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​Are you spending your time wisely?July 30 2017

It’s a fairly common understanding that the thing that you spend the most time on is the thing that you care about the most. You can see this if you look closely at your personal life; perhaps you spend most of your ‘free’ time focusing on your family, your friends or exercising - the things that you value the most.

The same should be true in your work life and if you’re a leader, you should be intentionally dividing up your time to reflect the things that you value most in your organisation. What should be topping the list? It’s people. Spending time with your people, giving feedback and getting alongside them regularly should be a top priority.

According to a study performed by SAP and Oxford Economics, 50% of high performers say they expect to have a monthly sit down with their leaders and get feedback and yet, 53% say that their manager isn’t delivering on this.

Some leaders like to use every excuse under the sun to make sure that they spend as little time as possible with their team. Why is this? Many leaders think that their people don’t want to be disturbed by someone who should be leading from the front; others like to think that, because they haven’t heard any complaints, everything is fine within the team. By far, the most common excuse is that leaders are simply too busy to spend time managing their people.

None of these excuses have particularly strong foundations and could be hindering your team’s growth and performance.

Why should you spend time engaging with your team?

As leaders, we should be finding time, outside of the standard formal settings, to engage with our team so we can connect better with each member of your team and stay in tune with the team dynamics. Engaging in this way leads to learning about their lives, both professionally and personally and we can better understand how they work, so that we can learn how to get the very best out of them every day.

Time spent engaging with your team also ensures that everyone is on the same page, aligned to the organisations mission and values as you work together. If there is any disconnect, it should be easily spotted by a leader who spends time engaging with their team.

According to Karie Willyerd, if your team is left to their own devices, they may start to look for other opportunities and challenges as well as growth and rewards - after all, only 38.8% of employees are satisfied or highly satisfied with their positions. You should be doing all that you can to engage and retain your team members.

What should you be doing?

There are thousands of ways you can engage with your team and it will vary from team to team, but there are simple things you, as a leader, can dedicate yourself to doing every week.

Stay informed – this goes beyond just knowing names. Know what’s going on in your team’s lives and check in regularly. This doesn’t have to involve prying inappropriately or gossiping, it just requires really listening and caring. Listen to the office chatter and be in tune for any changes that may affect their work or the team dynamic.

Celebrate wins – It’s important to acknowledge successes with your team privately and publically. It makes your team feel valued and lets them know they’re on the same page as you.

Know strengths and weaknesses – Get your team exercising their strengths daily and encourage them to step out of their comfort zone to work on their weaknesses. Showing them opportunities to grow will help your team to feel enthusiastic about developing their skills.

Listen to feedback – getting alongside your team means that you become accessible when it comes to feedback – good or bad. The most important thing is to take all the feedback on board and to do what you can, where you can. Your team has a voice and it’s your job to make sure it’s heard and valued.

At the end of the day it’s important to spend your time investing in your team so that you can be on the lookout for disengagement and you can turn it around.

When your team looks at the way you spend your time, do they see you focusing on paperwork, emails or meetings? Or do they see you spending time with your people?

To find out how you can be spending your time more wisely with your team, contact People Make The Difference. We can help you with our training workshops, one-on-one coaching and Coach on Call services. To find out more, call us on 0412 333 415 or visit peoplemakethedifference.com.au

 

​Do you know the symptoms of a disengaged team?July 25 2017

Engagement in a team setting is a term that is thrown around a lot, but does it really matter if your team is engaged? We believe the answer to that is a resounding yes! Engaged teams are always committed to the success of the organisation and you need this commitment to keep moving forward.

Every team comes up against challenges but some challenges can cause more damage than others and letting the symptoms of disengagement go undiagnosed could be lethal for your team.

The Symptoms?

Apathetic –  Does your team seem unexcited about the tasks they have to complete? When they walk in each day, do they seem as though they really care about the mission of your organisation or do they show up looking bored and indifferent to the role they play in the wider organisation? Everyone has their bad days but are those bad days dragging on for longer than they should and permeating the attitude of every team member?

Incohesive – Are your team members interacting with each other regularly? One of the most essential elements of a team is being able to work together to reach a common goal. If they refuse to help each other out, don’t trust each other and undermine each other it can be a sign that there is a disconnect somewhere along the line.

Adequacy – This is possibly one of the most difficult symptoms to spot. Sure, your team may get the job done satisfactorily but do they ever go above and beyond? Do they ever stay back after closing time to make sure something gets done or do they leave it unfinished for someone else to deal with? Adequate performance can slip by unnoticed but a team that is really engaged will go out of their way to exceed every expectation and go the extra mile.

 

The Cure?

Stimulate motivation – Your team need to be motivated and inspired in order to care about the organisation’s overarching mission. This inspiration will then bleed into the everyday tasks and leave your team excited to start the day and work towards goals.

Foster relationships and trust – Cohesiveness is encouraged through friendships and trustworthy relationships. When your team trusts you, as their leader, as well as their teammates, they know that they won’t be undermined and can work with confidence towards a common goal.

Encourage courageousness – Adequate work will get you and your team through but at the end of the day, you need your team to be going the extra mile. Encouraging your team members to take calculated risks and be courageous in their work and supporting them when they do go that extra mile can help your team to go to the next level and keep moving forward.

When all's said and done, an engaged team is a productive team that will help to move your organisation towards success. Don’t let the symptoms disengagement go unnoticed and start taking steps today to cure it.

 

If you’re ready to foster a team environment where relationships, inspiration and courageousness are the norm, People Make The Difference can help you with training workshops, one-on-one coaching and Coach On Call services. To find out more, call us on 0412 333 415 or visit peoplemakethedifference.com.au.

 

 

​What I've learnt: Friendships in the workplaceJuly 07 2017

A huge amount of our time every week is spent at work, so forming relationships is not only convenient, it’s inevitable. Unfortunately, finding the right balance between professional and personal can be difficult and managers, in particular, need to be aware of the boundaries when it comes to these relationships.

The positives?

• Friendships and a high level of cohesiveness within your team are fantastic things and certainly shouldn’t be discouraged. They can help to create a work hard/play hard environment where your team are motivated and inspired every day.
• A close-knit team is more likely to want to socialise outside of work hours, so celebrating your success as a team becomes easier – and fun!
• When all your team members enjoy being around each other they often invest more time in getting to know each other, understanding each other and supporting each other as they work together. This means that they can get the best out of each other and drive the team to success.
• Fostering positive relationships between team members and managers can also lend itself to high levels of loyalty within a team.

The negatives?

• Managers who choose to become good friends with team members often struggle when it comes to having difficult conversations. These confrontations tend to be avoided – never a good sign.
• Other team members are quick to pick up on favouritism, whether it’s from the manager or from their fellow team members. Favouritism damages cohesion within a team and can cause employee loyalty to drop.
• Unfortunately, even the best managers aren’t good at separating personal and professional relationships and it can quickly turn into a tangled web as you try to avoid hurting feelings whilst getting the job done.
• Friendships often lend themselves to sharing more than you should – unfortunately the things you say, comment upon or joke about can easily be taken out of context and misconstrued, leaving team members feeling hurt and negative about being a part of your team.

How can we strike a balance?

It’s extremely important to foster positive relationships within your team and there should always be a close working relationship with a good understanding of each other and mutual respect. Managers, however, should avoid becoming too close.

Socialising and team building should always be encouraged but knowing when to leave is important; never stay too long or drink too much! Always be aware that the things you say are making an impact and can be passed onto other team members.

An easy way to start thinking about the relationships you have with your team is to ask yourself this question:

Are the relationships within the team helping the team to realise their full potential or is the team being compromised because of personal relationships?

The most important thing to do as you try to strike the balance between your personal and professional life is to be in touch with your emotional intelligence. Being part of a team requires you to work closely with others and understand them so that you can get the best out of them but knowing where to draw the line in different situations requires a lot of emotional intelligence.

 If you’re struggling to find the right balance between personal and professional, People Make The Difference can help you with training workshops, one-on-one coaching and Coach On Call services. To find out more, call us on 0412 333 415 or visit peoplemakethedifference.com.au.

 

 

​Are you listening close enough? June 26 2017

It won’t come as a surprise that hearing and listening are two very different things. No doubt, you’ve been frustrated by someone in the past who hasn’t listened effectively to what you’ve said. Unfortunately, many of us don’t realise that we’re not listening properly until it’s too late, but it’s an essential skill for anyone in a team environment, leader or not.

In a standard day, we spend 80% of our time communicating with others. Of course, this is made up by emails, meetings, texts, reading documents and speaking. The majority of our communication however, is listening. Having a strong and bold voice is important – necessary even – but knowing when to be quiet and listen to understand others is just as important.

What happens when you don’t listen?

People who don’t listen properly usually – consciously or subconsciously – think they have all the answers. Being disinterested in listening means that you don’t really understand anyone else’s point of view and you’re not open to discovering new solutions to issues within your team.

For leaders, listening is crucial. If you don’t listen, you miss out on hearing the concerns, joys and thoughts of your team. Without that insight, it becomes difficult to motivate the team and inspire them towards your collective goal.

How can we listen effectively?

Being conscious of your listening abilities is always the first step. Be aware of what you need to do to concentrate and give the other person your full attention. There are some simple things you can start to implement:

Stop interrupting – not only are you telling the other person that you think what you have to say is more important, you’re not really listening to understand them, you’re listening to respond. Take the time to consider what they’ve said and respond thoughtfully, instead of interrupting.

Get rid of distractions – it might be your phone, a window with people walking by or even the task you’re currently working on. Whatever it is that distracts you, remove it from the situation. It’s very obvious when you’re not paying attention and the speaker can pick up on your distractedness and they may feel less valued.

Listen with your eyes – eye contact is definitely important, but you also need your eyes to be paying attention to body language. Words are not the only way to communicate, sometimes people say things with their mouths but their body language doesn’t line up. It’s your job, as the listener, to pick up on this.

Ask questions – some people think that asking questions makes it seem as though you’re not listening. Not true! Asking thoughtful questions can show the speaker that you were listening, you care and you’re interested to find out more. Ask open-ended questions when you can, so that you are expressing interest in keeping the conversation going.

Speaking well goes hand-in-hand with listening well. When everyone speaks clearly and listens intently, we all end up on the same page with very little confusion along the way. They are both key to creating transparent and effective team relationships.

 

If you’re ready to enhance your listening skills to be a better leader, People Make The Difference can help you with training workshops, one-on-one coaching and Coach On Call services. To find out more, call us on 0412 333 415 or visit peoplemakethedifference.com.au.

 

 

 

​What I've learnt: making hard decisions Jun 15 2017

Organisations and teams, no matter how big or small, will always come up against difficult decisions that need to made. Sometimes the most difficult decisions are the ones that, when your team can’t come to a natural decision on their own and are split 40% to 60% in opinion. So, what can leaders do when they have the final call?

I’ve come up against plenty of difficult decisions in my time, from customer service issues where the team has been divided on the best solution, to internal issues where the team is unclear on task responsibilities or debating the direction of the business. It can be difficult to keep everyone satisfied, but I approach all the difficult decisions in the same way to avoid treading on toes as much as possible.

Keep your ear to the ground

Since you spend so much time with your team and have got to know them well, it’s natural that you’ll have a general idea of how your team will respond to certain decisions. It can be worth your while to call an initial meeting to canvas the general feeling amongst your team and get them thinking about the decision. Sometimes, the choice will be clear at the end of the initial meeting and the decision will be made while other times it will be a little more difficult and further thought and discussion will be required.

Continue moving forward

Don’t let the decision hang in the balance for too long. A stalled decision doesn’t resolve the situation or keep your team moving forward. Make the decision within the meeting - your role as a leader is to get the team to a decision, even it requires you making it.  Leaving the decision open for too long can lead to second-guessing which is not helpful for the team. When there is a majority decision, even if it is as close as 40% to 60%, go with the majority.

Of course, not every decision you make will be the right one and sometimes, only time will tell.

