How is your team pushing you to excellence? Did you know that your team members can help you to improve your performance every day? The investments you make in your team will be returned to you as they embrace the vision and begin to enforce the culture you want. You will see them drive each other to fulfill what is expected to a high level and even push you to a higher level of excellence. Don’t be so arrogant to believe that your team can’t help you to improve yourself.
Your team members offer a variety and skills and abilities and have different goals and an overall outlook. But what is great is that you have an opportunity to shape these different people to believe in the business and what they accomplish. This is done with a great attitude, persuasion, and team building that is focused on development and the long term view. This is not about being abusive, rude and overbearing. Further, you must be performing your key duties such as planning with due diligence. Poor planning can obliterate the positive attitude of your team.
The overall goal is not just to deliver outstanding business performance each period, but not to do it at the sacrifice of the long term. It should be to develop a team that looks out for the business in everything they do. Additionally, over time, they should be prepared to make decisions in your absence and guide the business with the set of principles laid out in your vision and strategy.
On my second deployment to Iraq, I was privileged to have a few different functional teams assigned to me after several months due to leadership changes and reorganization. I pushed them to a high level of excellence, and they pushed me to a high level of excellence. I was amazed at the mutual respect and mutual support to improve and to deliver at a high level.
These are areas your team members can push you and the business to excellence:
- Sharing the strategic outlook. As the leader, you have the responsibility to plan what your business will do for the next several years, but as your team develops, you may find one or two people on your team who have the ability to see strategically. The ability to plan and see the business from a strategic view point is a rare skill so developing them will be key to delivering additional value to the business and for you to share ideas.
- Offering differing expertise and opinions. You should always be soliciting a different viewpoint to any planning or in the execution of a project. Additionally, a team who does not consider opposing points can slip into group think, where a differing opinion may actually be the correct course of actions, but does not ever surface due to negative cultural norms surrounding speaking up. It’s good to have a team member who can offer a reality check on whatever plan you have developed. Receiving accurate feedback is essential to executing the correct plan for your business. You must harness honest feedback by being trustful and supportive and by handling the criticism properly.
- Seeing your vision fulfilled. When a culture of excellence is achieved, you will see members of the team enforcing the vision and the strategy. You must also find teachable moments to show your expectations. Grow your team and your team will grow each other and you.
I liked it when I developed a strong professional relationship with a member of my team where I have set the bar of excellence high. Your team members will expect the same high level of performance from you, which also provides the correct motivation to become the best.
“The best way to be productive is to have a great team. So I spend more time than most CEOs on human resources. That’s 20 percent of my week.”
-Kevin P. Ryan, internet entrepreneur
How are you investing in your team to drive the overall level of the work to excellence including your own? Please comment or email at comment@stephenmclain.com.
Copyright 2016-Stephen McLain