Coaching the Employee Who Isn't A Team Player [Case 1]

 

Dear Leader’s Digest,

When I recently became the new head of a department in my company, I "inherited" a veteran employee who is pretty productive with tasks but has a history of poor employee relations such as being negative, discourteous, sarcastic, "stirring things up," and not working with coworkers as a team player. 

How do I influence this person to change their way when the company has played into his behavior for some time?

Dear Inherited,

Leading employees with a history of poor behavior is a concern for any leader. We strongly recommend your first conversation with this employee not be a "shake-down" or a "you'd better be careful cuz I'm watching you!" speech. Rather, you ought to extend a sincere handshake followed by a friendly get-to-know-them chat.

The next step is orienting all your employees to your leadership style and expectations. Even before exploring specific duties or concerns, explain the operating values of your team and your expectations of employees. It's best if this is a two-way conversation involving the entire team, but at a minimum, everyone needs to be clear about the department’s values.Explain that employees are not only responsible to produce results but are also responsible to produce results in a way that strengthens the team in the process. Give specific examples of what is acceptable behavior and what is out of bounds. This kind of orientation with your team sets clear expectations and gives everyone a chance for a fresh start—independent from past patterns and personality conflicts.

Your next leader-role with the employee is mentor and coach. This requires gathering data through contact and observation, especially with the employee you have concerns about. Over the next few days, catch the employee, in the moment, doing things right. Acknowledge when his or her behavior approximates an important company value and thank him or her. 

For example, you might say: "Hey, Brent, I noticed in the team meeting this morning when Alice asked for ideas about her project, you gave several helpful suggestions. That is a great example of our department values of cooperation and mutual respect. Your input helped Alice and helped to build a stronger team. Thank you."

Similarly, when you see behavior that violates your team values, confront it as soon as is reasonably possible. Do this by first describing the gap by factually detailing what happened compared with what is expected. Next, ask why it happened this way. 

You could say:"Brent, I noticed that when Alice presented her ideas for her project, you sarcastically said her plan wasn’t thought through and asked her if she ever heard of ‘project management’ before. One our most important team values is the golden rule--to treat others as we would want to be treated. That is to say, to be treated with respect. Your comment was clearly disrespectful. I'm curious, why did you say that (And why did you say it in that sarcastic way)?"

If he responds that he didn't realize his comment was disrespectful, take the opportunity to define more precisely what is meant by teamwork. If he replies that it's no big deal, then you have the opportunity to teach consequences and make the invisible visible. It could be that one reason for his past friction with employees is that no one helped him understand the negative, natural consequences his behavior had on others. If he replies that he knows he shouldn't do that, but can't help himself, it becomes an opportunity to teach him the skills of proper communication.

After each conversation, move to action. Get a clear and specific commitment from him about who will do what by when, and then follow-up on that commitment.Clear expectations, as well as frequent coaching, follow up, praise, and constructive feedback, are your best chance to help someone work well with others.

Of course, this approach requires patience and persistence, and you must always give people the opportunity and the help they may need to improve. However, if over time, he does not comply and his poor behavior continues, make sure he understands that following the department’s principles and values is not a suggestion, it's a requirement of his job.

At this point, it's time to move from helping him understand the natural consequences of poor behavior to the consequences you will impose on him if he doesn't comply. Clarify that the consequences of not working within the team standards are the steps of discipline identified by the company, even including termination. Make sure he understands that failure to comply with your requirements around teamwork will result in you applying the steps of progressive discipline. Moving this far is very serious and will most likely damage your working relationship with him, but at some point, his failure to abide by the your standards is a detriment both to the results you're after as a leader and your other employees quality of the workplace. 

Choosing what's best for the team is more important than trying to preserve a troubled relationship.

Our experience has been that this approach helps most —even those with a history of poor behavior—to improve their behavior and relationships with others. It also improves the team's results. Please keep in mind this approach does not guarantee the changes in others you desire; it's not a way of controlling others; it's not a trick for manipulating others. This is a way to respectfully help individuals choose to be successful. Ultimately, it's the individual's choice whether or not to be a part of the team you lead, and that's as it should be.

