Hello Lifelong Learner ...
Here's the next in our series of weekly managerial TIPS (Techniques, Insights, and Practical Solutions) to help you better engage your team in the activities that lead to higher performance.
CORE Bites #29: I received several emails after last week's CORE Bites suggesting — in addition to having a strong personal 'Elevator Speech' — that every effective leader should have something similar available to help promote his/her team. So, I'm dedicating this issue to techniques that will help you raise the visibility of your team.
Why visibility for your team? You know your team does great work. You know the dedication they have and the value they bring. You know how their work has benefited the organization and contributed to its success.
The question is, does everyone else know?
In this busy (and distracted) world, I think it's safe to say that individuals and groups who receive the quality work produced by your team will frequently have little or no appreciation for the amount of effort expended behind-the-scenes to generate this quality output. This is also true for 1- and 2-Up leaders who appreciate when quality work is done, and when deadlines are met, but who may not have/take the time to ponder the degree of team commitment required to deliver this high-caliber work. And we shouldn't be surprised by this because everyone's busy so when things are going well (e.g., when your team consistently delivers quality work) their attention is focused elsewhere. The challenge here is teams getting great results can sometimes feel like their efforts are invisible to the rest of the organization – especially if they do the type of projects that are handed off and crucial to the success of other teams ... but aren't high-profile in and of themselves.
As a leader of people, you play an important role in ensuring that your team's work gets noticed – which will pay off for you and your team in terms of reputation, ability to attract special projects (with even more visibility), get additional resources, and improve overall morale. Pretty compelling argument, wouldn't you say?
High Value Activity (HVA) Action Step: This week (starting today), look for opportunities to use any (or all) of these HVA Action Steps to help raise the visibility of your team:
- Make Sure Your Boss Knows: In your status reports and in your 1:1s with your manager, make sure you talk about what your team is doing. Make a point of sharing success stories (even if they're just milestones), goals that are on track or completed, challenging customers issues that were successfully resolved, money saved and/or crises averted. Don't feel like you're self-promoting because most senior leaders want to be in touch with what's going on in their respective teams.
- Create a Compelling Team Brand: The "brand" I'm speaking about here is your team's reputation. Your peers in other departments (and their managers) should be able to recognize your team's work from a mile away. This means that work must be distinctive in its quality, its professionalism, its consistency, and in its timeliness. When your team develops this kind of quality reputation it is — quite literally — your team's brand. Your goal should be to have people say, “This must be from [enter your name here]'s team. I can tell from the quality of the work.”
- Give Your Team Public Credit for Their Efforts: When you're talking with your peers or with other departments about progress made toward your goals, or successes you've had, specifically refer to your people by name for the contributions they've made. Don't favor just one person; make sure a good cross-section of employees are represented (2-3 people max at any one time). Name recognition is an important part of building visibility for your team.
- Include Your Team in Meetings with Senior Leadership: When appropriate/possible, select (on a rotational basis) various members of your team to attend — and possibly participate — in meetings with senior leadership. Not only will this increase their visibility, but it will also augment their professional development because they'll be able to observe discussions and decision-making processes that will increase awareness and overall business acumen.
- Recommend Your People: Whatever possible, recommend members of your team for special projects, stretch assignments, formal or informal leadership roles and advocate for them when you believe they will be a good match for an assignment. [Remember, if you earn a reputation as a manager who helps your people move upward, great employees will line up at your door to work for/with you!]
I'd love to hear how this HVA works for you!
Have a brilliant day ... and enjoy the journey!
Neil Dempster, PhD, MBA
RESULTant™ and Behavioral Engineer