How can you get the minority on board with the majority decision?

Always take time to speak 1:1 with your team members, specifically those who did not support the majority decision. This discussion can help to quell their fears that this it was the wrong choice.  A trial of the decision for a certain period, with a report back of the outcomes can also help to get team members on board if they’re not completely on board with the final decision and feel strongly about it.

Communicating with confidence

After the decision has been made, ensure that everyone involved in the final decision is on-board and ready to communicate the decision to others with 100% confidence. Your leadership team must present a united front, so getting agreement from everyone in the team within the meeting is important. When the leadership team is united in the decision, it reduces the chance of second-guessing, gossiping and chaos amongst the wider team - all things that destroy teams, rather than building them up.

Making difficult decisions can be daunting but People Make The Difference can help you with training workshops, one-on-one coaching and Coach On Call services. To find out more, call us on 0412 333 415 or visit peoplemakethedifference.com.au

 

 

​Why bother with heartfelt goals? May 30 2017

After looking at the differences between SMART and HARD goals, it’s clear that HARD goals offer a whole new way of approaching goal setting that focuses more on the way that we emotionally deal with our goals. Of course, it can be easy to dismiss HARD goals for this reason – emotions can seem a bit wishy-washy and unreliable, why should we be using the HARD method and why should we be making sure that our goals are heartfelt?

What are heartfelt goals?

There are times when inspiration strikes and we become suddenly motivated towards a specific goal. The goal sits in our head for days and we can’t shake it, knowing that we will have to do something about it so that it doesn’t weigh on us. These are heartfelt goals – the goals that you can’t ignore, the ones that weasel their way into our hearts and really inspire us to make a change.

Why does your team need a heartfelt goal?

By very nature, heartfelt goals are important to us. Unfortunately, there are very few goals that we can achieve on our own. At the very least, we need moral support. At the most, we need a team to pull together and make change happen.

As humans, we are emotional beings and we respond to things emotionally (even when we try not to). If our team is looking to achieve a goal, the emotion and inspiration behind it are extremely important – it’s the very thing that will drive your team towards success.

More than that, your team needs a leader who wholeheartedly believes in the goal that you are collectively trying to achieve. After all, if you aren’t committed to the goal or you don’t care about what you’re trying to achieve – why should your team spend their time trying to reach it? If you don’t care, why should anyone else?

For example, the goal “I want our organisation to sign up 10 new subscribers to our programs within the next month” is more of a SMART goal and leaves a lot to be desired. It’s hard to care personally about the goal even though it’s not an intrinsically bad goal.

Instead, flipping this into a HARD goal for an individual will see more results: “I want to learn a new skill in marketing this month, in order to help our organisation spread their message further.” This goal invests in the individual’s development, the organisation’s growth and ultimately, the original goal of 10 new subscribers will be in sight.

Goal setting is always fraught with the danger of failure and, unfortunately, there is nothing you can do to eradicate that danger. Having heartfelt goals, however, can soften the blow of failure. Failing at a heartfelt goal doesn’t have to mean defeat – if you and your team really care about the change the goal will bring, any step towards it will be a plus, no matter how small.

If you’re ready to start motivating your team by leveraging heartfelt goals, contact People Make The Difference. We can help you with our training workshops, one-on-one coaching and Coach On Call services. To find out more, call us on 0412 333 415 or visit peoplemakethedifference.com.au

 

​Are your goals SMART or HARD? May 15 2017

Goal setting is an extremely important part of our professional, personal and team development – it’s important to write down our goals so that we can then track our progress and make adjustments as we trundle towards those goals. There is one method of goal setting that gets promoted endlessly – SMART goals. There is nothing wrong with SMART goals, but in recent years, a new goal setting method has taken hold – HARD goals.

What are SMART goals?

The early 1980’s saw the invention of SMART goals, an acronym to help individuals define and manage their goals and in the time since, it’s become a hugely popular method for leaders and teams to use when it comes to achieving goals.

Specific: managing to specify a goal is half the battle – what is it that you want to achieve? Why do you want to achieve it? How are you going to achieve it?

Measurable: when you achieve the goal, how will you know? How will you measure your success?

Achievable: is your goal achievable for you? Your goals might be possible for someone, but if they’re not possible for you, you will struggle enormously.

Relevant: to find out whether your goal is really relevant to you, ask yourself why you want to achieve it and whether achieving it will really solve your problem.

Time: how long will it take? When do you need to have achieved this goal?

What are HARD goals?

Coined by Mark Murphy, HARD goals provide a very similar tool for goal setting and managing, but they have a slightly different focus:

Heartfelt: you need to care about why you’re trying to achieve this goal – if you don’t care, then why bother?

Animated: can you visualise what it will be like when you achieve your goal? Picturing it, having it alive in your mind, makes it all the easier to achieve.

Required: your goals must be necessary. Once you’ve achieved your goal, will you have made a positive impact in some way? If your goal affects nothing and no one, it’s not necessary.

Difficult: this is the hardest part about HARD goals. There is no need for your goals to be so difficult that you can’t ever achieve them but they must be challenging – if they’re easy, then you would have achieved them before you had the chance to write all this down. Facing challenges is how you grow, whether you succeed or not.

HARD goals are a little less analytical in nature than SMART goals – instead of focusing on deadlines, measurability and relevance, they focus more on the emotional connection we have to our goals. The analytical side of goal setting is not such a bad thing, it’s great for tracking and adjusting, but at the end of the day, our emotional attachment to our goals is what drives us forward and keeps us willing to persevere, even when we fail.

Both methods are incredibly valuable in different circumstances and for different people; perhaps using the two acronyms together will help you achieve your best when it comes to your team’s goals.

If you’re ready to start leading your team to success when it comes to goals, contact People Make the Difference for training workshops, one-on-one coaching and Coach On Call services. To find out more, call us on 0412 333 415 or visit peoplemakethedifference.com.au.

 

​Teams: true talent, true grit or both?May 03 2017

You likely have a talented team – their talents vary, of course, but they’re all great at what they do and that’s why you hired them. You’ve probably discovered that each individual in your team works differently too, and produces different end results – some better than others.

It’s this discrepancy in results that shows who has talent alone and who pairs their talent with true grit.

You can call it what you like, courage, guts, stamina, tenacity or just plain grit, but Angela Duckworth – a leading academic in the psychological studies of achievement and performance – says that if teams want to succeed, grit is just as important as talent, if not more so.

Why is talent important?

Talent will always be important – we need people who are naturally good at doing a specific task because we know they’ll always get the job done. However, hiring on talent alone can cause you a lot of problems down the road, especially when their talent isn’t accompanied by a drive to work hard.

Unfortunately, there are too many talented people in the world who have never needed grit before because they’ve always managed to do a good enough job by just relying on their talent.

The question you, as a leader, need to ask yourself is whether you’re happy with your team members performing their tasks ‘good enough’ or whether you’re looking for people who will go above and beyond to achieve excellence.

How can I spot grit?

The problem with true grit is that it’s hard to identify until it’s actually being put into practice. This makes hiring new team members difficult, but the good news is that there are some things you can start to look for in the early days of hiring a new employee that indicate whether or not they have the grit you’re looking for:

• Do they need instant gratification? When they complete a task, are they looking for immediate praise – either for their great work or just for getting the job done? Sometimes things don’t immediately fall into place and they’ll need to work longer and harder to get things to work – there might not ever be gratification! If they’re not okay with that, they don’t have grit.
• Are they consistent? Team members who have inconsistent results are usually just looking for the easy way out – whatever gets the job done! If they’re not going the extra mile to make sure their work is constantly hitting a high standard, they don’t have grit.
• Are they resilient? Do they give up whenever they hit a roadblock? There will be plenty of roadblocks along the way, especially when you’re working in a team, but if that person isn’t willing to take a step back, reflect and try again, they might not have that grit.
• Do they have endurance? Looking at how they approach the day can show you how they’re likely to approach their career in general. Do they sprint it out at the beginning of the day only to fall flat at about 2pm? Or do they jog slowly through the day, getting tasks done efficiently and done well? If they’re looking to go hard at the beginning and aren’t willing to sustain their excellence, they might not have grit.

As Duckworth says – “our potential is one thing, what we do with it is quite another”.

If you’re ready to start helping your team reach their potential and cultivate their grit, People Make The Difference can help you with training workshops, one-on-one coaching and Coach On Call services. To find out more, call us on 0412 333 415 or visit peoplemakethedifference.com.au.

 

 

​Avoid performance partiality: are you over-utilising your top performers?Apr 24 2017

It’s natural to want to get a job done well the first time - but this can be dangerous if you end up always focusing on those in your team whom you know will always deliver. Acting on this sort of  performance partiality may help you look good as a leader - after all, you can bask in their reflected achievements! -  but leadership is also about giving stretch to those in your team who may need more motivation.

What is performance partiality?

Jane is an excellent employee – she does what she’s asked and she does it well every single time. Joe, on the other hand, doesn’t feel challenged at work, so he only half-heartedly completes the tasks he’s given.

As a result, Jane’s manager keeps asking Jane to take on more responsibility and spends time with her, discussing development and opportunities. Gradually, her manager gives Jane most of Joe’s tasks and stops spending time supporting Joe in his career, leaving him to spend his time on Facebook. After a month or two, Jane is now doing the tasks meant for Joe, as well as her own and she barely has time to take bathroom breaks or lunch breaks. She’s so exhausted that she becomes burnt out and needs to take some time off.

With Jane gone, Joe gets his old tasks back, but the manager now needs him to take responsibility for Jane’s tasks. Joe is overwhelmed with his sudden increase in workload and he doesn’t have the proper training to complete the tasks to the manager’s standards. Joe quits and leaves their manager with looming deadlines and two holes to fill in the organisation – a hole they might just fill with another star employee.

How do we stop the cycle?

This example may be extreme, but it’s not an unknown concept to many organisations. So how do we combat performance partiality and the productivity vacuum it can leave in its wake? Focus on strengths, rather than weaknesses!

Research from the Gallup Organisation study found that when employees were made aware of their strengths, they became 7.8% more productive – not only that, but the likelihood of the individual being more engaged at work also increased.

Hopefully, your organisation is full of people who are different from one another. If that’s the case, then you have the perfect environment for creating a culture in which people feel motivated to do their very best, because their talents are varied. Spend some time considering each of your employees, their strengths and weaknesses and start finding ways to challenge them and help them grow.

Take the time to develop and utilise all your team members – as always, it’s a balancing act and it’s difficult to get right, but it can be done.

If you’re keen get the most out of your team, People Make The Difference can help you with training workshops, one-on-one coaching and Coach On Call services. To find out more, call us on 0412 333 415 or visit peoplemakethedifference.com.au.

 

 

​What I've learnt: hiring friends and family.Apr 04 2017

Hiring friends and family is a contentious issue, and everyone seems to have an opinion. After years of experience, I’ve seen organisations and leaders flourish and fall because of their decisions regarding this issue. A few things I’ve learnt along the way:

Why do leaders hire their friends and family?

There are a multitude of reasons why leaders decide to hire their friends and family, but there are three fairly common ones:

• Leaders need someone to temporarily or permanently fill a position that has been deserted by someone else
• They need financial help or a step forward in their career, so leaders agree to help them out
• You have worked together before in another organisation and you know they have the best skills or experience for the job

 

None of these reasons are wrong and all of them could have great results for both the individual and the organisation.

What are the positives?

The great thing about hiring family and friends is that you have known them for a decent amount of time and you choose to spend time in their company – which usually means you trust them. They are also less likely to cut ties at the drop of a hat, meaning that loyalty comes part and parcel with hiring friends and family.

What are the dangers for your team?

The biggest dangers for your team or organisation are the results of a family or friend not performing to the team’s standards. Not only do your team’s productivity and performance levels suffer, confrontations and difficult conversations become tricky to have when you’re dealing with the people from your personal life. These conversations either never happen at all (leaving your other team members feeling inferior) or, if they do, the family member or friend ends up being offended and doubts the strength of your relationship. All round, people can be left feeling cheated, neglected or offended – not a great state for your team to be in.

