Background

Quick reference

• 00:04 Step two of exceptional leadership is, understand your team.
• 00:10 The most powerful way to influence your team as a leader is to understand them.
• 00:17 Understand who they are, what in their lives already motivates them.
• 00:21 And once you understand them, it's easier to lead them and
• 00:25 get them to a high performance level.
• 00:28 The first thing you need to understand when understanding your team
• 00:31 is understanding their background.
• 00:34 And there's three parts.
• 00:36 So the first part is their cultural background.
• 00:40 Because especially here in America, we have to be sensitive and
• 00:44 attentive to an individual or a group's culture and their customs, okay?
• 00:48 So we really wanna take that into account.
• 00:51 So if you have somebody that's from a different country, or you're working with
• 00:55 a group from a different country, really think about, what are their customs?
• 00:59 What makes them feel comfortable, right?
• 01:01 What are the things that they believe already?
• 01:04 And when you can come at them through their model of the world, through what
• 01:09 their background is, now, you're going to connect on a whole different level.
• 01:13 Does that make sense?
• 01:15 Okay, good.
• 01:16 So the second one is their professional background.
• 01:19 Find out what they're used to.
• 01:21 What do they respond to?
• 01:22 What do they like?
• 01:23 What do they dislike in the work environment?
• 01:26 And how are they most effective, okay?
• 01:29 So you might wanna have a conversation with the recruiter.
• 01:32 Or maybe you had a conversation with them, right, and their professional background.
• 01:36 Because you wanna look at two things.
• 01:38 Number one, you wanna look at their strengths, right?
• 01:41 So what are the jobs and projects that utilize those strengths, okay?
• 01:46 I had a client, I came in to help them get to the next level,
• 01:52 and we were looking at their customer service department.
• 01:55 And there was one person in particular that they said, well, you know what,
• 01:58 she's just not so great in customer service.
• 02:01 So I sat down with her and we were talking, and she told me this story, and
• 02:06 here's what happened.
• 02:07 When she got hired on with this company,
• 02:10 she was hired on in the accounting department.
• 02:13 Do you know where this is going?
• 02:15 She's an amazing accountant.
• 02:17 She gets to look at numbers all day, she likes the way they work,
• 02:21 she likes the numbers, she can analyze them, she can do her job.
• 02:24 Fantastic, right?
• 02:25 Doesn't have to have a whole lot of interaction with others, right?
• 02:29 Maybe her coworkers, but certainly not with the clients.
• 02:32 So she said she came to work one day, and they told her,
• 02:36 you know what, you're no longer in accounting.
• 02:38 Now, you're in customer service.
• 02:41 What?
• 02:42 From over here working with numbers, not with clients,
• 02:45 to on the phone with clients all day.
• 02:48 Is that a shock?
• 02:50 Yeah!
• 02:51 And her personality, we're gonna talk a lot about personality types, and
• 02:55 her strengths, her strengths were over here in accounting with numbers.
• 02:58 Her strengths were not over here in customer service, okay?
• 03:02 That's like trying to put the round peg in the square hole and
• 03:05 just trying to shove it in there.
• 03:06 It's not gonna work.
• 03:08 Good, next, you wanna look at their weaknesses, okay?
• 03:13 So how do you improve those weaknesses, or is it even necessary, right?
• 03:18 Do you need to pull them out of certain projects, or are they a fit for
• 03:22 your company, right?
• 03:24 These are tough questions we have to ask ourselves.
• 03:26 But we have to look at their weaknesses, their strengths and their weaknesses.
• 03:30 And the third thing you want to really look at in someone's background
• 03:33 is their personal background.
• 03:35 Become friends with your team members.
• 03:38 Stay clear on their outcomes, right, and their duties,
• 03:40 especially if you're authoritative, but show you care.
• 03:45 Studies show that productivity goes up 15% or
• 03:49 more when team members feel like they have managers that care about them.
• 03:54 So get to know them, right, get to know their hobbies.
• 03:57 You guys, your company or your department can do charity events, picnics, mixers,
• 04:02 dinners are great, holiday parties, incentive programs, right?
• 04:07 Or you can do something small and
• 04:08 easy like morning huddles before their shift, right?
• 04:11 The Ritz Carlton has amazing culture and customer service.
• 04:16 And every morning before their shift, they do a little huddle.
• 04:19 They talk about maybe a positive testimonial that came in.
• 04:22 They've got a quote for the day.
• 04:24 And they discuss how they can continue to make this possible that day, right?
• 04:31 So those things show that you really care, you're building a relationship.
• 04:34 You're getting to know these people as people, not just workers or
• 04:39 staff or employees or team members, make sense?
• 04:42 Okay, so quick recap,
• 04:43 there are three things you wanna look at in the background.
• 04:47 You wanna look at their cultural background, you wanna be sensitive and
• 04:50 attentive to an individual or group's culture and customs.
• 04:53 Number two, the professional background.
• 04:55 What are their strengths?
• 04:56 What are their weaknesses, okay?
• 04:58 And number three, you wanna get to know their personal background.
• 05:01 Show them that you care, right?
• 05:04 Get to know them personally.
• 05:06 Great job, and we'll see you in the next video.

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