How To Get People To Do What You Want Them To Do
Learn How “Simple Agreements” Achieve Success
In business, success is about getting a few very important things done well.
The top 3 priorities are to wow consumers, increase sales, and maximize EBITDA. Simply communicated, every team member must understand that the work he/she does must drive some aspect of these 3 priorities.
Day-to-day, we want people to eliminate mistakes, prevent drama, and hopefully never need to file a work comp claim…just to name a few.
It takes “people” to create this winning team…yet people can be our biggest obstacle.
How do we get people to do what we want them to?
Answer: There are 5 simple steps.
- Enroll team members who are motivated to do the job. If someone is not motivated, listen to their reason.
- Present the targeted result.
- Present/train the workflows – the right way to get the right things done to achieve the targeted result.
- Make sure we have their agreement related to doing what is expected. A sign-off clarifies the understanding.
- Trust them and let them do their job. Give them the opportunity to wow!
Why not just demand that they do what is needed?
Answer: No one can control another adult. The more we try to control, the less we accomplish. In fact, when people relinquish control, they take no personal responsibility for the outcome of their actions. Then when something goes wrong..the only person to blame is the one who demanded control. Blame games are incredibly destructive to productivity and championship behavior.
That’s it! Getting people to do what we want them to do requires people who are already passionate about the work and who agree to do what it will take to succeed on our team.
Of course, management must deliver the path to that success and clarity about what is required to get there. Without it, team member focus becomes clouded.
For example…
- To eliminate mistakes, we create workflows that embed correctness into every process. Team members agree to use the workflows (as a non-optional requirement).
- To prevent drama, we set organizational performance standards and reinforce them until they become a natural part of company culture.
- To operate safely and claim-free, we show people how to do their job safely and require that they agree to take personal responsibility for the required behaviors.
Winning teams have winning protocols that are flawlessly carried out by talented team members. However, the ability to embed winning protocols into corporate culture takes something more than talent.
Stephen King said it best when he said…
“Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented from the successful is a lot of hard work.”
Hard work is driven by people who are passionate about the work they do. Great leaders fuel that passion by clarifying the “end game” and coaching for championship behavior.
Great leaders partner with people using agreement and aligned expectations to harness the passion those people already have for the work they are doing.
Great leaders deploy “the taking of personal responsibility” to develop superstars throughout the organization.