Great leaders invest in their people. They understand that their ultimate role is to develop other people. They invest in human development and professional training, and believe in spending time with their people. Great leaders invest three specific resources in the process of helping people become their best.
Invest Time
Great leaders make a habit of spending time with people in their organization. They realize that in order to bring out the best in people, you must know them well. In order to know them well, you must spend time with them. Their investment of time goes beyond annual performance reviews or traditional staff meetings. Depending on the leader’s personal style, it may include sitting down one-on-one over a cup of coffee every few weeks, bringing the team together after work for a little recreation, or perhaps an annual company trip. Great leaders realize the more they’re around their people the more they get to know them, their dreams, goals and ambitions. Once they know this, they can help their people achieve their personal goals in a way that serves the organization as well.
Additionally, great leaders realize that the best investment of their time is with their top performers. Contrary to conventional wisdom, spending time with top performers produces greater results than working with lower performers trying to improve less than desirable results. This is how the best get better. This is how great performance turns into exceptional performance. This is how records are broken, and quotas are shattered. Great leaders know this and practice it.
Invest Energy
Working with people can be emotionally taxing. Great leaders know this, but also realize it is the price to pay for building a strong organization. They use their energy to think of ways to better maximize the results of their people. They are constantly thinking ahead, listening closely for subtle clues that will help them unlock the potential of the people in their organization.
Great leaders are concerned about their people, even beyond the scope of the organization. They know that trouble in a personal life can affect performance in a professional setting. They invest energy into identifying and helping provide solutions before a problem impacts the organization. Leaders invest their energy in their people, and it pays big dividends.
Invest Money
Great leaders know that the best place they can invest money to grow the organization is in their people. They realize that the greatest untapped potential for success is in the people who work in the organization. Great leaders would rather invest in people than in new wallpaper, carpet, furniture or company vehicles.
About a year ago, I spoke with a vice president at a large insurance company. This executive told me, “We’re not investing in professional development programs for our people this year, because we made a large investment in a new computer system, and that has left us tapped for cash.” What that tells me is that this organization is more interested in the computers than they are in the people who run the computers. This is not to say that capital investments in improving the organization are unimportant, but undeniably, investments into the people who work in and run the organization will always produce greater payoffs. Given a choice between investing in people or investing in other areas of the organization, great leaders choose people.
