Leadership is about serving the people on your team. A leader’s job is to ensure those they lead have what they need to excel and win. Good leaders demonstrate support, open doors, and work to create environments where people can perform at levels they never thought possible. But too often, individuals in leadership positions support and even reward things they never intended to support and reward. Too often, this is why their teams never reach their full potential and never produce great results.
Memories that Drive Me
Working on a crew in a steel mill, like many manufacturing jobs, is a team sport. You need every individual to do their job well to get steel through the shop safely, efficiently, and of good quality. Team members have to work together, and each man depends upon the men next to them to make it happen.
On this particular night, we were in the break room before the start of our shift. It was a Friday night. One of the guys on our team walked into the room. “We are working shorthanded tonight.” Without mentioning a name, we all knew who it was. The same guy “laid out” many Friday nights. I sat there thinking to myself, “Why is this guy still working here?” We all knew he wasn’t sick. He was going to the club.
That night while he was out partying, we were working. We were trying to figure out how to make steel short-handed, so another teammate did not have to do a double shift. I remember thinking, “If I were a supervisor, I would do whatever I could to make sure this did not happen to my team.”
I took that experience and tucked it into the back of my mind. I did not want to forget how it made me feel. I did not want to forget how it impacted the best guys on our team.
Unfortunately, I experienced many incidents like this over the years. I recall that in situations like this, the best teammates suffered most because they cared about the team’s performance. They wanted to win and be successful.
I work to keep these memories alive. As a leader, I want to remember how poor performers negatively impacted morale and the overall team performance. These memories have helped me over the years to push myself to improve, support the best teammates and be the best leader I can be.
Backbones and Anchors
Think about the best performers on any team you have been on or have led. How would you describe those individuals? Write down the characteristics that stand out most. Typically this list includes leads by example, initiates action, takes responsibility, demonstrates ownership, innovative, driven, results-oriented, self-starter, safety conscience, honest, customer-focused, team player, energetic, upbeat, learner, efficient, productive, and trustworthy. These are just a few of the many characteristics of the winners I have worked with over the years. They are the backbone of every high-performing team. They bring tremendous value to the organization.
Think about the poor performers on any team you have been on or have led. How would you describe those individuals? Write down the characteristics that stand out the most. This list is often the opposite of the best performers. This list typically includes waiting for instructions, following the crowd, doing the minimum work required, being lazy, absent, late, mistake-prone, negative attitude, not trustworthy, and not a team player. They are limiting the performance of the team. They are an anchor. They slow down the group, create most internal problems, consume time, and drag down morale. They consistently consume more resources than they deliver results. They will kill your team.
The Leader’s Behavior Sets the Real Standard
So the problem is the poor performers, right?. No. The problem is leadership. Leadership sets the standard and the tone for the team. So many leaders like to talk about their performance standards and how their
values drive these standards. But our actual standard is revealed by what we do. Our behavior shows what
is most valuable to us.
As leaders, we should often assess our leadership, asking ourselves, “How am I doing?” One of the ways I
have evaluated my leadership is by taking a hard look at the poorest performers on the team I am
leading. Here is why I do this. No matter what I say, my standard is just below the performance of my poorest performer. This must be true. The fact that this person is still on the team demonstrates my standard must be just below their performance.
This is always the way our team is going to assess our leadership. We must take this to heart and own
it. The poorest behavior on our team is the behavior we are supporting. Therefore, our standard is just
below the behavior of our poorest performers.
In my career, I have worked at all levels. I started my career carrying tools, working in maintenance and operations at the crew level before moving into leadership positions. I worked shift work for almost ten years. I have held leadership positions on the front line, middle management, and senior leadership and had the privilege to lead several teams to record-breaking performance.
Over the years, I have experienced good and poor performers. I know the impact each can have on what a team can achieve. I have also discovered that many leaders do not recognize how not addressing poor performers is influencing the results of their teams. This type of leader creates bad morale and invites even the best performers to lower their performance. The leader’s behavior is often the reason for their team’s lack of performance.
Take Action – Build that Winning Team
So think about your leadership. Think about your team. Our leadership always rewards either our good performers or our poor performers. So which group is your leadership rewarding?
Lead for the great teammates that pull the load and make your team great. They have earned it. Reward them by making them the standard for the entire team. Recognize the things they do to get great results. Address those that do not support this. You will gain respect from the most respectable people on your team. You will open the doors for your team to be its best.
The hard work of addressing poor performers and rewarding good performers is the best way to serve your team. Your team will take the hill for you when you lead this way. They will win. And you will have the great experience of seeing them win!
Do the work. Lead well. Win.
In Your Corner,
As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.
Other posts on leadership:
3 Conditions that Build a Strong Foundation for Having Hard Conversations
An Easy Way to Improve Your Ability to Lead and Influence
When Leaders Need to be “Selfish” to be Strong