MANAGEMENT SERIES


IN ASSOCIATION WITH


A MATTER OF TRUST


Are you a manager or a leader, and are you getting the best out of your team? Justin Tamsett explores the fascinating topic of employee management and motivation


W hen you Google


‘managing staff’, over 290,000,000 options pop up. Head to YouTube and


there are 120,000 videos you can watch. The end result is information overload. How you manage your team is your


unique skill. It’s what your team will love and respect about you. And there isn’t a wrong way to do it – just different and perhaps enhanced ways. This article offers suggestions that you can morph into your own personality, allowing you to become the unique leader – not just a manager – of your team.


Management versus leadership Regardless of your experience, when working with a team you will get better performance from leading them rather than managing them. But what exactly is the difference?


Figure 1: The five dysfunctions of a team


Inattention to Results


Avoidance of


Accountability Lack of


Commitment Fear of


Confl ict


Absence of Trust


52 Read Health Club Management online at healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital Managers have a tendency to tell their


team what to do, and perhaps even when to do it, while a leader works with the team to design a plan. A manager might jump in and take over because that’s the easier option, while a leader will coach his troops to do the task. A manager will get frustrated or angry at mistakes; a leader accepts mistakes on the journey to peak performance. In his book Leaders Eat Last, Simon


Sinek explains that, in the US Marine Corp, the fi rst people to eat at chow time are the lowest ranked. What’s symbolic in the chow hall is deadly serious on the battlefi eld: great leaders sacrifi ce their own comfort – even their own survival – for the good of those in their care. This principle has been true since


the earliest tribes of hunters and gatherers. It’s not a management theory


– it’s biology. Our brains and bodies evolved to help us fi nd food, shelter, mates and especially safety. We’ve always lived in a dangerous world, facing predators and enemies at every turn. We thrived only when we felt safe among our group. Our biology hasn’t changed in 50,000


years, but our environment has. Today’s workplaces tend to be full of cynicism, paranoia and self-interest – the modern- world dangers. The best organisations foster trust and co-operation because their leaders build what Sinek calls a ‘circle of safety’ that separates the security inside the team from the challenges outside. The circle of safety leads to stable, adaptive, confi dent teams, where everyone feels they belong and all energies are devoted to facing the common enemy and seizing big opportunities. As the leader of your team, your


challenge is to build your own circle of safety by developing deep trust.


Building a team In his book, Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni outlines – not surprisingly given the title – the five dysfunctions of any team (see Figure 1). Similar to Sinek, Lencioni believes the


most important way to build a team and drive maximum performance from them is to develop trust. Once trust is there, it’s possible to have open and honest discussions – around performance, for example – without your team fearing such ‘confl ict’. They know these are constructive conversations that have no hidden agenda and thus shouldn’t be taken personally. To help build trust among your team,


you might consider introducing the concept of ‘rankings’ into team meetings. Have your team rank their work life, family life and personal life out of 10 and


July 2014 © Cybertrek 2014


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92