 

Click here to read a post about coaching another employee who isn't being a team player.

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 and energy management 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.

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.

Ignite Millennial Engagement!

Want to attract, engage and retain more millennial talent?

Offering only financial stability won’t work.

Wait a sec—the millennial workforce has the highest rate of unemployment and underemployment in the U.S. What does this mean? We’re missing out on a huge resource of talent. The real shocker? Of the millennials that are employed, only 29% are emotionally engaged at work and love their jobs. Whoa!

Why is this so crucial? Because the sheer number of millennials recently surpassed any other generational group. Both the economy and the workforce are highly dependent on this group. If millennials continue to be emotionally disengaged in their jobs the companies they work for will suffer.

How to Attract Millennials

According to a recent report from Gallup, “Millennials want what previous generations wanted: a life well-lived, good jobs with 30-plus hours of work a week, regular paychecks from employers BUT they also want to be engaged (emotionally and behaviorally), they want high levels of well-being, a purposeful life, active community and social ties. They want to spend money not just on what they need, but also on what they want. Only 29% of employed millennials are engaged at work and half of them say they don’t feel good about the amount of money they have to spend and less than 40% are what Gallup defines as ‘thriving’ in any one aspect of well-being.”

Let’s take a closer look at these engagement numbers.
•16% of millennials are actively disengaged. These individuals don’t like their jobs and are actively ensuring others don’t either. Even if it’s not their intention, this will damage their company.
•55% of millennials are not engaged. They are punching in and punching out but they are not fully present while they are at work. Energy and passion are out the window, the company suffers, their customers suffer, and ultimately the economy suffers. Indifference is a company-killer.

Gallup 1

How To Retain Millennials

How do we create a culture that engages and compels millennials?

According to Gallup: performance management requires a constant focus on feedback. 44% of those polled are more likely to be engaged when their manager holds regular meetings with them. This means meeting on a regular basis, and offering consistent feedback. Weekly meetings are key, even if short. Clear and actionable feedback is too. They want to matter, and they must experience safety, belonging, mattering and be connected to a purpose. The purpose is what will compel them to perform well and consistently. It’ll also keep them with your company.

Gallup says there are six functional changes (The Big Six) that need to happen in the organizational culture to attract and keep millennial talent.

Jim Clifton, Chairman and CEO of Gallup made the following statements. I am adding a few tools that will help you achieve the Big Six in your organization.

Gallup 2

1.Millennials don’t just work for a paycheck ― they want a purpose. For millennials, work must have meaning. They want to work for organizations with a mission and purpose. Back in the old days, baby boomers didn’t necessarily need meaning in our jobs. Many wanted a paycheck ― and their mission and purpose were their families and communities. For millennials, compensation is important and must be fair, but it’s no longer the driver. The emphasis for this generation has switched from paycheck to purpose ― and so must your culture. 

2.Millennials are not pursuing job satisfaction ― they are pursuing development. Most millennials don’t care about the bells and whistles found in many workplaces today ― the ping pong tables, fancy latte machines and free food that companies offer to try to create job satisfaction. Giving out toys and entitlements is a leadership mistake, and worse, it’s condescending. Purpose and development drive this generation. 

3.Millennials don’t want bosses ― they want coaches. The role of an old-style boss is command and control. Millennials care about having managers who can coach them, who value them as both people and employees, and who help them understand and build their strengths. 

4.Millennials don’t want annual reviews ― they want ongoing conversations. The way millennials communicate ― texting, tweeting, Skype, etc. ― is now real-time and continuous. This dramatically affects the workplace because millennials are accustomed to constant communication and feedback. Annual reviews no longer work. 

