Focus on the 90% of Your People Who Are Doing a Great Job

I have heard from many leaders over the years who are frustrated with a few of his or her employees who are difficult, under performing or not contributing to the team.

When I have listened to those leaders I observe that they exhibit low energy, they use a lot of blaming language and they are feeling powerless.

Here’s the deal- leadership is a job that requires the desire to help others to grow, it is a job that requires the commitment to developing the skills of others as well as being the model of calm the majority of the time.

What if you as a leader focused on the 90% of your team and your employees who are great!

How does that shift your energy?

See the difference? By shifting our ‘lens’ of focus to that which is working rather than on what is broken or needs fixed we can put our energies to positive use. When leaders focus on the 90% who are doing it right he or she is investing in providing support, resources and growth to help the 90% succeed beyond current levels.

Its easy to get bogged down by the 10% who are perhaps negative, disruptive, unresponsive but only if we choose to focus on it.

I know this seems such a simplistic answer and many leaders tend to make things overly complex so that they continue the cycle of frustration/anger/blame without even knowing that they have created the cycle in the first place.

For one week I recommend you do the following as a test:

1. Make a conscious commitment to focus on the 90% who are doing a great job- find every opportunity to praise them, to reward them and to give them more resources and support.

2. Notice how your focus and energy shifts by making this conscious commitment.

3. When dealing with the 10% of your team members who are more challenging- see it as a ‘blip’ in the overall positive reality of your team. Deal with the 10% in an accountable coach approach fashion which means identify the behaviors that you want the 10% to change, bring them to the individuals attention, provide solutions and hold them accountable.

Just do this for one week and see what magic occurs- trust me I have helped many leaders shift their ‘lens’ and therefore shift their abilities to leverage his or her skills as a leader.

Research shows that organizations are at high risk of losing their top performers and one of the main reasons is because leaders spend too much of the time focused on the negative performers and not arming the top performers or the great people with additional recognition and resources.

Give it a trial for a week and then tweet me the results my Twitter handle is @cherylcran I can’t wait to hear from you and use the hashtag #leadershipfocus90