Building Relationships… What Exactly Does That Mean?

What Does It Take To Build And Develop A Truly Great Team?  Part 9 of a series…

So let’s try to finish up our series on hiring for, and developing our team from average to great.  You’ll remember (I hope) that we’re talking about hourly team members, from no experience/entry level to Store Team Leader level… you can find part 1 here.  At this level, which includes almost all retail/restaurant jobs (almost anyone paid hourly) we are hiring for qualities rather than skills, as we can teach anyone most any skill needed, however we cannot teach anyone the qualities we need…  And as an added bonus, if we hire exclusively for Leadership qualities, we need never look elsewhere for our future Leaders.

We also talked about how to hire for customer service, as well as the importance of indoctrinating our new hires.  For the last few posts we’ve discussed moving those few people who don’t belong on our team off of our team; moving our current team members from average to great by introducing new expectations (while owning our part in allowing the old behaviors); and the beginning steps to changing the culture of our team.

So let’s pick up by talking about developing relationships… what exactly does that mean?  A long time ago, when I was new to being responsible for the behavior of other people, I kind of thought that meant figuring out how to manipulate them into doing what needed to be done.  I was not very self aware, and looking back; I was a pretty selfish young man.  So… what I wanted, and what I was responsible for making happen, was much more important than what the people working for me wanted or needed. 

Needless to say, I found my work to be a constant struggle, moving between attempting to befriend my workers, attempting to coerce them through fear or intimidation, and following up after them, often doing the work that still needed to be done myself.  It was exhausting!

Through SO MANY mistakes, some huge and painful life lessons, reading some great books, and with some great advice and mentoring by a few good Leaders I was lucky enough to work with/for, I was able to start to understand that it’s not all about me and what I want or need.  I remember my mother, as well as the nuns in Catholic school, telling me that doing for others is it’s own reward; and that working for the good of the group will almost guarantee that you will get what you want (perhaps by changing what we want!?).  It was many years before I understood these lessons, and could start putting them into practice.

So where am I going with all of this? 

Building relationships is not about getting what you want.  In order to have our team members want to do what needs to be done, they have to trust us, believe in, and care about the goals of the team, and know that helping them achieve their goals is genuinely important to us. 

So… building a relationship with another person starts with getting to know that person.  It’s about them… not you!  I have come to believe that most people can tell in pretty short order when the person speaking to them is genuinely interested in them, or if they are trying to manipulate them.  The only reason to proceed from here is because you are genuinely interested in learning about the other, and in helping them achieve their goals.  If you move forward with any other intentions, I believe it won’t be long before you are found out, and you will have blown your chances of developing a trusting relationship.

Let’s move forward believing that we are all on the same page… that we are not saints, so we have our own goals, wants, and needs (sometimes we act selfishly, and sometimes we are self-absorbed).  And… more often than not, we are genuinely interested in helping other people achieve their goals, and helping other people makes us feel good.  We good?

Building relationships takes time.  We have to make a real commitment to this effort, as it will take many months (at least) depending on the size of your team, and how you have acted in the past, to get to know your team members, and start to build trust between you.  You will have to meet with each team member (or at least your department team Leaders) a couple of times/month at first in order to get to know them; show them you are really committed to them and this process; and to be able to take some action towards helping them achieve their goals.

If you try to rush this process, you will not achieve the results you want.  Your team members will see that you simply want to get to some end where they do your bidding, and you will have wasted all of your time.  Please either commit to this fully, or do not start the process until you are ready to fully commit.

Do not fool yourself into believing that you already have the relationships you need.  If you did, you would not need to change the culture of your team.  You would just need to alter your expectations, and perhaps get your team together to come up with some aggressive new goals.  And if you are reading this, that is not where you are.  If you actually have great relationships with your team members, you probably don’t need my help, and you most likely already have a great team.  So let’s get realistic, and commit to doing this right.

Wow!  1000 words, and my posts are already much longer than people tell me they should be.  So… we’ll stop here, and perhaps part 10 will be the last of the series.  Next time we’ll talk about purposefully developing a culture where feedback is expected, and where it is “heard” as an attempt to help us constantly and incrementally improve.

Moving Towards Great… Changing behaviors that were acceptable in the past

What Does It Take To Build And Develop A Truly Great Team?  Part 7 of a series…

Next time we will talk about how expectations for behavior and performance will be changing, and how to make this process as painless and blameless as possible.

