Ten Sure-Fire Ways to Build A Team of Winners

 

Want to be an excellent leader? A truly inspirational, effective agent of your team’s success? There is literally nothing harder – or more important – in the world of work. That’s why effective leaders are so rare in real life.

If that discourages you, then maybe you don’t have what it takes to lead after all. If it motivates you instead? Well, then, here are a few tips to take it from “in charge guy/gal” to “excellent leader !”

1. Repeat after me (to your team): “My job is to help you be successful by making your job easier.”

No, your job is not to give them the day off to shop while you finish up their work for them. But your job as leader is to remove impediments and provide the tools for your people’s success. Take the obstacles out of their way and give them the resources so they can do the important work of your company: serving their internal and external customers.

 

2. Foster friendships among your staff.

After work socialization is important – it is! But nothing builds camaraderie and team spirit like shared success as the result of shared struggle. What’s your team’s greater goal? What significant challenges are you confronting that all of you can be proud of overcoming together?

3. Reward for the big things. And the medium things. And even the itty-bitty little things.

We like praise. We want recognition. One winner-takes-all vacation or mega-bonus for the year’s top performer is great and all, but how about a $5 Starbucks, or even a made-up certificate from your printer, because someone did an exceptional job delivering an important report.

4. Coach them.

People of quality want to be good at their jobs. Kindly help them to improve. …Kindly, but maybe not gently.

5. Release the “Just Enoughers” to other “opportunities.”
We all know the “Just Enoughers.” Employees that do just enough to avoid getting fired. No one likes to work with slackers – except other slackers. Redeploy them sooner than later. As the old saying goes, “If it’s inevitable, make it immediate.”

6. Hire slowly and caaaaarefully!

Show your current team members and your new recruits that not just anybody belongs on your team. If you want to build an elite group, hire top performers. You’ll have to kiss a lot of frogs as you vet the talent pond.

7. Give them something important to get up for in the morning.

Remember number 2, with the part about shared challenges? Pick a lofty goal. Then make pursuit of that the rallying cry of your team. Change lives, change how business is done; don’t just settle to change who wins this year’s sales contest. 

8. Talk up your people to others.

Talk your team up to your peers, to their peers, to your boss and her boss and heck, to the security guard, too. Be proud of each of them, and share that pride with anyone who’ll listen. Word will filter back to them, and as it does, it will have have a major impact. 

9. Expect the world of them.

Establish with your team how highly you respect and admire them. Expect big things from them. They will live up to your image of them, no matter what it takes.

10. Be worthy of their effort.

Want to really be the best, most effective leader ever? Work to improve yourself every day, in every way that is important to your team’s success. In order to lead a group of champions to new heights, you as leader must be worthy of the team’s time and energy. And that’s a lot more than we have room for in one blog post.

You will never be as good as you can be as a leader. But every hour of every day, if you’re sufficiently devoted to the success of your team, you can improve. Keep at it, and your people will start bragging about you – to their peers, your peers, your boss and her boss. And yes, even to the security guards.

When it percolates back to you how admired you are by those you serve as leader… you’ll be infinitely prouder than if they told you themselves! 

To your greater success and fulfillment,

Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant
SMART DEVELOPMENT

Take the Next Step...
Interested in learning how to develop your organization's leadership capability, culture, and employee engagement? We begin with a collaborative discovery process identifying your unique needs and business issues. To request an interview with Peter Mclees please 

contact: Email: petercmclees@gmail.com  or  Mobile: 323-854-1713

Smart Development has an exceptional track record helping service providers, ports, sales teams, restaurants, stores, distribution centers, food production facilities, wealth management services, third-party maintenance providers, real estate services, nonprofits, government agencies and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength, coaching skills and the teamwork necessary for growth.