What are the dangers for your leadership?

As soon as you choose to hire family or friends on your team, your existing employees will be watching closely to see how you manage them. Your reputation as a reliable and consistent leader could suffer if your team sees you favouring your family and friends for tasks or never properly managing their performance.

Adding family or friends into your team also makes it more difficult to keep personal and professional lives separate – this might not be an issue for everyone but some leaders may find that the blurred lines have a significantly negative impact on the way they lead.

So, the questions stands: how can you include your family and friends in your team, without compromising your existing team members or your leadership? Perhaps, for you and your team, it might be best to create a blanket rule to avoid hiring and family or friends at all. Some might prefer to stick to hiring loved ones only in special circumstances, like filling in for employees when they’re on maternity or sick leave, so there’s a definitive end to their stint in your team. For others, it would be beneficial to write up a contract or a short term assignment when you hire your loved ones to see how they perform – if it doesn’t work out, the contract gives you a way out, without compromising your relationship.

If you need some guidance when it comes to managing your family and friends in your leadership role, contact People Make the Difference for training workshops, one-on-one coaching and Coach On Call services. To find out more, call us on 0412 333 415 or visit peoplemakethedifference.com.au.

 

​Do you have a trustworthy team environment?Mar 21 2017

Walter Mischel’s marshmallow test showed us how self-control can be an indicator of productivity levels, but it also revealed how trustworthy environments can affect the behaviour of individuals.

Within the test, there was a small percentage of children who ate their treat immediately after their instructor left the room, simply because they didn’t trust their instructor to come back with the second treat. There might be fewer lollies involved in our teams and organisations, but the results can be devastating for teams and leaders alike.

What happens when employees don’t trust their environment or their leaders?

The most common result of an untrustworthy environment is for team members to simply stop communicating. A lack of trust usually makes people feel unsafe and when people feel unsafe, they tend not to want to speak up when something goes wrong, for fear of backlash. Not only are they scared of retaliation; they don’t feel like their opinion will be valued either, so they close up and stop contributing altogether.

As we saw with the kids and the marshmallows, when employees don’t trust their leaders, they start doing their own thing – like diving in and eating the marshmallow straight away – even when it’s not in their own, or their team’s, best interests to do so. Cohesive teams rely on all the team member’s being on the same page; when there’s a lack of trust and they start to go off in different directions, it only harms the team’s unity.

What does a trustworthy team look like?

• Everybody trusts each other’s ability to work together despite differences. They also know that in a diverse team, there will be different opinions but these opinions deserve to be heard without judgement.
• Everybody recognises their fellow team members’ talents and abilities – nobody questions why anyone else is there and everyone knows that the team is strongest when they work together to achieve a goal.
• Everybody will keep lines of communication open. All team members are encouraged to ask for help, raise issues and contribute ideas. Keeping communication at the forefront of the team’s mind means that everyone is always informed so they can perform their job to the best of their ability.

Trustworthy team environments don’t just happen on their own, they are the effort of everyone in the team and are lead by reliable leaders.

What does a reliable leader look like?

• They are consistent – this doesn’t mean that they’re always likeable! They don’t just do what you want them to do, they do what is needed and they do what is right. Making decisions using consistent ethics means that you can always count on them, regardless of the situation.
• They don’t rush into things. They think things out thoroughly and completely, but without procrastinating, so that they don’t send their team hurtling into the unknown. They know what is going on and they make sure they communicate all necessary information to their team.
• They have routines, processes and procedures. Every team member knows exactly where they stand and how things work in day-to-day team operations. When there’s a problem, they know the steps they need to take and who to report to. This makes sure that things run smoothly and team members never feel left behind.

Perhaps you read through those traits of teams and leaders and you can tick off every one. Unfortunately, more often than not, both teams and leaders aren’t up to scratch on every single one of those traits. If you’re ready to create a trustworthy team environment and become a strong, reliable leader, People Make The Difference can help you with training workshops, one-on-one coaching and Coach On Call services. To find out more, call us on 0412 333 415 or visit peoplemakethedifference.com.au.

 

 

​Can you pass the marshmallow test?Mar 07 2017

Whether you’re in a leadership position or not, self-control is a great ability that ought to be practiced often. Everyone’s weaknesses are different, but a lack of self-control can result in a lack of productivity – no team needs to be brought down by poor productivity levels.

In the late 1960’s, Walter Mischel conducted the now very well-known ‘marshmallow test’, where a child aged between four and six was put in a room with nothing but a chair, table and a treat of their choice (the marshmallow). They were then told if they could wait to eat the treat until their instructor came back in 15 minutes, they would not only get the treat in front of them but another treat as a reward for waiting.

Alternatively, if they decided to eat the treat in the time that they were waiting for their instructor to return, they wouldn’t get the second treat as a reward.

We all know this test now as a great way to watch different people as they make different choices when it comes to exercising self-control and not giving in to instant gratification. Even when they followed-up the kids years after the first marshmallow test, they found that the kids who were able to wait out the 15 minutes were far less likely to have issues with drug addiction, behaviour or obesity. They even had better scores in their high school exams.Their ability to exercise self-control was reflected in their lifestyle and productivity levels.

Why is self-control important for leaders?

There is the old saying ‘a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush’ – one sure thing is much better than two things you don’t have yet. This is usually the logic of the kids who eat their treat straight away. Unfortunately, this is not always a great logic for leaders to have. Sometimes it might be tempting to tuck into the sure deal you’ve got in front of you, but if you wait just a little bit and put in the effort, the reward for your team or organisation could be twice as nice.

Self-control is also a great sign of emotional maturity, particularly when it comes to knowing your limits. Everyone has different abilities and limits, and knowing when to say no is an important skill, so that you don’t become overloaded, burnt-out and inefficient. The self-controlled individual knows when they need to focus and when they can let their mind wander a little; they know when to push themselves and when to take a moment to unwind.

Teams follow the example of their leaders and a leader who exercises self-control is a huge influence when it comes to the whole team’s productivity levels. If they see their leader crippling under a huge workload, they’ll emulate that, creating an overworked team. If the team sees their leader delegating and only taking on what they can handle, they’ll follow suit and become a productive team who knows their limits.

For some of the kids in the original study, the temptation of the marshmallow was too much to handle and they gave in quickly. For many of us today, the marshmallow looks a little different; phones, tablets, games, emails and the news are just some of the temptations we face when we’re trying to get a job done. Like those kids, we know that we’re sabotaging ourselves, reducing our chances of getting rewarded through our efforts, and yet we still think that momentary satisfaction is worth it.

Are you and your team self-sabotaging? Do you give in too easily to the temptations of the distractions of today? If you would like to find out how to start exercising self-control and instil a respect for delayed gratification within your team so that your organisation sees a boost in productivity, People Make The Difference can help you with training workshops, one-on-one coaching and Coach On Call services. To find out more, call us on 0412 333 415 or visit peoplemakethedifference.com.au.

 

 

​Are you active in your team's development?Feb 20 2017

Accepting a leadership role comes with a myriad of new responsibilities and, when things get busy, it can be difficult to know if you’re doing everything you should be.

One thing that should never be shifted to the back seat is the development of each member of your team — but, worryingly, around 50% of leaders do not take an active role in their employee’s development.

If you think you might be in the wrong half of that statistic, it could be time to reconsider your approach to development.

What is it about team development that scares off so many leaders?

For some, the stress of leadership becomes overwhelming and the constant need to meet targets and focus on the numbers seems to overtake the need to care for their team. More often than not, leaders complain of never having the time, but this might be the most concerning excuse of all — leaders, with no time to really lead? That’s a worrying trend.

Whole organisations can suffer when team development isn’t at the top of the priority list; if leaders aren’t spending the time developing their teams, it’s likely that the team isn’t engaged and if they’re not engaged, they’re less likely to be enjoying and caring about their work, ultimately making the organisation a lot less productive.

Not only that, but a lack of development shows a lack of interest in learning and moving forward — leaving your organisation stagnant.

How many times have you hired someone who was a completely perfect fit for your organisation, or even a perfect fit for the role?

Taking a wild guess I’d say very rarely, if at all. No hire is perfect, they’ll need help to start working towards being a better fit for your organisation and the role you’ve put them in – that’s why it’s called development!

Development is so much more than just teaching someone how to use the printer and then leaving them to their own devices — your team needs ongoing training, guidance and education. The good news is you don’t always need expensive courses or complicated strategies to get started on team development: just a mindset that is focused on the future and their empowerment.

How does development impact your organisation?

• Productivity is boosted. Development leads to engagement, which leads to your team being passionate about the work they’re doing.
• Loyalty is fostered. A team member who feels they’ve been properly cared for and developed in an organisation is more likely to stick around for longer.
• Future leaders are born. If you’re spending time developing your team for advancement, you’ll have individuals who are ready to lead in no time.

What can your team gain from development?

• A sense of purpose. It might sound cliché, but an employee who is involved with regular development is more likely to see how their work is important and their expertise is valued. It leads to productivity and that all important sense of purpose.
• Skills for a lifetime. Some of our youngest team members are only just beginning in their careers and could go on to have 12 – 15 jobs in their lifetime. It’s disappointing to have a team member move on, but you can rest easy knowing that they’re leaving with new skills and new knowledge that they gained under your leadership.

Spending more time on developing your team throughout the year can only lead to better things for the individuals in your team and your organisation as a whole.

If you’re ready to have a productive, future-focused team but you don’t know where to start when it comes to development, People Make The Difference can help you with training workshops, one-on-one coaching and Coach On Call services. To find out more, call us on 0412 333 415 or visit peoplemakethedifference.com.au.

 

​Do you practice the habits of a successful networker?Jan 24 2017

It’s natural to want to reward our employees who are doing really well, working hard and going above and beyond our expectations regularly. When it comes to those team members who aren’t always performing well, or regularly disappoint us when it comes to their performance, we can be reluctant to reward them in any way. On the one hand, you want reward them when it’s appropriate so that you are motivating them to work harder. On the other hand, you want them to earn their reward, like everyone else – not getting rewards for sub-par work.

Performance is the combination of ability and motivation so, when performance is poor, it is usually because there is a problem somewhere along the line with an employee’s ability or motivation.

Identifying the problem

Avoiding gossip or other people’s perspectives and speaking directly with the individual in question should always be prioritised. The following questions can be useful in narrowing down what’s really going on:

• Are the tasks too difficult or overwhelming?
• Does the individual put in a lot of effort and still produce poor results?
• Is there a lack of knowledge, skill or aptitude hindering performance?
• Has the problem tried to be fixed previously, but with a lack of improvement since?

Is it a problem with ability?

Over time, job descriptions can naturally shift around, either causing employees to thrive or leaving them a little stranded, without the skills or knowledge to make it work. Using the following five steps can help you to enhance their ability and get them back on track.

• Resupply : stay resource focused and ask them, what do you need to make it work?
• Retrain : skills and knowledge focused, what do they need to learn to move forward in their role?
• Refit : are there parts of the job that someone else might be able to do better? Redistributing tasks might take the load off so they can focus on what they’re good at.
• Reassign : maybe this isn’t the role for them but you can see them working in a different department and thriving – help them make that move.
• Release : when all else fails and no solution can be found, it might be time to let them go, so they can discover what they’re good at elsewhere.

Is it a problem with motivation?

Individuals can have all the skills in the world, but if they can’t see the point in their work, their performance will lack a certain amount of zeal. Using the following three steps can help them to care about their work more.

• Setting goals – employees will find it difficult to be motivated unless they have something to work towards. Working together to create goals, which combine both your standards and their aspirations, can make all the difference.
• Providing help – it’s no good setting goals and then leaving individuals to their own devices. From goal setting, to goal completing, providing them with resources, training and support throughout the process is essential.
• Giving feedback – provide feedback often, quickly and honestly, rewarding and recognising successes when they come.

