Photo courtesy of Sabrina McLeod
Do the thing!
Last month, one of my trainings went sideways.
The entire team came to the coaching session exacerbated by the workload in the office. They started the session by complaining about their colleagues.
As we started to move through the curriculum it became immediately obvious that the team didn’t do the homework.
I mean, no one.
The homework was simple — watch a few training videos and create your own guiding principles for your team — also known as standards of behavior.
Without the homework, the coaching session is lost.
We won’t be able to cover the material for next time and we cannot talk about what the team learned from the previous week as they deployed their standards of behavior.
So, I pivoted and asked them to brainstorm their standards of behavior together.
Here is what they said:
- “We want our team to be consistent — follow the work standards.”
- “Be of service to the customer — provide a high level of empathetic customer service.”
- “We believe in follow through — complete the task until it is done — don’t wait for work to get done.”
- “Take the initiative — always try to solve the problem first.”
- “Respect — be kind, value the time of your colleague, listen, value the work of your team and be patient.”
Trust me the irony of their behavior standards are not lost on me. They want the team to follow through — yet none of them did the homework.
They want their team to be consistent — yet half of them came late to the meeting.
They want the team to take initiative — but only 40% had completed the training.
In order for us to get better at our work and better as managers or leaders, we have to do the work.
That means:
- Coming to the meeting with a plan and an agenda.
- Holding ourselves to the standards we are trying to hold others to.
It means, we have to do the f*cking thing!
November 1st marks another milestone for me. It’s my birthday.
If I could have one wish for my birthday…this week, we all do what we expect others to do. Let’s do this thing…together.
Stop waiting, stop wanting someone else to do it. No one else will do the thing, if you won’t.
Want to learn more about how you can help innovate your workplace? Drop me a line here.
Actions speak louder than words.