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

How to Say 'No' When You Don't Think You Can Say 'No' 2.0

 

 

“Half the leaders I have met don’t need to learn what to do. They need to learn what to stop.”                                                       --Peter Drucker

Change Your Perspective On What Saying 'No' Really Means

Saying no is tricky. After all, we admire, reward and promote "can-do" people. Those who embrace challenges. Go for it. Get 'er done. 

There are risks involved with tactfully saying “No,” or trying to renegotiate priorities. There also risks with always saying, “Yes.”

Nobody always has total control over what we are asked to do or complete in a day. Saying no doesn’t feel like a prudent option. But consider that saying nothing maybe even worse.

When you agree to new requests that you cannot accomplish, nobody wins. You might think never turning down a request makes you look good, but in truth not delivering on the requests you take on will damage your reputation and results more than being honest and up front will.

Perhaps you’ll argue that you didn’t formally agree to anything, perhaps you were simply told what to do without an opportunity to accept. But, if you voluntarily write a task on your to-do list, you have indeed made a commitment—both to yourself and to the person who requested your help. 

 

That impossible task will continue to nag you, and when it doesn’t get completed, it will add mental and emotional stress. The person who asked for your help will not only be let down, you may also face other natural consequences associated with incomplete work.

Try flipping the mental script. Instead of seeing yourself as someone who is a helpful team player who never says no, realize that a yes to one request is a no to something else. There aren’t enough hours in the day, and something will be left undone. What is more helpful to both you and others is being honest and upfront about your time and your commitments. So, speak up.

And because I believe your intentions are genuine and you truly do want to be a helpful team player, don’t look at my advice as simply turning people down. I’m not suggesting you say no and walk away. Rather, be clear about what you can and are willing to do. It sounds like this:

Boss: “I need you to get those reports back to me by the end of the week.”

You: “I’d be happy to do that, but to deliver on that commitment I’m going to need to reschedule some other tasks on my plate. Do you have a second to help me decide what I can hold off on while I work on the reports?”

The key is to get your manager or colleague involved in helping you prioritize your to-do list. Communicate as a contributor craving focus, not a complainer craving less. Managers are eager to work with contributors craving focus.

One of the fundamental tasks for flawlessly executing great work is figuring out what you want to say yes to. But you also have to decide when to say no. If you only say yes, you’re just adding more to your plate—and I bet that’s already close to capacity.

However, at the risk of saying something blindingly obvious, there are only 168 hours in week. And we get can't do everything or least do everything well.

However, it can be very hard to just say "no." Let’s face it, some of us can’t even say no to telemarketers (Full disclosure: I'm one of those softies). So how do you say no to people you work with, live with, and care about? The answer is not to focus on saying no but rather on saying yes more slowly. I

The Trick is Learning to Say 'Yes' On Your Own Terms

What gets us in trouble is that yes is our fast, default answer to any requests that are made of us. Sometimes that’s the right thing to say. But sometimes you’re being asked merely because you’re the first person they thought of or because the request hasn’t been thought through. Often, it’s worth getting to yes a little more slowly. And here’s how do it:

1.      Say, “Thanks very much for asking. Before I say yes, just let me make sure I understand what you’re asking for.”

2.      Then ask some good questions.

There are three basic types of questions in this context.

WHY ME?

• May I ask why you’re asking me?
• Have you asked anyone else?
• Have you considered asking X? He’s got some experience with this.

WHAT’S THE BRIEF?

• When you say “urgent,” what does that mean? When’s the latest it has to be done   by?
• How much time will this take?
• If I could do only part of this, what part would like me to do?
• What does finished look like for this?

WHAT’S THE BIG PICTURE?

• Have you run this past Terry (Your boss)?
• How does this fit with our three key priorities for this week/month/year?
• What should I not do so I can do this

If you use this approach, any of four things might happen.

1.   The person will answer all of your questions, and you’ll be happy to say yes. (This doesn’t happen very often.)

2.   The person will say, “Good question! Let me get back to you when I’ve got some answers.” And they may or may not come back.