5.Millennials don’t want to fix their weaknesses ― they want to develop their strengths. Gallup has discovered that weaknesses never develop into strengths, while strengths develop infinitely. This is arguably the biggest discovery Gallup or any organization has ever made on the subject of human development in the workplace. Organizations shouldn’t ignore weaknesses. Rather, they should minimize weaknesses and maximize strengths. We are recommending our client partners transition to strengths-based cultures, or they won’t attract and keep their stars.

6.It’s not just my job ― it’s my life. One of Gallup’s most important discoveries is that everyone in the world wants a good job. This is especially true for millennials. More so than ever in the history of corporate culture, employees are asking, “Does this organization value my strengths and my contribution? Does this organization give me the chance to do what I do best every day?” Because for millennials, a job is no longer just a job ― it’s their life as well.

Take the time to implement the strategies listed above and let’s make work a whole lot more meaningful for this untapped talent pool.

10 Common Leadership and Management Mistakes

Avoiding Universal Pitfalls

Avoid common leadership and management mistakes.

Experience is the name every one gives to their mistakes. – Oscar Wilde

It's often said that mistakes provide great learning opportunities. However, it's much better not to make mistakes in the first place!

In this post, we're looking at 10 of the most common leadership and management errors, and highlighting what you can do to avoid them. If you can learn about these here, rather than through experience, you'll save yourself a lot of trouble!

1.   Lack of Feedback

Sarah is a talented sales representative, but she has a habit of answering the phone in an unprofessional manner. Her boss is aware of this, but he's waiting for her performance review to tell her where she's going wrong. Unfortunately, until she's been alerted to the problem, she'll continue putting off potential customers.

According to 1,400 executives polled by The Ken Blanchard Companies, failing to provide feedback is the most common mistake that leaders make. When you don't provide prompt feedback to your people, you're depriving them of the opportunity to improve their performance.

To avoid this mistake, learn how to provide regular feedback to your team.

2.    Not  Making Time for Your Team

When you're a manager or leader, it's easy to get so wrapped up in your own workload that you don't make yourself available to your team.

Yes, you have projects that you need to deliver. But your people must come first – without you being available when they need you, your people won't know what to do, and they won't have the support and guidance that they need to meet their objectives.

Avoid this mistake by blocking out time in your schedule specifically for your people, and by learning how to listen actively to your team. Develop your emotional intelligence so that you can be more aware of your team and their needs, and have a regular time when "your door is always open", so that your people know when they can get your help. You can also use Management By Walking Around, which is an effective way to stay in touch with your team.

Once you're in a leadership or management role, your team should always come first - this is, at heart, what good leadership is all about!

3.     Being Too "Hands-Off"

One of your team has just completed an important project. The problem is that he misunderstood the project's specification, and you didn't stay in touch with him as he was working on it. Now, he's completed the project in the wrong way, and you're faced with explaining this to an angry client.

Many leaders want to avoid micromanagement. But going to the opposite extreme (with a hand-offs management style) isn't a good idea either – you need to get the balance right.

4.     Being Too Friendly

Most of us want to be seen as friendly and approachable to people in our team. After all, people are happier working for a manager that they get on with. However, you'll sometimes have to make tough decisions regarding people in your team, and some people will be tempted to take advantage of your relationship if you're too friendly with them.

This doesn't mean that you can't socialize with your people. But, you do need to get the balance right between being a friend and being the boss. 

Learn how to do avoid this mistake with our article, Now You're the Boss. Also, make sure that you set clear boundaries, so that team members aren't tempted to take advantage of you. 

5.     Failing to Define Goals

When your people don't have clear goals, they muddle through their day. They can't be productive if they have no idea what they're working for, or what their work means. They also can't prioritize their workload effectively, meaning that projects and tasks get completed in the wrong order.

Avoid this mistake by learning how to set SMART goals for your team. Use a Team Charter to specify where your team is going, and detail the resources it can draw upon. Also, use principles from Management by Objectives to align your team's goals to the mission of the organization.

6.     Misunderstanding Motivation

Do you know what truly motivates your team? Here's a hint: chances are, it's not just money!