Rewarding and recognising your team doesn’t always have to be by way of a physical gift. For some, retraining or re-motivating them could be all the reward they need and for others, recognising that there is a discrepancy in their ability or motivation could be the answer to their call for help.

If you’re ready to enhance the performance of your team, People Make the Difference can help you with training workshops, one-on-one coaching and Coach On Call services. To find out more, call us on 0412 333 415 or visit peoplemakethedifference.com.au.

 

​Getting the Message Across Jan 13 2016

Leaders of all teams find themselves needing to get their message across on a weekly basis, if not more often. Even the best leaders can sometimes stumble and falter when it comes to speaking clearly and getting a response from their team. If you’re looking to cut through all the noise in your organisation and really drive your message home, there are six questions you need to ask yourself before, during and after you execute your communication plan.

What do they need to know?

Humour, emotional pleas and engaging tales are all essential when it comes to delivering your message, but they are secondary to your core message. Before you even begin to think of how you will spice up your message, you need to define the point you want to drive home. If you need your team to action anything in your message, being clear is crucial - if you’re not clear on your message, how can your team be expected to be on board?

What are you trying to achieve?

Now that you have your central message sorted, it’s time to think about what you’re actually trying to incite amongst your team. Is your message a call to arms? A speech full of crucial information? A motivational speech? Or, is it simply just reinforcing something you’ve covered at an earlier date. All these different purposes require different ways of engaging with your team and delivering the message.

Who is in your audience?

Your team are varied - with different talents, strengths and weaknesses, no two of your team members will respond to your message in exactly the same way. Spend time thinking about what’s important to them so that you can connect with them on a more personal level. Try to think about the way they learn and how they’ve responded to your words in the past. Taking all this into consideration will help you to package your message effectively.

What’s in it for them?

Why should your message important to your team? If you’re unable to answer that question, there’s a good chance that your team won’t understand why they should care about what you’re saying to them. If you’re looking to get a positive response from your team, show them why your message benefits them as a team and individually.

Is there anything distracting them?

With so much going on in our lives, there can be distractions coming from all sides. Choosing when and where you deliver your message can be crucial - if you decide to deliver your message just before lunch, you’ve got rumbling stomachs to compete with; if you have a meeting in a room with lots of windows, you’re competing with the bustling outside world. Personal issues, heavy workloads or office politics can also join the list of distractions. Take these all into account and you can deliver your message at a time, in a place and with words that your team will be ready to respond to.

How can you know they’ve understood?

When your team is repeating your message back to you or putting your words into actions, it’s a fairly accurate indication that your message has cut through. Remember the saying, “when you’re tired of saying it, your team is probably just starting to get it.”

If you’re not sure whether your message is clear-cut and you don’t know how to give it a boost, contact People Make The Difference. We can help you with our training workshops, one-on-one coaching and Coach on Call services. To find out more, call us on 0412 333 415 or visit: peoplemakethedifference.com.au

 

​Growth or Groans Dec 15 2016

We know that rewards and recognition can directly affect the performance and wellbeing of your team members – a well thought out reward can boost an individual and motivate them further, while a poorly thought out gift can make an individual feel discouraged and apathetic towards their work; even poor performers in your team can be rewarded through retraining and re-motivation. However, have you considered how your rewards and recognition structure can affect your sales?

A focused team

Companies all over the world conduct studies every year to discover what it is that motivates team members and every year, more and more results come in showing that it it’s the satisfaction of completing the task itself that individuals like – in fact, according to the Harvard Business Review, salary and other monetary rewards are very low down on the list of things that motivate employees.

It’s this kind of focus that drives sales; teams that have their sights set on ‘what’s in it for me’ are the teams that will ultimately fail when it comes to boosting revenue. This is when it becomes important to have a great rewards structure – incentives with off-target intentions will have off-target results, giving your team a focus, but on all the wrong things.

A loyal team

Naturally, having one’s efforts noticed and recognised – both publicly and privately – can be a huge source of motivation and it can even produce an increased respect for you. Someone who feels valued and encouraged within a team will be more loyal to the team and the manager.

To this end, it’s extremely important to spend time recognising and rewarding both individuals and teams. Focusing on individual efforts and achievements while neglecting the team can mean that the team is less motivated to collaborate together and draw upon each other’s strengths. In a similar way, spending too much time focusing on rewarding team achievements can leave individuals feeling disheartened, as though their personal efforts mean nothing, and it ultimately impacts upon their productivity.

A set of achievable goals

Every single team is different – your marketing team is different from your operations team and they are different again from your sales team.  Because of the variety throughout different teams, each team should have different goals and targets. An achievable target for the sales team could be completely out of reach for the operations team.

If your team goals are unachievable, we can safely assume that your team won’t be able to reach them. This means that they get no satisfaction in actually completing the work, nor will they receive any kind of reward or recognition for the effort they did put in, leaving the individuals, as well as the team environment, feeling deflated and unmotivated when it comes to trying again – not a great way to start heading towards boosted sales.

It can be difficult to find the right balance when it comes to rewarding and recognising your team, but it’s fairly clear that a simple rewards structure can be the difference between a happy, motivated team that drives your organisation forward or a deflated, apathetic team who keep the organisation stagnant.

If you want to know how your rewards structure could be helping or hindering your team when it comes to boosting revenue, People Make the Difference can help you to create a structure that really works. We can help you with training workshops, one-on-one coaching and Coach On Call services. To find out more, call us on 0412 333 415 or visit peoplemakethedifference.com.au.

 

​What motivates me … Nov 29 2016

My business is called ‘People Make The Difference’ for a reason. Simply put: no matter how wonderful your business strategy or plan, you are only as good as the people you lead. Those people make the difference to your organisation or business. It is people who bring plans to life, hit sales targets, lead other people, make decisions on your behalf. Without the right people making the right difference, nothing works.

Which is why I have a personal soapbox about reward and recognition. Each week, your team is going above and beyond their job descriptions, so it’s right and natural to want to recognise their hard work and reward them accordingly.

Yet it can be difficult to know exactly how to deliver these rewards or even what to give. Here are four simple questions you can ask yourself whenever you’re considering giving recognition and rewards to your team.

Are your rewards reflecting your team values?

Remember all that time you spent carefully planning your team values and making sure your whole team was on board? All that time and effort could be undone with a reward system that doesn’t reinforce those values.

For example, do you allow employees to drink on the premises on a Friday afternoon? If not, then perhaps a gift of wine at Christmas time, or in response to an achievement, is not the wisest of gifts. Directly contradicting your own rules shows that you hold little stock in your own words, so why should your team?

If a team member achieves great results, but gets them through taking short cuts and unnecessary risks, rewarding them is telling the rest of your team that you don’t really value honesty and integrity within the team.

Is every reward appropriate for the achievement?

Do you have a standard gift for when you want to reward great work? Many leaders take this approach with the intention of being fair to everyone, but it might be more harmful than it first appears.

Throughout the week, there can be a huge variety of different achievements, from simply fixing the printer to acquiring a new client or getting a promotion. As with the variety of achievements, there should be a variety in the rewards given in response.

Some smaller achievements, such as fixing the printer, might only require words of encouragement and praise – after all, everyone uses the printer and productivity can suffer when it’s broken. Bigger achievements, such as getting a promotion, might call for a monetary gift, flowers or a gift card.

How frequently are you delivering recognition and rewards?

Have you come across leaders who love handing out compliments and positive reinforcement? These leaders can be incredibly encouraging, recognising their team members’ efforts every day and never missing a beat. Unfortunately, other leaders take a similar line but go about it in a different way, using physical and monetary gifts instead of words.

Again, this doesn’t have to be a negative approach but unfortunately, receiving lavish gifts for even the smallest of achievements can cheapen the novelty when a big achievement does come along. Among some teams, the frequency of dependable gifts can even become funny, with the team joking about always receiving a voucher for the cinemas every time anyone does great work.

Some individuals may even take advantage of a generous, yet misguided leader, only doing work to receive the reward, going against the integrity and work-ethic established within the team. Keeping an element of surprise (while still keeping it fair) to your rewards and recognition keeps everyone on their toes and makes it a great feeling for everyone.

Are your rewards and recognition personalised to each individual?

Everyone loves a good food-based hamper – especially one with lots of cheeses, right? You can hand that over to any of your team members and you can easily walk away patting yourself on the back, job well done!

That cheese-based hamper might look wonderful to you, but the team member who is now placing it on their desk is actually a vegan. What’s more, they commute to work … and it’s summer. You’ve given them a gift they have to carry all the way home on a busy train in the stinking heat, while the cheese slowly melts. At the end of that harrowing trip, they can’t even eat it.

By giving that hamper, you’ve shown your team member that you’ve not been listening and you don’t care about their preferences or personal life. Taking the time to think deeply about your rewards, gifts and recognition and personalise them to each of your team members can be time well spent in making sure each team member feels valued.

If you’re ready to kick-start your rewards and recognition system, People Make the Difference can help you with training workshops, one-on-one coaching and Coach On Call services. To find out more, call us on 0412 333 415 or visit peoplemakethedifference.com.au.

 

 

​The Thought That Counts. Nov 15 2016

It’s that time of year again. November has crept up on us all, bringing garish Christmas decorations, swelling social engagements and the onslaught of Christmas cards from people you barely know. It can be an overwhelming time while you try to spread your energy – and the Christmas cheer – evenly between work, friends and family.

As a leader, you might have already begun thinking about giving gifts to your team to show your appreciation. Many lean towards the generic gifts such as a bottle of wine, a gift card or flowers. These are all okay gifts but our guess is that you don’t want your gifts to be just … okay.

Choosing the perfect gift for each of your team members is an art form – some naturally have the talent but others need to put a little more time, effort and thought into their gifts to supercharge them and leave your team feeling valued and appreciated, while keeping it all professional.

Do you know your team well enough?

Did you know? According to TalentSmart, employees value managers who care about their experience. On a daily basis, these managers are the people their employees want by their side.

Spending time getting to know each of your team members is an excellent way to become one of these valued managers. Knowing their professional plans and goals is one thing, but knowing their likes, dislikes, weaknesses and strengths can be even more valuable in the long run.

What message are you sending?

Buying a bottle of wine for everyone can be a simple solution to the Christmas gift situation, but have you thought about the message it’s sending.

The same gift for everyone keeps the costs even, shows no favouritism and requires little thought. Seems like a positive, but what will each team member think? You want to avoid singling people out, but you don’t want everyone to feel as though you see them as carbon copies of each other.

Remember how important it is to get to know your team? A bottle of wine to an employee who doesn’t drink shows that you don’t listen in everyday conversations and you don’t care if they’re put in an uncomfortable position. This would, of course, never be your intention, but lack of thought into a gift can cause disastrous consequences.

It’s not just about the gift!

Lavish gifts count for very little when they’re not accompanied by words of encouragement and affirmation – whether this be verbally or through a handwritten note – can be all the difference between a gift sitting on a team member’s desk for the next month or being taken home and cherished as a heartfelt gesture.

It takes a good amount of Emotional Intelligence (EQ) to give gifts that will be valued for years to come, so if it’s the thought that counts, make sure you put a lot of thought into rewarding your team this festive season.

If you’re ready to start developing your EQ to give great gifts at Christmas time (and throughout the year), People Make the Difference can help you with training workshops, one-on-one coaching and Coach On Call services. To find out more, call us on 0412 333 415 or visit peoplemakethedifference.com.au.

 

​What leaders can learn from Olympians: Jana PittmanNov 08 2016

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People Make the Difference threw a party to celebrate our first business birthday and invited Jana Pittman to spend some time talking to us about what she’s learnt about teamwork and leadership throughout her sporting career and now into her venture into the world of medicine.

Goal Setting

When it comes to goals, we all know how important it is to set that big, ultimate goal to aspire to, but throughout her career, Jana shared how important every little goal is, no matter how insignificant it may seem at the time: “celebrating all those little wins along the way can make that big scary goal even more attainable.”

