I saw a great Tweet recently that said, “People need love more than they need advice. Most people know the right thing to do, they just need someone to believe in them.”
How true is this?
We talk a lot about people, talent and culture at Service Express. The first step is to surround yourself with the right people for your organization. Look for whoever fits your culture and what you’re trying to achieve. If you hire right, the rest will fall in line. If you don’t hire right, you won’t believe in your people. That’s never going to work because you won’t be aligned, and you’ll constantly feel the need to poke and prod at them. I’ve lived through that in my career, and it never works.
When you hire right and align with what you’re trying to achieve, believing in your people becomes easier. It’s powerful to show your people that you believe in them. You can mentor, coach and guide them, but they know the direction they’re going. Often, people just need to know that you believe in them and have confidence in them to get it done.
Let your people show you what they can do. That’s a hard thing to do as a leader, which I talked about before in my blog “Hold On Loosely, But Don’t Let Go.” My mom was great at this when I was growing up. She always encouraged me and seemed to believe in everything I was doing throughout high school, college, and after college when I was trying to find my way. She believed in me even when she didn’t have evidence that she should. She always said, “You can do it. This is great. Go try it.” Her encouragement pushed me to try new things without the fear of failure, which eventually led me to where I am now.
Encouragement has been very powerful in my life, which is why I try to pay it forward as often as I can. It’s always a work in progress, but I want to double down and do it better. Show your people that you believe in them and that you’re confident in them. When needed, coach and guide them, but once you’re aligned and believe in them, tell them! They don’t need to be nitpicked all the time; let them go and show you what they can do. You’ll be amazed at what they can accomplish.
