“Building a strong culture is what builds a strong organization.”
Simon Sinek
We love Simon Sinek’s perspective here at Intelisys. Building productive teams and creating a positive culture in today’s workplace can be challenging. As someone who has managed teams for almost ten years, I am still learning what it takes to be a great leader and how to hire, inspire, motivate, and retain. John Wooden said that the best leaders are lifelong learners, and I could not agree more!
This year at ScanSource Channel Connect, we developed and hosted our first-ever Executive Lighting Round Breakfast, where channel leaders convened to share their perspectives and insights on a handful of key topics that are top of mind across the industry.
Our first panel, led by SVP of Supplier Services Paul Constantine, was focused on people, culture, and building teams – a topic many of us (including myself) in the channel are extremely passionate about.
The insights shared in the room are too good not to share broadly with the rest of #IntelisysNation. Here are a few key takeaways I gained from this panel that I’ll be adding to my lessons in leadership arsenal.
Hiring
AT&T’s Chris Jones’ “Compass Rose” hiring philosophy can be deployed to ensure diversity of viewpoints across your team. He suggested that hiring individuals with diverse backgrounds and perspectives can provide numerous benefits, including expedited learning, more intelligent decision-making, and more.
Jim Regan at Vonage had a great suggestion for hiring new employees. He looks for individuals who can tell the company’s story better than he can. Great (read: not just good) candidates will also expect you to provide the right tools, resources, and structure and hold you accountable—so prepare to ensure you can land and retain these prime employees.
Motivating
I loved this advice for motivating individuals: Don’t overlook the obvious…ask them.
Mike Day from GoTo spoke about asking your employees what motivates and demotivates them. While obvious, it’s surprising how frequently this still needs to be done. He has learned that motivators can vary across geographies, cultures, and individuals. Asking the right questions and creating meaningful incentives can dramatically increase performance and loyalty.
As Charlie Pagliazzo from Granite points out, work/life balance matters. He suggested leaders consider offering non-traditional “perks” like flexible work schedules, paid volunteer time, a focus on DE&I, and intramural activities such as sports or book clubs to ensure that your employees can connect and that culture remains king.
Collaborating
Rethink how you prepare and solicit ideas from your team during meetings like Ken Williams from T-Mobile does. He recommended that leaders clearly outline the problem they are trying to solve and the key tenants of why it’s important. Doing this in advance with detailed meeting agendas allows your collaborators to ask questions and provide their thoughts (before sharing your own) before making the final decision.
Leading
Leaders should always strive to be genuine by investing in their employees’ success. And, as David Kelly from Windstream points out, if you’re not taking care of yourself, you can’t take care of others, so it’s important to take time to focus on your health and well-being so you can best serve your team.
Creating a culture of trust is key. As Spectrum’s Marty Leavengood pointed out, trust becomes the currency of any high-performing organization. He suggested taking steps to ensure your employees feel included, valued, and heard, as this will pay huge dividends for you and your organization.
Follow all of these leaders on LinkedIn:
Be on the lookout for my next blog on the second panel in our Executive Lightning Round, which is focused on technology trends and innovations. All of the insights shared by our panelists can be viewed below and on our YouTube channel.
