3 things to do daily to get stellar employee performance

Have you ever felt like an outsider? 
Perhaps you were the one individual in the room that no one was talking to you.
It sucks.
Have you ever felt that not one cares about you?
Maybe your boss didn't have a clue what you were doing or why you are doing it?
​That feeling sucks too.

I’ve felt I’m an outsider, and I bet you have too
Not all the time, but you’ve probably felt that sense that no one cares about you. You walked into a meeting, and there was a group on the side talking. They didn’t seem to notice that you had entered the room. No raised heads. No eye contact. You overheard their conversation and knew you have something to contribute, but they didn’t acknowledge you, let alone asked for your opinion. Ouch!

It happens
Most of the time you can shrug it off knowing it wasn’t that they didn’t care about you or your ideas. They were just engrossed in their conversation. Perhaps later they did look up, invite you over and away you went. 

That feeling sucks
It’s that initial feeling, though, of not being noticed or not perceiving you are a valuable part of the group that, sad to say, many employees feel on an ongoing basis. They don’t get the impression they are seen, nor do they feel appreciated.  Far too often, employees feel insignificant, secondary and dispensable. 

These people give less than 100%
When you don’t feel respected, you don’t commit to your work. That means you are producing significantly less than 100% of what you are capable of generating. 
When you don’t feel like you matter, that your work counts or that you are cared about, you put your time in and go home. Barely. 

You want 100% employee buy-in
My guess is you want more of your team. I suspect you are looking for committed, dedicated and loyal staff. I bet you want people who are invested and care about the work they are doing, the quality of their work, and the impact they are making.

How do you get that? 
You care. Simply put:

• you care about your staff as individuals, 
• you care about the work they are doing and 
• you care about the contribution they are making.

When you change your interactions with your staff so that they feel that you care about them, their work and their impact, you will find yourself bragging to others about your stellar team players.

Do these 3 things daily to get stellar employee performance

1)    Personally, acknowledge your team members 
Say hi. Use their name. Call them. Send them an email about them, not what you want them to do. Maybe you text your staff regularly.

• “Have an awesome day today Jess” is an excellent way to start the day. 
• “Safe travels Bethany” when she heads off on the road to see clients.
• “Hey, checking in on you Jodi, you looked a little off when you left yesterday.”

2)    Ensure they understand the meaning in their work
Everything people do is connected to a bigger project.

• Somehow we miss that stapling papers together has meaning. But putting together training packages is part of ensuring staff are highly skilled.

It’s hard to see that going out on our own to do the work, is somehow is part of some new initiative that we are all working on together. But it is, when we get to bring our learning back to the team.

The job of a leader is to make the connection for their team. You need to help them to see that all of the smaller pieces all connected to a bigger project or vision.

• "Here is the task I need you to do….when you hand that back to me, it will be a powerful addition to the presentation I’m doing to the funder later."
• "I’m looking forward to seeing how you are developing goals for that client. Cindy and Jim are working with similar cases and struggling to find ways to motivate change. I’m expecting that together we will be able to come up with some new ideas."

3)    Use all-inclusive language

Approach conversations as if you are all in it together, because you really are all in it together!
Use your words to communicate that everything you are doing is connected, because everything is truly connected!

You can see this in the above example about goals.

• “I’m expecting that we…”.

It was clear that the whole team is in it together. Yes, each practitioner works on their own with individual clients. But the overall work they are doing is united.

Discovering you do have a stellar team
Make these deeper connections with your staff:

• Relate to them as individuals
• Give them meaningful work and share that meaning with them
• Acknowledge their contributions to the whole team and vision

When you do this you’ll discover your stellar team sharing ideas, working together and helping each other out. Yes, it will be kind of like a family. After all, isn’t that what we want? "Let's all get along, work through challenges we encounter and support each other in the process. 
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Kathy is a leadership coach for women who want to strengthen their leadership and find balance in life. She mentors females as they rediscover their purpose, passion and persistence for life while dealing with office politics, jerk bosses and the challenges of family life. In her signature program Women with Grit: Leading with Courage & Confidence, Kathy gives her ladies the hope and inspiration they need along with a kick in the pants to make positive change in their lives. ​​​​​​​​