How do you build a high-performance environment and consistently get the most out of your team?
My friend, world-class sales leader, and CRO at Rubrik, Inc., Brian McCarthy recently shared with me one of his secrets: LOVE. . .
To be clear, Brian was talking about a different type of love—which is more benevolent or well-intentioned. It’s the sincere belief and feeling that you, as a leader, care about your people and genuinely have their best interests in mind.
Unlike the unconditional love you feel for your family, when it comes to your team at work we’re talking about CONDITIONAL LOVE—and the condition is this:
HIGH PERFORMANCE STANDARDS AND EXPECTATIONS.
If you want to get more out of your team, the message you should be sending to your people is—I believe in you more than you believe in yourself. I’m going to push you. I’m going to challenge you and I’m going to stretch you to help you grow.
Magic happens when you’re grounded in the right intention and your people can feel that energy—when there’s authentic congruence between what you feel, what you believe, what you say, and what you do.
This is how you move people. This is how you lead people.
As Brian pointed out, when a foundation of trust and love is firmly established, and your team can feel that you genuinely care for them, their hopes, their dreams, and their family—it allows you to challenge them and have hard conversations because they know your intention is coming from a good place.
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So, where should you start?
In short, get to know your people. Really invest the time to get to know your team—on a personal level. Understand what makes them tick. Understand their background, their upbringing, their family, their hopes, their dreams and goals. Understand their biggest aspirations and their greatest fears.
How is this relevant to driving top-tier performance?
Having worked with thousands of sales leaders and teams over the years, I’ve noticed something interesting:
The more you get to know someone, the more you start to understand them.
The more you start to understand them, the more you start to care about them.
The more you start to care, the more they will start to contribute.
