3 Ways to Bring Out the Best in Your Team

Good compensation and benefits might make employees stick around, but how can you make sure that they’re performing at their best? 

I recently came across an article about “quiet quitting” which refers to employees being disengaged or doing just the minimum required in a job. To be honest, as I was reading, I wondered if I too was quietly quitting in some areas where I deliberately had to manage the energy I put into it. I’m the type who really goes all in, and I want to make sure I don’t burn out. Anyway…

Whether it’s quiet quitting or the real deal kind of quitting, the best thing to do is to take action before it’s too late. 

Being able to tap into the best that your employees are capable of, will not only help them grow and flourish, but will also yield better performance for the team and the organization.

Here are three ways you can start with.

Really get to know them

Gone are the days when employees work just to make a living. Employees are seeking purpose, alignment, support, acceptance, and many are brave enough to leave when they don’t find these. 

Getting to know employees goes beyond what’s on their resume. It goes beyond asking a series of stay interview questions. It’s about genuinely getting to know them as a whole person, not just as an employee. This makes caring and focusing on wellbeing, not just an HR agenda, but your own personal agenda too. 

And if there is an opportunity to meet them and be with them in the flesh (aka in person) that is something that you should consider too. Remote work isn’t entirely new. At the start of my career almost two decades ago, we had weekly evening calls (literally through the telephone using an AT&T card) with our colleagues overseas. Later, we moved to audio calls through our corporate messaging platform. But despite our regular virtual interactions, meeting our global counterparts face-to-face and sharing meals with them have filled in holes we didn’t know existed and strengthened our relationships further. 

Bringing out the best in someone starts with getting to know them first.

Create opportunities for collaboration and exploration

No matter how old you are, I believe that you need space in your life to play.

This could mean literally playing your favorite video game or mobile app, or exploring something new, hopefully without the pressure of having to perform or meet certain targets. 

As a leader, you are in a position to create systems and structures to support your team’s growth. This means that you can create your team’s own playground or sandbox where they can collaborate in ways different from how they do their work, or explore their skills or interests. 

Here are some things you can set up for and with your team:

• Game / Quiz Night
• Hackathon
• Show and Tell
• Employee-led brown bag sessions
• Photo or video contests

Just remember that the point of setting these up is not to give you or your team extra work. Though it might take time to warm up, it shouldn’t feel like a burden. So start small and simple. You can start by taking turns during team meetings for a 10 minute show-and-tell about one’s hobby or special skill. Then you can progress by creating mini sessions or projects that are employee-led based on what they’re good at. 

Though these activities are meant to be fun, the team will gain more from this when everybody co-creates the process, so make sure to get them involved too. 

Be at your best

It’s hard for you to bring out the best in someone else, if you yourself aren’t at your best - emotionally, physically, spiritually or mentally.

If you’re dragging yourself to work every day and are not finding meaning in what you do, it will show and your team will know. If you’re just going through the motions of everyday life, it will affect the way you deal with people and ultimately, your performance at work.

You can’t pour from an empty cup. You can’t run too long on flat tires. I’m sure you’ve heard these already, but what are you doing about it? 

And this brings me to the next point. Practice what you preach. 

As leaders, you can’t just tell people to be engaged or to perform at their best. You must show up that way too. Do you come to meetings on time and are you fully focused? Are you present during town hall sessions or company-wide events? Do you openly ask for and receive feedback? Do you ask for help? Do you get coached and mentored too? Do you invest in your own personal or professional development?

Whether you like it or not, you’re like a fish in a fishbowl. Make sure that you are authentically at your best. This is not about you being perfect. This is about you showing up the way you would like your team to. 

Getting results

The truth is, it will take time to get big results. 

Whatever you’re experiencing in your team is an outcome of years or months of doing things a certain way. Habits, beliefs, systems and culture that have contributed to the disengagement cannot be changed overnight. 

But it won’t change unless someone does something about it - not just for a day, not just for a week, but consistently through time. And when you do, you’ll begin to notice small incremental changes in your team, and in yourself. 

Are you ready to be a change maker? 

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