I hope everyone had a great fourth of July weekend! My holidays were dedicated to getting in valuable family time with my beautiful, but equally busy wife, Shannon and my amazing kids and grandkids (yup, I’m a grandfather but I’m definitely the cool kind). I say it all the time, rest and recuperation are necessary for leaders at all levels; you’ve got to have a great work/life balance that can keep you motivated. Initially, I wanted to do part two of my pervious blog, Yes, You can Produce High Sales in a Bear Market, but then something popped up in a recent coaching session that got me thinking. How can we coach our employees to do better and be the best? The answer is simple, routines are requirement from leadership for employees’ success. Now, more than ever, this is something we need to do daily to keep our staff motivated.
Enough talking, let’s dive in!
Hey Leaders, are You Coaching for Success?
As I mentioned earlier, I was meeting with a new client recently to advise them on how to be a better coach to his employees. While going over the plan, I explained that yes, his responsibility would increase some, but it would yield better performance from his employees.
As leaders in middle (LIMs), our job is to coach our people to do the things they know they need to do but don’t necessary always want to do it.
Now this by no means it’s an easy feat, but heavy is the head with the crown or well, neck with the whistle. Let’s compare it to trying to eat healthier or working out more. We all want to eat healthy every day, but don’t always do it. We also want to work out consistently, but we tend to miss more days than not. However, we’re all still required by our body to put in some work to stay healthy, fit, and alive. To do this, the most successful people have weekly workout routines and/or meal plans to make the process easier.
Bringing it back to leadership, the key then is to adapt the same strategy – set routines for your staff. Like any coach for whatever your favorite sports du jour is, set a precedent of firm routines to get the best from your players, aka your employees.
Routines make Coaching Easier for Leaders and Employees
The key to building a winning culture in your business is to build routines that contribute to each employees’ success.
As leaders, we’re required to help our people -our team, improve their skills and productivity. If you’re a smart leader and a GOOD leader, then you know our job entails helping our people to become the best version of themselves. Setting requirements keeps everyone on track and enables those routines. This makes expectations meet reality.
In the land of sales, we refer to it as sales activity. These are those behavioral requirements that ensure a salesperson has the opportunity to succeed. Think, the number of calls, emails, targeted client visits and meetings for the week and/or month. Beyond the quantitative goals, there are requirements to quickly respond to our clients and to always serve great customer service. Now I got to tell ya, some organizations swear they got this in the bag because it’s strongly suggested, a mere reference guide. But, make no mistake,
Suggestions are not requirements.
Why Leaders Require Success not Suggest it
The difference between a suggestion and a requirement is grounded in the principle that the former has no consequences. It’s only a recommendation, insinuation or well shucks, only a hint. Now a requirement? Ha, that’s something that’s compulsory and necessary. It has an ‘or else’ status permanently hovering over it.
There’s no guaranteed success when people do things how or when they want to get it done. Nope, this leads to busy work, checking the box and low results.
Routines are set requirements from leaders that are followed to reap success and adhere to your company values.
Employees must see their routines as requirements for results
Final Thoughts
In today’s world, the ‘new normal’ requires changes and this includes establishing new routines to better guide expectations from leadership. Now I get it, the great resignation is truly alive and well, but coaching your employees for success will make them more likely to stay with your company. If they’re smart, they’ll see it as investment in them and they’ll value that.
Having a roadmap ensures that routines naturally provide balanced expectations. Everyone knows where, when, what and how to go about their jobs. When you coach so they understand the rationale behind it, then you’ve struck gold. Remember:
Great leaders make employees better despite their own personal fears. They want their teams and organization to be great. Routine’s are a requirement for leaders to help their employees realize and achieve success.
See ya next week!
Summer’s the perfect time to take a great vacation and read a good book in a comfy hammock. Check out my bestselling leadership books on Amazon. Not a fan of reading? No problem, we have Audible versions, too!