Many leaders make the mistake of assuming that their team is only working for monetary reward. However, it's unlikely that this will be the only thing that motivates them. 

For example, people seeking a greater work/life balance might be motivated by telecommuting days or flexible working. Others will be motivated by factors such as achievement, extra responsibility, praise, or a sense of camaraderie.

7.     Hurrying Recruitment

When your team has a large workload, it's important to have a full team. But filling a vacant role too quickly can be a disastrous mistake. 

Hurrying recruitment can lead to recruiting the wrong people for your team: people who are uncooperative, ineffective or unproductive. They might also require additional training, and slow down others on your team. With the wrong person, you'll have wasted valuable time and resources if things don't work out and they leave. What's worse, other team members will be stressed and frustrated by having to "carry" the under-performer.

You can avoid this mistake by learning how to recruit effectively, and by being particularly picky about the people you bring into your team. 

8.     Not "Walking the Walk"

If you make personal telephone calls during work time, or speak negatively about your CEO, can you expect people on your team not to do this too? Probably not!

As a leader, you need to be a role model for your team. This means that if they need to stay late, you should also stay late to help them. Or, if your organization has a rule that no one eats at their desk, then set the example and head to the break room every day for lunch. The same goes for your attitude – if you're negative some of the time, you can't expect your people not to be negative.

So remember, your team is watching you all the time. If you want to shape their behavior, start with your own. They'll follow suit.

9.     Not Delegating

Some managers don't delegate, because they feel that no-one apart from themselves can do key jobs properly. This can cause huge problems as work bottlenecks around them, and as they become stressed and burned out.

Delegation does take a lot of effort up-front, and it can be hard to trust your team to do the work correctly. But unless you delegate tasks, you're never going to have time to focus on the "broader-view" that most leaders and managers are responsible for. What's more, you'll fail to develop your people so that they can take the pressure off you.

10.   Misunderstanding Your Role

Once you become a leader or manager, your responsibilities are very different from those you had before.

However, it's easy to forget that your job has changed, and that you now have to use a different set of skills to be effective. This leads to you not doing what you've been hired to do – leading and managing.

Key Points

We all make mistakes, and there are some mistakes that leaders and managers make in particular. These include, not giving good feedback, being too "hands-off," not delegating effectively, and misunderstanding your role.

It's true that making a mistake can be a learning opportunity. But, taking the time to learn how to recognize and avoid common mistakes can help you become productive and successful, and highly respected by your team.

To your greater success,

Peter Mclees, Principal

P. S. Smart Development Inc. has an exceptional track record helping route saless brances, restaurants, stores, distribution centers, food production facilities, and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength, sales 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.

http://smartdevelopmentinc.com/

Focus on communication fuels Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly describes how his company’s communication strategy keeps employees smiling.

When Gary Kelly took over as CEO of Southwest Airlines in 2004, he had a very clear vision of what he wanted his senior leadership to do: communicate more effectively and work better as a team. To do this, the company had to create an overarching program that would inform all of its communication efforts.

It took more than 30 years for Southwest Airlines to articulate its values to employees, but the company’s mission statement and objectives are now firmly in place. Employees have a good idea of where the company is headed, and how they fit into those goals as individuals.

But how does a Fortune 500 company ensure that every employee—from the corner office to the runway—is living the “Southwest Way” as they call it? At recent a leadership summit, Kelly told a room of more than 300 corporate communicators that it starts with caring.

Southwest’s mission starts with customer service, and its approach is simple: They genuinely care about their employees, who, in turn, will hopefully be inspired to treat customers accordingly. “And what is it that makes for a strong relationship with people?” says Kelly. “It’s communication.” Of course, “communication” is just a word—the content of the message must be compelling, and it must come from the right source.

“I think (communication) is most effective if it includes top management,” he says. “If you have middle management that’s trying to carry a message, it’s going to be inconsistent from one group to the next.” Kelly says Southwest’s top-down communication is carried out through a collaborative effort between him and the company’s communications team.

