WORKWEEK

Don’t miss this advice.

Unfortunately, most companies still need to give gratitude the time and attention it deserves. Many don’t even realize how bad they are at showing people they appreciate them.

Making appreciation and gratitude a big deal in your workforce will lead to a happier team who stays longer and gets more done daily.

This recommendation by Polina is a big deal.

When you see someone on your team doing a great job in their role, start by recognizing their impact and then dig in a bit to understand their process.

Start with context, so they understand WHY you are asking questions. If you don’t let them know why you are getting curious, they may feel like the questions are hidden behind an accusation.

Here is an example, “Your results are incredible. I want to learn more about how you can stay so consistent. What’s been working for you?”

Here are a few questions you can steal to recognize your team by taking the time to be curious about their approach:

• “Let’s start at the top. What steps do you take that lead to these amazing results?”
• “What were the most impactful changes that you made?”
• “What were the biggest lessons you’ve learned since starting?”
• “What were the biggest obstacles you had to overcome?”

Learn what separates your best employees from everyone else.

And then teach it to the rest of your team.

This is a marketing lesson, but let’s look at how it applies to leadership.

The truth is leadership is a sales job. It’s all about how well you can influence your team to get their job done to the best of their ability. 

Most leaders focus on the action instead of digging deeper to understand what led to the action. 

I see a lot of feedback that sounds like, “You are doing THIS, but you need to do THAT.”

Taking this approach is like treating every illness with the same bandaid. 

A more impactful approach is taking the time to understand why your people do the things they do.

• What obstacles are in their way? 
• What limiting beliefs are clouding their vision?
• Did they think they were doing the right thing?

Taking the time to understand your team is the only way for you to understand how to serve them better.