As promised, Deri Latimer is back as a guest on the blog today, continuing from her post earlier this week in which she gave us ten specific ideas to reduce the amount of time you spend managing your email. Now that you have all this free time :), Deri’s post today focuses on eleven things you can do to invest in your people.
Now that your inbox is less full, and you are less imprisoned by a deluge of email, start instilling practices to fill your team. Some of the many possibilities include:
- Help. Give your team what they need most. Often you will find that what they need is some simple assistance from you. A vote of confidence to make a decision, certain tools to do the job properly, permission to vent (and then problem solve) about a frustrating customer/client experience.
- Invite. When you find yourself wondering something as it relates to your team, invite them to answer it. Yup, it’s that simple! If you want to know what motivates them, ask them. If you want more participation in meetings, ask for their ideas on how to get it.
- Co-create. Choose a strategy of co-creation. Rather than setting the vision and then ‘rolling it out’ to your staff, help them to co-create the vision with you. No ‘sell’ will be required if they are part of the creation.
- Celebrate. Take time to celebrate small wins often. You don’t have to wait for the huge milestone to be met. Celebrate several smaller moments along the way.
- Delegate. Someone out there would love to do the very things that you loathe. Take time to train them and then delegate the responsibility to them. Be available for questions (mostly at first) but leave the responsibility where it is assigned.
- Have Fun. This is kind of a no-brainer. Just have fun. Period. Life is pretty darn funny if you take time to really look at it that way. If you aren’t sure that your funny bone is as developed as you’d like it to be, you know there is someone on your team who would be glad to give you some ideas.
- Recognize. Remember that what you appreciate, grows. So take lots of time to notice what’s good and to let people know what you appreciate about them. You’ll find a lot of that coming right back to you.
- Invest. Invest your time in your individual team members and the collective team. Sometimes that just means taking time to say ‘good morning’, or to ask about a personal event shared with you earlier. You will surely receive a high return on that investment.
- Relate. Take some of the time that you would have spent sending email, and hang out where your team hangs out. Is it around the water cooler? Taking a break in the lunch room? Mosey on over and join in the conversations about life. Show your team that you relate on a human level. Share in a laugh.
- Meet. Establish meeting protocols so that meetings actually serve to energize rather than frustrate your team. Your team will help you establish these because they know full well what will contribute to a successful meeting. Ask them.
- Energize. Include energizing activities that infuse some positive emotion into your meeting. You might select a warm up exercise from a source such as The Bob Pike Group or The Thiagi Group. And, you can ask the team (have you noticed that asking your team comes up pretty frequently??). They undoubtedly have some experience to share with you.
Bottom line: unplug from technology and plug in to people! You won’t be sorry.
So readers, what do you think about Deri’s list? Any additions? Any concerns about what she’s suggested. Jump in if you have an opinion!
Deri Latimer is an expert in positive possibilities for people! She combines a business degree in human resources management with 20 years of experience engaging audiences across every business sector. Deri provides inspiration and information to create psychologically healthy organizations for increased positivity, productivity, and profitability! Reach her at www.derilatimer.com.