During the past decade the entire airline industry has been faced with unprecedented challenges that stem mainly from 9/11 and rising oil prices. Therefore, says Kelly, “The challenges today, from a communications perspective, are as dramatic as they have ever been.”

Listening to the ideas and concerns of employees becomes paramount to effective communication. But listening is only half of the equation. Following the lead of the emerging forms of social media, communication is a participatory game. “It’s a constant conversation,” says Kelly, “and hopefully a very intimate relationship. That’s where our employees get engaged. If they know what’s going on, and they know why we’re doing things, typically they’ll get on board.”

And as long as Kelly can point to corporate mission statement and objectives as the reason why they take on certain initiatives, it’s easy to see why so many Southwest employees are on board.

Gary Kelly explains the Southwest Airlines’ mission: The mission of Southwest Airlines is dedication to the highest quality of customer service. “That is the highest aspiration that we have. First and foremost, we want to be a great customer service company.” Delivered with a sense of warmth, friendliness, personal pride and company spirit. “A lot of customers don’t need the personal interaction, and that’s why Southwest.com is one of the most popular travel sites in the world. But we have to be there for our customers in person when they need us there in person. This is a very straightforward, long-lasting set of words in our mission statement.” To provide our employees with a stable work environment with an equal opportunity for learning and personal growth, encouraging creativity and innovation, and providing them the same concern, respect and caring attitude that they’re expected to share externally with every customer. “It’s very clear: We put customers first, but then we really talk about our employees. There’s some tangible evidence as to how we’ve treated our employees over the years. We’ve never had a furlough at Southwest Airlines. We’ve never had a layoff. We’ve never had a pay cut—even after 9/11. We are highly regarded as a company in many different ways: great service, strong financials and 34 years of   profitability. But the thing we’re most proud of is that we’ve been able to take care of each other. Those are things I hope will be everlasting at this company because they go hand in hand.”

 To your greater success,

Peter Mclees, Principal

P. S. Smart Development Inc. has an exceptional track record helping route saless brances, restaurants, stores, distribution centers, food production facilities, and other businesses create a strong culture, leadership bench strength, sales 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.

http://smartdevelopmentinc.com/

Three Ways a Culture of Trust Drives Productivity

Trust: It’s a word everyone understands but few can accurately define or measure. It seems at once essential but fluffy, complex yet simple. According to the Human Capital Institute, trust can be defined as “the willingness to put oneself at risk based on another individual’s actions.” What does that mean in a business context? And how can trust be measured in economic terms like risk, speed, and cost? Research has shown that high-trust organizations have a total return to shareholders (stock price plus dividends) that is 286 percent higher than low-trust organizations. The top 25% of retail stores that rank high on trust achieve 7% above budget annual sales and 14% sales productivity gains. The impact of trust on productivity and efficiency is clear. Surprisingly, the simplicity of trust lies in the economics: as trust increases, so does speed. Speed goes up in high-trust cultures because costs and risks go down. In organizations where trust is low, costs and risks go up, resulting in a trust tax that slows down work across the organization. So it follows that as companies grow, trust often erodes because it becomes increasingly difficult to develop relationships, resulting in layers upon layers of bureaucracy that act as a poor substitute for trust. In fast-paced business environments where companies must evolve quickly to keep up with the speed of technology, building and maintaining trust at scale is more important than ever. The complexity of trust is that it can be difficult to build, yet easy to break. While trust can take a long time to build, it is also delicate enough to be destroyed through a single action or misconception. Yet the benefits of investing time into building trust can lead to exponential results: 1) Trust empowers employees to stay engaged. If employee disengagement is an epidemic that is reducing productivity across organizations in America, trust is the antidote. Research has shown that employees that feel more connected will invest more of themselves in their work. High trust levels yields a greater sense of self responsibility, greater interpersonal insight, and a greater sense of alignment in striving toward common goals. Fear is often abused by management and has been shown to result in negative workplace culture that reduces productivity. When people don’t trust their leaders, they relationship becomes transactional because employees are forced to wonder, “If the organization does not do right by me, why should I do right by them?” 2) Trust reduces bureaucracy and increases speed. Because high-trust cultures remove fear, workers at every level can be honest about problems they are encountering without fear of backlash from middle management or distrust from upper management, allowing teams to do what’s right as quickly as necessary. High trust cultures remove five key relationship pitfalls: criticizing, complaining, comparing, contending, and cynicism. In a study analyzing Sarbanes-Oxley, results were staggering: the costs of implementing Section 404 were $35 billion-exceeding the original SEC estimate by 28 times. Compliance regulations are a prime example of the dangerous relationship between low trust, low speed and high cost. 3) Trust increases quality collaboration. Honesty and trust create a positive feedback loop that cultivate a culture of openness that improves collaboration within teams. In a study by Franklin-Covey, better execution and stronger collaboration were all byproducts of high-trust cultures. Achieving high-quality collaboration relies on having shared and common goals, which are built on an eagerness to share truthful information--a quality that stems from trust. The more easily and quickly a team can provide honest feedback to each other the greater the trust and efficiency of the collaboration. Because trust is the foundation of a healthy and productive work culture, investing in creating trust within an organization will lead to big dividends--especially at scale for growth organizations.

