Determining the Proper Pace

Verbalizing a specific purpose that each of our team members identify and connect with can play a critical role in earning that 57% increase in discretionary effort that I referred to throughout What’s KILLING Your Profitability? (It ALL Boils Down to Leadership!) and several times as we’ve looked at the importance of Leading with a Clear Purpose. The time we’ve invested in listening to what our team members have shared with us and studying the action they back those words with should give us just about all what need to cast a vision of how their daily tasks tie directly to the things that motivate them - and that process becomes relatively simple when we follow a proven pattern! As luck would have it, following that pattern boils down to answering two basic questions.

The first question could almost be considered as easy, as much as I hate to imply it. While little effort (beyond the listening and watching we’ve already discussed) is required, far too few in leadership roles ever do it. One of the things Marston discovered through his study was that each person operates on something of their own pace. This motor of activity looks at how they take on a task; some folks are very outgoing, jumping into their tasks full-speed-ahead where others are more reserved, taking a slower or more methodical approach. The beauty of this, with regards to how recognizing it helps us communicate with them, is that we’ll rarely have trouble hearing it in their words or seeing it through their behavior. And while the overall population is slightly skewed to the reserved side of the equation - with 60% or so there and only about 40% being more outgoing - this isn’t something that’s absolute. By paying even a reasonable amount of attention to our team members, we should be able to quickly identify where they are in relation to us.

As we work to share a vision of a clear purpose that provides them with fulfillment in what they do, we can adjust the pace of our communication (up if they’re more outgoing or down a bit if they’re more reserved) so it’s something they truly receive. The other great part about this first half of the pattern is that we’ll have some room for error. While the more outgoing folks tend to get bored if we’re not delivering fast enough and the reserved folks can become somewhat overwhelmed if we give them too much too soon, it’s rare that either will actually alienate someone. The same can’t be said for the either piece of the pattern so we’ll pick up there next time.