The most important of the 8R’s
At the risk of being called a tease, you have to be part of our Summit Group to get the full description of the 8R’s and how these add up to the formula for getting the very best out of the people who work for you.
However, prompted by something that happened to my daughter last week, I’m going to share one of them…
My daughter is a newly qualified lawyer working for the sixth largest firm in the world. It’s her dream job and she’s loving how her career is taking off. So much so, that for the last two months she’s been working late every day, often till 1am, and every weekend too, on a huge deal in the energy sector. Last Monday the case was settled prior to trial, and her clients got the result they wanted. However, in effect, all the hard work counted for nothing as the case was never heard by a judge – a last minute deal, literally minutes before the trial was scheduled to begin, put paid to that. Later that day, the senior partner of the London office sent a note out to all the firm congratulating the team and naming my daughter, amongst others, for her special contribution. This praise was then added to by the Global Head Partner with a short but equally highly, impactful note.
Two emails, each taking maybe a few minutes to compose, caused a hugely positive approach – someone who had given hundreds of extra unpaid hours, that could be argued to of been a waste of time, was beaming ear to ear as a consequence of the recognition she received, (her Dad had a big smile too!).
Recognition. It’s possibly the most powerful way to cause people to give their discretionary effort. And yet it’s used so sparingly. Which begs the question, why? My sense is it’s not culturally our default to give praise in this country. We’re often embarrassed when we receive it and consequently don’t give it out. But it works so well, to quote Napoleon, “A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of coloured ribbon.” I encourage our Summit Group members to have a recognition system and checklist – but you have to be a member to get these… we’re recruiting for the 2018 Summit Group now – give me a call if you’d like to learn more.
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