At its heart, the Cinderella story touches romantics and sports fans alike because everyone wants to root for the underdog. The odds for some teams to win the NCAA basketball tournament are astronomical. For perspective, the tournament includes four regions, each including 16 seeded teams. Only one team in the history of the tournament has made it to the “Sweet 16,” round three, as a fifteenth-seed. Florida Gulf Coast University was comprised of players older than the school itself when they made their Cinderella run. Their odds of winning the championship began at a humble .001 percent. When they reached the “Sweet 16,” those same odds skyrocketed to .02%.
Better than lottery odds but how can you translate this kind of long-shot, big-dream thinking to the performance culture of your organization? More and more in today’s ultra-competitive environment, you’ll find that your true competitive advantage is your people. Here’s how to turn that advantage into something that wins championships, er, deals.
Sometimes when a normcore business goes up against corporate giants, any task can be just as daunting. We have the 3 essential ingredients for your team to thrive when the odds against you seem enormous.
FEEDBACK
Giving your team building critiques of their work will help your team grow like never before. There needs to be more to your performance feedback than annual performance reviews. A little recognition of one’s daily, or weekly, efforts can go a long way.
69% of employees say they would work harder if they felt their efforts were being better recognized. Give feedback to your employees like this:
- Be positive – give as much positive feedback as you do negative
- Be specific – general direction can get lost in translation
- Be immediate – if you wait too long your employee may not remember an incident
How does this make your team a winning team? By constant positive reinforcement and criticism when it’s warranted, you create a feedback loop that motivates and increases efficiency and productivity. While your competition is waiting until year-end to give feedback on a nap that guy in accounting took in February, you’ve already confronted and fixed the issue. Plus, your staff will appreciate always knowing exactly where they stand in the organization.
COACHING
In business one of the most important aspects of leadership is grooming your current talent. You took the time to source, recruit, interview and hire them. You’ve spent months and years developing and training your employees. Why avoid coaching them to continually achieve more?
Coaching not only grows your current employees but helps them stay as well. More than 60% of employees who report to managers who are not good coaches are thinking about quitting, versus 22% who report to the best. How does one become a great coachand retain their employees? Apply these tips:
- Listen – find out what your employees need and how they grow. Everyone is different!
- Encourage and Support – doing this well can become a tool in keeping your employees motivated
- Drive Results – set meaningful, achievable, goals and clarify milestones and measures of success
How this makes your company more competitive: Today’s workforce wants meaningful work and they want positive relationships at work. Constant feedback (above) gets your team prepared for additional coaching, where you or another mentor can guide them toward the goal you gave them. Succession planning for you; career pathing for them.
EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
Communication is the cornerstone of engagement. Without it, there is a disconnect between the workplace and its workforce and performance management suffers. 69% of employees report engagement is a problem in their organization. How do we change this trend of a lack of employee engagement? Communicate to your employees like this:
- Lead by Example – Company culture starts with the executive suite or departmental lead, set the tone of engagement early and often
- Individualize – Get to know your employees on a first name basis. Treat them like people, not like your workers
- Get Feedback – find out what is going right or wrong with your company, show that you care about your employees
How this makes you more competitive: By being a great example and modeling feedback and coaching for your team, you inspire and lead employees. The research doesn’t lie: Companies with engaged workforces have better productivity, better revenue numbers and increased retention numbers. The business “wins” are everywhere when you make a humane investment in employee engagement.
One of the greatest upsets in sports was when eighth-seeded Villanova defeated first-seeded Georgetown for the 1985 NCAA title. Villanova shot an unimaginable 79% from the field against a team looking for its second consecutive national championship, lead by future NBA hall of fame, Patrick Ewing. At the beginning of Vilanova’s adventure in the tournament, few thought they could be crowned king. They proved the world wrong by beating the best on college basketball’s biggest stage.
Prepare your team to be the shocking Cinderella story of 2016 by creating a feedback loop, building your employees up via goals focused coaching, and modeling employee engagement in your organization. You’ll be ready the next time you face off against your Goliath. Your Cinderella story is right around the corner.
Bio: Michael Heller
Michael Heller has 20+ years of experience in strategic human resources, talent management and technology consulting. As an HR executive at Washington Consulting, Digital Management and Deltek, Michael led teams to develop innovative human capital management programs and initiatives. Previously, Michael held a variety of positions at American Management Systems and Booz Allen Hamilton where he executed on talent acquisition, total rewards, performance management, strategic HR partnership and philanthropy strategies.
Michael serves the community as a board member of Teardrops to Rainbows, an organization dedicated to supporting families of children with cancer. Michael has a Masters degree in Human Resources from Georgetown University and earned his Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Connecticut. Michael resides in Gaithersburg, Maryland with his wife and daughter and enjoys cooking and college basketball.
