Have you ever worked for a company or served with an organization where you felt like a number, just a body, just someone to do a task without a name or face, and were made to seem insignificant? It may be that whoever was leading you made you feel that you could be replaced easily and quickly. They may have even spoken that to you and other staff. And that set up fear. You began operating your job out of fear and possibly feelings of worthlessness rather than out of empowerment.
The truth is you are not just another number, you are a valuable gift!
Leaders, people that we are leading should never be treated like a number. Rather they should be valued as the gift they are to the organization or company. No matter how large the company or business is or becomes, preserving this key foundation will drive the overall success of the company. Jobs are replaceable but people are not. You will never find another person who does that job with the same heart, dedication, and passion. Take care of your team. Let them know they are important. Take time to appreciate what they mean to the company. Let them know you believe in them. NEVER lead them to think they can be easily replaced.
I have seen the good, bad, ugly, and great of the internal operations of businesses. Employees, I prefer to call them team members, who were valued often performed greater and exceeded expectations than those that were only seen as a number and disposable. Leaders, we must rethink our approach to how we are building business. See your employees not as employees but as partners, teammates, and extensions of your heart and mind that are propelling the vision forward in different departments. They are an essential part of the foundation in which successful business is built.
4 Steps to Valuing Team Members:
1) Change your view!
– Begin to see those who you serve with and who are a direct report to your leadership for the gift they are. Change your company culture to be one that doesn’t just say they value their employees but actually does it. Actions speak!
2) Invest in your team!
– Together Everyone Achieves More! Begin to invest in your employees with continuous training, coaching, appreciation, and financial investments. Financial investments? Yes! Are you paying below standard rates or just at the line? Revaluate your payroll budget and build in a range that displays that your company makes the investment in its staff. Don’t just meet market standards exceed market standards to gain the best caliber team. Teams that feel like they matter, that the role they play, the work that they do is important to the success of the company are more likely to produce at a higher level.
3) Coach them forward!
– Two key things that I have learned to look for in recruiting a new team member are dependability and teachability. If they are dedicated and open to learning you may have to move them from different departments until you find their shape of service where they succeed but when you have recruited them, retain them. When we recruit a new team member, we can often place them in an area and forget about them. They seem to be doing their job so we don’t really ever check on them. Over time that team member can began to feel forgotten, unimportant, and their work may become complacent. As leaders we must provide continued training, development, and coaching. Even when people appear to be doing a fine job. That continued investment makes a huge difference in how they feel about the work they do. Encouragement and appreciation should be an essential part of that coaching. Don’t just display problems share potential areas of growth and move them forward to the next level. You are more than a just boss, you are a leader and a coach.
4) Be the place where everyone wants to work!
– Create a positive atmosphere in your company that everyone wants to join. People often dread coming to work. It’s just another day at the job. We can change that by changing the culture we set for our company. Be the place where people want to come to work and the place that inspires others to want to join.
Dan Nixon/ LeadershipDuh.com
Recent Comments