Because instead…

3.  The person may just ask someone who says yes faster.

4.   Sometimes you’ll be asked to stop with the questions and just do it.

Here’s the bonus: ask these questions more often, and you’ll start getting the reputation for being a strategic thinker. That makes you a more valuable player in your organization, which already has enough people who know how to say yes quickly.

A word to the wise: Don’t start with the toughest, most senior person you work with. Instead choose someone with whom you think the approach might work, and a project that’s not too important. 

Change the Questions, Change the Answers

There is a productivity question that people ask themselves that needs to be replaced with strategic questions:

The typical productivity question: How can I get more done with the time I have?

 

The strategic questions are:

• If I'm saying 'yes' to this, what must I say 'no' to?
• How can I decide more wisely what NOT to do?
• How can I feel at peace about NOT doing it?
  

Learning to ask yourself and others these questions means forming a new habit. Forming a new habit requires deliberate practice and a willingness to stretch out of your comfort zone. 

This will not be easy. Nothing worthwhile ever is. 

 

Even so, it will help immensely if you practice these types of questions with your accountability partner or if you’re lucky enough to have a professional coach, with them. As you get more confident and capable, use the questions in more situations with a wider range of people.

"That man speaks eighteen languages and can’t say no in any of them."   

                                                                      –Dorothy Parker

To your greater success and fulfillment,

Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant
SMART DEVELOPMENT

Take the Next Step...
Interested in learning how to develop your organization's leadership capability, culture, and employee engagement ? We begin with a collaborative discovery process identifying your unique needs and business issues. To request an interview with Peter Mclees please 

contact: Email: petercmclees@gmail.com  or  Mobile:323-854-1713

Smart Development has an exceptional track record helping service providers, ports, sales teams, restaurants, stores, distribution centers, food production facilities, wealth management services, real estate services, nonprofits, government agencies and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength, coaching skills and the teamwork necessary for growth.

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

Don't Repeat Feedback That Didn't Land

 

 

 

 

 

 

What do you do when you give someone feedback and it doesn't land? Maybe they got defensive, or they told you what you wanted to hear but didn't change. What most leaders do is repeat themselves and see if the second (or ninth) time is the charm. Of course, it doesn't work because the problem isn't that they didn't hear you the first time. What does work is to elevate the conversation with what we call a Meta-Mention.

As a practitioner of The Accountability Dial , you know that the Mention is the first of five steps. It's you asking a question or making an observation in an open way about something you're observing. But what often happens when folks hear about this tool is they're dealing with a messy situation, where they've already given feedback already, however imperfect the delivery may have been. 

That's where the Meta comes in. Instead of repeating your feedback, what you want to do in a situation like this is step out of the tension, take the role of an observer to the relationship, and make a Meta-Mention about your take on what's happening at the relationship level. Here are a few examples of what that sounds like:

"Hi, so we've had a few conversations about this topic, and it seems like when I bring it up, we end up talking past each other. Do you know what I mean?"

"Hey, so one of the core values I have for our team is being able to receive (and give) feedback. The last few times I've tried, my experience has been that you have shut down the conversation. I'm curious to hear your perspective?"

"We've been working together for a while, and I think I can tell when you're frustrated with me as a leader. I feel like that's been the case in our last few 1:1s, but you haven't said anything. Can you tell me what's going on?"

In each of these examples, you're talking about the relationship and something that isn't flowing between you and your direct report. In other words, you're stepping out of the content of the conversation—the underlying behavior or performance issue you want to talk about—and focusing on the context within which you are trying to deliver that feedback. When you feel like you're repeating yourself (or you're about to!), this is where you want to be. 

The secret to a great Meta-Mention is the same for the classic Mention: you're not trying to solve everything in one go. Your goal is only to open up the dialogue, to spark some self-reflection because that's a necessary ingredient to sustainable behavior change. 