No matter how big or small the goal she said it was always about running through the finish line: “My trainer pulled me up one day when he noticed I slowed up in practice meets just ahead of the finish line. When you set a standard for what you want to achieve and what you want to get out of something, if it’s a training session or a business goal or whatever it is, it’s about making sure you complete it every day, so you never take those little shortcuts.”

Failing Hard

For all her stories of sporting success, Jana had plenty of tales to tell about her failures as well. One of the biggest lessons she had to learn was how to overcome the feelings of doubt and anxiety that appeared when she got her first chance to run against Cathy Freeman. After watching Freeman warming up, Jana became so nervous and convinced herself that she didn’t deserve to run against her and that if she did, she would fail colossally.

“These thoughts just rolled over and rolled over and rolled over and rolled over in my head, and in fact, when she went back into the call room, I stayed out of it. I heard them call my name … and utter fear wouldn’t allow me to move out of that spot … I lost the most incredible opportunity of my life.”

Ever since, Jana has known that she has choice: “All of us have a choice ... I always go into a race scared, but in my mind I say, ‘Well, it’s a choice Jana, you can run today and win or you can run and come last but isn’t it better than not being there at all?’”

For Jana, failing has become as important as succeeding and she believes her failures are helping her to celebrate her successes even more.

Lead by Example

As she finished up, Jana gave every leader some very useful advice when it comes to leading our teams by example and setting them up for further success:

“If you want someone to do something, you need to be able to do it yourself and be prepared to do it yourself. If we want someone to be able to fill our shoes, we can’t be scared of them passing us, we actually have to bring them up to be equal to us so that the whole industry works well together.”

If you’re ready to start taking her advice and kick-start your team, People Make the Difference can help you with training workshops, one-on-one coaching and Coach On Call services. To find out more, call us on 0412 333 415 or visit peoplemakethedifference.com.au.

 

​Are you a DIY Leader? Nov 01 2016

Did you ever hear one of your parents say, exasperated, “Don’t worry about it, I’ll just do it myself!”? It’s a lament often heard from time-poor parents. Unfortunately, under pressure, it may be a phrase a leader mistakenly finds themselves saying, or if not saying, doing. It’s a harmful place to be in.

Do you ever find yourself resorting back to this ‘Do It Yourself’ style of leadership? Here are six questions to help you recognise the warning signs:

• Are you a perfectionist, wanting the job done properly the first time?
• Do you think it’s easier to do it yourself, without having to explain the process?
• If you pass on the work to someone else, do you feel like your position as the leader has less distinction?
• Or, if you pass on the work, do you feel like your team members might upstage you, so it’s better to do it yourself to save face?
• Do you believe you can get the job done better than anyone else?
• Are you too busy to delegate tasks?

If any of the questions above resonate, DIY style may have leaked into your leadership at some point.

The DIY attitude can imply you don’t trust your team to do the work you originally chose them for – this can be a catastrophic hit to your team’s morale. If you truly believe you can manage everything on your own, why do you have a team?

Hovering over your team’s shoulders, constantly controlling what they are doing and taking over where you might not be the best person for the job can seem like it’s helping, and it might be helping your peace of mind, but it can actually be detrimental to your team’s productivity and it does not encourage individual growth and learning.

The key word here is ‘delegate’. Your job as a leader is to put the right people with the right skills in the right places at the right time and watch your whole team flourish while they all learn, grow and improve together. Delegating tasks to your team members is a great way to encourage each individual to develop themselves, as well as an opportunity for you to develop your mentoring skills, rather than your DIY skills.

It can be difficult to give up control, especially if you’ve been involved in these tasks for a long time, but passing the responsibility on to someone who has the right skills for each particular task can actually give you freedom in your leadership. With less tasks taking up your day and more trust in your talented team, your time can be better spent planning the future of your team and the next horizon. Investing the time to train others in your team to do some of the work you have been doing might seem like a burden or a waste of time, but long term you and the team will reap the rewards.

If you’re not sure where to start with delegating tasks, or how to put the right people in the right teams, contact People Make The Difference. We can help you with our training workshops, one-on-one coaching and Coach on Call services. To find out more, call us on 0412 333 415 or visit: peoplemakethedifference.com.au

 

​Failure is a great option Oct 18 2016

Many of us tend to back away when the possibility of failure rears its head; failure is not fun, it can hurt our ego, pride and confidence and it can make us feel as though we’re going backward rather than forward. After we discussed failure in the article “Are business leaders scared to fail?” in September last year, it became clear that failure is feared by many but, as we all know too well, failure is inevitable and despite all our efforts, we can’t stop it from showing up when we least want it around.

Some leaders, in an attempt to inspire, can mistakenly say phrases such as “failure is not an option” to their team – many think that it’s all willpower; by simply refusing to recognise failure as an option, they won’t fail! Unfortunately this is not the case and, aside from being clichéd, unrealistic and overused, these kind of phrases can be damaging to the team morale.

Refusing to accept failure can breed fear and anxiety within your team and make them scared to take risks and try new things. A team that is scared into playing it safe will be stagnant, unwilling and unable to explore new territory.

Welcoming Failure

It’s unnatural to encourage failure but making it normal can help your team to be more realistic. Failure is a standard part of any business or venture, so welcoming and even expecting it can help you approach failure courageously so you don’t find yourself defeated by those failures.

Acknowledge it hurts

Failure can hurt pride and even knock confidence. That is natural - whatever you are setting out to do you start with inspiration, motivation and a vision of success. So acknowledge the disappointment, but then reframe.

When you fail, you have two options in front of you; you can either give up or try again. Giving up may be the easier option, but if you’re ready to dust yourself off and try again, there are some simple action points you can implement to turn your failures into stepping stones on your way to success.

Some suggestions:

• Get feedback from your team, everyone has different perspectives, along with their different strengths and weaknesses. Finding out what they think the problem is can help deliver a well-rounded picture of what went wrong.
• Once you’ve identified the potential problem, get ready to try again, eliminating that variable. Think of it as a science experiment, you’ve not failed, you’re just testing out your hypothesis, finding all the ways that don’t work.
• Going forward, always have a Plan B to help your team get out of any hot water you find yourselves in.

It’s important to not let failures discourage your team from moving forward, it’s much better to do something imperfectly than to do nothing at all.

If you’re ready to harness failures to move towards success, People Make the Difference can help you with training workshops, one-on-one coaching and Coach On Call services. To find out more, call us on 0412 333 415 or visit peoplemakethedifference.com.au

 

​Bearer of bad news Oct 05 2016

It’s no secret that words are powerful, they can build up and tear down in seconds. There are some things that leaders say that ripple through a team long after they are originally spoken. Many times, this can be a positive thing, but there are also phrases and words that can slowly but surely seep into the attitudes of the team members and cause more harm than good.

Have you ever heard the phrase “Don’t bring me any bad news” or, “I don’t want any nasty surprises” or even “Don’t bring me problems, bring me solutions”? These phrases often have a positive intention at the root, but they can cause considerable damage and create a negative team environment.

You might have heard these phrases or even said them yourself, but have you ever thought about how much of an impact those words have had on your team? Using these phrases can convey an unwillingness to hear bad news, but just wanting to hear good news doesn’t magically make the bad news disappear – it’s still there, lurking in the shadows and slowly snowballing with other little bits of bad news until eventually, one tiny bit of bad news has grown into a full-blown catastrophe, ready to pop.

Unfortunately, these aren’t just one-time explosions, they’re constant disasters waiting to happen because, inadvertently, leaders who use these types of phrases have created an environment where team members no longer feel comfortable sharing or providing details of potentially tricky situations.

If you think that your approach to bad news might be affecting your team’s environment and attitude, the good news is that there are three simple steps you can take to start to turn things around:

1. Welcome

Leaders can start to create a positive culture by welcoming in bad news and surprises. Instead of projecting anxiety and negativity in regards to bad news, it’s time to welcome it in and create an environment where your team feels comfortable sharing and delivering bad news, as well as the good. This does not mean you need to celebrate the bad news, simply approaching tricky situations with a positive outlook can be a breeding ground for great team culture.

2. Plan

It’s inevitable that bad news will come. Whether it’s today or six months down the track, eventually it will show up. The worst thing a leader can do is ignore this fact, operating blindly while the bad news hurtles towards you. Don’t wait until the crisis hits – put systems, action plans and procedures in place now so your course runs a little smoother later on.

3. Lead

There’s nothing like a trial to bring a team closer together. Instead of going into a panicked frenzy when a problem arises, use the opportunity to lead your team as they work closely together to find a suitable solution.

Adjusting your mindset when it comes to bad news can be a long process, but it’s one that could really boost your team’s confidence and performance in the long-run.

If you’re ready to change your approach to bad news, People Make the Difference can help you with training workshops, one-on-one coaching and Coach On Call services. To find out more, call us on 0412 333 415 or visit peoplemakethedifference.com.au.

 

​Are you stuck in your ways? Oct 04 2016

In any organisation, it’s easy to get caught up in the systems and processes  you already have in place – after all, they’ve been working so well for so many years, why bother looking for new ways to get things done?

Unfortunately, this way of thinking can lead teams to stagnate. After all, there’s a reason why we don’t rattle around using horses and carts anymore: someone out there was prepared to find a new way to travel, and it improved our efficiency tenfold! Here are my favourite tips to encourage change and help leaders and teams face the future with courage:

Eliminate The Fear of Failure

To even begin in the business of transformation and change, there cannot be a fear of failure amongst your team. There will always be some natural trepidation when it comes to trying new ways to do things, but a great leader will encourage their team to push through that fear, rather than add to it. If a team is terrified of making a mistake or failing completely, it’s highly likely they’ll shy away completely from innovation, leaving your team going through the motions and not advancing in efficiency at all.

Thomas Edison is often credited with a great vision regarding failure: “I have not failed. I have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work” – it’s this kind of attitude that promotes a positive outlook on failing. There are some easy ways to promote a healthy perspective on failure within your team:

• Promote learning from both success and failure
• Focus more on the cost of the failure rather than how often someone fails
• Do not neglect those individuals who may not conform to ‘the way things are done’ among your team – reward them equally for good work
• Do not punish failure
• Remember to own up and take responsibilities for your own failure and show your team how you have learned from your mistakes

Take Smart Risks

Once your team is liberated from the fear of failure, it’s easier to promote an environment where risk-taking is accepted and encouraged. However, it’s not just as simple as taking any wild idea and pushing it through – taking this approach could leave you exposed to unnecessary risks. Instead, it is essential to create a space where all ideas are welcome to be thrown around and discussed regardless of whether they are feasible. The concepts which have the most knowledge and diligent investigation surrounding them can then be taken further – with more knowledge comes less unnecessary risk.

At the end of the day, it is not often that innovation exists without posing some risk to an individual, team or leader, so it’s up to leaders to be managing risks and creating a space where innovation can flourish as much as possible:

• Give all team members some designated time weekly to work on relevant side-projects
• Find the natural innovators and create a diverse team dedicated to moving your wider team forward
• Be open to throwing ideas around and never dismiss concepts, no matter how wild
• Lead by example; show your team you are willing to change things up and try new things

If you need some guidance in how to face the future with an open mind and drive out the fear of failure within your team, contact People Make The Difference. We can help you with our training workshops, one-on-one coaching and Coach on Call services. To find out more, call us on 0412 333 415 or visit peoplemakethedifference.com.au

 

​Four Things a Leader Should Never Say.Sep 12 2016

Ever heard a line from your manager or leader that has stuck in your head on a loop for days afterwards - and not in a good way? As leaders, we have to remember even ‘throw-away’ lines can have great impact. A colleague shared how offended she had been when a former boss said, “this strategy is the same as last year,” when it differed hugely. She felt undervalued in her role when - in reality - her boss hadn’t had sufficient time to compare the two documents in detail. Yet that one line - and the tone it was delivered in - frustrated her for days to come.

