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In my last blog we discussed the first of four key action components of leading your team:
- You know and completely understand what the team destination/goal is,
- You clearly communicate that destination to your team,
- You solicit their input for how to get there, and
- You are a walking, breathing scoreboard!
Today let’s tackle #2 – Clearly communicate your destination to your team.
Tony Robbins, the world-class success coach is famous for saying, “Repetition is the mother of mastery.” And so it is. Continually communicating the destination to your team in ways that get them re-ignited is the mark of a true leader. Assuming they know the destination because you told them once or twice does not work, nor will it ever. They will forget. Heck, YOU and the rest of the leadership team forget half the time!
What does this have to do with basketball?
I use basketball teams as examples because, having grown up cheering for my hometown Boston Celtics, I love the game.
You don’t have to tell basketball players that the goal is winning each game; they know that and are behind it 100%. What they are likely to forget is that meeting that goal is not reaching the destination. The destination is creating a world-class team capable of winning the top competition whether it’s the WNBA Finals or the NCAA Championship.
Applying this to YOUR area of responsibility
If the final destination for your Customer Service Department (as an example) is 100% customer satisfaction, that end has to be reinforced continually, just as those basketball players have to be reminded in between games that there is more than the immediate game. How do you keep your team pointed in the right direction when the destination seems out of reach? It’s always about “acting as if” you’ll reach the destination. Motivation lies in answering the question, “Who do we need to be and how do we need to behave to reach this destination?” In my next blog we’ll discuss why it doesn’t work for only the leader to answer this question; the entire team needs to be involved.
How do we do it?
What I would like you to wrestle with today is this question: How can we keep the final destination uppermost in our minds as we go about our work each day? You get more of what you focus on. If you can find some clever ways to keep you and the rest of the team focused on where you’re headed, the work will not only be more enjoyable, it will be more meaningful
Employee Engagement (and you are an employee) is all about having opportunities every day to use your creativity. Unless you know what it is you are trying to create, you will simply be doing busy work and where’s the engagement (or fun) in that?
