Purpose Builds Great Teams, and Profitability!

After a lengthy conversation with a friend who produces high end marketing videos, and procrastinating much longer than I should have, I finally gave in and had some snippets cut from a few professionally produced videos of me and Cindy speaking and began posting them as “shorts” on the YouTube channel we’ve had for years but never really pushed traffic to. Most of those were from a keynote we delivered to leaders from about eighty different companies across four states, covering how much they directly impact recruitment and retention in their respective organizations. One of those thirty second segments was of me speaking to the importance of purpose, asking if they really thought the best team members would uproot their lives over an extra dollar an hour if the culture they were currently in was outstanding. While it still made a specific point, the internet trolls went to work, bitching and moaning about how evil companies are for not just paying people more. One even commented something about companies paying me forty thousand dollars a week to teach them how to pay their employees less. I have yet to be paid that in any single week, but I can assure you it will never be for advocating paying anyone a dime less than they deserve! Interestingly enough, those trolls helped that one video reach more people than nearly all of our other videos on the channel combined!

Truth be told, a strong point Cindy and I drove through the entire keynote that short was pulled from was how much long term value there is in paying our best team members extremely well for helping the organization be profitable, and how higher pay can be far more cost effective than the revolving door that comes from skimping on wages and taking advantage of people. But let’s be honest, have you ever known an internet troll to let facts impair their whining?

Here’s where I’ll emphasize my last point once more: It ain’t JUST about the pay! Purpose does indeed matter. When we’ve taken the initiative to fulfill our leadership responsibility effectively, providing the team members we lead with a great atmosphere AND a purpose they can buy into, earning the fifty-seven percent increase in discretionary effort I’ve referred to several times already - and the twenty percent increase in individual productivity that comes from that - can actually become commonplace! And when that’s the case, the increased profitability that results from this makes increasing wages a no-brainer.

Don’t misunderstand me here, I realize not all organizations will take this approach even when raking in record profits. Therein lies the difference between authentic leadership and managing based solely on authority; the leader knows that it requires the entire team to increase profit where the authoritarian believes it was all because of their amazing control over their minions… And in my experience, those authoritarians are exactly who great team members refuse to stick with long term regardless of how much or how little they’re being paid.

One more thought on those trolls… While I respect anyone who’s working to provide the best they can for their families, I’ve never seen a strong team built with people who are constantly chasing the highest wage someone will throw at them. In fact, I’ve seen it play out time and time again where the person who accepts a position based on pay alone is also one of the first to have their hand out for more and leaves that organization just as fast when another company flashes something shiny in front of them. I can’t say that I’ve ever seen one of those folks be terribly concerned about how the company performs or about the others around them. Although some of the ones I’ve seen do this have had incredible skills, I can say from experience that strong teams are not built around them. And since I’m being candid, I’m willing to bet that the majority of the trolls sitting in their mom’s basement while they make snarky comments from their crafty internet handles aren’t likely very skilled at much else either.

The case I’ll make ten times out of ten is that providing a strong purpose, coupled with fair and equitable wages, will attract the best team members in any industry over time. This isn’t something that happens overnight, but it absolutely does happen when we’re willing to lead well consistently. And when we’ve got the best in the business on our teams, we’re able to do things for them that no one else can afford to - and we’ll pick up there next time!