I am writing from Houston Texas where I just finished facilitating a team building program called the Pit Crew Challenge.

This is an awesome program that uses a real Nascar racing car to teach some valuable lessons and I thought I could share a couple of those lessons.

Coaching – In the Pit Crew Challenge we put together a real Pit Crew of 7 people on a team and have them change all 4 tires under the clock in order to improve their time. As part of the exercise we notice that people are very open to getting coaching from one another. And yet at work, many of us are not open to getting or giving coaching to one another. The reason is that in order to be open to coaching, you have to trust and respect the person giving the coaching. This may be because of your relationship or the person’s track record and how they present ideas to you. In us, the block is our ego which gets in the way of hearing advice from others. So put your ego aside and seek out information from those people who you respect and trust.

Internal Competition and Silos – In the Pit Crew Challenge the different Pit Crew Teams start to compete against one another even though we tell them it’s not a competition. The same thing happens in companies when different divisions or departments compete against each other. This builds silos. Mostly this internal competition keeps people from helping each other compete externally to win the customer. Only the external competition really matters – all the internal competition is a distraction from the big prize. Companies lose millions and millions of dollars of opportunities because of silos. To get rid of them watch how you measure people – as soon as you set up a comparison people will compete – even if its only for bragging rights. Pick a measure the whole organization can move towards. The second suggestion is to stop bad mouthing other departments or divisions. When leaders do this it works against the success of the organization.

If you are curious about the Pit Crew Challenge, go to www.LeadershipWizard.com and download the outline or click here to download it now: http://www.UniqueDevelopment.com/pdf/Pit_Crew.pdf

In celebration of 100 episodes of the Leadership Wizard segment I thought we could look at the top tips that leaders should focus on to be effective:

1. Challenge and Encourage – The leader needs to be focused on helping their team members to grow and stay motivated and that means presenting them with challenges – while at the same time encouraging and supporting them on their journey to success.

2. Communication – Good communication means that people know what they need to know when they need to know it. Leaders need to realize that people need to hear the same messages at least three times before it sinks in and perhaps even more to create a positive and proactive change.

3. Persuasion – We have done a few episodes talking about how to be more persuasive using your voice and body language. One tip is to use the word Because whenever you ask someone to do something. People resist being told what to do – however when you give people a reason – they usually will do what you want.

4. Manage Performance – Clarify your expectations, focus on positive reinforcement while also confronting and correcting unacceptable behavior and results. Your good employees need to hear that they are doing a good job and they also want to see that the marginal performers are confronted.

And remember that people perform at their best when they enjoy what they do, the people they work with and the boss they work for.

Best wishes for many more messages. Visit www.LeadershipWizard.com for more information.

One of the struggles when you are promoted to being a work leader or a supervisor is the likelihood that you will have to balance being a leader and being a friend.

Q: Can you give us an example?

Where this really can show up is when one of your buddies wants you to give him preferential treatment because he’s your friend, even though it would be unfair to the others.

Q: Is he really a friend if he’s asking for favours from the new boss?

Great question. That’s exactly the question the new leader needs to ask himself or herself. Would my friend make me choose between being a friend and doing my job?

Q: What else should the supervisor be thinking about in this situation?

The leader needs to think through the consequenses if he offers preferred treatment – think about the impact it has on the other workers and the leader’s future ability to deal with situations. The whole productivity might drop if he treats people unfairly. And of course he could lose his job.

Q: Any last tips for the person who might have to lead friends?

Yes, realize that a true friend would let another friend know when they are doing something wrong. If you let a performance situation go without comment, you are setting your friend up for more serious consequences later on. Instead tell tham that as their friend you want to let them know that what they are doing is not right and could get them into trouble. If they complain, they weren’t really a friend after all.

We offer one of the only courses for working leaders and lead hands – go to www.LeadershipWizard.com

An effective workplace can create a long term competitive advantage, helping you to satisfy customers, retain talented employees and maximize profits. How your employees answer the questions below will reveal areas of opportunity to improve your organization.

Question 1: How well do you understand what is expected of you at work?

It might seem embarrassing at first to think that employees who have worked for you for quite some time are still vague about what is expected. Even if you have written job descriptions, they often do not reflect what employees actually do in a day.

Take the opportunity with new hires to clarify expectations about attendance, required work output, quality, teamwork and the need to make suggestions for improvement. If work processes change, meet with employees to re-clarify the expectations and keep everyone on track.

Question 2: To what degree are your talents, passions and interests being utilized in your job?

An employee will feel more motivated if they can satisfy their need for creativity and individual contribution within the organization or work unit. Often these unique talents are not on a resume and the employee might even feel reluctant to bring them up, fearing that they have little to do with their job duties.

Question 3: Are your contributions to the organization recognized and rewarded?

It’s interesting to note that when employees are asked to rate themselves as part of a performance appraisal process, they are often harder on themselves than their manager would be. Many people need reassurance that they are on the right track and that their contribution makes a positive difference. By reinforcing the desired behaviours and results, managers can avoid performance problems and build on gains for future success.

Question 4: How engaged or connected do you feel to the organization and its success?

Regrettably, many employees do not have particularly strong feelings of attachment to their organization and its level of success. To boost engagement, managers need to provide regular feedback so that employees know how their contribution impacts results including customer satisfaction, revenue growth, innovation and profitability.

Question 5: Do you feel adequately trained to do what is expected of you at work?

Effective training has a multiple pay off for an organization, its employees and its customers. Employees who are lacking in the necessary knowledge and skills will be less productive than their trained counterparts. Less skilled employees also have a greater chance of causing customer dissatisfaction which can cause a loss of business or diminished future growth. Training is motivating to employees because they see the value of learning new skills in terms of their current job and for future advancement.

Newly promoted managers are often the most overlooked in terms of receiving adequate training in their leadership role. This has cascading consequences on the organization because their poor leadership skills impact employees and the employees in turn impact the customers.

The varying quality of leadership goes a long way to explain why some store locations, departments and divisions perform better than others.

Some managers may be reluctant to ask the questions for fear that the answers will reveal the need for significant change. Arming yourself with the answers to the five questions above is the best way to ensure your organization’s future success.

If I can help your organization increase its success, visit www.LeadershipWizard.com or call 1-866-700-9043.