How would your team describe you? Is the way in which you show up differently, and with intention, best to communicate, decision-make, collaborate, and motivate?

To be the leader that creates and sustains highly effective teams, and a culture of respect and collaboration is a leader that nurtures, motivates, inspires, and grows their team and does it with mutual respect and appreciation.

Commit to the Pivot

That kind of leadership takes a motivation to the tasks that build it, a commitment to pivot.

To not just act like you know your team, but to truly know them and understand their needs so you can meet them where they are. It is about the kind of rapport you have with your team that motivates every single one. It is where you show up with consistency to honor their needs and values.

How do you figure out if you’re leaning into each of your team members and motivating them in ways that are appropriate? Do you do this in the ways in which they need to be motivated?

First, you need to ask yourself; what are you doing differently and intentionally to best communicate, decision-make, act, collaborate, motivate each of your team members?

When I am completing a culture inquiry it is a pleasure to be part of that ‘getting to know’ the team members, as people first; to have one-on-one conversations.

There is, of course, the gathering of the black and white data, engaging with people managers, or a small team group discussion, and ask questions circle around how they would describe culture. It allows me and the rest of the team to hear the different perceptions each team member has of one another and their views on the culture.

What gets interesting is when you hear a group of individuals, on their one-on-ones, describe their leader in a completely different way. Some of them adore them, respect them, and have learned a lot from them. Some literally loathe them and have complete disrespect and distrust towards them. The ways in which individuals and teams describe leaders and culture is connected to their perceptions and experiences.

Discover and Foster Good Culture

If you are motivated to discover and foster what is right in your culture; one that is centered around values and how to get things done; then you need to be motivated to make pivots and understand the pulse and the people within your culture.

In my experience, clients who are dialed into their culture, who are truly in the middle of it, are the ones who are discovering what is right and where the opportunities are. They have a keen awareness of the strengths and the blind spots.

They are often the ones seeing the need for repair and kicking off with the use of one of my favorite tools, Predictive Index, to understand behavioral hardwiring. Truly understanding the hard wiring of individuals, groups, and teams.

This is how you curate highly effective teams. If you are committed to completely understanding what right looks like, then you must commit to the culture, and the values that surround your culture.

What is it that differentiates leaders that are praised from those who aren’t? It is in the hardwiring; the consistency and ways in which that leader is in tune with what the team needs to be motivated, valued, and understood.

When I take the grouping of the individuals that are praising their boss, often it’s because they and their boss are hardwired very similarly; meaning the boss is leaning into what motivates them and therefore they are treating the rest of the group in the same manner.

The ones that do not feel seen valued and heard are the ones that are often opposite or have many differences from that of the natural hardwiring of the leader. This creates a disconnect and distance among leaders, teams, and individuals at every level.

Pivot to Meet the Needs of Your Team

As a leader, you must constantly pivot if you are to show up to meet the needs of your team and strengthen culture.

There are many ways to do this; and while the Golden Rule states, “treat others as you want to be treated” and this may be good; it is not good enough. You want to motivate everyone on your team to feel seen, valued, and heard and this means you need to show up fully engaged.

You need to take on the Platinum Rule: treating others the way they need to be treated. To do this, you must have good rapport with the team members, have a keen understanding of what their true motivational needs and drives are from a behavioral standpoint. This will allow you to pivot – not change- who you are to communicate, hold them accountable, and train them. Regardless of whether you are hands-on or hands-off, this approach allows you to better understand how best to meet their needs.

Start at the base lines; have you received your 360 lately? Have you participated either as a participant or a rater? The reason why there are different views of the same individuals is because the individual is not pivoting to the other person’s needs.

Regardless of title, regardless of size, regardless of Industry – this input is valuable because it creates a recipe card on each other.

Are You Connecting Bridges or Building Walls?

I invite you to ask yourself; if you could be a fly-on-the-wall, listening to how those that you work with describe you, how are they going to describe you?

• Will it be the way you want?
• Will it be in a good light?
• Will it convey respect, trust, and a sense of collaboration?
• Will they share your values?
• Will they express how you hope to be described as a leader?

It is critical to stop pause and think about how you are building a rapport. How are you connecting bridges, not building walls, to best motivate every single one of your team members today?

Absolutely everything to do with workplace culture; all of these are tips, tricks, thoughts, and processes will absolutely have an impact on how you show up and how you make an impact on your team, their experiences, and feelings inside of this little thing we call job.