How Honest Leaders Undermine their Leadership No Trust = No Leadership

You can coerce without trust but positive influence thrives on the foundation of trust. Losing influence is easy because losing trust is incredibly easy. Trust and respect:  It takes more than honesty to preserve trust; you must show respect. People stop trusting you when you disrespect them, even when you’re honest.  Danger of disrespect:  When you lose trust by making people feel disrespected, people give themselves permission to question your character and motives. Honesty is not the issue.  You can be honest and lose trust. Not only do they judge your character, they feel justified, even compelled, to “warn” others about you. You can’t be trusted.  Protecting trust:  People trust you when they feel respected by you. When they feel disrespected, however, they are disrespected. Perception is reality. 10 Behaviors that help people feel disrespected  1. Rushed exchanges. You don’t have time for them. 2. Unilateral decisions. Lack of participation in decisions that directly impact them. 3. Poor listening. They don’t feel understood. 4. Rudeness. 5. Unsolicited advice. 6. Emphasizing failure as a tool to motivate forward momentum. 7. Favoritism. 8. Cutting them off when they’re speaking. 9. Rescheduling appointments. 10. Watching your computer while talking. 10 ways to show respect:  1. The opposites of the list above. 2. Invite feedback. 3. Gently, clearly and firmly tell it like it is, even when they disagree. 4. Appreciate their skills and talents. 5. Give opportunities. 6. Admire their contribution and accomplishments. 7. Public acknowledgement. 8. Use common courtesies like "please" and "thank you." 9. Acknowledge their challenges and struggles. 10. Hold phone calls and other communications while they’re speaking. The challenging truth:  They won’t keep trusting you if you don’t convince them they’re respected. To your greater success, Peter Mclees, Principal P. S. Smart Development Inc. has an exceptional track record helping companies create a strong culture, leadership bench strength 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. http://smartdevelopmentinc.com/

An A-Z Guide for Engaging Your Team to Create Great Customer Experiences

Building an engaged workforce is perhaps the biggest challenge today’s employers face. The benefits are many—increased customer loyalty, profits, productivity and safety, to name a few—yet it can be tough to lead a workforce that maintains consistently high levels of passion and motivation.

This A to Z list about engagement from an employee’s perspective will help leaders determine where to focus their attention. Armed with these insights, you will be well on your way to developing the engaged workforce that create consistently great customer experiences.

Ask : Ask me questions, ask me for ideas, or ask me to participate. Ask me how we can improve the customer experience. You will grab my attention and begin the process of engaging my heart, mind and spirit.

Behave: How you behave towards me, my co-workers and those we interact with tells me a great deal. When you treat us like adults and contributors, we can move forward.

