Winning Wednesday #7

Reading Time: 2 Minutes

Say hi to your staff.

You'd be amazed at the number of leaders and coaches who are caught up in their world when they show up to the office. And it makes sense. There's a lot to do, and a lot of people to care for, and, let's face it, your staff are grown-ups and should be able to take care of themselves.

Right?

The problem with that approach is that you have an outsized impact on everyone else's performance.

In my work with one coach, I observed him interacting with their staff in a training facility. A young staff member walked by and said hi, reaching out for a fist bump.

The head coach didn't even look up from making their coffee, absorbed in the game planning internally for the next day.

Later that day, I casually caught up with that young staff member. I asked about their experience in the organization and how their day was going.

What caught my attention was that they were still thinking about that missed fist bump, 4 hours or so later.

They thought they'd done something wrong. And of course, when you're young and you feel like you've done something wrong, you start to worry about your status in the organization. Will you get fired? Does the coach like you? Are you valued here?

This one missed moment of connection was nothing for the head coach and disrupted an entire day's performance for the young staff member.

When I brought this to the head coach later, they had no idea they'd even missed the fist bump. And of course, they had no ill intention - they were just busy game planning (and, as it turns out, a little bit hungover from some red wine the night before).

We talked about how, as the leader, research shows you lose touch with the experience of the people reporting to you. As the problem area you deal with gets larger, it's harder to attend deeply to any one element. So the best thing you can do is the little things, to show your team that you care, you're here, and you're invested.

Sometimes, the littlest things go the longest way.