As a manager or owner, it is important for you to bring out the best in the people you supervise.   The level of success you will achieve is impacted by your ability to make other people successful

The people you supervise will not attain higher levels of success because you want them to be more successful. They will not do things for your reasons. They will do things for their own reasons.

RULE #1 – Expectations

Make sure the people you supervise understand your expectations. Let them know what they can expect from you and what you expect from them.

RULE #2 – Greatest Talents

Utilize the greatest strengths of your employees. Meet with them on a regular basis to discuss the 80/20 rule and to get them more focused on best use of their time.

RULE #3 – Consistent Standards

Establish a standard of excellence throughout your company culture and have an Employee Handbook that outlines policies and procedures for your business.

RULE #4 – Failure Not Fatal

It is important to create an environment where failure is not fatal. Failures should be viewed as opportunities to grow and learn.

RULE #5 – Teach Them To Emulate Success

The quickest way to achieve a higher level of success is to change the five people you hang around with most. You want to teach your employees to seek out successful people and emulate their success. Do not emulate their work habits – just their success.

RULE #6 – Recognition

Recognize and applaud achievements both big and small. Have small rewards in your desk that recognize extra effort or small wins.

RULE #7 – Combine Positive and Negative Feedback

When you need to provide constructive criticism, always precede it with positive reinforcement and then discuss areas needing improvement.

RULE #8 – Appeal To The Competitive Spirit

Whenever possible, create a competitive environment in your office. If your staff is large enough, form teams and have them compete against each other.

RULE #9 – Collaborate

You want to place a premium on collaboration. Individuals on the recruiting side of the process should provide a minimum of three job order leads to the individuals responsible for client development.  People on the client development side should know your best business and spend 85% of their time targeting that exact business.

RULE #10 – Storms

Have a process to handle disagreements and conflicts. When you employ a team of type “A” personalities storms will happen and you need to have a process to handle those storms.  Most solutions should be included in your Employee Handbook.

RULE #11 – Professional and Personal Development

Personal and professional development are top priorities of Millennials and Gen Z who now make up over 55% of the workforce.  Obtain input from your team on the type of development they value.

RULE #12 – Be Flexible

Consider remote or hybrid work arrangements or staggered starting times.  You would be amazed how many of your employees would prefer working 10 to 7 vs. 8 to 5.  This provides your office with coverage from 8 to 7.  Offering remote work opens up the talent pool for your internal team to a nationwide search.

RULE #13 – Conduct Stay Interviews

Each quarter, have an informal chat with your team members on why they like working for you and what you could do to improve their experience. This is not a performance review and should be conducted over coffee, lunch, or off premise if possible. Provide feedback on any changes that are implemented as a result of your conversation.

RULE #14 – Study Your Employees’ Needs

This is the most important rule for you to master. The following are seven steps you can take to determine their needs, which will motivate them to new levels of production, success, and income.

STEP #1 – 10 Non-Negotiable Goals with Action Items

It is important that you have your employees write down their Business, Personal, Health, Career, Financial, Spiritual and Philanthropic goals. You need to know what is most important to your employees.

They need to list and post their top 10 non-negotiable goals followed by action items:

• You can’t motivate someone else
• You can’t motivate someone for your reasons
• You can’t motivate someone who doesn’t want to be motivated
• People motivate themselves for their own

STEP #2 – Dream Board

Have everyone on your team create a Dream Board. Put their picture in the middle of the board and surround their picture with pictures of what they would bring into their life if money was no object.

Make sure the Dream Board is posted by their desk where they can see it as they are making their calls. So often, parents are motivated to provide the best education for their children rather than something for themselves.

STEP #3 – Individual Numbers

Show your sales team exactly what results they need to produce on a daily basis to ensure they achieve their goals and eliminate slumps. This takes the mystery out of their production level.

STEP #4 – Weekly Reviews

It’s important to continually review results and activity level. At the end of each week your recruiters should complete the following reviews.

• What did they do right? Do more of these things in the coming quarter
• What is a major waste of their time? Stop doing those things immediately
• What new ideas should I implement? If you do things the same way you get the same results

STEP #5 – Socialize Outside The Office

Take your team out socially and don’t drink or talk much, just listen. It is amazing what you can learn when you have your team outside of the working environment. An outing like a baseball game is more effective than a dinner.  If this is not feasible have Zoom Pizza Parties or social events, sending food to your team.

STEP #6 – Better Receivers

Most recruiters are social workers who like money, but their financial thermostats are set too low. You need to bring this to their attention, so they become more aware of what they want out of life.

STEP #7 – Contests

Customize contests around the needs of your employees. Make them short, sweet, and whenever possible, allow everyone the possibility of winning.

I’d also like to provide you with twelve daily affirmations that will enhance your management skills.

• The energy of your company and the people you employ begins with you. Be an energetic manager
• Managing is a people job, put your people first
• Managing is what you do with people, not to people

• Walk your talk, back-up your words with actions. People believe what they see more than what they hear
• If it is to be, it is up to me
• You gain power when you share power with your employees
• The best performance starts with clear goals
• You get results, in the areas that you reward
• If you can’t measure performance, you can’t manage it
• Remember, it’s not personal – it’s business
• The simple approach is often the best approach
• Make work fun, it’s good for your bottom line

Never allow your employees or yourself to be less than your dreams.