Be Average

When you got up this morning and started work, was your first thought, “Let’s be totally average today!”?If it was, I have a couple of great websites where you can post your resume, trust me, you will need them soon. If, on the other hand, you feel that your company (meaning the people in it) have become routine, rote, and mediocre, read on.

Here are a few tried and real actions that, as a leader, you can implement to make your organization better and healthier. The best part is, they cost nothing to achieve, the payoff is immediate and the ROI = INFINITE.

1. Appreciate your bread and butter.

Tell the hard-working folks in your organization when they do something right. In leadership, we hold ourselves to very high standards of success. Naturally, we have that same expectation from the people around us. DON’T TAKE THAT FOR GRANTED. 

If your only communication with your people is corrective, your people will learn what to avoid but will not be encouraged to capitalize on their good behavior. This leads them to be less creative in contributing to the success of the business. Remind people what they’re doing right and do it often.

2. Evaluate priorities and not costs. 

Don’t let a good idea die because it costs money. Show everyone that you understand how to see the benefits before balancing the costs. Teach your team to develop ideas against their costs to inspire creativity and argue passionately for them. If not, you introduce a culture of “can’t be done” within your ranks. Enable the thinkers in your organization and be blessed with great affordable ideas. 

3. Change YOU.

I learned long ago that if you want to do something that you have never done before, you must be someone that you have never been before. This applies doubly to an organization. A leader can get lost quickly in the energy required to demand change from those around them. A more accessible technique; don’t demand the change, be the change. Live it, be bold, be visible, be upbeat, and be strong. 

We are all drawn to positive and successful people. Humans are great mimickers of successful behavior and so too your coworkers. Be the change, and your world will change.

Remember, you lead from the front.

Joel Ciniero
President
Outsourcing Services International