(Cue into music)  So we’re back with part 7 of what seems to be a growing series on how to hire for, and develop a great team.  We’ve talked about hiring for qualities because they can’t be trained; about how and why we welcome (indoctrinate) our new hire; and how to start removing roadblocks that are keeping our current team members from being great.

Next up, we have to change our team member’s expectations for service, performance, and behavior. 

If we have been leading this team for some time, we have allowed the team, as well as the culture, to become whatever it has become.  We have allowed the current standards to develop, and our actions (or lack thereof) have allowed the current culture to be the norm.

In the end, it really doesn’t matter if we are new to the team, or if we have been the team Leader, our goal is the same… we need to change the standards, the expectations, and the culture of our team.

I have found, through trial and more error than I’d like to admit, that the best way to go about this is accepting responsibility for the current state of affairs.  Even if you are new to the team, accepting responsibility for allowing the current reality will go a long way in beginning to develop trust with your team members. 

Blaming the past Leadership, even if you don’t feel as if you are bad mouthing them, will certainly turn off a number of your team members.  It seems that the most simple and productive way through this is to tell ourselves that they did the best they could with the tools they had (because that is exactly what they did), and our job is to move forward from where we are now.

So, to continue changing the expectations for our team, we will need to address the behaviors or standards that were acceptable in the past, and state clearly what will be the standard moving forward.  These conversations will happen with individual team Leaders, team members, department teams, and with our entire team gathered together for a whole team meeting.

I realize that I write very differently than most, in that I try to spell out exactly what to do in order to achieve the results I describe.  This makes for longer posts, as well as fewer bullet points, so I hope you’ll bear with me.

Perhaps a few examples are in order…

We’ll start by talking about why we feel the need to make these changes, with honesty and transparency.  This is the only way to move forward and have any chance of achieving great.

You will own all responsibility for allowing the current conditions and standards of behavior… If you are not willing to do this you will not achieve great!

The more open and honest you are with your team members the better the odds they will trust your intentions and want to move forward with you.

So… I’ll list some examples of behaviors with the one successful way I have found to state how things will be changing.  This is not necessarily the only way to go about this, just the way I’ve found that works.

In the past, it’s been OK to complete and turn in your period end inventory without being audited by store Leadership.  Moving forward, you are responsible for getting a member of store Leadership to audit your inventory before handing it in.  This is not a punishment, nor is it because I do not trust you… it is simply a smart way of double-checking important work.  We all make mistakes, and using another pair of eyes is the best way to run our business.

In the past, I have allowed people’s attention to be on cell phones and laptops during meetings, instead of what was happening at the meeting.  Moving forward, cell phones will be put away, and laptops will be closed during meetings so we can all be present and participate in the running of our business.

In the past, team members have been allowed to have phones in their hands while on the clock, and on the sales floor.  Moving forward, once clocked in (and not on break or lunch) we will focus on our work, and our customers.  Cell phones are distractions, and so should not be in our hands or used at all during work hours.  If a team member has a personal situation that they feel necessitates cell phone use or availability, they need to talk to their team Leader about it before beginning work.

In the past, it has been acceptable to turn in team member reviews past the due date.  Moving forward, reviews will be completed and filed before the due date.  If there is a reason you do not feel this is possible, you must speak to your team Leader about it 2 weeks before the due date.  Our team members deserve their reviews on time.

These are just a few simple examples, and in each, we are accepting that the behavior had been accepted in the past, so there is no consequence for that past behavior.  However, in the future, we spell out the new expectation, and explain why the expectation is changing.  Doing this right will answer most questions, and get everyone on board.

Only a few parts left… We started changing the culture of our team by hiring only great team members, and continued by addressing behaviors that need to change.  In the next few posts we’ll talk about how to create a culture where feedback flows pretty freely, and where our team members ask forgiveness rather than for permission when trying something new.

Great Doesn’t Happen By Accident… Changing expectations

What Does It Take To Build And Develop A Truly Great Team?  Part 6 of a series…

Welcome to part 6 of this series on hiring and developing a great team, specifically with an hourly workforce.  We’ve talked about hiring for qualities, correctly welcoming (indoctrinating) your new hires, and now we are moving to the next steps necessary to keep your great new hires great, as well as changing expectations for your current team members.  In part 5 we talked about helping people who do not belong on your team find their happiness elsewhere, and deciding if they really have to go, or are we acting out of fear.

