Bringing Out the Best in Your Staff

When working together, we can act as a team, a group working together, or we can act as individuals. While we are all individuals and wish to be treated that way, much can be said for leading a team together to victory. Here are some basic strategies to bring out the best in your people!

Rule 1 Expect the best from the people you lead.
Simple and to the point if you expect less than the best, what will you get?

Rule 2 Make a thorough study of the other person's needs.
Fairness is important, but mistakes often occur when you don't treat each person as a separate individual, with unique needs. How are you addressing the needs of your staff?

Rule 3 Establish high standards of excellence.
High standards include but are not limited to your organization's mission, vision and policies. If you don't set high standards, what will the end result be?

Rule 4 Create an environment where failure is not fatal.
It took Thomas Edison nearly 10,000 attempts to invent the light bulb. While not condoning repeated mistakes, are you allowing your staff to grow and learn from their errors?

Rule 5 If someone is going near where you want to be, climb on their bandwagon.
Success breeds success. If your organization already has models for success, don't reinvent the wheel. Who in your organization is successful, and what can you and your staff learn from them?

Rule 6 Employ models to encourage success. Tell stories.
Every good training person, every good manager has stories to tell. People love to hear these testimonials, the results of other successful people so that they can adapt the successful tactics to their personal style. What stories have you shared lately?

Rule 7 Recognize and applaud achievement.
Recognize and applaud achievement today! How do you recognize achievement and how might you do it better?

Rule 8 Employ a mixture of positive and negative reinforcement.
During an average day, 80% of everything we hear is negative. One of the keys to success is to give an honest and complete appraisal, stating the truths that exist. Don't wait until the annual performance review to provide the proper mixture of reinforcement. What is your mix?

Rule 9 Appeal sparingly to the competitive edge.
Competition can be positive. Too much, however, can create win-lose situations that breed resentment, dissatisfaction, low-morale and high turnover. Are you using the competitive edge properly and to the benefit of you and your staff?

Rule 10 Place a premium on collaboration.
It is more than teamwork. It is putting the team together to meet common objectives and goals, establishing a solid philosophy (values), and rowing the boat together in the same direction. How do you value collaboration?

Rule 11 Build into the group the allowance for storms.
We are all unique individuals with individual needs and wants. We are emotional beings and people who have feelings. We have our good days and even our bad times. We are all humans. How do you handle 'storms' to your benefit?

Adapted from Bringing out the Best in your Sales Staff by Will and Suzi Helmlinger. © 1997