Make Your People Feel Important
Everyone wears an invisible sign around their neck that says, MAKE ME FEEL IMPORTANT.
This insight comes from Mary Kay Ash, the founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics and one of the most successful business leaders in American history. What does this have to do with you, your team, their work, and your leadership? And how do you use this information to improve your leadership and turbo-charge your team’s performance?
Feed your people’s need for significance!
Image by © Royalty-Free/Corbis
Do the simple things that send a clear message to your people: YOU ARE IMPORTANT…
1. Help your team members understand how important their work is to the success of the organization.
2. Help each team member understand how important their work is to the success of the team.
3. Appropriately involve people in the key leadership functions of PLANNING, EVALUATION, PROBLEM-SOLVING, and DECISION-MAKING.
4. Ask people for their input. Use the magic management phrase: “What do YOU think?”
5. Help your people succeed…and produce! Your team is counting on you to help them to do their best work and make their best contribution.
6. And when they do succeed…recognize their effectiveness and affirm their good work. Even simple forms of recognition add fuel to the flames of employee self-esteem.
7. Let people know that you care about them…as people: Acknowledge their birthdays, life milestones, and personal accomplishments.
Helping your people understand, experience, and really feel their importance can be as easy as treating them with respect and including them appropriately in the work that you all do together as a team. Read Issue #11 of The Personal Trainer—it’s filled with specific ways to build respect with your team. You can access it here. And check out my book, Leading Teams—How to Inspire, Motivate, Lead and Succeed for chapter-after-chapter of additional practical tips. You can get a description of the book here, and order it on Amazon here.
PLUS…There’s another important connection to your people’s sense of importance.
Ken Blanchard points out the connection between productivity and a strong sense of personal worth or significance. He says, “People who feel good about themselves tend to do great work as a result.” But he is also quick to point out, “People who do great work tend to feel good about themselves as a result.”
I’ll share more about this important connection in my next blogpost. DON’T MISS IT.
And…If you are looking for more ways to improve your leadership, we can help! We can show you how real leaders are turning their people into motivated, engaged, high-productive teams with a few simple techniques that you can use as well. And stay tuned to this blog—every post will feature great ideas and practical tools that will enable you to get better as leader!
Until next time… Yours for better leaders and better organizations,
Dr. Jim Dyke – “The Boss Doctor” ™ helping you to BE a better boss and to HAVE a better boss!