Today we will focus on:

2. Changing expectations for our existing team members. 

We will likely have a large number of our team members happy to be getting great new people on the team (finally!), and happy to see the worst go (what have you been waiting for?).  The rest will be swept along by the strongest force (whether it be good or evil), and while they are not the yet the great team members we’d like to have on the team, I’ve found that the ‘window’ for great team members is wider that most people think.  Many more people would be great additions to the team if they are properly trained, trusted, allowed to take chances, and if they really believe that we, their team Leaders, have their best interest at heart.

Our current team members are not yet acting like Great team members for several reasons.  As Leaders, I believe our first job is to assume that our team members are fully capable of greatness, and our job is to remove the roadblocks that are holding them back.

Some of them have had the creativity and willingness to speak up beaten out of them by past bosses.  They are now doing average work because in the past it has not been in their best interest to speak up, make suggestions, maintain high work standards, or exceed expectations.

For these people the process will include brainstorming sessions, allowing them to move forward with their ideas with little or no input from you, and rewarding and celebrating each and every time one of them speaks up, offers an idea, or provides even the smallest bit of constructive criticism.

You should expect the process of encouraging people to speak up to take some time… months at least, if not longer.  At first they will not trust you to listen to, or care about what they have to say.  The need for patience and understanding is paramount, and your ability to ride out this process will be tested.  If you are able to stick with it, the payoff will be more than worth it.

Some of them have always had each and every step of their jobs spelled out for them, and have not had the freedom to innovate, or make any decisions for themselves.  These people have been taught to follow orders, rules, and job descriptions to the letter, and the thought of changing this learned behavior could be very scary.

These people do not expect to be trusted (in fact they will likely expect just the opposite), so you must be not just willing, but eager to extend trust to everyone on your team.  People don’t need to ‘earn’ your trust… people deserve trust simply because they are people.  And as Leaders it is our job to extend trust.

Here again, we get more of what we reward and celebrate.  So… if we want our team members to take chances, try new methods, and innovate, we should celebrate and reward each and every instance.

I have found that it helps to suggest ways in which people might step out of their rigid confines (whether they are self defined, or have been defined for them by others).  We are often able to see the right answers and best course of action for others, and yet unable to see any path at all for ourselves. 

Literally making suggestions about how to approach their work differently may not work, since too many people will hear our suggestions as yet more direction.  So… I’ve had success simply relating my experiences…  “When I was… I tried this…” or “I had this great team Leader who suggested that I try… I failed miserably, but because of that failure I thought of trying… which worked out great” or “I’ve seen this… or this… work in the past, and I bet you can come up with an even better way to…”

This is where celebrating every attempt will help you, because many of your team members will be hesitant to try something new for fear of failure… or more specifically, the consequences of failure.  So… having their team Leader celebrate and reward every attempt at innovation will go a long way toward helping your people break out of their old habits.

Some people have ideas or pictures of themselves that are not true, or not supported by fact.  You know the stories we tell ourselves… like: I’m not good at math… I could do everything about the next job but the financials.  For whatever reason, many of us tell ourselves, convince ourselves that we are not capable, or not able to do certain jobs or tasks … we can help people break out of these limiting molds and thought patterns. 

As we develop relationships with our team members, we will begin to understand what thought patterns are getting in the way, and over time we can work on helping our team members see that these beliefs are not only false, but often the opposite is true!  They will only listen to us however, once we show them that we have their best interest at heart.

Some people have attitudes that stand in their way.  We can be too idealistic, feel that everything we do must be perfect, or that we cannot compromise at all without compromising who we are.  Attitudes like this can easily keep us from building on our strengths, getting enough tasks accomplished, or working well as part of a team.

We can help these people by showing them how this belief or behavior is getting in the way of achieving their goals.  Our first job, as usual, is to develop strong, trusting relationships.  Then, when they realize that our goals for them are the same as their goals for themselves, they will actually hear us when we talk to them about how these attitudes (which then affect their behaviors) are keeping them from achieving their goals.

To sum up… to move our current team members from average to great, our first steps are to build strong, trusting relationships; assume there are obstacles keeping them from being great; removing the obstacles and roadblocks we can remove; helping our team members develop new habits and overcome old patterns; and rewarding and celebrating every attempt towards the behaviors we need to see more of.

