By Ghislaine Labelle

This week’s 1st Behavior:

Know your people and your business

Be hands on!  Get out there and see for yourself what is going on in your business and marketplace. Gain an understanding of your employees as well as your customers realities.

• Visit customers with your salespeople and find out more about their organizations, their issues and challenges.  Where are they headed?  How can your organization help them grow and assist them in attaining their objectives and goals? What are the issues you can help them resolve thanks to your products and services?

• Gain a good understanding of how you compare to your competitors when considering your customers important needs and success criteria.  What must be improved within your organization to meet your customers needs and criteria?  What can you add to your present services and products that will differentiate you from your competition?  What’s missing? How can you grow your business? Doing a competitive analysis is a must and should be done yearly. Stay up to date, change happens very quickly in the business world of today.

• Communicate your business strategies effectively to your employees.  Slow down and take the time to meet with your different team members who play an important role in your new strategies, so that they gain a good understanding as to where you are headed.  Communicate the “Why”, the “How” and the “What”. Show them how your new strategies have been thought through with a detailed S.M.A.R.T. action plan.  By doing this you will gain buy-in from your different team players because they can see that your plan is possible.

• Make sure your employees are in the right seat!  When hiring, measure for “FIT”, “FIT” with the competencies for the job, “FIT” with your Company Culture, “FIT” with the team, and “FIT” with the team’s Coach. When hiring team leaders, you cannot afford to make a mistake as this is very costly not only financially but also impacts employee turnover. You will lose some of your good team players if a mediocre leader is hired as team coach.

• You are a Coach. So do your job and take the time to have individual coaching sessions with your team players.  How can you help develop their limitations?  What training do they need to excel in their role and responsibilities?  What tools or resources do they need to grow and have success in their present positions? Your resources are your most important assets.

• Listen, to what your employees are sharing with you. If something is being consistently brought to the table, don’t ignore it, find a solution and resolve the issue!  Ask your employees what they think could be the ideal solution?  By having them participate in the solution, this gives the solution value, and they will commit to taking part in it.

Picture and text credits : Ghislaine Labelle