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Attitude and Skills
Attitude and Skills
There is a tale of a boss who is unhappy with the work of his employees. Is it their attitude or lack of skill? He looks in the mirror, struggling to figure it out. Frustrated and at his wit’s end, he decides that he will hold a gun to their heads and tell them, “get it done!” If they do the work, then it is clear that their attitude is the problem. If they say, “well, shoot me because I can’t do it,” then it is a skills problem. Too easy, right?
While the story is extreme, fostering the right attitude and providing the right talent and skills is leader business. It might be the most important aspect of business and Teams. It starts with you and your attitude. Here are few ways to improve the attitude and skills of your Team, while doing the same for yourself:
1. Make sure everyone knows that their work is essential. Create buy-in by discussing the thinking behind and the importance of your vision and mission, goals, values, and strategy.
· Get people involved in defining them
· Take the time to answer questions and challenges
· When someone asks why it means they care
2. Get your employees the training, resources, and guidance to do their jobs well.
· If a job is worth doing, it’s worth doing well; if it’s not worth doing well, it’s probably not worth doing
· Set up your employees for success
· Align work with people’s natural inclinations (see our PROM Servant Leader archetypes https://lnkd.in/gxgeRQA3
for a simple way to start)
· People who report using their natural strengths each day are 2X to 3X more productive than their peers
3. Let people know that you appreciate who they are and what they do.
· Coach people to be the best versions of themselves (see our PROM Servant Leader archetypes https://lnkd.in/gxgeRQA3
a simple way to start)
· Do not subconsciously try to turn them into clones of you. Nothing says, “I don’t appreciate you,” quite like efforts to turn people into a mini-me or suggestions that they hide their identities. Instead, help them contribute as their best and most authentic selves.
· Take special care to ensure that your most vulnerable employees feel the safety and confidence that they can contribute as their best and most authentic selves
· Your most vulnerable employees tend to be those who look, think, or act differently than the majority
· Recognize people’s contributions in ways that they want to be recognized
Look in the mirror. Do you see opportunity because of the attitude you foster and the skills you provide?
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