So, the next time you feel like the conversation is stuck or there's something not working about a relationship you're in, try a Meta-Mention. You'll be amazed at how powerful this simple practice can be to open up a stuck conversation to a place where you can talk about what's really going on. Not the least of which will be to increase the odds that your report will also talk with you about the ways you're making things harder for them without realizing it.

Key Point: The Meta-Mention is a conversation about HOW you work together, rather than always and only talking about WHAT you’re working on.

To your greater success and fulfillment,

 

Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant
SMART DEVELOPMENT

 

Take the Next Step...
Interested in learning how to develop your organization's leadership capability, culture, and employee engagement ? We begin with a collaborative discovery process identifying your unique needs and business issues. To request an interview with Peter Mclees please 

contact: Email: petercmclees@gmail.com  or  Mobile:323-854-1713

Smart Development has an exceptional track record helping service providers, ports, sales teams, restaurants, stores, distribution centers, food production facilities, wealth management services, real estate services, nonprofits, government agencies and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength, coaching skills and the teamwork necessary for growth.

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

 

7 Ways Leaders Can Immediately Boost Employee Retention

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Retaining top talent should always be a focus of leaders and organizations. However, during times of high employment, or historic attrition rates, the topic gets more attention. While there many facets to talent retention, too often individual leaders look to the organization and/or HR to find solutions that keep the best talent onboard. While this is good to do, there is much individual leaders can do to improve employee retention.

The Leader’s Role

There are many things people look for when choosing their work. Of course, they want to be fairly compensated, but that is just the start. Too many leaders assume retention and turnover hinge solely on factors like pay, benefits, and policies that lie outside of their individual control. While all those things matter, the experience people have with their boss plays a large role in their desire to stay – or willingness to look elsewhere and leave.

 The Seven Simple Things

What can leaders do to improve talent retention? Here are seven specific and immediately implementable ideas.

1. Say please and thank you. After we teach children their names, “please” and “thank you” are among the first words we want them to learn. We know these words show respect and appreciation for others. Just because you have positional power doesn’t mean you must (or can) demand things. And just because “it is their job” doesn’t mean we can’t (or shouldn’t) say thank you when they do something well. If you appreciate what people are doing, are you letting them know?
2. Ask for opinions. Your team members have a perspective on the work that you don’t have. In many cases, they are doing work you never did. Even if they are doing your former job, if you have been the leader for any length of time, things have changed. When you ask for the opinions of others, you will show respect and appreciation to them – and arrive at better decisions.
3. Listen. When you ask for those opinions, then you better listen to their ideas! Asking doesn’t mean you always have to implement what you hear, but asking without really listening to understand might be worse than not ever asking. Work to be a better listener in all your interactions with team members.
4. Trust more. One way to show your trust is by becoming a more active and effective listener. But there are plenty of ways to show your trust in your team. Here are two other examples that will show your team members you trust them – delegate more responsibilities and micromanage less.
5. Provide feedback. Feedback needn’t be all negative and saved for the annual review or in emergency situations. Let people know how they are doing. Show them what is working and encourage them to continue. Help them see where they can make corrections and adjustments. We all want to do good work and know how we are doing.  Regular feedback allows both to happen.
6. Ask for feedback. Who better to give you feedback on your as a leader than those you are leading? And what better way to show your trust than by asking those same people how you are doing? Asking for feedback is one of the best things you can do as a leader. It will show you want to improve, and give you input so that you can.
7. Communicate the big picture. People want more than a paycheck; they want to do work that makes a difference. When we as leaders help them see where the work leads, who it helps, how they are making a difference, they are less likely to leave. People find their own meaning in work, but not in a vacuum. Make sure people see how what they do matters and is making a difference.

Read this list again and ask yourself two questions:

• Do I want to work for a leader that regularly does these things?
• Everything else equal (or even close), would I more likely stay to continue to work for that person?

Assuming your answers are like mine, then there is just one more question …

Where Will You Start?

