WORKWEEK

1) Your team knows more than you think they do

The Breakdown

Your employees and customers have all the answers you need to grow and innovate.

John Legere, the former CEO of T-Mobile, once said that if you want to run a successful business, all you need to do is, “Listen to your employees, listen to your customers, shut the f*** up, and do what they tell you.”

When Legere first got to T-Mobile, he would spend evenings listening to calls into customer service. 

Deep listening gave him insights into issues the industry, customers, and employees were facing.

The result?

He created raving fans in his employees and customers and made decisions based on what the market asked for. 

T-Mobile’s stock rose more than 400% during his tenure as CEO.

My friend Colin, who is the CTO at Unrivaled Brands, says this is the same reason their company built its HQ around a dispensary. It allows them to walk onto a sales floor at any time and listen to interactions between their customers and employees. 

The Takeaway

Leadership is listening.

Make sure you have systems that allow you to stay in touch with your team and customers.

Focus groups, team builders, and consistent 1:1s all work.

2) Don’t forget the reminders

The Breakdown

I know this tweet is about reposting content on social media, but it applies to communicating with your team also.

People aren’t paying as much attention as you think (or hope) they are. 

You live and breathe the business, but for them, it is a job.

They leave for the day or weekend and do their best to disconnect and forget all about the job you pay them to do.

As a founder, know that people will not remember something because you said it once. 

The Takeaway

Live by the rule of 3. 

If something is important, find three ways to communicate it to your team.

• Meeting, email, slack
• Email, meeting, email
• 1:1, meeting, slack

Whatever cadence makes the most sense for your organization. 

Get comfortable with repetition.