Challenge 1

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RESPONSE

Here is a list of actions that Merriweather coaches have supported our clients delivering which have led to outstanding success and turned around many struggling teams and businesses.

It is unlikely that you have time to move some of the team on and recruit to replace them and hit your targets so it is important that you commit to growing and developing them. It is your job to inspire them to perform again. They were probably very motivated when they joined the company and it is your job to get them back to where they were.

Be honest – this requires no training or practise – yet this is what people want most of all from their leader.

Think about everything and everyone from your team’s perspective to ensure that you can address them as individuals. They will want to believe and follow you but they will believe that there are things in the way. It’s your job to overcome these barriers which will prevent or slow them down in coming with you.

Go to work focused on being a great coach and give them hope and confidence to ‘have a go’.

Focus your energies on inspiring them by sharing your vision. You will need to be consistent and repetitive in your approach. They will need to hear your message between 5 and 10 times before they start to believe it. If you keep your message consistent and vivid with some personal analogies and stories it will make it easier for emulate and share with others.

Provide absolute clarity. Let them know what you want and what you expect from the. Make it clear that if this ambitious and challenging journey is not for them that that is fine by you and you will do all you can to help them move on and find another challenge to pursue.

Hold regular structured meetings where you all debate and agree on short term priorities. Agree owners for these actions and set them into a dashboard with timescales for achieving them.

Give your team the time to be heard; even vent their frustrations, is necessary and then draw the line and move on.

Quickly identify the ‘mood hoovers’ in your team and offer then additional love and support to enable them to find their way forward.

Show them how it will be different. You are going to lead a team where you value each other and trust each other. A team where you do what you say you will do and hold each other accountable for this approach.

Let the team get the benefit of your experience through you being a great coach and advocate for the. Don’t do their jobs for them.

Move the focus to the team as a team of leaders. Inspire them to come to work focused on their leadership. Encourage then to have fun trying to become more exemplary leaders.

Get the team to undertake a 360 survey – once now and again in six months’ time. Let this form the basis of your 1:1 meetings.

Hold people accountable and call out behaviours you do not want to see at your team meetings.

Focus on short term; 90 day goals and actions both in the task and leadership arenas.

Enjoy watching your team grow in confidence and be patient as this is likely to take between 3 and 6 months.

Recognise, measure and reward the things you really want to see; more exemplary leadership, accountability, great team work.

Unite and celebrate around some quick wins.

AND FINALLY,

Show some vulnerability to them. This will accelerate the time it takes to trust you.

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