Quit Whining And Start Winning

By Tyler Head

Our lack of “quality workers” is not solely the fault of some external happenings but a blatant indicator that the system has been headed in the wrong direction for some time. As we press deeper into this idea, I want to recognize that we cannot control everything, but we mustn’t hide from the opportunity we have.

The employee retention crisis we find ourselves in is not the fault of external forces…it’s the fault of our leadership. By our leadership, I mean yours, mine, and ours as a collective within the business space; moreover, our approach to being with people and our practice of moving people towards a common goal.

We must take responsibility and lead the charge in the differentiation of our people and their performance. Not to negate the importance of acquiring results through the work of our team, but properly prioritizing these differences will drive significantly higher results.

We must go beyond talking at our people and practice connecting with our people—In the words of Judith Glaser, “stop having power over and have power with.”

We believe that as we learn to speak the language of our employees, they will grow with us, not against us. As we learn more about who they are, where they come from, and what they want out of this life—we seek to not only understand them but to connect with them. There comes a shift of distrust in the man to a “We Can Do This” kind of attitude.

We aren’t claiming to have an ideal three-step process, but the more we as leaders incite the “we” mentality in our business place, the quicker the cultural landscape of business in American will change for the better.

Sit with me in this example for a moment:

Imagine a quarterly team meeting where you, as the CEO, open the meeting with a bit of direction while explicitly communicating your gratitude and need for your people and highlighting your shared purpose. After that, you turn it over to department heads, and collaboration ensues as your people ask follow-up questions and seek clarity from details being discussed. Then, as the meeting comes to a close, you address briefly where you guys are headed as “We.”

In this described scenario, you have illustrated to your team many things, but let me highlight the big wins:

• To express gratitude and need for your immediate team explicitly communicates your heart for their well-being.
• To highlight your shared purpose helps directly re-engage and re-solidify the shared purpose for which you all are moving together.
• Turning the time over to department leaders exemplifies humility and invitation to share the load.
• Finishing the time with brief words of where you guys are headed as a “We” solidifies the idea of moving together through collaboration.

As leaders, we can continue to whine about cultural circumstances and conditions…………….or we can own our space and be conduits for a cultural shift.

We took a deep dive into this subject matter and came up with The Five Biggest Leverage Points to change organizational culture. Click this link to get your copy.

At DRYVE Leadership Group, we are set on helping people like you build healthy and high-performance cultures that engage your people in collaborative ways.

Book a Leadership Strategy Session with us today!