How to Actualize Your Investment In Your People

People management can be the bane of your existence or an action that fuels you to show up each day in your leadership stance with a fierce energy of impact!

Which energy do you lean into more when it comes to leading your people?

How you lead your team and what you choose to share with them dictates how you all show up every day. For most companies, hiring the right team is a challenge, helping them grow with you while getting the job done is even harder. It is the largest investment most companies make on their P&L is personnel.

What are you doing to actualize the investment in your people?

Traditional methods of providing health benefits, bonuses, competitive market salaries is not enough to keep someone engaged in their work. It’s basic. Basic efforts breed basic results. Building a culture where you are incentivized to just make more money is not enough anymore. The methods of earnings have changed over the years and showing up to a job that doesn’t make a person feel seen and heard for their value, just won’t cut it going forward.

How can you change an environment that was once transactional in nature, into one that nurtures growth, connection, and commitment to the cause? You make it a transparent one that focuses on the whole, not just the individual, by focusing on each individual as part of the whole. 

I know, I know, this sounds confusing, stick with me. 

Clarity on your Vision

First, let’s visualize what a cohesive thriving team would look like and take some time to answer these questions.

• How would everyone be interacting with each other?
• What are they all focused on?
• What challenges are they trying to solve?
• How do they communicate?
• How do they create space for everyone to be heard?
• How do they demonstrate possible solutions?
• How do they decide to move forward with certain ideas and walk away from others?
• How do they resolve conflict with respect and understanding? 
• What are the values that come to mind for this type of thriving cohesive team vibe?
• What brings them together and excites them to show up every day?

In order to have a thriving communicative team, and individuals you can trust to get their job done, they each individually need to better themselves. They each need the space to marinate on the dynamics they are a part of and own how they are showing up. Most importantly they need to feel safe to express themselves and trust they will be taken into consideration.

Companies need to start investing in the personal and professional development of every single member of their team. When they initiate methods on how every single person can improve their self awareness and have clarity on the path they desire, coming into transactional environments where you need to get a job done and leverage one part of who they are, becomes a lot easier. 

Time to articulate your vision

When you visualized a cohesive thriving team, did you think of a small group, a division of your company that demonstrates this, or did you think of your WHOLE COMPANY, as one team?

If you thought about it in a pocket of the firm, imagine what it would feel like if EVERYONE in your company showed up as one cohesive thriving team. Wouldn’t it be easier to steer if you have cohesion.

The thing is, we live in an individualistic environment where we value our independence and what “I” can do. Me, Me, Me. However, what we all crave is to connect, feel significant, and have certainty, and the desire to grow. As leaders, we need to assess how we can build a WE culture that invests in the ME. This takes a different kind of investment in your people, but one that can be actualized over time.

Assessment Where Your Team is Against that Vision

Second, assess your current team's vibe against that thriving vision. Now that you have a vision of a thriving team, what are the gaps the individuals on the team need to enhance in order to build a higher level of cohesiveness?

• What can be done better to make it a stronger dynamic?
• What skills need to be improved? What does the team need to know in order to move forward together, regardless of their differences?
• What can they do to learn more about each other and build their cohesive style?
• What type of leadership do you need to enhance to make it sustainable?

Achievement is based on results, right? In business, we all look at the numbers on how the business is doing. We need to measure how our people are doing with the same vigor. Now that you have mapped our areas of improvement, and what your people need. Who are the experts you need to bring in to assist you in developing these skills and how do you plan to measure the results? 

I know, it can be overwhelming, but trust me, if you don’t focus on these core actions for your business, the basic investment you are making in your people today is wasted. Don’t you want a return on your investment?

A team of people who can grow with you or better yet, move on to other things if what your business is about is not a fit for them. A continuous growth environment is the new normal when it comes to sustainable employment.

As the gig economy rises, the desire to be employed by someone else who is not aligned with a growth mindset is going to be harder and harder to fulfill. In order to grow together, you need to have a clear vision on what that looks like, and make sure you have leaders across the organization participating in leading it forward to cultivate it. If not one of your leaders comes to mind to fulfill this type of action for your company, then that is the place to start for a reset from basic to thriving.

Your business is 100% a reflection of how you lead it, if you are not growing, it won’t. If it doesn’t value transparency, inclusion, and growth, start with realigning your corporate values and where you invest your benefits to get the right support in place to help you alter your course. 

The first step is to get clear on the environment you want to have. Once you have it assessed against the one you have in place, then the changes can be made to determine the opportunity you can create across your team and most of all help you become an attractor to future employees to join your team because building a continuous growth culture is what they are looking for.

If you are unsure on where to start your assessment of your current culture or how to actualize your investment in your people, set up a 30 minute consult and we can discuss how my firm can assist you.