How to Coach Self-managed and Self-disciplined Team Members
Est. reading time 1 minute
(Video Transcript - lightly edited for clarity)
Self-managed and self-disciplined people -, think about that. If everybody on your team was self-managed self-disciplined, how easy is your job?
You see when people are self-managed and self-disciplined we can get down to what counts, helping team members fulfill their dreams. I always had a policy: If I have to manage you, I don't need you, if I have to discipline you, I don't need you.
So if you establish a culture that says you have an open-door policy; however, don't come to me with everything. Then you must learn how to teach your people how to resource and look up answers to questions for themselves and be self-managed.
How do we teach them to be self-managed? Stop answering all their questions. Here's a great tip: Never let somebody come to you with a question without two or three possible solutions. Guess what, they're going to look into it, they're going to come to you with solutions. Do you have a better one? Probably, but I'll bet you 9 times out of 10 they have the answer.
By doing this, you're going to build their self-esteem because they go: “WOW, my boss thought I was right!” This makes them happy. So when you learn to establish that self-managed, self-disciplined culture within your team, have them research the answers to the questions before they come to you.
I always have them come to you with two or three solutions to their questions. You just make sure you let them know they're on the right track. The entire process of building a winning team hinges on hiring self-managed and self-disciplined people.
When you do, your life will change. You'll add more people. You'll have people waiting to join your team because your reputation will precede you in the marketplace. Agents and support staff pay attention to the culture because the culture is extremely important today unlike it was ten years ago. People are looking to fit in somewhere.
It's your responsibility as a team leader to explain what that means on your team.