The Wisdom of Investing in Your People

At a leadership conference I attended years ago, the keynote speaker was a very successful sales and marketing expert.  He told us the story of how he lost some really good sales people, because he spent the majority of his time coaching underperformers.

He shared with us that he spent 80% of his time and attention managing underperforming sales people.  After spending considerable resources on coaching, training, and workshops, the ROI was the same poor results.  Meanwhile his high performing sales people felt underappreciated and over burdened with having to take up the slack.

The truth of the matter was he knew he could count on his high performing sales team to keep performing at a high level, so he did not spend much time with them.   The result was several of his top sales people left the organization.   The reason?  Feeling underappreciated and letting underperforming team members get by with lackluster results.

As the dynamics of his team changed, he had to change how he led his team.  He realized that he needed to nurture, acknowledge, coach and listen to his top performers.
The underperformers were given a certain timeframe to improve their performance, and if they did not, they would be separated from the company.

After a time of realigning his team, the overall results took a dramatic upswing.  The entire team was focused and energized.
 
While reflecting on the actions he took to turn the team around he distilled them down to the following key actions:

• Hire good people.  No short cuts, hire smart and slow.
• Set the right expectations, they need to know what to do each day they come to work.
• Challenge and coach every team members to be better.
• Separate from the company individuals who do not accept coaching and continue to underperform.

The wise and effective leader invests consistently in their people to help them to grow, develop and achieve their goals.  While the underperformers will either “get it” or self-select out of the company.

Making wise decisions regarding your staff is essential not only to employee engagement, but to the profitability of the company.

Buried Treasure

With unemployment in California continuing to hover around 12%, there are many individuals who struggle to find work.  There is a buried treasure of approximately 70 to 80 of these individuals who meet each week at a synagogue in Walnut Creek at an organization called Experience Unlimited, (www.euccc.org).   It is a professional job search network of extraordinarily talented people.  This is a 100% volunteer organization of people committed to help each other find employment.  They do this by bringing talented professionals and inspirational speakers to speak to them about how to remain positive during their job search as well as giving tips on how to energize their job search.
  
The venue where the meeting takes place charges a monthly rental fee for the use of the facilities. The rental fee is paid by the members who attend the weekly meetings.  At a recent meeting the president of the chapter, put out a request for donations.  What happened next totally blew me away!  Without any hesitation members stood up and went to the back of the room and began to drop one dollar bills in the basket.  You may say BIG deal!  I will tell you, yes, it is.  Remember, these individuals are all out of work and funds are short.
  
It is amazing how many skilled and experienced professionals are out of work these days.  In this same group there was a need to bring internet connectivity to the room.  Several members consisting of Project Managers, IT Administrators and other technology professionals worked together to outline a plan and executed it flawlessly to bring the internet to the space.
  
If you want to find buried treasure, look no further than Experience Unlimited. Seeing men and women leading by serving, while actively pursuing their next employment opportunity is truly inspirational.