Where do the really good people go to work?

• Author: Wiesner, Pat
• Position: FROM JUST OVER THE HILL

SOMETIME IN THE EARLY NINETIES, WE decided that we were causing some of our own problems because we weren't training our own salesmen. Business was good and growing, but we wanted to make our team better. So for 10 or so years we ran classes and asked everyone who attended to rank, in order of importance, a dozen reasons they might go to work for a company. The list included items like: Working Hours, Ethical Company, Growth Opportunity, Salary, Guaranteed Advancement, Paid Vacation and Leadership Training.

One important but unexpected outcome was that salary never averaged higher than fourth. So my first suggestion is that while everybody wants as much money as they can get, to most people ...

There Are at Least Three Things More Important Than Money

You have to find out what each individual on the team is personally invested in and how to encourage their best possible contribution. This takes lots of time. First, a great team needs a leader who will treat each member individually and tailors relationships to leverage each member of the team and vice versa. Plus, the leader must also help each member of the group take this concept to subgroups and replicate it there--and therefore through the entire organization.

Take the time to learn enough to feel comfortable telling each team member that you will help him or her achieve their goals if they help you achieve yours. It is a marvelous experience to work in a "help everyone forward" environment like this. It doesn't happen very often and takes a lot of work to get there.

The leader of this kind of group has to be ethical and comfortable being him/herself. The difference between...