People … staff … contractors … managers … clients … women … men …
Love them or hate them, you have to deal with them unless you are going to go and live under a rock. You wouldn’t make much of an impact on the world and I’ll bet you’d get lonely sooner or later.
Does the perfect person exist? No, but everyone can work on it.
Imagine a person who:
- Is willing to help, benefit and serve others.
- Takes control of situations and make it come out right.
- Who really cares, and takes responsibility for mistakes.
- Communicates what you need to know, so you can make correct decisions.
- Is interested in you, your organisation and their job.
- Keeps their promises and follows through on deadlines.
- Is a fit for their role and the culture of your organisation.
- Delivers valuable results and makes statistics grow.
Sounds like a dream, but almost everyone is capable of these qualities.
These are the hallmarks of a valuable person, employee, business owner, associate, etc.
No matter where a person is on the scale, they can lift themselves up.
Let’s take up each point:
Willing to help, benefit & serve others
Help means to improve a situation or problem, to offer services or resources which make it easier for someone or something to succeed.
The more you help, the more successful you can become. It is true of a person and a business.
All organisations should help their customers, staff, suppliers etc.
Help comes in many forms:
- An understanding ear, when you’ve got a problem.
- The right advice when you need it.
- Someone who’s got your back.
- Getting the job done no matter what.
- Any service which makes your life easier.
- Staff who do their jobs well.
- Even the janitor who cleans your toilets is helping you!
The list is endless.
And don’t forget to help yourself! Learning new skills, doing something you enjoy (that is beneficial) are all part of a successful life.
When you look closely, every role in an organisation exists to provide some form of help.
Valuable people help others.
Valuable organisations help all stakeholders.
Controlling Situations to a Positive Outcome
I’m not talking about governmental “control” — taxes, silly laws and red tape. Nor am I talking about destructive people who dominate and injure others for their own benefit.
Control means the power to influence or direct people’s behaviour, or the course of events.
- If you don’t control your car it crashes
- If you don’t control your finances you end up in debt.
- If you don’t control your staff, your business fails.
Situations that aren’t controlled end in disaster. Situations with a successful outcome, had someone exerting power and influence.
Someone ever stop you from walking out in front of a car? They controlled you … wasn’t so bad eh?
People love control which involves their benefit.
They don’t always like it at the time, but sane people will thank you in the end.
People Who Really Care and Take Responsibility for Mistakes
No one is perfect. We all make mistakes. Sometimes they’re hard to admit!
Show me a person who never makes an error and I’ll show you a person who never does anything! I’d rather deal with effective people who make the occasional error, than a “saint” in an ivory tower.
When a person gets into action, errors are bound to happen. The real test is this:
Do they take responsibility and fix it up?
Passing on Vital Information
Every leader needs vital information to make correct decisions.
People who withhold vital information are sabotaging your ability to manage. Successful groups work as a team and there’s a free flow of vital information. This allows management to do a good job and the team to function in harmony.
Imagine your right leg not knowing what your left leg was doing? It would be pretty hard to walk.
Communication of vital information makes an effective and united team.
Interested in their work & the Organisation
Interest is an interesting thing. It’s not physical but you can see it. It means: Wanting to know or learn about something or someone; the quality of holding the attention.
When people are absorbed in their phones or Facebook — that’s interest.
You want the same level of interest in their job, the people around them, and the challenges to be overcome.
Disinterested people are horrible to be around, remember the last time you were trying to get something done and people didn’t care?
It takes a high level of interest in people and work to succeed.
Keeping Promises & Following Through
Let’s face it — real results, real project completion — require follow through.
Anything worthwhile takes effort and persistence, otherwise, everyone would do it! Follow through is needed in every role from the top of the organisation to the very bottom.
You need teammates you can trust, to move with certainty and speed. It’s hard to go full speed ahead if no one’s got your back!
People who keep their promises and follow through are more valuable.
A fit for their role & the Organisation
No matter how valuable the person, they have to be a fit for your organisation, your culture.
Same goes for the role. A creative chef is not a fit for an accounting role, unless you want to cook the books!
A grumpy, but high performing salesperson may not fit a young, groovy start-up.
Business is more fun & productive with people who are a fit.
Making Statistics Grow
A statistic (stats) is a number that represents facts, or describes a situation.
If you don’t have accurate stats you don’t know the facts or what the true situation is. Is it getting better? Is it getting worse?
If you don’t measure the speed of your car, you get tickets. If you don’t keep track of your bank account, you overspend!
If you don’t measure staff, you can’t manage them. Most people know this but don’t take the time to measure their people.
If you don’t have stats, you don’t know who’s valuable and who’s not.
Your best people improve situations. They make their stats grow.
Summary
Anyone can become more valuable by working on the above qualities. People all over the world have these qualities — it’s what makes the world go around.
These people do exist and they’re called Vwork™ People (Valuable Work).
If you want more of these on your team, find out more about the Vwork Hiring System and how it can fine-tune your hiring process and help you build a productive team.
Until next time, may your team be true … and perfect people help you.
Ask Oisín
If you want to find out more about the Vwork™ Hiring System, schedule a chat here.
Be Valuable,
Oisín Grogan is the $200 Million Business Coach.
Founder of the Vwork System—Hiring & Team Productivity.
He provides Results-Driven Coaching Programs & guidance to help leaders hire better staff, increase productivity & reach their goals faster.