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Get Amazing Team Results: Balance Being Helpful With Being Demanding · Enhance.training

0:00
SPEAKER_00: Learn three practical approaches to get amazing team results by balancing being helpful with being demanding.
0:07
SPEAKER_00: Being a very good leader or manager is being a tightrope walker.
0:12
SPEAKER_00: To be very successful, being very conscious of balancing a lot of different and conflicting demands placed on you by your team, colleagues, peers, bosses, customers, suppliers, and more.
0:23
SPEAKER_00: One of the most important balances to get right and keep right is to balance being helpful with being demanding.
0:30
SPEAKER_00: The more helpful you are, the more demanding you can be.
0:34
SPEAKER_00: Increase both, and you are much more likely to get amazing team results.
0:38
SPEAKER_00: And as you know, your team's performance is your performance.
0:43
SPEAKER_00: Be too helpful as a manager without being demanding, and your team will walk all over you.
0:48
SPEAKER_00: You will lose their respect.
0:50
SPEAKER_00: Coordination and cooperation drop.
0:52
SPEAKER_00: Poor behaviours creep in.
0:54
SPEAKER_00: Before you know it, team performance is heading downwards.
0:57
SPEAKER_00: Be too demanding without being helpful, and your team's motivation starts dropping, and you get burnout.
1:04
SPEAKER_00: Team members will start looking for easier and better jobs elsewhere.
1:07
SPEAKER_00: Team costs will go up.
1:09
SPEAKER_00: Continuity, coordination, and cooperation drop.
1:12
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't take long before team performance goes downhill.
1:16
SPEAKER_00: Before I go into the three practical approaches, I want to share a very relevant story of a fearsome and amazing maths teacher who taught me the power that getting this balance right has on team performance.
1:30
SPEAKER_00: My maths teacher was a very demanding five foot-nothing lady.
1:34
SPEAKER_00: She expected a lot from you.
1:36
SPEAKER_00: She was constantly pushing you to do more, to get better, to build your skills.
1:41
SPEAKER_00: She kept pushing you to just outside your comfort zone.
1:44
SPEAKER_00: To balance these demands, she also believed in you, used a lot of positive reinforcement, and went all out to help you learn and improve.
1:53
SPEAKER_00: She gave a lot of herself and left nothing behind.
1:57
SPEAKER_00: She also was a fearsome person, you did not want to get on the wrong side of her.
2:02
SPEAKER_00: The balance she achieved was inspirational, and I and the rest of the class wanted to and worked hard to do our best.
2:09
SPEAKER_00: Unsurprisingly, everyone got a lot better at maths.
2:13
SPEAKER_00: My best boss ever also used a very similar approach.
2:18
SPEAKER_00: She also got the best from the people she managed by balancing being helpful with being demanding, providing amazing support and creating unpleasant consequences if you disappointed her.
2:29
SPEAKER_00: So the first approach to get amazing team results is to stop being too helpful.
2:35
SPEAKER_00: For managers, it is totally in your interest to help your team develop better skills, overcome challenges and obstacles, remove problems that stop their best work, etc.
2:45
SPEAKER_00: You can help a bit all the way through to going all out to help your team.
2:50
SPEAKER_00: The amount you help is not the issue.
2:53
SPEAKER_00: You start being too helpful when you don't get enough back.
2:57
SPEAKER_00: Be too helpful and your team starts taking advantage of you.
3:01
SPEAKER_00: You get run ragged, respect for you drops and team performance follows.
3:06
SPEAKER_00: Maintaining the right balance is the crucial element.
3:10
SPEAKER_00: Three really helpful tests or approaches for you to get the right balance between being helpful and being too helpful are.
3:18
SPEAKER_00: Firstly, don't repeat the help provided too often.
3:22
SPEAKER_00: For example, when I explain how to do a particular task, I expect the team member to put in the effort to learn and do the task well.
3:30
SPEAKER_00: I prefer to explain once.
3:32
SPEAKER_00: I'm okay with explaining twice.
3:34
SPEAKER_00: When I have to explain three times or more, then I feel that I am being too helpful and they are not trying hard enough.
3:41
SPEAKER_00: Secondly, another way to stop being too helpful is to think carefully about where your responsibilities end and where theirs start.
3:50
SPEAKER_00: For example, explaining and teaching how to follow up with sales leads is different from following up yourself on behalf of team members.
3:58
SPEAKER_00: Teach your team how to do their jobs better, but don't do their jobs for them.
4:04
SPEAKER_00: Clearly set your boundaries between your responsibilities and theirs and stick to them.
4:09
SPEAKER_00: Be very helpful to a point.
4:12
SPEAKER_00: Then stop being helpful and start asking them to deliver what is expected of them.
4:17
SPEAKER_00: Thirdly, a good test to stop being too helpful at work is to think about what you are giving to your team member and what they are giving back to you.
4:26
SPEAKER_00: If you consistently give more than you get back, it is a sure sign that you need to stop being too helpful.
4:32
SPEAKER_00: Create clear, sensible boundaries and stick to them.
4:36
SPEAKER_00: Work at maintaining the right give and take balance.
4:41
SPEAKER_00: My name is Jess Coles.
4:42
SPEAKER_00: If you're new to this podcast, Enhanced.training provides resources and courses for you to build management expertise and confidence to lead any team to their best performance.
4:53
SPEAKER_00: I've included links to additional resources in the podcast description to help you balance being helpful and being demanding to get amazing team results.
5:01
SPEAKER_00: Do take a look at these.
