Play It Again, Sam: 3 Things Your People Want to Hear, Again and Again

Leadership Coaching Notes June 2008

Play It Again, Sam: 3 Things Your People Want to Hear, Again and Again

Sam was a good example of the guy who, when his wife complained that he never told her he loved her, responded with surprise, “I told you I loved you when we were married. I’ll tell you if I ever change my mind.”

Sadly, Sam took the same “no new is good news” approach as a leader, too. But, instead of hearing straight-forward complaints, he observed casual work and lackluster creativity. Using a few lessons from family life, Sam discovered 3 messages helped to re- engaged his people. They liked to hear them, again and again.

What Worked?

Why AM I Doing This?! Sam easily remembered times he felt irritated or discouraged when raising his kids. When I asked why sleepless nights or driving carloads of loud kids was worth doing, he knew why, but admitted he could forget easily in the tough moments. Sam realized his colleagues and staff could use his help remembering “why” in their tough moments, too. Why WERE they dealing with difficult clients, paperwork, imperfect systems and endless meetings? Sam started reminding them about the future they were creating together, in multiple ways and times, again and again. When they focused on meaningful reasons to go the extra miles, he noticed their humor, determination and quality improve.

What You Can Do: How often do you remind people about the difference they can make? Once is not enough! Re-focus and energize people around you by describing the compelling future they can create. Name specific examples of how they contribute to making life better for themselves, customers and the organization. It is reported that Jack Welch spent a third of this time sharing his vision for GE. How much do you invest?

Are We THERE Yet?: Sam laughed to remember all the times his children asked, “Are we THERE yet?” When he realized that his staff couldn’t always see progress towards their goals either, Sam began telling them more often. He added a simple scorecard of progress against goals as the “wallpaper” people saw on their computer screens each morning. He added, and asked all managers to include, a “where we are against goals” as an agenda item for every staff meeting.

What You Can Do: When you meet with individuals, teams and stakeholders, stop assuming they see what seems obvious to you. Inspire and align effort by answering 4 questions (in addition to “why?” above): 1) What was our starting position? 2) What targets will we achieve in the next (X) months? 3) What progress have we made so far? 4) What is most important to deliver this next month?

What DIFFERENCE Did It Make?: Sam conceded that, as a kid, he wasn’t excited about doing chores. He realized his parents built his persistence and commitment by saying “thanks” plus defining how his efforts achieved something he valued (e.g., creating time for family fun.) Using his parents’ wisdom, he started boosting others’ efforts at work by saying “thanks” and describing the positive impacts their efforts had. He noticed smiles when they heard about the differences they made.

What You Can Do: Rather than review others’ quality or timeliness, start telling stories about how
your people made a difference. Bring back to life the challenges faced, people involved, efforts
given and outcomes achieved and you will bring people back to life, too. Evaluation is information.
Stories are inspiration and guidance that people like to hear, again and again.

Business Impact

Sam was surprised that simple lessons from family life could transform his team. With little time or effort, but an important a change in focus, his people saw the value of their work and tuned up their efforts and impact. His success stories became touchstones for a new culture of celebrating “wins”. Over time, more people adopted his new style. He was surprised that something so simple made such a big difference. His people were surprised and pleased to find that he cared about them as well as the bottom line.

What’s Next

Use and share these ideas. If you know your team would beneift from new messages from you and would like to explore how to engage them more effectively, contact me. Like Sam, a coaching program can support you in shifting your leadership impact and personal satisfaction. If leaders you coach want to build more productive teams, suggest they call me. I am never too busy for your referrals. Our first conversation is always without charge.

Liked the article? Didn’t like it? Have any questions? Drop me a line mkimbell@corporateadventure.com. I’d love to hear from you!

All the best,

Meredith Kimbell
Executive Advisor,Strategy Consultant
Corporate Adventure

Leadership Coaching Notes uses real or composite client examples drawn from 25 years of coaching and consulting with leaders committed to solving their toughest personal, interpersonal and organizational issues.
Unless otherwise attributed, all material is copyrighted by Meredith Kimbell © 2011. All rights reserved. You may reprint any or all of this material if you include the following:
“Leadership Coaching Notes © 2011 Meredith Kimbell, Corporate Adventure, Reston, VA. Used with permission.”