What’s Driving Your Team?

Last time, I shared an example that I hoped would help make the case for the clear difference between managing and leading an organization. One is just as important as the other and neither can be overlooked, but we cannot mistakenly consider those two very different actions to be one in the same! That said, I’m sure you’ve seen that exact thing happen just as frequently as I have…

Let me be clear here; I don’t believe the terms - leadership and management - are interchanged with the intention of creating confusion (most of the time). In the majority of the scenarios I’m picturing, supervisors and managers definitely hold responsibility for leading their teams. But all too often, they’ve never been provided with the tools necessary for combining any kind of effective leadership with the technical steps of managing the outcomes of the processes they’re overseeing. We’ll circle back to that shortly…

Before that though, I want to challenge you to really think into what’s driving your team to produce on a daily basis… Are the folks who report to you, directly or indirectly, working to meet productivity expectations on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis out of fear of what will happen if they fall short? Or are they inspired to give each task absolutely everything they’ve got to exceed the customers’ expectations because they’re inspired by the authentic influence you’ve earned by serving them?

I won’t pretend to speak for anyone but myself here, but I’ve seen the former be the norm in far more organizations - or even departments within organizations - than the latter! In just about every role I can think of, there are measurable objectives that each team member is expected to meet. Whether those are based on performing a set amount of work, achieving a specific amount of sales revenue, or interacting with a certain number of people, there’s almost always a clearly defined goal that needs to be hit. And if we fall short of that goal, we’re typically familiar with the progression discipline that follows. 

As a manager, I’m responsible for holding my team members accountable for meeting those expectations. When they fall short, I should be addressing it immediately and consistently across the board. 

But if I’m willing to accept the responsibility of leading that team I manage, I can engage my team members at any step in the process to make sure they have everything they need to exceed expectations and support them through any challenges they’re experiencing along the way. At first glance, this can seem like it would require a lot more effort from the person supervising or managing. But when it becomes part of our culture and we earn the kind influence that inspires our teams to give it everything they have, we’ll quickly start seeing results that would never have been matched by the threat of discipline!

Here’s the challenge I’ve seen so many great individuals and solid organizations run into: there’s rarely a blueprint for taking this different approach! In just about every industry I’ve been around, there are peer groups a company can become part of for guidance on the X’s and O’s of their trade. Some even dig into specific processes within those trades… But you rarely find anything that will put a group of executives - or managers or supervisors - in a room with a strategic focus on building a culture based on earning influence so every team member buys in at a higher level.

I think that’s a huge problem and we’ll look at WHY next time...