Let Your Team Know You Care

Reading Michael Nichols' recent blog (http://www.michaelnichols.org/positively-impact-your-team/) inspired this week's topic.  These are four powerful words that will make your team think you are awesome:  Trust, Serve, Care and Encourage.

Trust
You either trust or you do not trust a team member.  If you start with trust first, the relationship will be stronger and will develop in a good way.   Only when you have to question your trust, seek knowledge first before acting to ensure your instinct is correct.

Overall most people can be trusted.  They will place value on your trust in them and they will reciprocate.   Trusting is always the best policy when letting your Team know you care.

Serve
Leaders serve their Team and their Team's needs.   As a great leader it is not about you and it is about them at all times.  Grooming your team members to be leaders and to be successful is the leader's focus.  Remember the question:  "Are you the genius in the room or are the genius maker".

It is easy to serve oneself, focus on oneself and forget about the Team.  When you fall into this trap, those around you that care quickly help you re-focus.    This is the sign of both a great leader and a great Team.  Remember leaders serve others above oneself. 

Care
Do you show your Team you care?   Does your Team know you care?   Tough to accomplish both on a consistent basis.   Effective leaders value key relationships and make them a top priority.   Very good advice from Michael Nichols.

Positive reinforcement by "catching" your Team members doing something good and acknowledging it is one way to show you care.  Saying thank-you and saying you appreciate what your Team does are other ways you can demonstrate on a daily basis you care.

Encourage
Being positive and supportive provides the encouragement your Team needs on a regular basis.   It is your positive influence resulting in the motivation to make everyone more successful.  You may not always agree, you may not always be happy, however, you as a great leader always need to be positive.

Remember it is about them and not about you.  The Team needs you to invigorate them and not focus on yourself or the negativity elements.   Channel all your energy into being positive.   This is why the most successful leaders are called "Optimists":   They see something positive in everything and make stuff happen in a good way by embracing the facts and situation with the help of their Team.

Thank you to the AlphaKOR Team for all you do and working on these four words to show you how much we care.