Listen as Jr describes how you can lead through adversity when your team is facing challenges.
I’m the general manager of two radio stations. Our sales week goes from Monday through Friday at 10:30 AM. A few weeks ago, I took some days off in the middle of the week, and when I came back on Friday morning at 8 o’clock we were at 3% of our weekly goal. 3 Percent! That’s not ok. So I gathered the team together and I said, “Ok. What have you been working on? What do you have that could get us closer to our goal? “We went around the room and talked about some options, then we put together a plan. I said, “Remember, you’re good at your jobs, you know what you are doing. I want you to go out and find out what will help your clients and I want you to see if you can close some deals. But do it quick.
Next thing you know Adam calls back in and he’s closed a sale. Then Shannon calls in and she closed a deal, then Kirsten closes a deal. All of the sudden we have some momentum going. The phone is ringing, and things are happening, everything is working in our favor. In two and a half hours we go from 3% to 75% of our goal. We didn’t make it to 100%, but we made a huge amount of progress, 75% is a decent amount of money in just two and a half hours.
I could have gone into that meeting yelling and degrading the team, I could have said you haven’t been doing anything all week, you’ve been lazy. And unfortunately, I’ve done that in the past, but I looked in their eyes and I knew they had put in the effort; they had just struggled this week. I chose to be positive; I chose to reinforce what they are able to do, and together we made some good things happen.
When you’re facing challenges, you have a decision to make. You can come across negative, and hard, and bully your way through to get things done. Or, you can choose to encourage and lift people up. You can help your teamwork inside their strengths. You can be a coach. You can help them feel better about themselves. Together you can accomplish things that otherwise you wouldn’t be able to accomplish.