The Keys to Unlock Your Teams Success The 3 Cs for Team Excellence

by Alison Smythe
Page

Contents
Introduction.. The 3 Cs for Team Excellence. Clear Expectations. Communication Commitment. Understand Your Team.. Understand You to Understand Them. Wrap Up 2 3 4 6 7 8 10 11

Page

Introduction
It has been said time and time again that employees are a businesss biggest asset. Well, I ask you: How are you capitalising on this? What are you doing consistently to ensure your employees know this? What are you doing to ensure they are performing to the best of their ability and to a level that allows your business to grow and be recognised as professional, customer-focused and outstanding?

Lets face it, outstanding is what you are aiming to achieve; to be outstanding in all aspects of your business. No matter how big or small an organisation is the quality of the leadership is the essential element to performance and culture of the business. Leadership is many things, but it all comes down to helping your team think in a way that: o o o o o o Seeks to challenge their own attitudes and beliefs about what is possible Allows them to own their own role Boosts personal performance Guides them in problem-solving Promotes more job satisfaction and success Creates outstanding results

So it all comes down to you, your attitudes, your beliefs, your ability to inspire others to create excellence for your team. When we dream alone it is only a dream, but when many dream together it is the beginning of a new reality Friedensreich Hundertwasser

Page

The 3 Cs for Team Excellence

There are 3 essential strategies which leaders can embrace to create an environment that inspires, unites and motivates their employees and allows them to reach their full potential. We call them the 3 Cs.

So what are the strategies? Well, the 3 Cs for team excellence are: o Clear Expectations o Communication o Commitment Without these 3 Cs you just have a bunch of aimless people showing up each day, doing stuff for some reason or another, without a clear purpose, waiting for pay day.

Now you may say well I am already doing these, but I challenge you to take time to assess how well you are doing them, what could you do differently and what do you need to stop doing. Then I challenge you to develop a way to gain feedback from each member of your team to see how effective you have been at each of these strategies. Follow the 3 Cs and you will unlock your teams success. As a leader by committing to, prioritising, developing and continually assessing these 3 Cs your team will be achieving results in all aspects of your business.

So lets unpack the 3 Cs

Page

Clear Expectations

In a survey among employees asking what makes a bad boss, the majority of respondents said that their manager did not provide clear direction. *( What's the Big
Deal About Clear Performance Expectations? Clear Performance Expectations Enable SuccessBy Susan M. Heathfield. )

Teams and individuals are not mind readers. There are some critical expectations that must be clearly and regularly discussed in order for a team to be high functioning, motivated and effective. The top 7 aspects that must be shared to ensure all employees have a clear understanding of what is expected include: 1/ What is the vision of the business? What is the purpose of the business? It is obvious that you need to be crystal clear on the vision of the business. It would be hard to get employees on board and working towards this vision if it cant be articulated in a way that inspires them.

2/ What are the short and long term goals of the business? Is there a business plan in place that can be reviewed and discussed as a team? If the team has the opportunity to contribute towards the ideas and plans and can agree on what the short and long term goals are and how to achieve them, they will be more motivated to work towards achieving them.

3/ What is the purpose of their role? Clearly define their role, their responsibilities and duties. Speak on a regular basis about what is expected on a daily, weekly, monthly basis. Allow them to provide input on ways to achieve what is required. Raise the bar for them by articulating what types of things they can take on to go above and beyond. Really paint the picture of what excellence looks like.

Page

4/ Provide feedback appropriately and often. A delicious feedback sandwich should always on the menu. Give them some genuine positives as the bread and the meat will be the stretches. Dont wait for the yearly appraisal before giving feedback, its too late. Attitudes and behaviours may be ingrained by this time. But with regular honest feedback the employee will always have a sense of how he/she is performing.

5/ Always be the role model of what you expect from your team. If you expect them to be on time for meetings etc, you make sure you are always on time with no exceptions. If you want them to dress professionally then check in with your appearance, do you meet your own standards? What sort of attitudes, behaviours and conversations do you want your team displaying? Once again what attitudes, behaviours and conversations are you having? And I ask are you consistently being the best role model for the team? If not then assess what leads you to slip up and determine how will you avoid this from happening again? Give yourself a written warning!!

6/ Understand each individuals need on how to meet expectations. Every individual in your business is different with different styles, needs and requirements. Some people need to see the big picture while others need to know all the ins and outs - the small detail. Be specific with your expectations but learn to share them appropriately with each person. It even comes down to how you reward and recognise your team members. Some people love public displays of recognition while others would be embarrassed by this.

7/ Be clear about deadlines. If you want something done by a due date or time, you need to be upfront and articulate this from the beginning. Ensure the team or employee understands the deadline and the reason behind the deadline and even the consequences for the business if the deadline is not met. This will allow the members of the team to manage and prioritise their workload so that they complete it on time. If a deadline needs to be moved for some reason it is essential to communicate that immediately and once again get your team on board as to why the situation has been changed.

