Reconnect With Your People: Increase Productivity, Creativity
March 2006

— More and more it seems as though business leaders are concerned about morale, retention, and productivity. Years ago, management whiz Tom Peters said when we become managers and executives we give up real work for the rest of our lives. While it's not always that cut and dry, many of us have stopped being producers and become the observers of producers.

In an effort to get back on track, find ways to reconnect with your people and your members. Spend more one-on-one time with your staff and visit some of your members. Find out what their real issues are. To be leaders, we must lead, and we can't do it from behind a desk.

So how do we get there? With practice, the following these six steps can create dynamic change:

1. Willingness. You've got to start somewhere, and willingness creates an open-minded and honest approach to yourself and others. You will begin to appreciate and value input from new sources without a sense of loss to yourself. This will strengthen any team, department or family. Be willing to find the highest value in yourself and others. Become willing to step outside your comfort zone and be open to new interactive and supervisory skills. Find new ways to handle new projects.

2. Quiet Time. Start your day with focus, perspective, and clarity. You will bring to yourself and others around you a sense of confidence and strength that will build up confidence in others. People want to follow confident leaders. Quiet time will also help you stay focused on your goals.

3. Service. Change your focus from "What's in it FOR me" to "What's in it FROM me." When others see you as someone who is really concerned for their success then they will relax and begin to work at something close to capacity. This will build team values and spirit and strengthen the leader and the team.

4. Love/Forgiveness. With love, you see the needs of others and treat them as importantly as your own." This works whether it's a customer service department or your family. When the people around you see your genuine care and interest in their successes, you'll blow the top off productivity, and strengthen community. Forgiveness will let you move forward each day with a clear head. Don't carry the grudges of past experiences to distract you from the present moment. This is not living in a make-believe world. Hard decisions need to be made. Make them and move on. Letting the past pains, resentments and angers go will let you wake up and move positively into each new day. Move from judging into serving and supporting.

5. Gratitude. This underlies the whole program. To see your life, your family, your work and co-workers as something to be grateful for changes your whole perspective on their value. People who feel valued, REALLY valued, know it and perform at levels never dreamed of. You will begin to see each experience as something to learn from and embrace both good and bad experiences. This forces us into the moment, and living in the moment is the only way to affect real change. A person who focuses on gratitude is free from the bondage of negative emotions.

6. Action. This is the differentiator between this and every other plan. Become driven by simple actions that will create a change of focus. By using all the other steps, the actions you take will build up the confidence and effectiveness of those in your organization. Without action, this is simply an intellectual process that does not facilitate change. Action facilitates change. Leaders need to be seen as taking action.

When these steps are practiced, valued, and taught in organizations, job satisfaction, morale, and productivity soar.

JOHN CHAPPELEAR is the author of The Daily Six. He is a motivational speaker, executive coach, and trainer. He is the founder of Changing the Focus, LLC. For more information, visit www.changingthefocus.com or email john@changingthefocus.com.