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Business Rule #28:
Don’t Expect the Worst...
or You’ll Get It
May 6, 2005
by Caroline Pfouts
Co-workers are a lot like family—you don’t usually get to choose them. Even when you can, one of the scariest things about hiring new employees is the realization that you may have to live with your mistakes. No matter how your team is cobbled together though, all managers have to lead employees who are real people who have real problems and real personalities.
“Let’s wait until they’ve left.” Tana Goertz’s new team must have realized her reluctance to ask her question with them still in the boardroom. Brian McDowell, Chris Shelton, and Kristen Kirchner didn’t have to be geniuses to figure out that Tana had some doubts about working with her newly assigned team.
If a staff is like a family, the manager is the mom or dad. Just as kids live up or down to their parent’s expectations, employees are apt to perform to the level demanded of them—no more, no less.
A mother who names her girl “Bubbles” or “Bambi” doesn’t expect her daughter to become a Supreme Court Justice. A father who tells his son how disappointed he is in his athletic ability isn’t likely to raise an MVP. Letting your team know they aren’t your first choice is no way to inspire their top performance.
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Is it any wonder that Net Worth consistently lost this season? Donald Trump kept telling them, “You’re a mess.” Or even better, “I thought you were a winner. You’re not, you’re a loser.” Week after week, anyone assigned to that team failed, regardless of their prior victories. They all did what The Donald pronounced that he expected from them: they lost.
We all have the capability to do great things. As Thomas Edison said, “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.” The question isn’t whether your team can do good work. The issue is how to motivate them to make the extra effort for the group. It’s about getting them to see themselves as winners. The list of factors that motivates people to exceptional performance is short. Money is generally overrated. Self-esteem and recognition, on the other hand, are all too often underrated or overlooked entirely.
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A father who
