People Development V’s Operational Efficiency (Courageous Leadership)

Before I started work at NNC I tried my hand at a couple of leadership roles. One of the most challenging was as Contact Centre Manager, responsible for up to about 100 staff. When I look back at my leadership approach, I wish that I had known then what I know now - being operationally efficient and technically proficient is not enough to make you a great leader. I spent so much time trying to take care of everything myself that I didn’t spend enough time empowering my staff to do it for themselves, or give them the tools to become the next leaders within our organisation.

Within our Courageous Leadership program we discuss the concept of being a People Developer. That is, truly empowering your people to take ownership and be accountable for their own performance and development. As managers we often discuss the importance of investing time in our staff, but when things get busy it is training, coaching, staff meetings and team building activities that always get pushed aside first. Of course, as we spend more time chasing our tails on operational functions and less on developing and motivating our people, we end up becoming less operationally efficient anyway. It’s a vicious cycle - the fires continue to crop up, faster and stronger then before….and we continue to run around trying to put them out. So the more I increased the number of hours I worked, the more ‘stuff’ just seemed to pile up on my desk; the more work there was to do, the more tired and stressed I became; the more tired and stressed I was, the less productive I was able to be…..and so on.

This is why we believe that creating a high performing team really equates to three main things:

High Performance = Accuracy of Role Perception + Motivation + Skill

Accuracy of Role Perception – ensure your staff are absolutely clear on what the organisation and you expect of them, both in terms of performance results and behaviours. Hold them accountable to this or they’ll end up writing their own job descriptions!
Motivation – find out what drives each person individually and acquire a way to align their job role to this.
Skill – provide them with training to teach them the skills to be a high performer, and then support this through ongoing coaching. Transform your coaching from a style of ‘telling’ to one that promotes self-evaluation and ownership of their development plans.

So put down that report, get yourself out of your office and go spend some time with your staff! Being a leader is not just about being good at your job….its about helping others fulfill their potential and be great at theirs!

For more about NNC’s Courageous Leadership program or Transformational Coaching framework, contact me on T: (03) 9555 7955 E: gina@neuralnetworks.com.au