Weekly Success Tip

In our final lesson of our six part series on what it takes to hire and retain the most talented staff according to research conducted by the Gallup Organisation, I'm reminded of some events in the lead up to the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

You may recall many months before the Games we had a couple of major transport unions  including bus drivers threatening to go on strike, just as the world's attention was turning to Sydney and several high ranking officials from the Olympic committee were visiting Sydney to inspect final preparations for the games.

To the great embarrassment of Government officials, there were some strikes and even fist fights which threatened to ruin the games if demands weren't met.

Now you can quite easily say that was extortion, inappropriate, outrageous and plain wrong, but the solution is always in asking this question 'what did they want'?

I find most people are reasonable, and to go to such extent as to strike before a major national and world event says that something is seriously wrong... which leads me to question number six.

6. Is there someone at work who encourages my development?

Now 67 years before the birth of Christ, Horace said: 'Namo dat quad nan habit'...

Loosley translated this mean, 'you cannot give something you have not got'.

Clearly it's difficult to encourage somebody else's development if you're not developing. In the case of the bus drivers I'm certain the dispute was about wages and conditions, and I'm equally certain they receive no training on etiquette and customer service. It's even at the point where some bus drivers are like cowboys when it comes to their attitude, which is unfortunate for tourists and the commuting public.

I would even suggest there is no one that encourages their development at work, and I wonder why that is?

In my experience to date, I have never found a single manager who consistently encouraged others in their development who was not personally committed to constant study, training and development of their own.

So let me ask you some questions:

Jim Rohn says, "Every Manager should go through this day; the let's not kid ourselves anymore day".

So ask yourself this question right now and rate yourself from 1 (low) to 5 (high)

6. Is there someone at work who encourages my development?

Remember, regardless of your position or job title, you can be a leader and leaders encourage others.

This concludes our six part series. Look out for something completely new next week...