7/17/11

Any Suggestions on "How Not to Destroy A Team's Spirt?"


I’ve probably got a hundred of them or so, but I’ll try and narrow it down to the top 8;

1.     Demonstrate you believe in your own leadership by doing what say.  The old adage of “do what I say and not what I do” has disastrous results.

2.     Become the poster child for true communication and begin demonstrating that by learning how to listen to the entire conversation BEFORE you open your mouth to give your opinion.

3.     Ask for ideas then act on them.  Not acting on them is almost as bad as not asking for ideas or suggestions at all, thus making it all about you.

4.     Be predictable in a good way.  I just hate it when an employee tells me they know what kind of mood their boss is in by the way he enters the room and closes the door.  Ugly.

5.     Build your relationship with your employees by spending a few minutes a day learning a bit about their challenges both at home and at work.  If you are going to walk through the building with an “I’m the boss – fear me” attitude, your entire organization will suffer.

6.     Look at employees while they are talking to you.  So called leaders that are in a conversation and continually check their watch, cell phone or peruse the surrounding area with a blank stare get little to no respect.  Remember these Smart Phones are in fact Smart and your message will wait for you to finish your conversation.

7.     Another suggestion to #6 above…..Tonight when you are home watching TV and your spouse or kids speak to you, mute the TV and look and him or her so they know that their conversation is more important than the mindless shows that have little social redeeming value.  Your spouse or kids will wonder what is wrong when in fact this demonstrates everything is all right because you care.

8.     Treat people EXACTLY as you would like to be treated.  Yes that is the golden rule and I firmly believe the golden rule does not have an expiration date on it.

Regards,
George F. Mancuso, CPC
Client Growth Consultants
ClientGrowthConsultants.com