“People may hear your words but they feel your attitude.” – John C. Maxwell
When it comes to managing people, the most important lesson I’ve learned is that people are not manageable. If you want to be a strong leader, the best way to lead your team is to give them independence.
In other words, instead of “micromanaging people,” where you are managing all the details of each person’s job, you need something more efficient. Micromanaging is exhausting and you will not be able to do that as your company grows and you have more people on your team.
So, instead of micromanaging, create structure and create systems where you are painting a picture, creating that yellow brick road. Show them the path that you want them to walk on. What I’m going to show you are some tips on how to manage people and be a stronger leader.
Watch this video on how to manage people and be a better leader.
Give Team Members Room To Grow
Your job as a leader is to coach people toward success, however they define it. It could be in terms of finance, status, or their role within a company. That if they follow this path, they’re going to get to the goal that they want.
If you hire the right person, very often, they will find the right role for themselves within the company. You shouldn’t set in stone the position that you hired them for. As time goes on, you may discover other talents that they have.
Within my company, you can have someone starting at a very junior position and they could move up to a very high position because depending on their talent and work ethic, they could grow.
For that reason, I don’t pigeonhole my team members. I don’t hire for a very specific role and then tell them that’s all they are going to do for me. People evolve, so they may develop talents over time.
So to me, I am not as interested in hiring someone for a particular skill set. What matters more are three qualities that cannot be taught.
Loyalty Matters More Than Their Resume
I always communicate to all my team members the three qualities that I look for as the CEO. The first is loyalty to the leader, the brand, and the customers.
I don’t care how talented they are, I don’t care how good their resume is, nor do I care how smart they are. If they are not absolutely loyal, that person is not someone you can have long term in your company. They might leave you for your competitors or steal your customers.
The second quality I look for is harmony.
A Players And Team Players, Not Lone Wolves
You want to have harmony on your team, so you want to find people who work well with other team members. You don’t want a lone wolf. The chemistry between your team members is important.
Even if they are talented A Players, if they don’t work well with other people on the team, they’re not going to last. So harmony is very critical.
It doesn’t mean they have to like everybody or hang out at a company barbecue. But during work time, they have to be able to get along with other people to accomplish certain tasks. Harmony is very critical.
Those are the two things I look for in team members: loyalty and harmony. The third and final quality I look for is results.
High Level Results
I want to know if the team member has the capacity and the experience to perform their tasks at a high level. Can they produce results and not just talk about results? And can they produce results on a consistent basis?
Sometimes you hire people and they may be able to perform results at the beginning, but they’re not consistent over time. Or sometimes, you bring them in for a certain job, and you notice that after three years, the job has outgrown that person.
They could produce results before, but they can no longer produce results. Now here’s what happens if a team member has loyalty, harmony, and results, but not necessarily in equal amounts.
The Right Combination Of Qualities
Phenomenal Results
If you have someone that is phenomenal at producing results, but they are not loyal, they don’t work well with other people on your team. What I usually do is I hire them as independent contractors.
They’re very good at accomplishing a certain task or project and that’s it. They’re not going to work within my company and they’ll never rise up to key leadership positions.
Absolute Loyalty
But if someone is very loyal to the organization and they work well with other team members, but they are not results driven, I have a place for them in my company. It doesn’t matter that their results are only okay.
They probably work in customer service, support, or accounting. I can trust them and I need those roles as well.
Career Driven
Now here’s another combination. If someone is not loyal, but they could produce results and they work well with other people, we’ve got a problem. It means they have good people skills, but they’re not loyal to me.
That kind of person I keep at a kind of middle management, director level. They might lead a little team, but I will never promote them to the top because loyalty is a problem.
It could turn out that we work together for six months, up to three years, and then they jump ship to work for somebody else. So I don’t want to promote that person to a leadership position.
Perfect Fit
On the other hand, if someone is loyal, works well with other people, and produces results, and they are lifelong learners, then it doesn’t matter where they came in within the organization. I can promote them to the top.
Given time, they will hold an executive position in my company. Their background and their age don’t matter to me. If they have all these three things, they become one of the key people within my global organization.
When you’re hiring and when you’re managing people, ask yourself these questions. Think about where your people are at. Now, if you have some people that aren’t loyal, don’t work well with other people, and don’t produce results for you, guess what you should do?
Fire them! No point hiring them in the first place either. You don’t want them in your organization. What you want is someone with the right amount of loyalty, harmony, and results.
Key Thoughts On How To Become A Better Leader
Running a business is simple. It’s people that are complicated. They don’t want to be managed, and they don’t stay static. They constantly evolve, so when you hire someone for your team, you want to be flexible because as the person grows, their role in your organization may change.
To decide if someone is a good fit for your company, measure them against three key points. Are they loyal to you and your brand? Is there harmony between them and your other team members? And does that person produce results?
Ideally they have a mix of all three traits, but even if they don’t, if they are loyal, you can find a place for them in your company.
Do you think loyalty, harmony, and results are important to your organization? Comment below.
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