What you say is just as important as how you say it. Negativity is not usually intended, but could the words you are using be causing more harm than good? If you’ve ever found yourself saying any of the following, it might be time to think about how you can change them in order to deliver greater encouragement into your team.

1. “Don’t Bring Me Bad News”

Besides making you an unapproachable figure, telling your team that you don’t want to hear about the bad news or the nasty surprises – even as a throw away humour line - doesn’t actually make the bad news go away. Great leaders should want to know about the bad news so they can be fully informed every step of the way so they can start to work toward a solution.

2. “I’ll Just Do It Myself”

It’s easy to fall into the trap of doing everything yourself to make sure the job gets done, but remember that you have a team for a reason. Each member of your team has strengths that others don’t and together, the job will get done. By expressing that you would rather do the job yourself, you’re telling your team that you don’t care whether they are challenged and that it’s not okay to not know something. Instead of trying to do everything yourself, try showing team members how to do things or talk them through as they do it.

3. “You can do that, not me”

Are you worried that you ‘can’t’ do a certain job well and therefore avoid it? If you don’t believe in your own abilities as a leader, how can your team? Showing your team that you are willing to learn how to do a job can be an priceless display of how you want them to be acting within the team.

4. “Failure is not an Option”

Talking about failure in such a way can be a very fine line to walk. On one hand it can be inspiring to think that failure is not possible; on the other hand you run the risk of creating a fear of failure. Instead, steer away from talking about failure at all and focus on encouraging trying new things and learning from mistakes.

At the end of the day, you are the leader – your words and actions are the example for your team and you have to be setting an example that you want them to follow.

 

If you would like to make sure your words have a lasting positive impact, contact People Make The Difference. We can help you with our training workshops, one-on-one coaching and Coach On Call services. To find out more, call us on 0412 333 415 or visit: peoplemakethedifference.com.au

 

​How can you boost team engagementAug 24 2016

Engagement within your team is a measurement of how connected and committed your members are to their individual roles as well as the mission of the wider team.

Having a team that is connected and committed means they are functioning at their full capacity. The first step to boosting engagement within your team is knowing the characteristics of the disengaged.

If you recognise any of the following team members, it is time to start taking action:

The Coaster

Do you have team members who seem happy enough but only ever do the bare minimum? They can be lazy, unmotivated and they hardly ever take initiative in the group. They sail on through without any interest in growth and they can go unnoticed because, in the end, they do get the job done.

To bring the Coaster back into the group and get them engaged, try digging deeper to uncover any issues that might be lying beneath the surface. Are there family troubles or any other external pressures that are causing them to be complacent in their role in the team? Knowing about these issues does not mean you have to try to fix them – just the knowledge can mean that you adjust their tasks and challenge them accordingly.

The Indifferent

Is there a team member who lacks respect for the process, complains, misses deadlines or just seems plain disinterested in the team’s mission? This lack of passion can halt the progress of your team and it’s not ideal.

Creating a positive environment full of inspiration can be a great chance for your indifferent team members to get excited about their work. In addition, giving them varying tasks to challenge them and widen their horizons is a great way to get their passion for their role back.

The Independent

Within your team there may be certain individuals who aren’t as dedicated to the team spirit. Prone to headstrong independence and an unwillingness to help others, they are not at all team players.

The best way to incite a team spirit is by modelling it yourself. As the leader, show your team members you care and are dedicated to working together. In the case of individuals set on being Independent, show you care about them, their lives and their interests and encourage them to take part in team building activities.

The Strong & Silent

Do you have those team members who seem to do good work, but never contribute? They seem disinterested in collaborative discussions, they never have any questions and they never offer up any feedback. Introverts are common in diverse teams but there is a difference between those who are introverted and those who just aren’t interested.

To boost engagement with your Strong & Silent types, connect with each of your team members individually, showing you care about their work and their lives. Use positive reinforcement when they do speak and use humour to grab their attention and make them feel at ease.

The Spiritless

Do you know what your team members do on the weekend? At the risk of being overbearing, it might be worth your time to find out. Individuals who are showing a proclivity for sleeping on their days off, in lieu of socialising or engaging in a hobby,  are individuals who are at risk of becoming disengaged altogether.

Encouraging team members in their strengths can be a great way to boost confidence and incite an interest in trying new things – varying an individual’s role within the team can also spark ideas and may encourage them to try new things outside of their role in the team.

 

To find out how you can boost engagement amongst your team, contact People Make The Difference. We can help you with our training workshops, one-on-one coaching and Coach On Call services. To find out more, call us on 0412 333 415 or visit peoplemakethedifference.com.au

 

 

​Do you have a type?Aug 18 2016

Have you ever considered which personality type you can relate to the most? What about the personalities of your team members? It’s easy to pinpoint who is loud in meetings and who is shy but have you considered what you can do in the way you communicate with each of your team members to help them flourish?

If you don’t know where to start, click through to find out more about common personality tests such as DISC and Myers-Briggs.

Spending the time to get to know yourself a little better can help you become a far better leader in the future, especially when it comes to ways in which you communicate with your team. It’s common to sympathise with team members who are more like us by default, but this could be causing more harm than good.

Not knowing the personality types of your entire team, including yourself, can be potentially damaging to your leadership. Having an understanding of personality types means you are able to leverage your own personality to benefit your team in different situations, while not knowing can lead to ineffective communication – a sure way to damage team performance.

For example, an introverted team member may not particularly enjoy sharing ideas aloud or running a presentation in a group setting; this aversion does not mean the individual cannot contribute in an important and effective way, it means encouraging them to play to their strengths is additionally important - particularly if they incorrectly feel they add ‘less value’ as a result of their shyness.

Avoid pigeonholing your team members. It is important to remember that people are constantly growing and learning - personality types can change despite the saying about old dogs and new tricks! Always challenge your team to try new ways of learning and encourage everyone using the communication methods they respond to best.

Some easy ways to harness your team’s preferred communication methods so that they are all learning and contributing to their best potential:

➢ Use the resources at your fingertips to create dynamic presentations that have a great mix of visuals, text, audio and interactive components. Without overloading your team, there will be something to appeal to everyone.

➢ Send out your initial ideas for meetings in an email ahead of time. Those who are more inclined to introversion will appreciate having extra time to gather their thoughts and extroverts will appreciate the chance to communicate their ideas to you.

➢ Ask direct questions of introverted team members, after they have had time to listen intently and think over the material.

➢ Use the extroverts to your advantage and use their comments and interjections to move your team discussions forward.

If you want to be a leader who harnesses personality types to be a great leader, People Make the Difference can help you with training workshops, one-on-one coaching and Coach On Call services. To find out more, call us on 0412 333 415 or visit peoplemakethedifference.com.au.

 

​Want high performance? Try some disagreement in your team.July 05 2016

Nobody likes going to the doctor; many people avoid it for years and yet it is important to receive check-ups regularly to ensure you are healthy. In much the same way, there are very few people who enjoy conflict and disagreement.

There can be a tendency amongst many leaders to avoid even a hint of disagreement. Yet I believe disagreement – used well – can be key to a high performing team.

Yes, disagreements can be extremely uncomfortable, but it is a sign of a healthy team when robust, honest, conversations – where all parties can come to the table and leave it respectfully disagreeing – take place. Having trust amongst leaders and teams – as discussed in an earlier article – is a key part of ensuring that you leave a meeting respectfully supporting the decision, whether you agreed with it or not.

It’s akin to the saying, ‘what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas’ – so even if a leader does not agree with a decision made, they are 100% supportive outside the meeting.

We’re not all the same: how to disagree healthily

All industries are encouraged to be diverse when it comes to their employees and this sentiment includes diversity when it comes to personalities, ideas and past experiences.

Under different leaders, disagreement can have very different results. A leader who encourages healthy disagreements will see the results in stronger, independent teams, closer relationships and enhanced approaches to their work.

Yet if disagreements and conflicts in your workplace are ending in damaged relationships, low morale, defeatist attitudes, anger and a general reluctance to continue in sharing opinions, then changes must be made to foster a healthy approach to disagreements amongst team members.

It is important, regardless of the nature of the disagreement, to resolve it. Leaving any conflict unresolved is a recipe for disaster. The conflict will come back sooner or later. So make sure that you always get to an agreed position before you close any meeting. Leaving something open will only cause factional groups to gather and discuss outside the confidentiality of the meeting room.

It is important to remember that in a healthy team, disagreements are not something to be ‘won’ – instead, a leader’s role is to encourage a solution that combines the ideas of everyone involved. Creating a culture of winners and losers - or striving to win arguments - only damages relationships and evokes bitterness.

When it comes to disagreements, there are six simple steps you can take to create an environment where creative and individual thought is encouraged:

• Prioritise trust and honesty
• Support others’ viewpoints
• Be respectful
• Listen attentively
• Focus on the facts rather than your emotional opinion
• Remember that everyone’s opinions matter

Above all, see conflict as an opportunity to learn and embrace the differing opinions and approaches. A team void of disagreements is a team that rejects the idea of learning, innovation and independent thought. Without learning, individuals and teams tend to stay stagnant.

However, know when to pick your battles – do not tolerate bullies within your team. Make sure you are familiar with each of your team members and know when to differentiate between a disagreement and an attack from a bully.  Also find time to workshop as a leadership team on how to be a high performing team and what that looks like to the group. Honesty and trust is key to making sure your team is effective as possible.

If you want to learn how to be a leader who encourages the diversity of opinions amongst those you lead, People Make The Difference can help you with training workshops, one-on-one coaching and Coach On Call services. To find out more, call us on 0412 333 415 or visit peoplemakethedifference.com.au

 

​Want high performing teams? Start with trust.June 13 2016

 

In a previous article, I wrote of the three major challenges for most teams that prevent them from achieving high performance. In Patrick Lencioni’s ‘The Five Dysfunctions of a Team’ he describes the five dysfunctions of a team and uses a pyramid to show the levels:

• Absence of Trust
• Fear of Conflict
• Lack of Commitment
• Avoidance of Accountability
• Inattention to Results

If you alter the pyramid to show the critical components of a highly functional team, trust is at the bottom: the most important, foundational piece.

For Lencioni—and for me— a lack of trust prevents a team from true commitment, accountability, and results.

But what is trust within a team? And how do you encourage, grow and strengthen it?

First, you are likely to have Common Trust: the confidence / belief that a co-worker or team member won’t break generally accepted laws, policies, etc.  It’s the type of trust we extend to each other when we driving. We ‘trust’ that others will follow the road rules, stop at red lights, stay on the correct side of the road etc. Without common trust it can be difficult to operate an effective company (or society). It’s the common trust that is typically granted simply by being part of a company team: that you won’t steal the computers if left alone in the office.

Then there is vulnerability-based trust: the belief that you can do things like take risks, ask for help, admit mistakes, or confront and hold others accountable without fear of retaliation, humiliation, or resentment.

This type of trust has to be earned and given. Strong, high-performing teams base their entire foundation on vulnerability-based trust.  Common trust simply isn’t enough.

Yet vulnerability-based trust is not a trait that comes easily to most. To exhibit that level of vulnerability requires a strong sense of self-worth and self-identity that goes beyond ego. The realisation you are not defined by your successes or mistakes, and you can turn up for work ‘as yourself’ – without any of the masks we often adopt.

In her book Daring Greatly: How The Courage to be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live Parent and Lead,’ Dr. Brene Brown challenges the cultural myth that vulnerability is weakness and argues that it is, in truth, our most accurate measure of courage.

Brown explains how vulnerability is both the core of difficult emotions like fear, grief and disappointment, and the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, empathy, innovation, and creativity. She writes, “When we shut ourselves off from vulnerability, we distance ourselves from the experiences that bring purpose and meaning to our lives and our work.”

So what does being vulnerability look like? For me, over my years of leadership, it has been about:

• accomplishing more and doing better work by getting feedback and being open to receive and act on it
• growing and learning more about myself by being ‘open’
• teaching and serving more: focusing my attention on others
• caring and empathising more because I don’t have to worry about protecting myself

By doing so I have been able to grow the amount of vulnerability-based trust in the teams I have led, simply by:

1) Going first:  As a leader, it was up to me to model the behaviour. The same applies to any leader seeking to grow a high performance team. You need vulnerability-based trust to achieve high performance. So it is imperative you model it.