There is nothing on the above list that is shocking or new. Just because they aren’t new, doesn’t mean they can’t improve talent retention. All are things you have done and can do – starting today. Doing any of them will help, doing all of them will make a bigger positive difference than you can imagine. You will get better relationships, you will get better results, and you will improve retention of your most important asset – your people.

While all will help, you must start somewhere. Resolve to work on one of these suggestions immediately. The beauty of the list is that none require a new policy, a decision from senior management, or additional training. Pick one, and start right now.

To your greater success and fulfillment,

 

Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant
SMART DEVELOPMENT

 

Take the Next Step...
Interested in learning how to develop your organization's leadership capability, culture, and employee engagement ? We begin with a collaborative discovery process identifying your unique needs and business issues. To request an interview with Peter Mclees please 

contact: Email: petercmclees@gmail.com  or  Mobile:323-854-1713

Smart Development has an exceptional track record helping service providers, ports, sales teams, restaurants, stores, distribution centers, food production facilities, wealth management services, real estate services, nonprofits, government agencies and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength, coaching skills and the teamwork necessary for growth.

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.

 

How to Be a Better Leader in 9 Minutes

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Want to be an even better leader? Not just one that develops employees, but one that gets results as well. Leadership and motivation specialist James Robbins book, Nine Minutes on Monday,  is based on the theory that it's the little things -- done consistently -- that bring the biggest results. I agree based on 28 years of coaching and training leaders.

The purpose of a leader is to lead a team to great results. This is not an innate skill and many people have experienced the pain of having a bad manager. Additionally, many people get thrown into a manager role without proper training and understanding of what they should be doing. Robbins has 9 questions you should ask yourself each Monday morning. They are:

1. Whom will I show a genuine interest in this week?
2. Whom will I give feedback to?
3. Whom will I recognize?
4. How will I connect purpose to pay for someone?
5. Whom will I help grow this week?
6. Whom will I help feel autonomous?
7. What can I do to foster team unity?
8. Where can I inject some fun?
9. What do I need to model for my team members?

Note how none of these are connected to the typical worries of managers -- productivity, budgets, project timelines and any of the other million problems that land on a manager's plate. Instead, they focus on the key purpose of managers -- getting their team to perform at a higher level. All of those other things are necessary, but they go better when you have good people.

Of course implementing these things take a lot more than 9 minutes, but not so much more that doing them will take away from the rest of your work time. After all, how long does it take to give feedback to one of your employees? Or recognize good performance?

All 9 are critical however, number 6 intrigues me the most. Asking yourself, Whom will I help feel autonomous? flies in the face of so many managers who think they must control every aspect of their employees' performance. If they are managing the department, they must have their hand in every little thing.

But, this level of micro-management tends to destroy morale and results in your good employees leaving and your bad employees doing just enough to not get fired. This isn't successful for anyone. Robbins points out that we crave autonomy and the ability to make choices. Having flexibility to do it your way typically results in more engaged and more productive employees.

Leaders need every trick in the book given today's challenge of finding and keeping good employees.  Using Robbins' strategy of these 9 steps each Monday will help you build a top performing team.

Click here to read our related post: How Leaders Who Ask More Leverage The Power of The Brain

To your greater success and fulfillment,

 

Peter Mclees, Leadership Coach, Trainer and Performance Consultant
SMART DEVELOPMENT

 

Take the Next Step...
Interested in learning how to develop your organization's leadership capability, culture, and employee engagement ? We begin with a collaborative discovery process identifying your unique needs and business issues. To request an interview with Peter Mclees please 

contact: Email: petercmclees@gmail.com  or  Mobile:323-854-1713

Smart Development has an exceptional track record helping service providers, ports, sales teams, restaurants, stores, distribution centers, food production facilities, wealth management services, real estate services, nonprofits, government agencies and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength, coaching skills and the teamwork necessary for growth.

Having worked with several companies throughout their growth cycle, we have valuable insights and strategies that would help any late stage startup, small or medium sized company achieve sustained growth and prosperity.