If
you want your company to remain competitive and stay around for a long time,
then the old school “leadership” style of fear, manipulation, and secrets must
be tossed aside.
It
is time to work from the inside out and make your team members inside the
company top priority so the company and your clients outside the company reap
the rewards.
1. Focus On Strengths
People, in
general, love working on things they are naturally good at and enjoy perfecting
it. Knowing the strengths of each of your
team members will allow you to place them on assignments that they will
enjoy. Productivity and quality increases
when team members actually enjoy their work.
Happy team members mean you will have happy clients. Happy clients will do more business with you
and will recommend you to other businesses.
2. Invest In Education
Continuous
education is the key to keep the edge in business. If team members work in a continuous learning
environment they will always be looking at ways to improve themselves and the
business. Learning is contagious. The more team members learn, the more they
want to learn and share with others.
Everyone benefits from an educated workplace and the money spent on
education will more than pay for itself in additional business. Educated team members mean you will have
happy team members and clients. Happy
clients will do more business with you and will recommend you to other
businesses.
3. Communicate
Inform team
members of the company vision, mission, and goals. Post the goals and provide updates on all
goals on a regular basis. Discuss how
team members play a role in the vision, mission, and achieving goals. Admit when something goes wrong, discuss the
lessons learned, and move on. Also,
celebrate the wins. This type of open
communication will create an environment of trust and will have team members
taking care of each other like family.
This creates a loyal team that will stick around to take care of the
company as well as your new and existing clients.
4. Say Thank You
A simple “thank
you” goes a long way and creates a great feeling with team members. Make it a habit to tell at least one person
“thank you” every day. Does the good
deed deserve more than a few kind words?
Then give a $25 Starbucks gift card, take them to lunch, give them a day
off, etc. It doesn’t really matter, just
recognize it. Recognition for a good
deed creates a very positive environment and encourages others to do the
same. This infectious environment will
improve performance and positively impact your clients who will want your team
around more often. This will lead to
more business.
5. Accountability
Hold you team
(and yourself) accountable for their actions and responsibilities. Encourage all team members to help each other
and discourage team members to take on someone else’s challenges. Be crystal clear on expectations and goals as
well as consequences. This encourages
all team members to see something to the end. This instills self-respect, improves
confidence, and adds to the learning environment. Confident team members with self-respect will
aim high and everyone wins.
