You talkin’ to me?

Yes, as a matter of fact, I am talking to you.

Actually to be more specific, I am asking you a couple of questions.

How are you doing? And what do you need?

These are two vital questions to check in with the team, increase camaraderie and connection and make people feel cared about.

Isn’t that so nice? To feel cared about?  To know people give a damn that you are there because you are YOU and not just a warm body.

When you ask people what they need something magical happens.  They tell you.  This gives opportunity for growth on both a personal and professional level.

If you were stepping into a leadership role and sat down with your new team, and asked the question “what do you need from me as a leader in order for this team to be successful?” it would be the most powerful thing that you could do to build trust and engagement.

Seriously.  Do this.  Soon.  Come to think of it, even if you’re not a new leader.  Get your team together, grab a flip chart and ask them what they need to be successful.  Write everyone’s answers on the flip chart.  The results will astound you.  It will provide major insight around what the team needs to thrive, an idea of common ground, areas of focus, and the team can finally begin operating as the well oiled machine you’d love to be.

As a facilitator, I have the pleasure of having these kinds of conversations all the time and it never ceases to amaze me how much people open up and share. That’s not even taking into consideration the great ideas they come up with. People are always caught off guard when asked these questions because it happens so rarely! 

Change that. 

Normalize it. 

Ask all the questions. 

Get people talking. 

Feeling connected.

It’s actually incredible.  Giving people the opportunity to provide input - and following through on said input where possible - is one of the best ways to build trust in your team.

In opening up these conversations and obtaining input, you also avoid the grave mistake of doing ‘to instead of for’.

I’ve been in so many circumstances where MY OWN procedures have been changed based on what the big boss tells us is best.

The big boss.  You know the one. The who never steps foot near your workspace, probably doesn’t even work in your building, never mind having any clue about what you do.

Once upon another lifetime, I used to work in the building office, issuing building permits. At the time I issued permits for residential projects, and we were so busy that two days a week we had “protected time”. This meant our customer service desk was closed during that time in order to focus on issuing the permits we already had.

One day, orders came from up top - the big boss (who legitimately never stepped foot in our office) said we didn’t get protected time anymore.  They said the focus was on better customer service so we always had to be available for customers at the counter.

If anyone had ever asked US, the people actually impacted by this decision, we could have informed them that this was actually giving worse customer service because it increased wait times for people.

I feel like everyone has some kind of a story like that, a time where a protocol changed with no rhyme or reason. I hear about this stuff ALL THE TIME. How suddenly things change and people don’t understand why.

In many circumstances, there is a serious disconnect between upper management and front line staff. And the front liners picture the bigwigs sitting in some penthouse suite rolling a dice to make decisions. That would be like me, a person who has never scuba-dived (or is scuba-dove?!) in my life, going in and telling a scuba dive team that I was changing their equipment and procedures. That would make zero sense. And that was a really random example.

Please keep that in mind. The next time you make a decision changing any type of protocol, get input from the people impacted orrrrr if for some reason (I’d love to hear why you can’t get their input) at least provide a solid explanation of WHY and “because I said so” does not count!

If you want to dive deep into what your team needs to thrive and create a solid strategic action plan to get there, let’s chat! Every single team has the potential to be amazing, let me help your team reach theirs!