5 MORE Proven Tips to Help Your Team Win

Want to truly help your team win? Help them learn to think at a higher level, so they can perform at a higher level. Need help? That's what we do. We help you make it happen! Check out the Blue-Collar Leadership Academy video above. Then, reach out to Ria Story at 334-332-3526 to schedule a free demo.

5 MORE Proven Tips to Help Your Team Win

Note: If you missed the first 5 Tips to Help Your Team Win, you can find them here .

6.? Connect the team when necessary.

As a leader, you have influence and connections the team doesn’t. Listen and look for opportunities to speed up the process by connecting the appropriate team members with those who can and will help them. If you really want to make a high impact in this area, use your influence to get some of the right people to support the team full-time or part-time as necessary during specific projects.

As the leader, you should connect the right people at the right time for the right reason. Make it happen. It will speed up the team, build trust, and ensure their success.

“Keep one degree of focus while maintaining 360 degrees of awareness. It means that we pay total attention to what is right in front of us, without losing awareness of all that is around us.” ~ Robert Rabbin

7. Cheer for the team when necessary.

Nothing will inspire and motivate a team more than when they hear their leader cheering them on. No matter how good they may be doing, encouragement will motivate them to do better.

I remember reading about an experiment that was conducted years ago to measure people’s capacity to endure pain. Psychologists measured how long a barefooted person could stand in a bucket of ice water. They found one factor made it possible for some people to stand in the freezing water twice as long as others. Can you guess what that factor was? It was encouragement.2 As a high impact leader, you should harness the influential power of encouragement.

“Others know when a leader truly believes in them. Not because of what the leader says, but because of how the leader makes them feel.” ~ Mack Story

8.? Give the team credit.

High impact leaders do not want credit. They want results. They’re happy to give others the credit and do so intentionally whenever they get a chance.

On all of the team events I’ve led, one of my goals was always to lead the team in a way that allowed them to take credit for all of the great ideas. If I had a part, I still made sure I gave them the credit. It’s never about me. It’s always about them. I want them to buy-in and make it happen. That’s possible when you give them credit for making things happen.

Instead of telling them what to do when you know exactly what needs to be done, lead them by asking them questions. When they arrive at the right answer, you can give them credit for knowing exactly what to do. You will have effectively made it their idea. Always be intentional about giving credit to others.

“A candle loses nothing when it lights another candle.” ~ Thomas Jefferson

9.? Take the blame for the team.

If you want to seriously speed up the process when things go wrong, do what high impact leaders do. Step in and take the blame. Take the worry off of the team.

Too often when things go wrong or get off track, people start wasting time and energy trying to figure out who did what in an effort to place blame. This is much more prevalent in an environment where there is a lot of insecurity among low impact leaders. This results in people being punished or singled out for making mistakes.

When I’m leading a team that makes a mistake, I take the blame. This allows the team to focus on the mission and why the mistake happened. If I’m the leader, I’m responsible. I should take the blame. If I don’t, I’m not leading at a high level.

“When we look at people who disobey their leaders, the first question we ought to ask is not, ‘What’s wrong with those people?’ but rather, ‘What’s wrong with their leader?’ It says that responsibility begins at the top.” ~ Malcolm Gladwell

10.? Facilitate decision making with the team.

How do you know when this is necessary? It’s easy. Whenever anyone asks you a question, it’s necessary.

I often have leaders ask me, “How can I get my team to think for themselves?” I always say, “That’s easy. Quit answering their questions.” Then, I get that confused look that usually comes with a slight tilt of their head just before they say, “What do you mean quit answering their questions?”

If you want your team or your children to think for themselves, do not answer their questions.

A high impact leader knows the best answer to a question is another question. A question that causes others to think about the right thing for the right reason. Better questions will always produce better answers. If you ask enough questions, one or both of you will learn something. Most often, it’s both of you who will learn. Use questions to learn how your team thinks and to influence the right thoughts.

“The more decisions a leader makes, the further he or she is away from leading a high performance team. Make too many command decisions, and you’ll doom yourself and your team to mediocrity.” ~ Mark Miller

Like what you just read?

It's an excerpt from Chapter 9 from "10 Values of High Impact Leaders"

(Note: There are 5 more proven ways to help your team win in the book, for a total of 10.)

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Please reach out! I'm always open, but I'm not always available.

My cell is 334-728-4143. My email is [email protected]

“My first words are, GET SIGNED UP! This training is not, and I stress, not your everyday leadership seminar! I have never been a part of anything like it. After 30 years in technology and two years in Concrete Construction, I have attended dozens and sent hundreds to the so-called ‘Leadership-Training.’ I can tell you that while all of the courses, classes, webinars, and seminars, had good intentions, nothing can touch what Mack and Ria Story provide. I just wish I had it 20 years ago…I could go on-and-on…100% of the team that attended said that they were ‘blown-away, they did not see that conviction and passion coming.’ Many thanks, Mack and Ria!” ~ Sam McLamb, VP, CMP

Ria and I want to help you and your team climb to the next level and beyond, so you can perform at the next level and beyond. Check out numerous video and text testimonials from our clients. Learn more about us , watch a demo, and don't miss all the buttons to access our bio and other information.

Ria and I specialize in quickly increasing engagement by connecting with your team, facilitating improved communication, creating an atmosphere of teamwork, and increasing your team’s productivity.

The result: increased profit, improved morale, and reduced turnover.

We share motivational and inspirational stories from our own lives and fill them with principles your team can apply to improve their own lives at home and at work.

Blue-Collar Leadership? books , development programs , and online training courses are uniquely designed leadership development training and content specifically created to engage and develop the Blue-Collar front line workforce, those who lead them, and those who support them.

We specialize in Helping Leaders Engage the Front Line to Improve the Bottom Line.?

The result: higher engagement, improved trust and culture, improved morale, increased retention, reduced turnover, and increased number of high impact team players who want to work in your organization.

In short, we'll help you learn how to become THE Sought-After Employer of Choice that's attracting and retaining top talent instead of searching for good people.

Mack Story spent many years in the blue-collar workforce, starting his career working as a front line machine shop operator. Later in his career, he logged over 11,000 hours leading hundreds of leaders and their teams through process improvement, leadership development, organizational change, and cultural transformation, both as an employee and as an independent consultant.

Ria Story started her career working as a waitress while earning her GED and going to community college at night. She pursued a career in the healthcare industry, eventually earning her MBA and serving as the Director of Corporate Compliance for a hospital. She now has over 20 years of experience in leadership and management.