Do you have a company, department, team or sales force where the employees routinely underachieve, fail to take initiative, refuse to work together as a team, or intentionally sabotage the success of your organisation? Would you like to turn your situation around immediately - as in overnight?
Think something like this is impossible? Think again! In 2006, Jim Leyland, manager of the Detroit Tigers, took a team that had 12 straight losing seasons and put them into the baseball World Series - an "instant turnaround" of an unbelievable magnitude. What made Leyand's feat even more amazing is that he did it with the same players who were on the team the year before and he made it look easy!
How did he do it? The answer is simple: He went against the grain of conventional business wisdom by motivating his players with trust instead of fear. He knew that when players trust their leader, they become confident. This freed them to turn their work into fun.
When work becomes fun, even the most routine tasks associated with the daily grind of pursuing a championship become enjoyable. What Jim Leyland did was turn work into a destination - an exciting place that the players looked forward to coming to every day; a place where they came to get their batteries recharged. In return, those players gave Leyland their best efforts; day in and day out, throughout the entire season - and the results speak for themselves.
If you'd like to create the same kind of turnaround, all you need to do are three things:
- Win your employees over by showing them that you care. This lays the groundwork for trust. And it starts with being nice.
For example, Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith, the two coaches who coached in the 2007 Super Bowl, got there by treating their players with dignity and respect, instead of cursing at them or sarcastically chewing them out.
The lesson here is that if treating people with dignity and respect (being nice) can result in Super Bowl appearances, just think what could happen at work if managers, supervisors and team leaders in business adopted this same leadership style.
- Single out those people who have just gone the extra mile and blow them away with your expression of appreciation. Make them feel so good for having done so that they can't wait to do it again.
For example, instead of merely saying "thank you" to someone who has just gone the extra mile, do something like recognising them at the next department meeting or sending a letter to the general manager or company president touting this person's "above and beyond the call of duty" contributions to the company.
This will not only motivate that one person, but it will also encourage the whole staff to search for new opportunities to go the extra mile. And it will dramatically increase their level of excitement as well.
- Make sure you do those things necessary to win people over and blow them away on a consistent basis - day in and day out. Keep in mind that employees don't like being treated like "light switches" - where you turn them on when you want something and then ignore them until you want something again.
This sends a clear message that you are taking them for granted which says you don't care. Once people receive this message, they become "turned off" about going the extra mile for you.
As you put these three steps into practice, you'll find that an instant turnaround is not only possible; it's very do-able. What's more, you won't have to wait a month, six weeks, or a year to see results; you'll notice significant improvement the very first day! These steps are easy to execute, cost nothing and the big winner is YOU.