentive, then it is important to take another step to really establish a goal with them that is both appealing and realistic within your organization.

Another way that you can encourage success is by simply sitting down with each person that works for you, telling them that they are an important part of your team, and that you value their imput as well as their success.  By letting them know how they are significant to the success of the team they are more willing to work toward their goals in making the team a bigger success.

Remember, the ultimate goal here is to make your team members the best they can be, and by taking time to find out what motivates them and to explain to them how they are important and contribute to the goals of the organization, you will find that they will want to do better and will start to move toward that ultimate goal of success.

Want a Ride? Come Along!

The fifth step in Bringing Out the Best in People is “If they are going anywhere near where you want to go, climb on other people’s bandwagon’s.”  Many leaders get caught up in what is the “right” way to do things, when in all reality they should be concerned with the end result.  I have always been a strong believer in everyone finding their own path to the right answer, and as long as they get there, it doesn’t matter what method they use.  When we get too concerned with having everyone get to the answer the same way each time, we lose that creativity that is so important to business.

So how do we do a better job at getting our team to really think creatively?  Just like he says above, if they are going anywhere near where you are, jump on their bandwagon and ride it out.  Some of the best ideas come from people in the company that we never think to ask.  Think back to when you were first hired at your job.  Think of the small things that you had to do, and the random ideas you would think of that could make these processes better.  These ideas are the things that we in management should be looking for, and definitely should not be discouraging.

I try to have times where team members can directly impact our operations, customer service, procedures, etc. by giving their input.  One new way I am going to be doing this is to have an open forum “class” on “going for growth” which is our company focus at this time.  By doing this, I am going to draw out the ideas that people have that we have not implemented or heard of.  Then after this time I will share these ideas with my managers and we will work towards any and all that we believe are going to be successful in making our company go further in what we do. 

Key points to remember: 

1.  There is often more than one way to the correct answer.

2.  Keep the ideas of the people around you in mind, an open mind will take you a long way in getting to new places you didn’t even think of yourself.

Failure? That’s Okay!

As a manager there are often times when people make mistakes and while it can be very frustrating, it is important for team members not to feel that frustration and to think that these mistakes are acceptable.  The same goes with customers.  In step four of Bringing Out the Best in People McGinnis says that it is critical to allow those who work with you to make mistakes without making them feel like what they have done is a fatal error and causing them to either shut down or to quit trying entirely.  Some would say that making mistakes now will lead to fewer mistakes in the future.  Take a look at this video that goes into a little explanation about this particular topic.

Many times people are afraid to make mistakes because they don’t want to upset their boss, or they don’t want to make a negative impression on someone.  This is a misconceived notion because there is no way to learn without making mistakes and taking a different route the next time.  When we are listening to our customers and our employees we will hear them do or say things that aren’t what we want them to do and this is where strong leadership is critical.

As a leader, it is important that you allow for people to make errors and realize that they are not going to be terminated, punished, or make to feel less important because they made those mistakes.  A very easy way to do this is to just ask them what their understanding was of the goal or task at hand.  When allowing them to explain what their thought process behind it was, you will soon find that during their explanation they will explain where they went wrong without even knowing, and you then have the chance to really step in and correct their misstep. 

This approach works well both with employees and with customers to help fix misunderstandings and help to resolve them for future occurences as well.  Remember, its not failure to make a mistake, it’s learning.

Establish High Standards for Excellence

Another important part of Bringing Out the Best in People is establishing high standards for excellence.  When we set the standards that we want for our team to accomplish, it’s very important to not just set the standard at where we think that people can accomplish it, but put it at least one step above that level.  Each year my managers and I set goals for our team for the year, and not only do we set it to accomplish the level we did the before, but one step above that level.  Goal setting is critical to business because when there isn’t a goal, people will often do just the minimum and not try to really give you more.

So what is important to remember when setting goals?

First off, be sure to set a goal that is not unattainable but is still something to work towards.  When a goal is set and it’s not something that anyone is going to be able to accomplish, the opposite effect will happen and that is the last thing you want.  Goals are meant to help a team work toward improving, but when they aren’t attainable, people feel defeated and the morale will go down causing people to not want to work toward the goal.

Another thing to remember is to keep the goals front of mind.  Over time people can forget things, and by reminding them what the goal is they are going to continue to work toward it.  One way I have accomplished this is by sending out an e-mail each month to my staff letting them know where we are in attaining the goal each month.  This has helped immensely with keeping people excited about the goals.

Third, have an incentive for achieving the goal.  When working toward a goal it is nice to have something at the end of that rainbow.  We give away gift cards, we offer up team dinners or outings, or we come up with ways to incent people who work for them.  These incentives go a long way in making people feel like they are appreciated for working toward the goals.

Finally, let each person know how they individually are responsible and helping to attain the goals.  This is where the high standards come in.  When someone on your team is not meeting the expectation, or working to do their part to reach the goal, it is critical to explain to them what the standards are, explain to them how they are performing for those standards and ensure that these are met.  By letting each person know that they are important to reaching the goals that were set and how they contribute to this is huge in making sure that the goals are ultimately met or exceeded.

Photo courtesy of learntoberich.com

Step 2: Make a Thorough Study of the Other Person’s Needs

When leading people to produce exceptional service, it is critical to ensure that you take time to really pay attention to what the other person needs.  Sometimes we get so focused on our goal at hand that we get in our own way and don’t take the time to really assess the needs of those providing the service that we are asking them to, and we don’t always give them tools necessary to make the changes and provide the things we want from them.

 

There are a few steps that I have used to really get this message across with my managers and help them to better develop their teams through finding their needs.  By following these steps, you will build better employees which will lead to better customer service and in turn, better profits.

One of the easiest things to do to help assess the needs of someone you are trying to develop is simply listen.  When we take time to really pay attention to what the people around us are saying, we are easily able to see what their needs are.  When it comes to customer service, we want to listen to the employee interact with the customers and see where they are struggling with providing what we expect for exceptional.

The next step would be to take the observations that you have when you spend time listening to and turning them into a goal for the employee.  When we take time to sit down with them, explain to them what the expectation and where they are missing it, then give them the chance to explain where they are not getting a clear picture of what is expected, and turn that into a goal that they can work toward and improve their service and grow within their position.

Finally, once that goal has been set, continue to follow-up with them about the goals that they have set and how they are doing with these.  By listening to how they are doing and continuing to give feedback, the person will feel good about your interactions with them because you care about their performance, and they will feel appreciated because you are taking the time to get to what is important to them.