Is Your Team Working for or With You?

Do you lead a team?

Are they on board with your company and come to work every day on fire to be productive with you?

Many of you are certainly thinking “most are”, well, the fact is that 70% of all employees are not happy in their job.

To have team members who REALLY love what they do, they must be inspired to do so and this does not come from an outside source as motivation does.

So how do we inspire a team, let them make decisions that add to the bottom line, reduce conflict and keep them willing to do more than just the job description without being told to?

Do your team members know and share the vision of the company? Do they know that what they are doing actually contributes directly to that vision?

So now what? Your team is not at peak performance, the conflict is never-ending and the productivity is just at par because no one takes responsibility. Well, my friend, this is completely and totally your own doing. Did that hurt? It should.

Here are three steps to empower and inspire your team to work with and not just for you.

1. Strive to become the leader you are truly meant to be through finding what your true identity is. This allows you to communicate authentically with each team member as you, not the title you wear. To think, act and communicate in your own voice, regardless what others may expect of you, is key to team bonding, as well allowing the team to do the same, empowers them more than any position or task ever could.

2. The three-solution rule (this is my absolute favorite). Do you want your team to work autonomously and stop asking a hundred questions? Next time a team member asks you to solve their problem, simply ask them to provide you with three solutions they believe would solve the problem. This makes them dig deep, and in you asking, empowers them to release the bonds of expectation and become more creative. Do this two or three times, and they will stop coming to you for solutions because they are now empowered and creative enough to solve their own problems and you have one more decision-maker in your team, which lightens your workload.

3. The Daily Huddle: This will change everything I promise. Each day at the same time you have a short 10 to 15-minute standing meeting which I call “The Daily Huddle” where you present the three-stage brief. You the leader reviews what happened between this and the last meeting, what the goal is between this and the next meeting and touch on the action plan. (remember they are now empowered to work with you, no more hand-holding) Now assign a day for each person in the team, rotating through each team member, including yourself and anyone who is remotely attached like the contracted cleaning crew or the outsourced service providers. Each day after you give your three-stage brief the assigned team member comes up with a team exercise that brings them together. This can be a trust-building exercise like falling into someone’s army with their eyes closed, it can be a quiz for each group of team members you assign, it can be Tai Chi, a speech, a puzzle or even a personal credo, the list is endless. The point is the team member takes ownership of the meeting, presents in front of their peers and therefore is getting used to ownership.

Now you may be asking yourself “how do I find my true identity; how can I do that on my own.” Suddenly you see how much easier it is to work with others than with yourself, don’t you?

This kind of person who uncovers their identity follows their purpose and elevates all those around them is what my partner and I Lane Belone call “The Humble Alpha”.

If you wish to learn more about becoming the leader of leaders with a true identity instead of just a title, for yourself foremost, then reach out, we would love to have you.