Next time we will discuss how our expectations for performance and behavior need to change in order to achieve great, as well as how to relate these changes to our team.  As the past behavior of the team is exactly what we allowed it to be, we need to fully own our responsibility in order for the team to accept the needed changes.

Great Doesn’t Happen By Accident... Helping People Find Happiness Elsewhere

What Does It Take To Build And Develop A Truly Great Team?  Part 5 of a series…

Welcome back!  Here we are, working on building a great team of hourly team members, from no experience/entry level to Store Team Leader.  We’ve talked about hiring the best people by hiring for qualities rather than skills, because we can teach pretty much anyone almost any skill, however we cannot teach qualities.

Last time we talked about the need to indoctrinate (or whatever you choose to call it) your new hire just as soon as you make the decision to hire them.  The importance of this cannot be overstated… you simply cannot leave this to anyone else.  Only you, the team Leader, can imbue your new hire with the team’s values and goals, the work ethic you expect, and make sure they know that you not only value and appreciate what they bring to the team, but also your commitment to helping them achieve their goals. 

I have found that stating these things without the passion, belief, and energy that we would imagine someone who is ‘indoctrinating’ another person would use, will end with us failing to achieve the desired results.  The process, and how the message is delivered are as important as the actual message.  At least this is what I’ve found in my experience.

It is most important that you begin developing that strong, trusting relationship the day you decide to add them to the team.

Now that we are hiring the best people, we need to keep these great new hires from joining the ranks and adopting the current culture, and change the culture and of the team.  Without changing the culture, as well as the expectations of our current team members, those great new people will either become mediocre, or leave.  We cannot allow that to happen!

To keep that from happening, we need to be doing several things at once...

1. 1.    Get the people who do not belong on a great team off the team as quickly as possible.  Even if that means we run short handed for a while, the risk of allowing them to poison our new hires far out weighs the short term effects of being short handed.  All of our time and effort spent finding the best people and getting them excited about working on this great team will be for naught if we do not get those who are not interested in being part of a great team off of our team. 

If we are not willing to follow through on this critical step, we will never be able to develop that great team.  People who do not belong on a team are like poison, and no amount of coaching, or relationship building can mitigate the damage they will do.  The percentage of people who cannot be won over, and will need to be removed from the team is small.  If you are feeling that a large number, 10%, 15% or more of the current team members need to leave the team, perhaps we should take a hard look at our reasons for wanting them off the team.

When turning a team around, it is easy to feel that everyone we did not hire, everyone we don’t immediately see as a great addition to the team, or everyone who might be loyal to the previous leader needs to go.  In fact, what most likely needs to happen is we need to spend the time to develop relationships with the majority of these team members. 

I have found that the range of people who can be great team members is much wider that many people think.   People who are not currently great, and who can become great team members have usually been mistrusted, and mistreated by their past team Leaders.  If we make sure they are trained, extend trust, and develop strong relationships with them, we will find that many of our current team members can move with us from average or mediocre to great.  It’s up to us as Leaders to do everything we can to engage with, and get the best out of each and everyone of our people.

For those very few who are always negative; do not wish to do the work it takes to be part of a great team; or will not be honest and genuine enough to allow a relationship to be built, we must be decisive and move them off the team as quickly as we can.

I didn’t mean to spend so much time on this one sub-topic, and I feel that its importance can’t be overstated.  Feeling that more than a few people need to leave the team is probably a clue that we are allowing ourselves to be driven by our fears, which will make it impossible to achieve great.  And at the same time, failing to take action with the few who do need to go will also keep us from achieving great.  Working with our coach or mentor can help us determine where the truth/balance lies, and keep us from getting derailed.

Next time we’ll talk about changing the expectations of our current team members…

Should Each And Every Effort Raise The Bar?

Do You Permanently Raise The Bar When Someone Puts In Extra Effort?

“Sad but true. When you over deliver, that raises the bar. That's your new standard and you are constantly measured against that. Even dropping to, say, a high-average level means your performance has deteriorated and you're possible termination material while anyone else who rises to that same level is considered hot property”.

I read this in a comment to another post not to long ago (unfortunately I can’t find it now to give credit), and I understood it immediately because I’ve been on both sides of it.

Should each and every effort raise the bar?

No of course not… what are you thinking?

