By Elizabeth McCormick
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| ©iStockphoto.com/Orla |
Have you noticed that your employees or staff members seem
stuck and unable to move upward? If so, it may be time to PILOT your employees,
rather than merely manage them. Not only will you notice an increased amount of
motivation among employees, you will begin to notice that they are contributing
more, and becoming more involved and invested in your business.
When you PILOT individuals you help them realize their full
potential and you become the type of leader that every business needs in order
to soar. The following guidelines will help your team become more motivated and
realize their potential. Many employees are not as successful as they have the
potential to be, simply because they do not realize the power they possess. Being
a PILOT for your employees will help them realize their abilities, which will
help them become more effective, productive and be a catalyst to their
growth.
P—Potential
Leaders develop others’ potential to be a better person, to perform better in their job and to be better equipped to grow into leadership. Leaders develop leaders, but you may not understand how. To develop leaders, one must be someone that they can emulate. Show your employees that you are learning alongside them. Your employees want to learn from the way that you handle failure, and you can do so with grace and ease. When your employees see you fail, they see that you are still learning and working at becoming a better leader. As a leader, use your failures as learning experiences to share with your team. These experiences will create a culture that allows for creativity and educated risk-taking to allow failure and not fear it. People tend to learn more when they feel safe and secure enough to make mistakes.I—Implementation
Have you ever had a meeting to discuss the meeting before the meeting? Are you
spending more time getting ready to get ready? These behaviors occur when we
become stuck in analysis paralysis. Turn your ideas into actions by taking
action. There is a fine line between waiting for perfection and taking a
calculated risk. Ask yourself, “Is the speed of implementing this more
important than perfection?” “What will
we gain or lose from pulling this trigger? What will we gain or lose from
waiting?” Then, ask yourself these questions: “Are you hitting the mark?” “What
are the performance indicators we need to watch for?” Involve everyone on the
team in the problem solving process and put everything up for consideration, and
then discuss the pros and cons for each possible adjustment.
L—Leadership
It is usually good to be the first. Leading your industry demonstrates
innovation, and innovation does not happen without first taking educated risks.
Effectively leading means communicating in a clear and concise manner. As a
leader, it is important that you clearly communicate the vision and inspire employees
to perform their duties in the manner that is expected of them. The speed at
which you act can determine the amount of time in which it takes for your
products or services to hit the market. The sooner you take action, the faster
your clients will be able to benefit from the products and services that you
have to offer. As a leader, commit to a course while you communicate with your
team and take the required actions to achieve your goal.
Your communication and action will lead you closer to your
vision. When employees see your drive and dedication to achieving the end
result, they will follow and lead their team more effectively because they can
clearly understand your vision and the actions needed to reach your goal.
O—Optimize
As a leader, you must understand that you are responsible for
the nurturing and culture of the organization and how it responds to risk,
change and learning from failures on any level. To evaluate the strength of
your team, you should evaluate how your team embraces change, welcomes change,
initiates change, recommends change, and ask for ideas on how to change. If new
ideas are raised in a meeting, do you properly explore them or shut them down
immediately? Do you allow your employees to have a voice?
At the close of every meeting, do you take the time to ask your employees if they have anything they would like to address? Do they have any feedback over what was covered in the meeting? Effective leaders understand the importance of asking these questions and actively listening to the responses.
At the close of every meeting, do you take the time to ask your employees if they have anything they would like to address? Do they have any feedback over what was covered in the meeting? Effective leaders understand the importance of asking these questions and actively listening to the responses.
T—Tenacity
Too many people give up when they are so close to success.
Do not give up on yourself as a leader, on your employees or on your
organization. You are essential to their success. Be the pilot in command of
your organization, not the copilot who follows along.
Do you want your employees to willingly follow you? No one
asks, “How can I be an average leader?” Every day you must show employees that
you believe in the vision of your organization, your employees and the work
that they are doing. To do this effectively, you must take the time to be the
pilot in command and drive the action.
Elizabeth McCormick is a speaker, author, and authority on leadership. A
former U.S. Army Black Hawk Pilot, she is the best-selling author of her
personal development book, The P.I.L.O.T. Method; the 5 Elemental Truths
to Leading Yourself in Life. McCormick teaches easy-to-apply strategies to
boost employees’ confidence in the vision of your organization and their own
leadership abilities. For more information, please visit www.YourInspirationalSpeaker.com.