Do you know what are the 8 things your TEAM want from you ?

March 13, 2010

Good reading in HBR about Eight Things Your Employees Want From You. Melissa Raffoni wrote this for the Harvard Business Review blog

The job of a manager / leader is to make it practical for people to succeed. When you do this, everybody wins.
This is not rocket science and by doing that people will TRUST you.

I would add that this is key to simplify the work of the team by applying some key principles as KISS (Keep it Simple & Stupid), FOCUS and ALIGNMENT. We’ve applied these principles in all what we do within my Team @ Microsoft Belgium and I must say I feel strong energy and commitment from my Team behind these principles.

By doing that, you give more space and energy for the people to deliver with EXECUTION EXCELLENCE.

I would add that this is key to create a culture for open feedback. We’ve succeded in doing that within my team by finding some inspiration within the ONE MINUTE MANAGER.

Finally, this is also key to create enough space and let people grow within this space. To make this happen, this is key to let people take their own responsibility / acountability to act and achieve the defined goals. To help people on this, we did very good training to develop PERSONAL LEADERHIP of people. A good tool to coach people development is to apply SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP.

Here-below a short summary of this list from HBR.

1. Tell me my role, tell me what to do, and give me the rules.

This is not Micromanaging, this is clear direction regarding the rules of the games (clear framework and parameters) and then let’s play the GAME.

2. Discipline my coworker who is out of line.

Hold people accountable in a way that is fair but makes everyone aware of what is and isn’t acceptable.

3. Get me excited.

About the company, the product, the job ….

4. Don’t forget to praise me.

Motivate employees by leveraging their strengths …

5. Don’t scare me.

They really don’t need to know about everything that worries you …

6. Impress me.

Strong leaders impress their staffs in a variety of ways. This can be courage, creativity, a characteristic that others don’t have and the company needs.

7. Give me some autonomy.

Give them something interesting to work on; and give them space.

8. Set me up to win.

Nobody wants to fail. Indecisive leaders who keep people in the wrong roles, set unrealistic goals, keep unproductive team members, or change direction unfairly just frustrate everybody.

Md Consulting