How Well You Know Your Team Affects Your Results

Two skinny vanilla lattes. Both sugar-free.

One hot chocolate.

One flavor of the day.

One Café Mocha.

One medium roast.

One London Fog—sugar-free and skinny.

An iced coffee, room for milk.

And one dark roast with an extra shot.

That’s my team’s coffee order. 

Read any study on workplace engagement and you’ll find a variety of tactics suggested to improve it. In practicality, there’s no better way to engage your team than to simply show them that you care. And how better to show them you care than to know them? Like, really know them. Please don’t miss the point—knowing their coffee orders is just an example of one of the ways to show that I know them. But it is one way.

How about you—do you know your team?

Do you know how they like to be rewarded?

Do you know how they best hear appreciation?

Do you know their preference for coaching?

Do you know how they spend their time outside of the office?

Do you know their current career goals?

Do you know what they view as their greatest barrier to achieving them?

The list goes on and on, and absolutely none of this information comes on a resume. None of it shows up in the job application. Actually, you could go the entire life cycle of an employee and never know these things. In fact, you won’t know these things unless you are deliberate to learn them.

Leadership that drives significant business results will include an engaged workforce, and real engagement is always rooted in creating a sense of belonging.  Leaders, get to know your team as individuals. Show them you care. You’ll be amazed at the difference it makes in their sense of belonging and your team’s results.