Motivating and Keeping Your Staff

In a previous career, I remember sitting in a meeting listening to a presentation by a consultant on how to boost employee morale. The essence of the report was her sharing the survey results from our own corporate managers for their practical ideas on boosting employee morale within our company. Their ideas were so banal and mundane, the meeting began to get hostile. The consultant was sympathetic and clearly embarrassed by their suggestions as well.  As she shifted gears to soothe the anger in the room, she did the smart thing and asked us how we would answer those same questions. Our answers were overwhelmingly consistent - if you're going to lead a staff, you'd better be competent in your field, lead by example, and respect your employees. Sadly, there was nothing in common between our two lists.

In a corporate environment where there's either rapid growth or high turnover, too often managers have "qualified" for their position by being knowledgeable in a specific field, but have little or no experience in leading people and managing teams. Corporate structures often perpetuate this by providing inadequate training.

A couple years after this meeting, our company merged with another major player in our field. They were very large, but not historically profitable. What they lacked in bottom-line expertise, they more then made up for in management skills. They were the most well-trained and competent managers I've ever seen. Not surprisingly, their turnover rate was extremely low. Prior to the merger, my new co-workers had been with their company on average between 20-30 years. I was fortunate to eventually work for one of their managers. She was the best boss I've ever had. I never work as hard for anyone or was more fulfilled in career than when I worked her. Why? She was very respectful of her team and truly made us feel valued. She wasn't phony and didn't break promises. She wasn't a perfect person, but her actions were consistent with her values and words. She didn't pretend to know everything, but she knew how to lead, motivate, and treat people in order to achieve a desired outcome and keep everyone happy and focused. Not surprisingly, we met our goals and set the bar high with a standard of excellence, professionalism and creativity that was the envy of other departments.

More recently I was in a meeting with two individuals to discuss a personnel matter. Both individuals have PhD's and presumably years of experience in dealing with employment issues. I was absolutely dumbfounded by their lack of common sense and integrity regarding basic human resource matters. I didn't disagree with their ultimate decision, but their methodology was a very poor example of leadership.

When it comes to common sense in leading a staff, it was refreshing to read Perry Noble's blog post last week, Do You Want a Loyal Staff? (below).

If you want loyalty…then GIVE IT! The leader that demands it but does not offer it often leaves a wake of abused and neglected staff members. Here are a few things that I try to do…

When a person isn’t performing their job in an adequate fashion…TALK TO THEM, don’t just cut them loose! They are real people, with real lives…and sometimes they actually have REAL problems. A leader who only loves his staff when they are performing at maximum potential but will “cut them” at the first sign of struggle is pathetic.

Don’t buy into the “fire a certain percentage of your staff every year” philosophy. I have heard that line taught at leadership conferences and I just don’t buy it. Why? Because let’s say you are on staff…and you hear your leader say, “I fire BLANK percent of my staff every year.” Uh…does that motivate you to be loyal…or does it scare the heck out of you? Staff members should be motivated, not intimated by their leader. AND saying that people are going to be fired “just because” will NEVER bring about an environment of loyalty.

Hang out with your staff. It’s sad…but many leaders have bought into the “you can’t be friends with the people you lead” lie. Personally, I think you can’t be friends with the people you lead if you are an insecure leader. I love the fact that the people I lead with I also do life with. They see me in an environment outside of the church…which allows them to trust me more (and I trust them more as well.) The leader who wants to be a celebrity to his staff may be effective in getting them to kiss his butt…but they will never be truly loyal to him.

Have integrity! The people on staff (and in your church) always need to see that you are smokin’ what your sellin’! In other words…we can’t preach a value if we are not actually living it out.

I’ve alluded to this before…but believe the BEST about them. Don’t listen to every negative word and story you hear about the people you work with an immediately receive it as true…but actually sit down and have a conversation with the person that works with you. A staff member that NEVER gets the benefit of the doubt from his leader will eventually never offer them that same benefit.

Don’t think that just because someone questions a decision that you made that they are automatically against you and are in the process of leading a rebellion against your leadership. God has used some GREAT staff members who had sincere questions to direct me away from making some REALLY bad decisions…and if I had dismissed them as “disloyal” then I would have been both wrong AND stupid because I would have followed through on a wrong decision.