How to get 110%* from every team member

 Culture  No Responses »
Sep 192011
 

As a leader, do you notice the people in your team?  I don’t mean just know when they’re in the office, but really notice them? 

I reckon you should know exactly how each person in your team is feeling most of the time.  Eg. right now, is Sally happy/sad/stressed/excited? How about Cyril, is he engaged/distracted/overworked/not challenged?  If you don’t know how each person is feeling, I don’t think you’re leading them well enough.

A secret that I use is to very quickly establish what is ‘the baseline’ for each team member. ‘The baseline’ is how that person looks, speaks, acts and even sits when they’re happy. This baseline is the standard that I’ll be trying to help them achieve for as many minutes of every day that I can.

When I notice that one of the people in my team is either above or below their baseline, I’ll mention it.  Eg. if Sally looks excited, I’ll say something like “Hey Sal, you look really happy this morning.  What’s so exciting?” And it’s likely that Sally will be rapt I mentioned it and will burst into something exciting that happened outside of work. On the other hand, if Cyril looks distracted I’ll sensitively (and privately) ask if everything is OK.  In this case, it’s likely that I’ll hear about something that’s not working out so well for Cyril. And hopefully I can help or support him through his challenge.

People’s happiness at work and at home fluctuates all the time.  If you don’t notice these changes in each person, acknowledge them and work with them it’s doubtful your team is functioning anywhere near 100% of it’s potential (let alone 110%!).

To get more out of your team, establish the baseline for each person and start noticing them.

*110% is not possible, I know that!

Want a happier team? Here’s how…

 Culture  No Responses »
Sep 022011
 

How much authority do the people that serve your clients and customers have?  In my experience, delegating the greatest amount of responsibility to the customer-facing members of a team is one of the most effective things I can do.  

Empowering team members with the information, authority and confidence to deal with as many situations as possible creates the following:

  1. Better service for your customers through faster decision making                 (Team members should never have to tell a customer that “I’ll have to check”).
  2. Happier, more independent team members who can get on with doing their job: serving customers
  3. More time and head space for the leaders to focus on growing the business

Consider the questions that people in your team ask you everyday. Could you empower them to deal with more of these situations on their own?  I think so.

If you really trust your team, start showing it by letting them make decisions for themselves.  They’ll love it and so will your customers.

    One hundred smiles

     Culture  No Responses »
    Jul 212011
     

    This week in The Physio Co support office there’s been a lot of smiling.  In fact, I’ve had a goal to create 100 smiles a day.  Why? Why not!

    Smiling is fun

    Smiling is infectious

    Smiling makes the day more memorable

    Smiling uses energy

    Smiling creates more energy

    There are probably thousands more reasons to smile.  How many smiles do you create?

    Words: More positive or less negative?

     Culture  No Responses »
    Mar 142011
     

    The words I use play such a huge part in my life.  Positive thoughts and positive words usually means a positive result.  Negative words, negative results.  Pretty simple.

    I had a conversation about this with a friend a couple of days ago.  She loved the concept of choosing more positive words and made a decision: “to be less negative.”

    What do you think?  Is she off to the right start?  I wasn’t convinced.  Yes, it’s a start, but, the words she chose could have been more positive.

    Choosing positive words has helped me to be much happier, healthier and achieve more. I challenge you to give it a go.  If you take up the challenge, pay very close attention to your own words and thoughts.  Even when you think you’ve got it right, there’s probably an even more positive way of saying what you’re saying.  Good luck!

    The “scale of bad”. Why on earth?

     Culture  No Responses »
    Feb 152011
     

    “Not bad” is THE most common response to the question ‘how are you?”.  

    “Pretty average”, “Okay”, “Sh!thouse” and “Oh, so-so” are other common responses.

    I find this ridiculous.  Why on earth would you rate yourself on a scale of how bad you are feeling?!

    Our lives are quite simply the story we tell ourselves.  Or, more technically, ‘what the mind harbours, the body manifests’.  Tell yourself you feel crap, and you’ll probably feel crap.

    What a waste!

    From today, I challenge you to start using ridiculously positive statements when anyone asks how are you?  Instead of “not bad”, say, “I’m fantastic”, “Great thank you” or “Couldn’t be better”.  

    Give it a shot and let me know how it goes.  I’ll bet you’ll feel better, have more energy and you might even inspire others with your happiness.  

    The “scale of bad” is dead.  Long live the “scale of awesome”.

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