Treat me the way you'd want me to treat the customer!

Treat me as overhead, a resource, or human capital (whatever that is), and I will drift off to another place. Yelling, screaming or ignoring me—except when I mess up—won’t work either.  "Seagull" style managers don't earn my whole-hearted commitment.

Communicate and collaborate: If you want me to be engaged, help me understand what’s going on in the company. Tell me what led to or shaped our decisions. In other words, communicate with me. It’s from this foundation that you, me and others on our team can work together to clarify opportunities and determine how we will succeed. Let’s collaborate.

Deliver: When you make promises or say you’ll get back to me on something, please remember to deliver. You will build credibility and trust. If we can rely on you, rest assured you can rely on us.

Encourage and empower: This is actually a simple concept. When you tell me I did something well, I smile more. I learn, and carry that perspective forward. Let me know that you trust me to get the job done in the way that makes the most sense to me. Encouragement and empowerment are keys to keeping me engaged.

Feedback: Tell me how I’m doing. And not just once or twice a year—all the time. Tell me when you like what I’ve done; tell me what didn’t work and why. Providing both positive and constructive feedback regularly will help me improve. Share  formal and informal customer survey results. You’ll be surprised at what I will achieve.

Goals: Provide me with goals I can work toward. Better yet, let me in on developing goals that make sense to me, our team, the customer experience and the company.

Hello. How are you? Stop by now and then to say hello and ask how I’m doing. Ask about my family or just talk a little. Did you know I play golf? It couldn’t be simpler. It shows you care, and more important, helps build the bond we need to enjoy our time at work.

Integrity: Earn it, keep it, and reap the rewards. I’ll do the same and so will our teammates. Just imagine the possibilities.

Journey: Just like the company, I’m on a journey. Let’s find a way to connect the two. It will take some work, of course. You’ll need to get to know me a little. Find out what you can about my goals, ambitions, hopes, dreams, and where I hope my journey will lead me.

Find out who I am outside of work, too. I will return the favor by getting to know you. Remember to also share the company’s journey. Only then will engaging me become possible.

Knowledge: Share what you know with us employees, and allow us to share what we know with you. Make sure we share amongst ourselves as a team. Then, help us apply that knowledge in a way that leads to success.

Listen: Actively listen. Listen with your ears, eyes and mind. Let me know what you heard to make sure that is what I intended to say. When you do that, you will be surprised by what you learn.

Listen to me the way you'd want me to listen to the customer!

Meaning: My work has to have meaning, because I’m here for much more than a paycheck or social time. I want to contribute. Work with me to build that meaning and link it with our goals. Then you’ll really begin to capture my heart, mind and spirit.

Notice: Take notice of what I do and how I do it. Better yet, take notice of what our team does both individually and collectively, and give us credit for our efforts and achievements. Don’t forget that taking notice includes letting me know you did.

Opportunity: Use what you know about me to consider opportunities for me to get involved in other areas. From special assignments, leadership roles, and cross-organizational work to training and development, I appreciate the chance to deepen my capabilities and contributions.

Passion: Show me yours and I’ll show you mine.

Questions: Ask, consider, answer, probe and challenge. Questions are the gateway to deeper levels of awareness, understanding, knowledge and potential. Ask, "How can I help?" and see me soar.

Recognition, rewards and relationships: Let’s redefine the three Rs. Recognize what I do and reward me appropriately. Build a relationship with me on a professional and personal level. Forget the three Rs at your own peril.

Smile: A smile really goes a long way. Try one on for size and you might be surprised by how far it goes.

Smile at me the way you'd want me to smile at the customer!

Trust: Showing that you trust me and giving me a reason to trust you is perhaps the most important of the ABCs. Without trust, the rest is meaningless. Remember that we earn trust over time. While it’s not hard to earn, it’s very hard to get back once we lose it.