To Sum Up A leader should always state clear expectations to their team and reiterate these often. A leader must take responsibility to ensure that their team and all involved understand each expectation and how to achieve it. Team members must feel empowered and supported to achieve expectations and must know the consequences of not meeting their leaders expectation.

Page

Communication
Youve heard it said time and time again that communication is key to any relationship. Communication is essential in our personal relationships and our business relationships. Without communication and I mean effective communication no partnership, team or client interaction will be sustainable. Effective communication is essential for all teams to: Promote motivation Source information for their own decision making process Develop positive and healthy attitudes The only value of communication is the response that it gets Firstly for what purpose are you communicating? Is it to teach, inform, inspire, or maybe just to socialise? Understanding what message you want to convey will assist you with the way you need to communicate. A mentor of mine is known for stopping you in mid-sentence just to ask for what purpose you are having a conversation with her. This extremely successful person always had the end in mind, she knows her outcomes and direction and this was clear even when speaking with her. Essentially she wants to know up front are you seeking advice or just letting her know about something. Did you know that only 7% of what you are communicating comes from the actual words you use. 7% is not very much is anyones book. So what makes up the other 93% of your communication? Well, 38% comes from your tone? Tone includes things like pitch, speed, the quality and the volume of your voice. Have you ever been misunderstood because of the tone of your conversation? I certainly know I have, and this is always a reminder to me to check the tone I use. Over half of our communication comes through our physiology. In fact, 55% of communication is done through our body language. Some of the things to be aware of are: posture, gestures, facial expressions, blink rate and even our breathing. Next time you are in a conversation with someone be aware of your physiology and start to make the adjustments you need. I could go on and on about communicating effectively. But there is one very important aspect of how effective your communication is going to be and that is understanding the communication needs of others.

Page

Commitment
It is crystal clear that without the employees commitment you have no business, or one that is dismal. If employees are not committed to your vision and purpose or are not committed to turning up each day work-focused, extremely loud alarm bells should be ringing in your head. You can tell how committed someone is by standing back and observing their everyday routine. How do they present themselves? Do they get on with the work and put the effort in consistently to perform at their best? Do they contribute to team conversation, discussions and planning? Are they willing to go that extra mile to help a team member out or support customer needs? If you are not satisfied with what you are observing, action is needed immediately. Otherwise what effect could this behaviour have on the other team members and how does it reflect to the customer?

Page

Understand Your Team

An effective way to understand your team is by using a behavioural profiling tool such as Extended DISC. According to Extended DISC there are 4 human behavioural types. They are: Dominant Influencer Stabiliser Compliant Everyone fits in to one to three of these behavioural types but will always have a dominant style. What is great to know is once you understand what someones profile is you will then be able to adapt your communication to connect with your team members on a new and deeper level. Once you identify the behaviour profile of each of your team members through the Extended DISC profiling tool youll be better equipped to lead them and unlock their potential.

Page

Let me give you some quick examples of how you can use and communicate the 3 Cs specifically for each behavioural type.

Compliant

Dominant

To set clear expectations be very specific To set clear expectations focus on the and full of detail of what is required. Dont big picture and the results leave anything out

When communicating be thorough and provide lots of facts

When communicating be direct and concentrate on the subject

To assist with commitment respect their values and never ever criticise their work in-front of others. Slow to win, trust is the key. Stabiliser To set clear expectations provide the information in a logical manner with step by step processes

To assist with commitment keep goals and targets in focus. Once won, very loyal

Influencer To set clear expectations focus on how they can achieve the expectations and what it means to the business and to you personally as a leader

When communicating speak slowly and dont rush them

When communicating take the time to chat and talk and always maintain a positive atmosphere

To assist with commitment make sure they know what is happening and not make changes too fast. Once won, very loyal

To assist with commitment ensure they are heard and have the opportunity to contribute ideas. Easy to win and lose

Page

Understand You to Understand Your Team

The vital element to any good leader is to firstly understand yourself. Only then will you be able to understand others and be able to communicate effectively with them. By understanding yourself I mean have an awareness of your natural style. Things to consider include: How do you function under pressure? What are your hot buttons? How quickly do you make decisions? Do you see the big picture or focus on the finer details? How do you naturally communicate with others? What motivates you? What are your development areas?

Once you have clarity around you, you are then able to build the muscle in behaviour flexibility and adapt your natural style to needs of others. Become a master at your own style and be able to dance with the other styles!

Page

10

Wrap Up
I trust you have enjoyed your free E-Book on The 3 Cs for Team Excellence. If you are interested in moving your team members to a new level of success by understanding their behaviour styles contact ICCT today for more information and learn how our programs will add incredible value to your business.

It has been my absolute pleasure to share these insights with you and I look forward to meeting you and your team.

Heres to your success!

Alison Smythe Inspired Coaching & Corporate Training Phone: 0402 431 940 Email: alison_icct@mail.com

Page

11