I can see it from the side of the person who put in extra hours (perhaps even hours off the clock) and pulled resources and team members from other projects to make my boss look good when the president of the company came for a visit.  It was a lot of juggling, showing up early and working late, as well as asking a lot from each and every one of my team members.  We pushed pretty much everything to the limit, losing sleep and time with our families to make this go off without a hitch.

We didn’t do it expecting a bonus or a parade.  We did it because we are part of a team, and we wanted to have our department and store look as well as it could, and support our boss by making him look good.

The next day I’m asked why we can’t do that all of the time…  thank you… and why can’t do you that every day?

Did my boss simply not care about how hard my team and I had to work to make that happen?

Did my boss simply not understand how hard my team and I had to work to make that happen?

Did my boss not care how stressful the whole process was, and how we were all at our limits?

How do you think I felt when I got a perfunctory ‘thank you’ and then was asked why I couldn’t do that every day?

Do you think I felt appreciated?  Valued? 

Did I feel like something… something that should be used up and tossed aside when it can no longer function as needed?  A consumable…

Or…

Was my boss under so much pressure that he felt his job was constantly on the line?

Did he fully understand what it took, and still felt the need to ask us to make that the new normal because he was afraid that one of these days he might have to have to go home and tell his wife that he got fired?

Did he simply not know any better… was he promoted past his level of competence, and he is struggling to keep his head above water?

What should we assume?

Of course you should raise the bar. 

In this economy, this is the new normal.  If we are not able to do more with less; keep improving each and every day, we might not have jobs to complain about tomorrow.

Good enough isn’t good enough, and with the competition we have, we must constantly struggle to improve our quality/service/products/bottom line every day.

My bonus is based mostly on ‘improvement’, and if we don’t continue to find ways to achieve more while using less, I lose money.  So…

Where do you stand?

I can’t state what is right or wrong here, and what I can do is tell you what would have made a difference for me.

Build relationships:

If you are a team Leader, show that you are interested in creating a strong, trusting relationship with those who work for you.  People will work tirelessly for us when we first develop relationships with them.  They need to know that we care about them and their goals; that we value and appreciate them and their hard work; and that we have their best interest at heart.

Appreciate:

Show your team that you appreciate the effort they put in.  Make sure you are giving more positives than you thought possible… between 5 and 9 positives for every negative or constructive piece of feedback.

Communicate openly:

Speak honestly about what is needed, and how the team can help achieve it.  Make sure that each and every team member knows that they are an important part of the team, and integral to the success of the team.

Support Constant improvement:

We can all get behind constant improvement.  I’ve found that everyone who feels like an important part of the team will have ideas on how to improve things.  Supporting constant improvement means listening to everyone… showing humility and knowing that you don’t have all of the answers.  Make sure your people have everything they need to do their best work.

Redefine job descriptions:

Talk to every team member about redefining their jobs.  By helping each team member see the overarching reason for their work we allow them to find new ways to do great things.  Defining roles by their job description puts limits on what people can do and what they see as possible.

Help your team members achieve their goals:

Whether it means teaching people skills, helping them develop Leadership qualities, or doing their best work for you while trying to get their own business off the ground… helping other’s achieve their goals builds trust and loyalty.

Help everyone get an A:

Read Helping People Win At Work by Ken Blanchard and Garry Ridge.  It’s our responsibility as Leaders to help every one of our team members find success at work.  If our team members fail, we should first look to ourselves for the fault.

People who fee that they are a valued part of the team will work very, very hard for us.  However we have to understand that we can only push them so hard before they feel abused… Once this happens it’s very difficult to reverse.  When people no longer feel valued, and feel more like pawns that can be sacrificed, the quality of their work will drop, turnover will increase, and it will become more and more difficult to maintain that level of productivity.  Do not fall into this trap, as it’s a tough one to get out of.

Why The Best Idea Isn’t Always The Best Idea

I have come to believe that the best decision isn't necessarily the best decision; rather it’s the one the most people can genuinely get behind.

I was engaged in a discussion with Dan Forbes and a few other Leaders in the “LeadWith Giants” Google Plus Community, talking about the importance of consensus..  My comments in the discussion led me to think that perhaps my thinking needed more explanation.

What happens when we go with the ‘best decision’ whether or not we achieve consensus, or buy in for this decision?

