How well do you really know your team members? I mean really!
Get to Know Your Team Members Well!
Make sure that you have a system in place to help you get to know each and every one of your team members well.
All of your team members are different!
- Make sure you get to know what those differences are.
- Make sure that you know what their career aspirations are.
- Make sure you know them so well that you can spot the potential in them that they themselves may not even know they have.
- Get to know them so well that you are able to help them achieve whatever they are trying to achieve if they are capable and competent to do so.
- Get to know them so well that they trust you 100 percent.
- Get to know them so well that you can spot in a minute if they are having a problem.
- Get to know them so well that you know what they do well and what they need to improve in and then help them do so.
- Invest in your team.
- Invest your time in each member of your team.
- Teams are made up of unique individuals with unique talents. Know what those talents are and put them to work to strengthen the team.
The more you know about your team members, the better your operations will perform! Create an environment where everyone matters and they know they matter and your operations will thrive….Lee
Lee, thanks for sharing your blog! There are some useful assessment tools that can help a manager objectively understand the motivations of their employees. Reaching that understanding is key to communication, and should inform both the content and the form of a manager’s message. One such tool is the Achievement/Affiliation/Power Orientation assessment based on the research of David McClelland, but there are plenty of others. Thanks again for providing the forum!
Lee – I would be interested in knowing if we are related. I have a lot of geneology research and can tell quickly if we come from the same ancestors. My websites are http://www.canteyhanger.com and ndialonestar.com. R/Perry Cockerell
I ran the wrong kind of business, but I did it with integrity.
Good Day, Lee,
I am anxious to talk about — Get to Know Your Team Members Well!
[blog Wednesday, January 23, 2008]
• All of your team members are different! — Make sure you get to know what those differences are.
Well – for me this harder than it reads. To truly get to know the differences in individuals I need to get out of my office and be actively engaged with the people I work with. I guess I need to access their fundamental skill sets to see what individual is stronger and under what circumstances. In sports, managers and coaches regularly substitute players with different fundamental skill sets based on the situation at hand. As managers, we rarely select the “best” individual for a particular order – more likely, we select who is available. If I take your advice at face value I should know my team members well enough to select the “best” person for the situation – be it in manufacturing or service.
Your point also leads into thoughts of social and cultural differences. Each of us brings our personal history with us through life. I am a product of my parents, brothers, teachers, Lee Cockerell, and many others. If I am different because of my life experiences then so are all those who work with me. Once again – I must get out of my office and truly get to know those I work with.
• Make sure that you know what their career aspirations are.
• Make sure you know them so well that you can spot the potential in them that they themselves may not even know they have.
• Get to know them so well that you are able to help them achieve whatever they are trying to achieve if they are capable and competent to do so.
These three great points are so tied together for me I really cannot separate the concepts. To help others achieve their personal and professional goals I must develop their capabilities and competencies — here we are back at teaching and leadership. Am I looking every day to see the potential in others? Am I confident enough in myself to see that my best day as a supervisor is when my employee or colleague is promoted beyond me to some extent because of the things that I taught them?
• Get to know them so well that they trust you 100 percent.
Golly, Lee this is tuff. For me to achieve this goal I must open myself up for others to know me; I must be consistent every day in my dealings with others; I must be honest with myself and others in my dealings; and I must remember at all times that trust is built up over time and lost in an instance.
• Invest in your team.
• Invest your time in each member of your team.
Certainly I must invest money in team members so they may have the resources they need to do their jobs effectively. More – I must invest in training and education; especially during difficult times. Is our firm here for the short-hall or the long-run? Why is it that as times get more difficult so many firms cut back on training and development? It seems to me that this is just the time to continue development funding.
Here is the key for me: what is our firm selling at this point in time? If I am a manufacturer, I am selling my ability to produce. Yes, I may be shipping coffee cups today but that is not what my customers come to me for. What they want – what they are buying — are my skills sets, distinctive competencies, state-of-the-art knowledge, and the like. All of which require me to continue to spend resources on developing our internal talent – our people.
Thanks for offering me the opportunity to think about these issues, Lee.
Jim