A huge difference between 'Haves' and 'Have not's in any team, community or society is not healthy and in fact a very dangerous situation. Immediate focus of a leader facing such situation/s should be to bridge this gap as quickly and as far as possible. Here we will discuss on the skill sets/abilities of people within a team as a distinguishing factor. In this context we refer to people with expertise on particular skill sets/ abilities as 'haves' and people who lack or not so good at them as 'have not's. The term 'have not' refers to people possessing normal skill sets barely sufficient to do a specific task. These two sets of people constitute a team and contribute towards an average of that team in terms of performance. The best way to increase an average for a set of numbers is to increase the score of a group of lower numbers rather than increasing the value of one high score. Similarly in order to increase the team's average the most effective way is to work on a group of low performers than concentrating on the highest performer. This way you build a better equipped and dependable team.
Training by far is an excellent ongoing exercise to address this issue. Sources and expertise should be sought within the team first. If a leader feels that inputs or a guest lecture from a person of different team or another leader would benefit his/her entire team; he/she is more than welcome to arrange one. Ask yourself this question: Will you not appreciate your manager putting similar efforts for your development and growth? Then how is it different with your team having these expectations from you. The only thing is they do not know it …yet. Once you provide these opportunities to your team you add tremendous value to your current role. The team will adore you for having you as their leader/mentor. The efforts that you put in for your team members will not go unnoticed and in fact will stand out as an example among other people that you work with.
Now comes the interesting bit, what if you work towards up skilling of your team members and as a result of it one individual in the team gets a career progression opportunity and leaves. Well great job done!! Now continue with the rest of them. Remember it is an investment in people and an ongoing process, it is worth every bit. I stumbled on a remarkable quote that I wanted to share:
"The CFO asked: What if we invest in our people and they leave? To which the CEO responded: What if we don't and they stay?"
Think about it. It has got a great underlying meaning in it.
One needs to understand that leaders who believe in consistently working for their people and make it a habit thus; thrive in their career.
Organizations that have a vision based on similar thoughts and have leaders like this to drive it flourish in the process.
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