Hit a Home Run in Development and Productivity
Photo: Fieldstone Homes
This is the first in a series of posts on Leadership and Management
Staffing levels go up. Staffing levels go down. Seems like most staffing levels these days are shrinking a bit. And while many of you are striving to right that trend, most of you are clearly faced with doing more with, well, less. As such, it is as important as ever to develop team members so that more of their potential can be employed at work. The challenge is to juggle the myriad of tasks and responsibilities with which you are charged, along with elevating the skill levels of team members. To introduce this topic, allow me to share a best practice I find quite appropriate.
A colleague of mine meets with his operations and maintenance leaders on a quarterly basis. The first question he asks during the meeting is this: “If you are promoted or leave the company tomorrow, who will take your place and why?” He has a great team and usually receives salient responses. Occasionally however, he receives a skittish answer. His response is typically, “by next quarter I expect a solid plan, or unpleasant changes will occur.”
The above mentioned approach is not ruthless. Rather, what this best practice does is place a priority on growing the skills of our people. Better skilled people lead to better, more profitable results – it’s a fact. So let’s look at four areas we can embrace in order to ensure that our team members (and our profits) grow.
Mindset – As Yogi Berra once said: “Baseball is 90 percent mental; the other half is physical.” The mindset that I encourage you to embrace is to recognize that developing team members is constant. Growing people is not a one-time or annual event. Informal development should occur each day, while formal development should occur at regular intervals. Begin by envisioning outstanding outcomes, and then create a plan to bring these outcomes to fruition.
Catch People Doing Something Right – In so many workplaces, leaders only notice the things that are wrong. Constructive feedback is the low hanging fruit of development. If only (or mainly) constructive feedback is given, the workplace can become slanted to the negative. Team members need reinforcement regarding what they are doing correctly – even if they are executing an expected part of their job. But remember to be very specific about what is correct, AND be sure to describe the positive impact that the team member’s behavior has on other team members.
Ownership – counter-intuitively, it is the leader’s responsibility to drive team member development activities. While team members certainly have a huge stake in positive outcomes, the learning process should be driven and monitored by the leader. This ensures quality and on-target results.
Partnership – informal and formal feedback can expand collaborative relationships. Feedback helps to solidify what team members have learned, and serves as a barometer for your effectiveness. A method I’ve found particularly successful is to request a one-page summary after a formal coaching/development session with a team member. This summary will not only inform you about the team member’s key takeaways, but it will also test his or her level of engagement.
Developing your team members builds a healthy culture, creates positive connections, and increases retention rates for your top performers. There you have it. Now go forth and coach, develop, and quote Yogi!
Author: Doug Van Dyke, Strategic Partner