• ·      One person can make a decision, however it takes a team of people working together for successful implementation.
• 
  
• ·      Expecting, wanting, or demanding support for a decision does not mean people will actually support the decision.
• 
  
• ·      Opinions and feelings about the decision, as well as all of the actions and changes that will happen implementing the decision, are not heard.
• 
  
• ·      People who do not feel heard do not feel valued, important, or engaged.
• 
  
• ·      People do not like change… in particular change that is imposed upon them.
• 
  
• ·      Unhappy, disengaged, and undervalued workers may not support the changes; or may go so far as to undermine the implementation of the changes.
• 
  
• ·      Time and money are wasted working to overcome worker pushback.
• 
  
• ·      The implementation of our decision falls far short of our expectations, and we wonder why.

Even though this was the ‘best idea’, when we fail to hear the opinions, and more importantly the feelings of those involved, we fail to achieve the level of success we expected.   The benefits, and ROI are much less that we thought we would realize, and what could have been a great thing becomes just another in a long line of failed initiatives.

What happens when we work towards consensus?

• ·      Group members are engaged and empowered by inclusion
• 
  
• ·      Concerns and feelings can be expressed and heard, building stronger, trusting relationships
• 
  
• ·      Those involved have more ownership and commitment to the decision as well as the implementation.
• 
  
• ·      When practiced on a regular basis, the open and honest discussion and debate involved in consensus building allows us benefit from the experience of the entire group.
• 
  
• ·      We create a shared understanding of the goal, and agreement on actions.
• 
  
• ·      People are more willing to accept and participate in changes when they have had a chance to share their concerns and fears, as well as participate in determining changes to be made.
• 
  
• ·      People who feel heard are much more likely to fully support the changes, and even help bridge gaps with other teams and departments.

So... the best idea is the one the most people can get behind.  It's the one that gets supported throughout the process, so the results realized are much closer to our expectations.  More people on all levels are willing to accept the changes because the people responsible for implementing the changes felt ownership, and showed honest, personal support.

Although the idea that the most people can get behind may not get us as far as our hopes for ‘the best idea’, it moves us closer to our big goals, while at the same time forming a team where most people feel heard, trusted, valued, and supported.  That second goal is the much more important goal… Leadership through relationship building is what will enable us to reach our larger goals, and keep us agile and competitive in the long run.

Does Your Workplace Foster Excellence Or Mediocrity?

Everything needs the right climate for growth. 

If you have mediocre conditions you are going to get mediocre results. 

You have to provide the right conditions to manifest excellent results. 

It doesn’t really matter what results you are seeking, if you are not mindful of the climate you are operating in and/or creating, your results may be mediocre rather than excellent.

Take a look at your company… an honest, objective look. 

·      Are you achieving your goals?  Are you generally meeting or exceeding your forecasts without some kind of threat or negative consequence? 

·      Do your Team Leaders regularly reach out to you with questions and concerns? 

·      Do they occasionally reach out and tell you that they aren’t sure what to do, ask how best to proceed, and ask for advice or clarity?

·      Do they sometimes question your decisions?  And does this lead to an open discussion?

·      Do you trust pretty much all of them?  Do you extend trust as a rule?

·      Do you foster a culture of encouragement, and give 5 to 9 positives for every constructive comment?  

Do you do this yourself, and do you remind others to do this?

It doesn’t matter what you would like to happen, or what should happen…  Answer these questions with what is actually happening in your workplace.

If you answer mostly no to these questions…

You are likely creating and supporting a culture of fear, and you are fostering mediocre performance. 

You are teaching your team Leaders to keep their opinions to themselves; to play it safe and shoot for staying under the radar; that they are not safe in their jobs; and that they should not take any risks or chances to strive for excellence.

You are developing a culture of ‘every man for himself’.  Your team Leaders do not feel that they are an important part of the team, nor do they share your goals.

You will see this reflected in disengaged team members and team Leaders.  They will be going through the motions, however they will not be showing any passion for their work.  Your team members are not happy in their jobs, and this will not feel like a happy workplace; they are not engaging with your customers; nor are they striving to do their best.

You can turn this around!  It will take time, and energy, and you can do it.

How to foster excellent results…

·      Excellence follows clear and transparent expectations.  Everyone at every level should be aware of the expectations, and they should be consistent at each level.

·      Encourage innovation by aligning rewards with attempts at innovation and risk taking, in addition to excellence, as long as it is supporting the stated goals.   