2) Seeking first to understand, then to be understood: From The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People this encourages you to listen with the intent to understand rather than with the intent to reply.

It’s not a competition; you have to be willing to stop thinking about winning and open up to considering someone else’s idea.

3) Creating a Circle of Safety: People must feel cared for and safe to trust. This is not a new idea – children require the same circle – but often we forget its importance in the workplace. Treat your people like people, not resources!

4) Walking the talk: as well as ‘going first’ with vulnerability, there are other behaviours a leader must model and encourage to achieve high trust, including honesty, straight talking; an immediate approach to righting wrongs and keeping commitments – doing what you say you are going to.

5) Committing to open, honest, robust and transparent communication: High performing teams increase trust by building a culture of partnership and shared values. This starts with open and honest communication. When honesty and transparency are lacking there can be no trust. Without trust teams fail to solve problems or make decisions. Without trust, teams are crippled by conflict.

6) Sharing an experience together: Any time you actually get to practice being a successful team, you re-enforce the trust and strengthen the foundation.

Whichever method you choose, it’s important to understand that building trust is not a destination.  It’s ongoing. The question you always ought to be asking yourself is if you are building trust up or tearing it down.

To find out how you can build a high performing team, or work on developing vulnerability-based trust in your organisation, contact People Make The Difference. We can help you with our training workshops, one-on-one coaching and Coach On Call services. To find out more, call us on 0412 333 415 or visit peoplemakethedifference.com.au

 

 

​Three toughest challenges for those in high performing teamsMay 23 2016

It’s a leadership dream, isn’t it? Leading a team of high-performing individuals who work so well together they outperform all other teams.

Yet what is a high-performing team? And how do you create one? Distinguishing a high performing team from simply another collection of people is not only about characteristics, but also results. If your business is seeking better quality, faster response times, higher productivity, greater sensitivity to customers, and improved profitability then people, working together in teams, can make this happen.

High performing teams, however, are highly focused on their goals and achieve superior business results. They outperform all other similar teams and they outperform expectations given their composition.

Knowing whether you have a high-performing team relies on the demonstration of certain characteristics. These include:

• A strong sense of purpose and commitment to the team and its mission
• More ambitious performance goals than average teams
• Clear understanding of every team member’s responsibilities – and how everyone is mutually accountable
• Diverse range of expertise that complements other team members
• Trust and interdependence between members

 

In my experience, there are three major challenges for most teams that prevent them from achieving high performance. Yet, as leaders, it is a privilege and benefit to lead and manage superior performance teams so it’s worth spending some time addressing the major challenges:

1) Building trust and having an aligned purpose

For a team to achieve superior performance the people in it need to have a solid and deep trust in each other and in the team's purpose. It doesn’t matter how talented or capable your people are, they may never reach their full potential if trust isn’t present. Trust is essential because it provides a sense of safety. Only when your team feel safe will they take risks and be vulnerable – rather than staying in a protectionist headspace that is all about self-interest.

2) Knowing that disagreement is welcomed

Disagreement needs to be viewed as a good thing. This is a challenge if trust is not present. Yet while conflict and disagreement may be uncomfortable, both can be healthy and positive when managed well. As a leader you will come across a variety of personality types, each with their own ways of solving problems, communicating, dealing with pressure, even in perception of what a problem is or is not.  So members must be encouraged to work toward perceiving, understanding, and respecting where others are coming from, with the bottom line being everyone’s opinions matter, and they must be able to express them without fear.

3) Decisions by natural agreement

There are times when a team can make decisions by natural agreement – and in the cases where agreement is elusive, a decision is made by the team leader. For a team to reach high-performance, there can be no second-guessing. Why? Respect has to be a priority. Disagreement and disrespect are two different things. Regardless of whether or not perspectives and opinions differ, a position of respect should be adhered to. Respect is the foundation that supports high performance teams – it’s the attribute that allows you to navigate disagreements and move forward; having the right to differ while being productive.

Over the next weeks, People Make The Difference will be tackling the individual challenges of teams and how each characteristic can be developed for high team performance.

Have you been part of a high performing team? Or experienced challenges in leading one? We would love your feedback.

If you want to take your leadership skills to the next level, People Make The Difference can help you with our training workshops, one-on-one coaching and Coach On Call services. To find out more, call us on 0412 333 415 or visit peoplemakethedifference.com.au.

 

 

 

​Leading people who dont formally report to youMay 19 2016

Leading people who don’t formally report to you

As companies expand and become more complex, no matter what organisational structure is in place, people must work with each other across reporting lines.

It is the undeveloped leader who says, “Do it because I told you so.” When it comes to leading people who don’t formally report to you, your ability to influence is dependent on your credibility and character.

Modern – or super – leaders, need to understand how to create positive influence without being authoritative. Strong character is the starting point of influence and it often stems from a leader’s awareness about self.

You don’t have to have someone report to you in a HR line in order for you to have an impact upon their career and to help them be successful.

It is your character and behaviour as a leader that influences another person’s respect and engagement with you; a great leader binds disparate people together in order to achieve common objectives.

In today’s multi-national, connected, global economy, a common example is the local country leader with a team member answerable to a remote manager. During my time at Adobe, I was responsible as country manager for leading ten functions within the team – yet only two of those functions reported directly to me.

Tension can arise if the team member chooses not to listen to the local leader and plays his/her own leader off against the dynamic.

In the circumstance above, a local leader will require a separate relationship with the remote manager. This is where the skill to influence – not disrespect – the chain of command is vital. So how do you influence?

Find your style

You can only inspire and influence if you are self-aware and know your leadership style. What do you do well and what are your shortcomings? Do you lead with charisma or caring? Becoming aware of how you lead allows you to better influence those around you.

Demonstrate integrity

You’ve got to do what you say you’re going to do to be a successful leader. Being honest and forthright shows respect for your team and yourself and builds influence.

Manage your brand

Ensure your strengths are not being perceived negatively by asking for feedback, engaging in 360 assessments, and communicating proactively what you intend to accomplish with a particular action or question.

Care for your people

Demonstrate you care for your team personally as well as professionally – direct report or not. Know their hobbies, their children’s names, what’s going on in their lives outside of the office. One leader walks his office handing out honeycomb each Friday. It’s not so much the honeycomb, but his opportunity to walk, talk and interact with all his team personally.

Praise well, praise personally

Don’t just praise a job well done – deliver the praise in a way that is personally significant to the individually. Some may thrive on the company-wide announcement, others may shy from the spotlight and appreciate a quiet email.

Ask thought-provoking questions

An impactful, intelligent probe can deliver a subtle message while giving you an insight into thoughts and behaviours. For instance, you may not be able to impose deadlines or restrictions on people who don’t report to you. But you can ask:

• How should we be held accountable?
• What are the appropriate milestones?
• What should our top priorities be, given our timeline and budget?

Influential leaders use questions to get others to change or come around to their point of view.

Coach and advocate

Show they don’t need to be a direct report to benefit from your leadership. Be a resource, sounding board, and a safe place to talk. Advocate for them; help them get the promotion they’ve been hoping for. Leverage your influence on their behalf.

Have you experienced having to lead people who are not your direct reports? Or discovered other ways to influence? Please comment and let me know. To find out more, call People Make The Difference on 0412 333 415 or visit peoplemakethedifference.com.au.

 

 

​Are you leading by snorey or by story?Apr 12 2016

Anyone employed in the corporate world is likely to have snored their way through a ‘death by Powerpoint’ leadership presentation at some point in their career. Conversely, you may have also experienced leadership presentations that connect, engage, motivate change, and have you walking from the room inspired.

This is not because some leaders are more naturally talented at presenting than others. Rather, great leaders employ the art of storytelling.

Storytelling is not the domain of children’s books. Stories connect us. Studies show people make decisions largely based on emotional reasons, and then rationalise them afterwards so they feel logical. Stories appeal to the emotional side of the brain that drives connection. Making a connection allows people to engage more easily; using a story is far more compelling than rattling off the corporate vision and mission.

It is so powerful, global corporations invest heavily in leadership storytelling.  Kimberly-Clark, for example, provides two-day seminars to teach its 13-step program for crafting stories and using them to give presentations. 3M banned bullet points and replaced them with a process of writing “strategic narratives.” Procter & Gamble has hired Hollywood movie directors to teach its senior executives how to lead better with storytelling.

When to use storytelling

If you’re setting a five-year plan, you need a strategist. But if you want your 10,000 people team to engage and unite behind that five-year plan and deliver on it? Then you need a compelling story.

If you are poised to buy your largest competitor, you need a CFO to guide you. But once purchased, and you want the 2000 people who work there to stay – then you need a good story to persuade them to stick around.

Storytelling is for inspiring, setting a vision, teaching important lessons, defining culture and values, and explaining who you are and what you believe.

But it’s also good for delicate issues like managing diversity and inclusion, or giving people coaching and feedback in a way that will be received as a gift. It can help bring out people’s creativity, or to rekindle passion for their work.

Your team will always remember the story of Janet - who followed the rules, received a pay-rise and it helped fund her safari in Africa - over your directive to read the new company rulebook.

The only barrier to telling stories as a leader is not having any stories to tell. So start collecting your own. When something teachable and memorable happens to you, write it down.

Some guidelines for great storytelling:

• Begin with the context of the story
• Use metaphors and analogies
• Appeal to emotion
• Make your story tangible and concrete, avoid management speak and vague generalities
• Include a surprise as they make your story more memorable. Studies show surprise triggers the release of adrenaline in the brain that heightens memory formation
• Be concise and to the point – it may be a story, but it’s still a story in a business context

My own story: after I was coached on storytelling I changed from a 30 slide Powerpoint to two or three. I changed my narrative from bullet points and the company ‘spiel’ to stories and experiences.

The reaction from people was immediate.  After I had finished, they wanted to come up and tell me about their shared experiences; weeks later they returned to tell me how they had used storytelling in their own teams that had resulted in greater empathy and motivation.

Importantly, stories that get retold become a part of an organisation’s culture and heritage— and they can come from the CEO or a new hire, or anyone in between.

People will tell stories about you and your company whether you want them to or not. Fortunately, you can help choose which ones they tell. It starts by telling them a great story first.

Want to change your style to lead by story not snorey? Have a story-telling experience in leadership you’d like to share?

Comment or contact People Make The Difference via our website or on 0412 333 415.

 

​Six steps to a Super LeaderMar 21 2016

When team members talk about you, what are they saying? If it’s something like “Joe’s great with the numbers, but he’s really not a people person,” then you are not living up to your full potential as a leader. Operational excellence is without a doubt an essential requirement for all leaders, but equally important is emotional intelligence – and dismissing emotional intelligence is holding you back from being an exceptional leader for your team and organisation.

Yet for many leaders, this critical area of leadership is often neglected. In fact, emotional intelligence – or EQ – is the area that 8 out of 10 leaders I coach need help improving their skills and refining their leadership.

EQ is the missing ingredient for super leadership

Before you start thinking that EQ is all a bit woo-woo, let’s get clear on why emotional intelligence is a critical success factor in leadership success. According to TalentSmart:

• Emotional intelligence is the strongest predictor of performance out of 33 other important workplace skills
• EQ explains 58% of success in all types of jobs
• 90% of high performers are also high in emotional intelligence
• People with high EQ make more money – an average of US$29,000 more per year
• Every point increase in EQ adds US$1300 to an annual salary

Put simply, you just won’t reach your full potential as a leader if you can’t manage the emotional elements of doing business. But the great news is that EQ is a skill that can be learnt and developed with ongoing effort and commitment.