5:04
SPEAKER_00: The second approach for managers: stop trying to be liked, aim to be respected instead.
5:11
SPEAKER_00: If your character needs other people to like you, or if you desire to be liked outweighs your responsibility as a manager to drive better team performance, managing others is probably not a good career choice for you.
5:25
SPEAKER_00: Being a successful manager or leader requires you to do the best you can for your team as a whole.
5:31
SPEAKER_00: That includes making tough decisions and unpopular choices.
5:35
SPEAKER_00: I personally have seen plenty of managers focus more on being liked than doing their best for their team.
5:41
SPEAKER_00: Ironically, these managers end up not being liked by their team for the right reasons and not being liked by their bosses either.
5:48
SPEAKER_00: Neither leads to good job security as a manager.
5:52
SPEAKER_00: Stop trying to be liked.
5:54
SPEAKER_00: Instead, aim to be respected.
5:56
SPEAKER_00: There are a ton of things that you can do to be respected as a manager, some being firstly, work hard to improve the working lives of your team members.
6:06
SPEAKER_00: Secondly, set clear goals and expectations and consistently stick to these.
6:10
SPEAKER_00: Your team will feel safer, more motivated and have a clearer purpose.
6:15
SPEAKER_00: Third, be there for your team.
6:17
SPEAKER_00: Demonstrate that you have their back and that you trust them day in, day out.
6:22
SPEAKER_00: Fourth, put in the effort to develop your team members and move them closer to achieving their ambitions.
6:28
SPEAKER_00: Fifth, protect your team from low-value requests, fighting over resources, politics, too many changes of direction, etc.
6:37
SPEAKER_00: Sixth, balance what you give with what you ask from your team.
6:42
SPEAKER_00: The more effective you are at helping your team members maximise their potential and creating the right environment for great performance, the more respect you'll get as a manager.
6:52
SPEAKER_00: The amount of respect you get is directly linked to how competent you are as a manager or leader.
6:57
SPEAKER_00: Focus on being good at your job as a manager and respect will follow.
7:02
SPEAKER_00: The third approach to get amazing team results is to demand more by providing more.
7:08
SPEAKER_00: We all want to be treated fairly.
7:10
SPEAKER_00: A fair exchange is ingrained in human nature.
7:13
SPEAKER_00: The minute we feel we are being unfairly treated, we start resisting.
7:18
SPEAKER_00: We reduce our efforts to get back to that fair balance.
7:22
SPEAKER_00: When we are being given a lot, when the balance is unfairly to our advantage, when asked, we will happily do more to make the exchange fairer.
7:31
SPEAKER_00: Use this dynamic to your advantage.
7:34
SPEAKER_00: Give your team more and demand more from them.
7:38
SPEAKER_00: Keep increasing both sides of the equation, and you can demand and get a lot more from any team.
7:43
SPEAKER_00: Plus, they will like you for it and certainly respect your loss as a manager.
7:48
SPEAKER_00: Actions you should consider taking include, firstly, setting clear expectations that push each individual team member to give a little more, to move them a little outside their comfort zone.
8:00
SPEAKER_00: Secondly, set demanding goals for the team and work hard with the team to work out how the team will reach those goals and then put those tasks, activities and projects into action.
8:11
SPEAKER_00: Third, use the power of positive reinforcement, praise great actions, decisions, behaviors, and of course results.
8:19
SPEAKER_00: Make a big thing of the right actions and results.
8:23
SPEAKER_00: Fourth, clearly and visibly work to make it easier to implement all the activities and the projects the team is working on.
8:30
SPEAKER_00: Stop distractions.
8:32
SPEAKER_00: Fight to give them enough space and focus.
8:34
SPEAKER_00: Communicate and share information regularly and honestly.
8:38
SPEAKER_00: Fifth, fight hard to get and keep resources and ensure they are in the right place when needed.
8:44
SPEAKER_00: Sixth, treat each person as an individual, take into account their strengths, their interests, their ambitions, and their personal goals.
8:52
SPEAKER_00: Flex your approach to their needs.
8:55
SPEAKER_00: Seventh, work hard to develop your team members.
8:58
SPEAKER_00: Better skills or a more balanced range of skills will build team resilience, capability, and increase team performance.
9:06
SPEAKER_00: The more you provide your team, the more that you can ask from your team in return.
9:11
SPEAKER_00: Always check how well you are maintaining a fair exchange.
9:15
SPEAKER_00: This approach does require additional work on your part.
9:18
SPEAKER_00: You need to work out if the rewards this approach creates are worth it to you.
9:23
SPEAKER_00: They always were for me.
9:25
SPEAKER_00: Work smartly before working harder.
9:28
SPEAKER_00: The more you provide your team, the more demanding you can be without negatively impacting team motivation and performance.
9:36
SPEAKER_00: So, in summary, to get amazing team results and the best team performance that you can, work on balancing being helpful with being demanding.
9:44
SPEAKER_00: Being helpful to your team is an incredibly important part of being a good manager.
9:49
SPEAKER_00: Equally important is keeping a good balance with being demanding.
9:53
SPEAKER_00: Your team should feel they're getting a fair deal, not a cushy deal or a bad deal.
9:59
SPEAKER_00: Don't forget to visit us at enhanced.training to get the tools to build your management expertise as quickly as possible so that you can lead your team to their best performance.
10:10
SPEAKER_00: If you have any questions on get amazing team results, balance being helpful with being demanding, please leave a c please email me at support at enhance.training and I'll get back to you.
10:23
SPEAKER_00: Thanks very much for listening, and I look forward to speaking to you again soon.