Not too very long ago, someone I met asked me to explain my leadership philosophy in detail, especially as it pertained to taking over a new team of employees. This person had recently been promoted, and was about to start managing team members that he's formerly worked alongside, as an equal. Since I've been in that position a time or two myself, it didn't take me too long to remember how to approach this situation (which isn't really all that different from approaching any new management opportunity).
That said, here are the talking points I generally use when taking over a new team. I'd love to hear what you think!
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the team. I don’t know you, and you don’t know me, but hopefully we know enough about each other to have some respect for our experiences and histories. Starting next week, we, as a team, will be tasked with creating profit for our employer and creating opportunity for our employees. This is a responsibility I take very seriously, and I hope you do, too.
I am honored to lead such an impressive and experienced group of individuals into the trenches of business exploration and success. I will hold you all to high expectations, and I expect you to hold each other, and myself, to those same standards.
I have always had four simple rules for my teammates – frankly, there isn’t all that much else I care about in the business world. If you can follow these four rules, and you can help me follow these four rules, we’re not only going to get along fabulously, but we’ll also be enormously successful.
My four rules are:
- Don’t lie to me. I will not lie to you. If you do something wrong or something unprofitable, I will tell you, and I will be as polite as I can, but I will not lie to you. I will also not lie to you about the future of our business, or your own future opportunities. In return, I expect you to always tell me the truth. Whether you have to admit that a report is behind schedule, or if I ask your opinion on one of my ideas and you think the idea is terrible, I expect you to tell me the truth. If I learn you’ve lied to me once, you will be disciplined. If I learn you’ve lied to me twice, you will find another team to work with and another team leader to lie to.
- Don’t surprise me. Unless it’s my birthday or you’re my wife, I generally hate surprises. Surprises in the business worlds are dangerous because they can leave the success of our team to the whims of chance. Good contingency planning removes the need for surprises. So don’t, for instance, let me be surprised on February 1 that you didn’t meet your performance goals for the month of January. Instead, let’s note that we’re not trending to make those goals on January 15, and put a plan in motion to improve. Don’t let me be surprised by a note from my boss telling me that something odd is going on in your department; instead, come to me and let’s work together to find the solution. I’ll hold you accountable for a smooth business, and I expect you to hold me accountable for the same. We’re going to have to do this together.
- Have a plan to grow your business. This requires engagement on your part. When I ask you how your branch of the business is going to do next month, I don’t want to hear “Good” or even “Great.” I want to hear specifics, specific numbers, and a specific plan on how you are going to turn those specific numbers into reality. And I don’t care if you’re in sales, marketing, accounting, HR, or any other area of the business; you need to have a plan, always, to make your part of our business better than it’s been in the past. That could be greater sales, higher profits, better customer service, enhanced record-keeping, or top-quality hiring, depending on your particular role on our team. Regardless, I expect you to have a concrete plan in place as to how you will help make our business better. Similarly, you can expect me to have a concrete plan in place to make our business better and easier for both our customers and you, the members of our team.
- Execute your plan. You might have the best plan any businessperson has ever seen, but I won’t be impressed in the slightest if it doesn’t get done. I will hold you accountable for your plan, just as I expect you to hold me accountable for our plan. I expect you to hold yourself accountable for your plan, and I expect you to hold your team accountable for the plan, if you’re managing a team. Any plan is worthless if it’s not implemented. Managers love to make plans, but only leaders love to lead plans to fruition. I expect us all to be leaders.
If you will follow those four rules for me and the business, then I’ll follow those four rules for you and the business. In other words, I won’t lie to you – I’ll always tell you the truth, regardless of whether I’m saying the popular thing or something nobody wants to hear. I won’t surprise you – whenever possible, you’ll know everything relevant to you and your part of the business as soon as I do. I will have a plan to grow the business, and I will have a plan for you to succeed and accomplish your goals within the business. And finally, I will execute that plan for your personal and business success; it will be easy for me to do that, as long as you’re executing your plan. In short, my goal will be to make you as successful as you can possibly be… because when you succeed, I succeed.
I’m a big believer in big rewards for success, so expect me to ask you what motivates you, and what I can do to make your job better and your life happier.
If you’re struggling with anything here in your professional life, let me know how I can help you – with more training, with more resources, or more information. If your request is reasonable, I’ll do everything in my power to make it happen for you. And I expect this team to work together to help in problem areas – if one of us fails, we all fail.
I believe that work should be fun – after all, we spend an awful lot of time here. I will go out of my way to try to make things fun, but fun will always be a second priority, behind our success. The more we succeed, the more fun we will have. The less we succeed, the more you and I will work to catch up.
If I say something you disagree with, I welcome you to debate me on it. Maybe you’re right. Maybe I’m right. Either way, I’ll listen, and hopefully one or both of us will learn from the other, and be better for it. I’ll admit I don’t have all the answers, if you’ll admit to the same thing. I promise to respect your viewpoint, so long as you’ll respect mine.
If all of that sounds good to you, welcome aboard – we’re going to have a great time and make a lot of money! If any of that doesn’t sound good to you, I understand the gas station down the road is looking for help right now.
To read more by James Lemoine on how to motivate and lead team members, be sure to order a copy of Business Defined!
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