You ARE Your Staff

You are your staff - Your staff are you. Huh? In other words, the way customers, competition, and your bosses look at you is a direct reflection of your staff . . . and visa versa.

As Lee Cockerell says in his book, Creating Magic: 10 Common Sense Leadership Strategies From a Life at Disney, "your people are your brand". As I've said before, you are not alone. Leadership is not a one way street. If you have remarkable staff, chances are you'll be looked at as remarkable. If you have lazy staff, well, you get the picture.

Just as you would work hard to choose the best materials to create a product or develop the best routine's for your CSRs, you have to choose the right people to create those products and answer those phones. It all really becomes part of your brand - the ability to make the right choices.

Lee uses a great example in his book to illustrate this: "A head chef may be a great culinary artist, but if he or she does not hire the right people, train them well, and inspire them to prepare every single dish perfectly, he or she will quickly end up cooking for one."

A key to your top branding is - hire people with leadership ability and potential. These people think - and perform - differently than your average "it's just a job" employee. They WANT to be there. They WANT to learn and succeed. They WANT the organization to succeed. They'll act as a positive influence on others and help "keep the peace". You think you're stressed? Hire the right people and watch that stress level drop.

Remember - Leadership is not a one man show. You are not alone. You CAN'T be alone. It takes some good planning and smart thinking.