Unify our team: Work with us as a team and let us work on our own as a team. There is a difference. Allow us to work together to build a shared vision and set our goals. Let us have ownership and participate in the way that makes the most sense to us. Let us share our hopes, dreams and fears with each other so we can work together.

Victory: It’s important to us that you celebrate our wins, whether they’re large, small or anywhere in between. It lets us know our efforts paid off, that you care, and that you notice.

We: As the saying goes, many hands lighten the load. Let us in on what’s happening and we can succeed together.

X-traordinary: The results we can achieve by working together will be extraordinary.

“Yes and,” not “yes but”: When you say, “Yes, but...” our conversations and my creativity shut down. Next time, try “Yes, and...” You’ll be surprised by where it may lead and how it will make me feel.

Zenith: If you follow the ABCs of employee engagement, my full potential and commitment will be yours and our customers will be wow'd.

All the success!

Peter Mclees, Principal

P. S. Smart Development Inc. has an exceptional track record helping companies create a strong culture, leadership bench strength 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.

http://smartdevelopmentinc.com/

The Great Mystery

Warren Buffet, one of the world's richest men and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, once told shareholders, "We've long felt that the only value stock of forecasters is to make fortune tellers look good. Even now, Charlie [Munger] and I continue to believe that short term market forecasts are poison and should be locked up in a safe place, away from children and also from grown-ups who behave in the market like children."

In his book One Up On Wall Street, Peter Lynch, one of the best mutual fund managers of all time, wrote, "Thousands of experts study overbought indicators, oversold indicators, head-and-shoulder patterns, put-call ratios, the Fed's policy on money supply, foreign investment, the movement of constellations in the heavens, and the moss on oak trees, can't predict the markets with any useful consistency, any more that gizzard squeezers could tell the Roman emperors when the Huns would attack."

These men understood that humility is essential to investment success--as it is to so much else in our lives.

In my humble opinion, humility doesn't mean selling yourself short or not exercising your talents to the fullest. It means making an honest appraisal, the limited knowledge, experience and understanding that we all bring to life.

It means having a realistic perspective, understanding that -- whatever our particular talents--we are not the center of the universe. "We are all worms," Winston Churchill remarked. "But I do believe I am a glow-worm."

Humility is becoming. It wears well. Truly confident people don't need to brag or boast. It's much more attractive for people to discover your many charms.

Secure individuals don't lord their status over others. evevn if you are truly one-in-a-million kind of guy or gal, in a world of 6 billion people that means there are thousands more just like you.

A companionable friend or dinner guest knows better topics of conversation than just himself. "There are two types of people in this world observed Frederick L. Collins, "Those who come into the room and say, "Well, here I am!' and those who come in and say, 'Ah, there you are!'"

Could anyone really prefer spending time with the former?

A modest attitude also demonstrates maturity. "Let us be humble," said Jawaharlal Nehru. "Let us think that the truth may not perhaps be entirely with us."

Live long enough and you're likely to learn that life is one long lesson in humility. Things don't always turn out like we planned over even imagined.

Our happiness is determined, in large part, by how we handle these inevitable surprises. Because uncertainty will always be with us. Perhaps that is why Pulitzer Prize--winning columnist George Will once described his idea of heaven as "infinite knowing."

Recognizing the limits of our knowledge in invaluable, whether we're analyzing problems, figuring out relationships--or even puzzling over the big existential questions. Why are we here? Where did we come from? What is it all about?

Scientists, philosophers, and theologians have struggled with these for thousands of years. And still wrestle with them today.

As Nobel Prize-winning particle physicist Leon Lederman wryly observed, the universe is the answer. What we still don't know is the question.

This humble attitude has been embraced by great minds throughout history, from Aristotle to Newton to Einstein to Gandhi.

As Sioux Indian Chief Ota Kte observed a century ago, "After all the great religions have been preached and expounded, or have been revealed by brilliant scholars, or have been written in books and embellished in fine language with fine covers, man--all man--is still confronted with the Great Mystery. 

Stay hungry and humble,

Peter Mclees