I’m currently reading ‘Trillion Dollar Coach’ by Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg and Alan Eagle. If those names are familiar all three were senior executives at Google.
100 pages in and I think it’s a great read.
It talks about the influence of Bill Campbell, a pioneering coach that helped to create extraordinarily high performing teams. Early in the book, we hear how Bill introduces Jonathan to his ‘It’s the people’ manifesto.
“Great people flourish in an environment that liberates and amplifies [that] energy. Managers create this environment through support, respect, trust.’
Important words to remember in today’s current landscape. Whether you have a team who reports directly to you, or a team made up of associates, suppliers, mentors’ and cheerleaders that work with you it doesn’t matter. Developing your skills to support them, maintain respect, and foster trust will always benefit everyone.
How do we do this now though? Often many of us find it easier to develop the right rapport or business relationship face to face. Lockdown is making that more difficult but not impossible. You can still work on building your business relationships in lockdown, you just need to find new ways of working.
KNOW, LIKE, TRUST.
KNOW - Get to know your team on a more personal basis. Nothing too intrusive – let the other person set the depth of information they give. The more open you are, the more comfortable they will be in talking about themselves in a personal context. Do this over time and you will really get to know the other person. Grab a virtual coffee, have a virtual lunch together.
LIKE – Find the common ground, develop it to find the shared value. This might start with a love of football/rugby and develop into a perspective on the world. You must have noticed that the people you get on with have similar things in common with yourself. You might not agree on a political point or a strategic way forward. But your values, ethics and behaviors will be aligned somehow. Run a virtual film club or a book club. Ask the team to tell you about their weekend or day off activities. One of the businesses I work with, have a ‘proud’ circle. Before the team meeting each person will say 1 thing, they are proud of from the previous week.
TRUST – You must work hard to earn their trust. How do we do this? Every interactive is an opportunity to nurture trust. Do what you say you are going to do, put others first, demonstrate your values and live up to them. Be honest, be open, be human, be consistent in behavior. Be generous with your time. Listen.
Finding those ‘Shared Values’ is a privilege. People are amazingly interesting, go on give it a go…you never know what you might find out!
