Tell Each Member of Your Team What Success Looks Like for Them
To engineer a behaviour change among your employees, consider using a process called ‘What Success Looks Like’ (WSLL for short). This is a one page template. It is customised to each team member. It sets out what is non negotiable, what is the target and what the employee should do in order to blow the boss’ mind for the next 3 months period. Thus, each quarter each person in a team gets a bullet point set of goals. This describes in detail what success looks like for them as an individual.
Use the Cycle of Business to Your Advantage
In a business that’s working well, the business owner focuses on the team. They allow the team to focus on the customers and the customers, in turn, take care of the business. The business then supports the owners’ goals, objectives and dreams. And when it works like this, it’s a beautiful thing!
This is ‘The Cycle Of Business’. The Business Owner looks after and focuses on the Team | the Team looks after and focuses on the Clients | the Clients happily pay money to the Business | the Business take care of the Business Owner and on and on.
Your Job is to Focus on the Team and Not the Clients…well Not So Much
The WSLL process does 2 things in particular.
One – it helps great employees know how they can blow the boss’s mind. So many of them go on and do just that! Its fun seeing the impact that this has on the boss. When an employee exceeds their expectations, there are broad smiles all around. Its infectious. Other less enthusiastic employees start trying to blow the boss’s mind in turn.
Two – it helps the boss see who is not cutting the mustard. If the non negotiable is not reached, then its so much easier for the boss to have a frank discussion. And they feel able to issue a performance related warning. The best employees like this. It shows them that poor performance is being dealt with and not swept under the carpe
Be Sure to Provide Clear Direction to Your Team
You need to provide clear direction. You need to share a compelling vision for the future. You need to let people understand your mission and your purpose. Many of the books talk about letting people know your “why”. Once you have done this, people can support you. They can start to think about what how to achieve it. If they don’t know the direction, they cannot engage their brains. Yet many business owners are too busy being busy. They fail to see how important it is to let others into their thinking.
Can you imagine what would happen in this scenario? You have 5 people standing in your kitchen. They are there to help you cook and serve dinner. You get started but you do not tell them that you want to make a steak dinner for 20 people. You don’t tell them that it must be ready by 7 pm. You don’t say that they should use the rustic looking tableware. You don’t tell them to help you make and serve piping hot bread rolls and serve sparkling water to drink.
They would be standing around looking clueless, wouldn’t they? You would find them of little help… I am sure I don’t need to go on. And yet, I can count on one hand the number of clients who are great at setting direction and sharing their goals.
Most of us know about SMART goals. SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, results-oriented, time-based goals. You need to identify how to measure success. And you need to decide on what activities you will need to repeat to achieve the goal. You will need to provide regular feedback. You will need to offer encouragement, as well as rewards and consequences.
Continual development of your own leadership skills is critical. This is a life long learning opportunity. It’s a commitment. But the dividends are worth it. When you have an engaged team and a happy team – they take better care of your customers. When they know what’s expected and when you’ve trained them to do it, they get better results. When they get feedback, they improve. And then the Cycle of Business rotates and the potential for growth becomes stronger.
How Do I Know This?
Like you, I’ve been in the driver seat of a business, and found myself spinning wheels and struggling to manage people. The fear nearly killed me, and I burned out before I decided enough was enough.
Working with business owners as a Business Coach today, it never ceases to amaze me how much pain business owners are willing to endure before facing their fears and making a shift. As they grow in emotional intelligence, they benefit immensely because for one thing, they figure out how to build their dream team. You can read about my journey from legal professional, to business owner, to #1 Business Coach here:
