November/December represents a time when at most colleges and high schools winter sports pre-season preparations are beginning to be made. At the same time business leaders should be preparing to transition from the fourth quarter of 2011 to the first quarter of 2012 with new goals, a vision and focused energy.
When your practice begins in business, it is important to be certain that the team members and departments within your organization are prepared to consistently bring the best version of themselves to the office every day. With this must come awareness: awareness of self and awareness of others. Without self-awareness you are blind to how your actions, thoughts, and words impact others around you. When there is an awareness deficit you also don’t realize what your teammates need each day to be their best and help take the organization’s performance to the next level.
With this in mind, I present some food for thought about what the leader and the team members must commit to doing each day each week each quarter of the year to make the upcoming year the best ever.
The Leader:
- Must commit to bring the three E’s; energy, effort, and enthusiasm. All three have the ability to spread like a virus. Are your three E’s worth catching?
- Must commit to living the six P’s; Prior Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance.
- Must have big eyes: A keen eye for detail and excellence as well as mistakes. Catch people doing something well, don’t just notice things that prevent the team from improving.
- Must be the most organized person in the organization. Without organization, at the top of the organization, you will never get the maximum potential of the team in the desired time frame.
- Must be fingers on, more than hands on. The leader must have his fingers on the pulse of his team in order to know what they need and when they need it. This involves more listening than talking and more seeing than saying.
The Team Member:
- Must bring their three E’s to the office. (If they haven’t, look no further than the leader’s E’s, they obviously were not worth catching)
- Must perform without mental clutter. Eliminate outside distractions through the 6 P’s and by having a process to get focused, remain focused and renew focus. Like sorbet cleanses the palate between courses of a meal you need rituals to provide brain breaks as you transition between tasks during the work day.
- Must commit to strive to get from work not just get through work. Get passion, purpose, and fulfillment from your work not just get through the day.
- Must elevate their commitment to learn, Learners are Earners, — The beginning of the year often involves more training and learning as new products are often rolled out, new initiatives begin and on occasion new team members join the organization.
- Must commit to 3-way fitness: Mind, body, and spirit. The demands of taking your performance to the next level and working as a team will require you to be at peak fitness level in all three areas.
One of my favorite sayings on teamwork is a sign in the Butler University men’s basketball team room. It reads: Great Teams Have Great Teams. My workplace translation is that great companies are ones where leaders and team members capitalizing on every opportunity to help one another improve, grow and work together better towards a common goal. More we and less me!
I wish you success in your preseason preparations and in your quest to make the 2012 year your best ever!