·      Encourage mistakes… if you are not making mistakes, you are not trying hard enough!  And if you can’t afford a mistake then be a partner in that area/process.  Don’t leave your team leaders out to dry… work with them to ensure success where it is critical.

·      Understand that everyone is not great at everything.  We all have our strengths, and we should be playing to our strengths and working to build on them.  People will need help in areas that are not their strengths, support them; partner them with those who have those strengths; partner with them yourself.  Fully support them through the hard times and they will reward you with trust and loyalty.

·      Build strong trusting relationships… this is Leadership people.  Creating relationships with others is what allows you influence them.  Yes it takes time and energy… do you want to achieve your goals or not?

·      Build a culture of trust.  This means that you, the Leader, must extend trust to those around you.  It is up to you to say, out loud, publicly, that you trust them, believe in them, and are confident in them.  It’s up to you to help them feel safe in their jobs… safe trying new things, safe attempting and possibly failing.  Your Leaders and team members are the ones carrying out and achieving the goals of the team… each one of them needs to feel like an appreciated, and important part of the team.

·      Build a culture of encouragement.  This means you are not critiquing everything everyone does all of the time.  Would you welcome someone outside your company to come in and second-guess every decision you ever made?  So stop criticizing all of the time, and start praising every little win.  You will be amazed at the difference in the attitudes of those around you when you start seeing the things they do right.  Yup… they will start doing more things right.

·      Understand the cyclical nature of everything… no one stays on top forever.  No one will be striving to be at the top of their game if they will get in trouble for every slip.  No team Leader will work harder, and push his or her team to be atop the KPI list if all they get is hassled when they cannot maintain that position.

·      Reward Leadership and Leadership development  -- people have to feel inspired to achieve excellence, and we are not inspired by some disconnected goals, or by tasks.   It takes Leaders, people who build relationships to inspire a team to greatness.  Reward leadership development because you need to be in this for the long run… you need to build bench strength… tomorrow's Leaders.

Lastly, cultivating a culture of excellence starts at the top, however none of the other levels of Leaders will follow through with these positive actions if your reward system is not in alignment.  You will get more of what you reward and celebrate… you will not get what you do not reward.  It’s that simple.  

Building Relationships and Emotional Bank Accounts

I first heard this phrase… emotional bank account, from an excellent Leader about 12 years ago.  I don’t know if Dr. Stephen R. Covey was the first to talk about this, and he has a great take on it, and worth checking out.  In fact we’ve been attempting to explain it to our 17 year old using the audio version of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change (25th Anniversary Edition) .  Anyway, it was her way of describing how relationships work, and it made perfect sense to me.  I have since used it many times to help developing Leaders understand more about relationships, the importance of trust and transparency, and admitting and fixing mistakes as soon as we make them.

In case this is new to you, I’ll attempt to explain it the way it was explained to me.  It’s a bit like a bank account, where we make deposits and withdrawals.  If we withdraw more than we have deposited, well… we have a deficit.  

For our emotional bank account, instead of money, we deposit other things, like trust, good will, guidance, honesty, transparency, and true care for the other.  Each time I helped one of my department team Leaders build a display, understand their margin problems without making them feel stupid of that their job was in danger, helped resolve a conflict with a team member, listened to understand without judgment, or helped with their long term goals, I made a deposit into our joint account.

There are so many ways to make deposits that I’ll just list a few more… when we show integrity and walk our talk; when we admit our mistakes; when we apologize, when we follow through; when we back them up; when we compliment and encourage them; and moving poor performers off the team quickly.

There are also many ways in which we make withdrawals, whether we are aware of them or not.  Some of them are simply when we fail to do the things listed above… when we constantly critique instead of compliment and encourage, when we fail to be transparent and hide our real agenda… I think this is a big one with to many of us; when we don’t make the time to listen to people; when we throw others under the bus; we when unintentionally hurt their feelings; when we forget an appointment; when we expect them to do as we say, and not as we do; and when we fail to value their goals, opinions, and feelings.

This account is so important because we are all human, and we are going to make mistakes.  We are all going to end up with hurt feelings, and unintentionally hurting other’s feelings.  We all forget, reschedule, and fail to communicate.  We may have the best of intentions, and they mean very little in the real world of feelings and perceptions.

