It’s really not difficult.
That is literally true of ANY leadership lesson you will learn.
What I struggled with as a young coach was finding and implementing the ideas that our team could benefit from.
Because as a young leader I didn’t know what I had to eventually learn from others – or from my own mistakes.
But you CAN inspire your team to share ideas and contribute to your organization’s innovation.
And it is not difficult.
In fact, as a leader…
Everything is easy once you understand it!
But not all leaders seek or appreciate the ideas that will allow them and their teams to become truly great.
So if YOU want to be better… if you want to be different, there are THREE simple steps that will allow you to build relentless improvement and innovation into your team culture.
1. Listen
2. Survey
3. Celebrate
1.LISTEN
Great leaders are ACTIVE LISTENERS and understand that not every idea will be submitted formally as an opportunity for the team’s improvement.
But if you ASSC (always stay sincerely curious!), your team will offer up ideas.
Simply asking “what would make this easier for (you, our customer, etc.)?” is a great starting point.
You can do that in 1-on-1 conversations while continuing to build relationships and clarify roles!
You can, of course, also have a suggestion box for digital or paper submissions….
But the first step is to listen for and collect ideas that are viable.
2. SURVEY
After you have identified a practical idea that might improve things for coworkers and clients, the next step is to survey your people to see what else they might suggest as modifications to or enhancements of the suggestion.
All brainstorming should be done individually – allow them to share via email… and then ALSO discuss it with everyone around to let ideas bounce off of one another.
“What would make this an even better idea?”
“What would YOU change about this process that isn’t being addressed?”
“How can we make this idea even better?”
“Is this something we want to move forward on?”
3. CELEBRATE
And the final step in the process of continual improvement is to celebrate the suggestion – whether it was implemented or not!
Take the time to say THANK YOU to the person who shared the initial idea… make sure the team sees and hears the praise for their suggestion.
What gets rewarded usually gets repeated!
And if you are fortunate enough to have gotten and idea and been able to improve on and implement it with your company to benefit your coworkers and clients, be sure to celebrate that and again – point out that it all began with ONE PERSON who had the courage to share an idea.
Demonstrate that suggestions and ideas for improvement are appreciated, and you will get more of them. That is what creating a safe and healthy team culture ultimately provides.
And if you are looking for MORE IDEAS that will help YOU to become a more effective and successful team leader, consider the impact of a TEAM CULTURE MASTERCLASS!
In this self-paced hybrid online coaching program, you will learn everything you need to know to build more positive and productive team culture – where people thrive and results improve.
And if ever your organization needs a conference teamwork speaker or virtual program to inspire trust, accountability, and collaboration, I hope you will give me a call!