Blending operational excellence and EQ in practice

The best leadership performance comes when operational excellence is combined with top EQ skills. Here’s six ways that super leaders put this combination into practice:

1. Great communications all levels

Super leaders know that everyone in the organisation has something to contribute. They’ll regularly get out from behind their desk and talk to anyone in the office to get their opinions, not just the thoughts of direct reports and executive team members.

2. Clear vision and strategic direction

Super leaders understand that if you want your team to get behind and support your decisions, they need to know the reasons behind those decisions. Having a clear vision and being able to communicate that effectively is a key attribute of super leaders.

3. True understanding of leadership team

Super leaders recognise that everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses, and knows when to exploit people’s skills and when to push them with more challenging tasks.

4. Know the things that influence success

It’s easy to get caught up in distractions rather than what’s really important for your organisation. Super leaders can stay focused on the factors that matter for an organisation to reach its goals and know when to move on from failures.

5. Actively reward and recognise good performers

Unappreciated employees are unmotivated employees, and poor performers drag down the performance of everyone else. Super leaders take the time to make sure employees know the expectations of them and will give recognition to people performing well, without being afraid to have tough conversations with employees who aren’t up to scratch.

6. Invest in people

Super leaders know that the biggest asset any organisation has is its people. Accordingly, super leaders invest time in getting to truly know the people in their team and commit to providing them with fulfilling and rewarding work experiences.

If you want to take your leadership skills to the next level, People Make The Difference can help you with our training workshops, one-on-one coaching and Coach On Call services. To find out more, call us on 0412 333 415 or visit peoplemakethedifference.com.au

 

​Boost team performance with the right recognitionMar 15 2016

It’s an easy trap to fall into – getting so caught up in the day to day of your business, achieving financial targets, reporting to the board and so forth, that you forget to acknowledge the great work of your team.

But it’s a dangerous mistake to make. Not recognising performance is one of the nine most common factors that lead to good employees leaving an organisation says Talentsmart. And according to Bob Nelson, author of 1001 Ways to Reward Employees, the top two drivers of employee performance are being able to say “I am able to make a difference at work” and “I have been recognised for what I do.” Yet in his research interviews, Nelson found that 68% of workers had never even received a simple thank-you!

The business impact of employee recognition

Recognising performance has a measurable impact on an organisation’s overall success. One study found that organisations that meaningfully recognise employee achievements score 14% better on employee engagement, productivity, and customer service – and have a 31% lower voluntary turnover rate. Plus there’s the cost of employee disengagement to consider – Gallup estimates this to be in the range of $450 billion to $550 billion annually in the US alone.

Recognition motivates

If you want to motivate your employees to go the extra mile and to deliver on their loyalty to you as a leader, then recognition plays a big role. But it’s important to recognise performance in the right way for each employee. Leaders need to use their relationships with and knowledge of employees to tailor this recognition in a way that employees will appreciate.

Here’s just a few different ways that employees can be given recognition:

• Being presented an award at a public event, like an all-hands staff meeting
• Recognition during a one on one meeting
• A financial reward, like a salary increase or a one-off bonus
• A weekend away with their family
• Extra time off
• A promotion
• Professional development opportunities like training programs or a secondment
• A new project or additional responsibilities

But it’s not all good

Recognising good performance is an important, and often overlooked, aspect of leadership. But equally important – and definitely overlooked – is recognising and managing poor performance. So often leaders avoid tackling unsatisfactory employee performance head on and instead hope that the employee will improve of their own accord, or leave the organisation.

But the head in the sand approach is risky and costly. First of all, how can you expect an employee to get better at their job if they don’t know there is a problem? As a leader, you need to be able to use your emotional intelligence to have these tough conversations and help your employees to learn and develop – and if necessary, implement a disciplinary procedure. The second reason not to avoid broaching unsatisfactory performance is the impact it has on other employees. This can take the form of frustration, overwork and burnout if not effectively managed. It can also mean you look weak as a leader for not taking action on poor performers.

Ultimately, leaders need to remember that for most businesses, people are their greatest asset and it’s important to have everyone working at their best towards achieving common goals. If you have employees who aren’t meeting expectations or employees who start to feel frustrated because their efforts aren’t seen to be recognised and appreciated, it drags down the performance of the entire organisation.

To help you become a more effective people manager and implement strong employee recognition programs, People Make The Difference has our one-on-one coaching services, in-house workshops and Coach-on-Call for those times when you get a bit stuck and need some quick advice. To find out more, visit www.peoplemakethedifference.com.au or call +61 412 333 415.

 

​Are you co-dependent on your email?Feb 24 2016

Everybody does it – they get busy and think “oh, I’ll just shoot off a quick email about that.” And yes, there is no denying that email is a very effective tool when used properly. The problem however is that email is overused and most definitely abused. Leaders who are looking for an edge need to break the hold that email has on them and find new, more powerful ways to communicate.

Here’s three ways to break the vicious email cycle:

1. Get up and walk around

So often a leader’s view of what is happening in an organisation is informed by only a handful of people in the management or executive team. Take the time to step away from your desk and walk around the office, talking to people outside your direct reports. Be friendly and approachable, whether you’re saying hi to the cleaner or the CFO. You’ll become a more in-touch leader with a better read on the pulse of what’s going on in your business.

2. Hold meetings on their turf

If you are in the same office as someone, there is no reason to send them an email – unless it’s to follow up and confirm details of a conversation. Instead, at the very least pick up the phone, and even better go and see them in person. Help your team members to be more comfortable by going to their office or desk, rather than making them come to you, and maybe even take them a cup of coffee.

It’s also worth practising this habit beyond your direct reports. Skip-level meetings – i.e. meeting with the team members who report to your direct reports – is another great way to get a better insight into what’s going on within your organisation. These meetings can also help you to identify future leaders so that you can invest in their skills development.

3. Visit and listen

Getting an insight into the customer experience is an important element in any leader’s role. Yet when you send an email to customers requesting feedback, it’s fairly standard to have an incredibly low response rate. Asking for feedback via email sends the message that you’re only asking their opinion because you feel that you should. In contrast, physically going to visit your customers gives a stronger impression that you actually care and want to hear about their experiences – and that you’ll be taking action about any feedback that they give.

 

Making the effort to communicate more in person allows you to better get to know your team members and customers on a human level. You can read body language to determine more subtle signs and get a less filtered view of events. There’s also less room for misinterpretation – especially with more difficult conversations – leaving everyone with a much clearer understanding of any issues and expected outcomes.

For more tips on enhancing your leadership communication skills, sign up for regular updates from People Make The Difference.

Or if you’re ready to commit to become a stronger, more people-focused leader, call us on +61 412 333 415 to find out about our leadership coaching services.

 

​New Year, new ideas, new drive: Hit the ground running in 2016Feb 09 2016

When I mention the word loyalty in relation to leadership, what comes to mind? Is it employees blindly following a leader, no matter what? Or an environment of no-questions asked? That’s not loyalty, it is autocracy and while it can work in the short term, it’s not a recipe for long term success.

Strong, loyal teams boost organisational performance

There’s no doubt that loyalty is an important element in organisational success. Yet research regularly finds that at least 25% of employees do not feel loyal to their current employer, and it’s not unusual to have employee turnover of anywhere from 20% to 50% in any given year. Statistics like this are bad news for business, with the high cost of recruitment a factor, but employee retention isn’t the only reason to develop loyalty to you as a leader.

As a leader, it’s important to know that your team will follow your decision. Loyal teams will put in more effort to get the job done and work harder to achieve organisational goals. So what can you do to increase the loyalty of your team?

Loyalty is a two-way street

An important element in developing loyalty is providing and inviting feedback. Trust is built by regularly inviting your team to share their opinions and views. By demonstrating that you listen to and value their thoughts, it makes employees and team members more likely to ultimately support decisions that go against their own ideas because they have faith in your leadership. But remember that this is a two-way process, so it’s important to also share information with your team. Don’t withhold information, as it signals that you lack trust in them and that undermines confidence in your leadership.

So how do you get to this point of your team supporting you and working hard to achieve your vision, even when it goes against their own ideas and suggestions? Well, loyalty breeds loyalty – so by demonstrating loyalty to your team, you will increase their loyalty to you. By fostering a relationship based on mutual respect, consideration and trust, you establish the foundations for long-term success.

Using EQ skills is vital

Once again, developing loyalty is another area where strong emotional intelligence and self-awareness is a vital skill for leaders. You use your emotional intelligence to recognise when your own behavior is not in line with your expectations for others and take the time to pause, regroup, and act in a calm and considerate manner. You can also remain humble, and not let your ego take control. You make decisions in an environment where ideas and views can be openly shared, and you are always thinking about what is best for your team and customers.

Leaders who have strong employee loyalty are also better at connecting with their team members as individuals – not just resources. By taking the time to know your team members beyond the boardroom table – knowing about who they actually are as people, and allowing them to truly know you also – they are less likely to see decisions that go against their own views as impulsive leadership choices. Instead, there is confidence in the direction that you are pursuing as a leader. Remember that you are only as good as the people you have working for you – so take the time to get to know them and treat them with care and respect.

To help you become the type of leader who inspires loyalty and gets results, People Make The Difference has our one-on-one coaching services, in-house workshops and Coach-on-Call for those times when you get a bit stuck and need some quick advice. To find out more, visit www.peoplemakethedifference.com.au or call +61 412 333 415.

 

​New Year, new ideas, new drive: Hit the ground running in 2016Jan 17 2016

Last month as the year came to a close, I wrote about the importance of taking the time to reflect on what has worked well and what hasn’t in the past year and planning for the year ahead. And now that January has rolled around, it’s the perfect time to make changes as a result of this thinking time. But of course if you find yourself reading this article later in the year, if something isn’t working, it’s always the right time to make changes!

I’m a big believer in starting with some quick wins to keep you motivated and drive your success. Here are some fast and easy changes you can make now that will have a genuine impact on your business.

Communicate better

• Schedule a regular team meeting time.
• Change up the format of your team meetings if they are getting stale or not working. Maybe try setting a time limit or focusing on a single topic or inviting a special guest to speak on a topic.
• Or if team meetings are proving to be a waste of time for your business, make it clear to your team that there are direct lines of communication to you. If there are problems, don’t wait for the official meeting to discuss it!

Get personal

• If you realised that you don’t actually know your team members that well, set a goal to meet one on one with a few employees each month – schedule the first meetings today!
• Find out your team’s thoughts on a semi-regular (but not compulsory – everyone is busy and has different priorities) social outing to get to know each other outside the confines of the work environment. Get input from your team on the frequency and type of activities that they would like to be involved in.

Invigorate your mind

• If you are feeling bored and uninspired, make Friday afternoon learning time. Watch a 30 minute TED talk or read an article on your favourite business website to spur new ideas.

Commit to a cause

• Business lost its heart? Pick a new cause to support either financially or in-kind and get your team involved too with generating ideas and taking action.
• Remember, community involvement doesn’t need to be about money. It’s about uniting your team behind a common goal that serves other people. So if you can’t make a financial donation, encourage team members to volunteer or provide other forms of support.

Manage your time

• Is working 14 hours a day really a productive use of your time? Studies after studies show that more isn’t necessarily better and while there are occasional times when you need to burn the midnight oil, it shouldn’t be a daily occurrence. Use the New Year to create new time management habits so that you can prioritise your health and non-work activities that elevate your energy and actually help you to be more productive at work. This might mean leaving early one afternoon to spend time with your kids, making sure you take a minimum 30 minute lunch break each day, or turning off email notifications on your phone so you stop checking for messages last thing before bed and wrecking your rest time.

We know that as leaders it can be hard to do everything and there is often resistance to change – both from our teams and from ourselves. Starting with a few small tweaks that are easy to maintain can build your confidence and motivation for taking on some of the more revolutionary changes you may have thought of over the break.

To help you break down plans into achievable actions that will get results for your team and your business, People Make The Difference has our one-on-one coaching services, in-house workshops and Coach-on-Call for those times when you get a bit stuck and need some quick advice. To find out more, visit www.peoplemakethedifference.com.au or call +61 412 333 415.

 

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