So… our goal of course, is to be the best Leaders we can be, and make deposits into these emotional bank accounts as often as we can.  And yes… it can be tough to find the time.  For some of us, our boss may not value Leadership, and so the time needed to build these relationships and make these deposits can be very hard to come by.  What are we to do?

Knowing how tough it may be in the future, I start making deposits as soon as I possibly can.  The instant I hire a new person for the team, I not only begin indoctrinating them into the culture of the team, but also make sure they know how I feel about them.  I tell them straight out that I am very happy to have them on the team; that I chose them carefully out of all of the other applicants, and getting onto this team is not easy… they should be proud that they made it.  I will ensure them that I am very interested in helping them achieve their goals, and since we just finished the interview I can easily talk about them.  I make sure they know that I am confident in their ability to be successful on this team, and that I am looking forward to introducing them to the rest of the team, as well as being a part of their future success.

For many of us, after that it can be difficult to continue to make regular deposits for all of our team members.  So what should we do? 

I believe that it is necessary to focus on the small things… the things we would want for ourselves.  For instance, it is so easy to focus on the results, updates, and reports, and forget all about the person.  Because of that many of our team members, and perhaps we too, end up feeling constantly critiqued, and almost never thanked or encouraged.  We can use the ‘book of positives’ that I wrote about here to help us be more aware of the good things that are happening around us.

But what else can we do? 

We can end every meeting with appreciations.  I’ve talked a bit about this before, and it bears repeating.  I was introduced to this practice after starting at Whole Foods Market as an Associate Store Team Leader.  Every meeting ended in appreciations, and at first I wasn’t sure what to make of it… it was very foreign to me.  It didn’t take very long for me to see the positive effect these ‘appreciations’ had on not only store leadership and department team leaders, but also everyone in the store.

It was an opportunity to appreciate anyone and everyone.  So I might appreciate the young man shagging carts in the mornings, after I saw him sweeping the far corners of the parking lot without being asked.  Someone appreciated the a bakery team member, who had only been there a few weeks, and had asked if a prep table could be moved in order to have a better view of customers… That table had been in place for at least 4 years, and up to this point no one had noticed that working at it meant having your back to the customers.  A team leader might appreciate our store team Leader for grabbing a mop and bucket and cleaning up a mess in his department the previous Sunday… Every team member who witnessed that had a new found respect for our store team Leader.

After the meeting, we made sure that the appreciations for team members were given to each team member publicly, and rewarded with some token of thanks.  These appreciations went farther than I could have imagined bolstering egos, and maintaining the high morale in the store.  Everyone participated because the store team Leader and the rest of the store leadership team took them seriously, and arrived at every meeting with a variety of appreciations from the previous week.

What else can we do to fill our emotional bank accounts?  How do you fill them where you work?

How do we most often make withdrawals, and what is the penalty when we overdraw our account?

We make withdrawals in the ways listed above, as well as when we fail to give credit where it us due; when we try to push our agenda; try to manipulate others; when we are arrogant… this is a big one; when we break our promises, and/or have one set of expectations for our team members and another set for ourselves.  We withdraw when we attempt to hide the truth, or simply forget to be transparent; when we fail to greet team members by name… are we too big to get to know and remember their names? 

I have still have friends at one company where I used to work, and they all knew that one particular person was not doing well, and would be likely to lose her job… Do you think she knew?  No… it came as a complete surprise to her.  This kind of thing happens all too often, and was a double withdrawal… the people working there found out about her issues because someone in Leadership was inappropriate, and talked about personal issues to the wrong person.  So, everyone else thinks… how will they be talking about me?  This can be a pretty big withdrawal.  Secondly… this person was treated very poorly, and not given the chance to change whatever behavior was the problem, so now she will (rightfully?) be talking to everyone she knows about how she was treated, and some of those people she talks to will be customers, or possible future customers… we have not negatively impacted their perception of us.  A double whammy!

Sometimes it only takes one instance to completely wipe out whatever balance we might have built up, such as a lack of integrity, outright lying, or openly throwing another under the bus. 

We are all human, and we are all bound to make mistakes, big and small.  We hope that we will not commit a large wrong and lose our entire balance, however many small withdrawals over time will have the same effect. 

This is why it’s important to start making deposits as soon as you can, and put systems in place to ensure that you and your apprentices continue making deposits on a regular basis.  It’s also important to have a coach or mentor to keep us on track, talk through decisions, and bounce things off of before we get ourselves into trouble.

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