7 Qualities of the Best Staff

Several years ago, I circled up all the Executives and had them list their best staff. I asked them, “If you graded all of your staff on a scale of 1-10, who would you give a 9 or a 10?”

Out of 300 staff, we had about 15% that we would give a 9 or a 10. If you research, that is fairly standard. Statistically, 15% of your team are the high performers and 15% of your team should probably be shown the door. The other 70% are at varying degrees of average.

I brought our 9's and 10's together in several focus groups and we talked about why they were better. I was hoping that we could “bottle up” their spirit and hopefully move our number to 20% or 25%.

A funny thing evolved from the focus groups. They all said the same thing. It was uncanny how the traits of a “10 Lifeguard” were the same traits of a “10 Welcome Center Staff.” These 45 staff came up with the 7 Qualities of the Best Staff.

1.       Serve Others First: Their job was all about the members and participants. They help members, their peers, their bosses, etc. They are overly excited about people hitting goals and are innately aware of when members are absent.

2.       Act with Integrity: They go out of their way to make sure that every transaction is clean and transparent. When they say they will follow up, they follow up. They show up for work on time and are somewhat OCD about their timeclock management.

3.       Be a Part of the Team: The best staff know the importance of staff meetings, changing shifts with their peers, and helping in other departments on special events. These are the staff that take extraordinary pride in recognizing others for great work.

4.       Create New Ideas: When they visit other Y’s they always bring back ideas. The best staff suggest new and innovative ways to do their jobs.

5.       Be an Expert at the Job: It is critical to stay up on the latest skills and techniques of their job. You can see them practice and/or hungry to learn.

6.       Build Relationships: They know everyone’s name, birthday and special life event. They give these over the top welcomes. They are the staff that get the hugs. These are the staff that you see cornered up listening to a member’s story.

7.       Take Initiative: They don’t wait for a boss to say do something. They just do it.

How do you stack up?

GREAT LOVE SONGS

Three signs that I am getting old. First, a few weeks back I saw someone messing with my neighbor’s car while he was gone so I called the police. It turned out to be his friend playing a joke on him. My daughter Ryanne just laughed and said “Old Man!” Second, Saturday mornings are spent with a cup of coffee and watching my bird feeders and yelling at the squirrels. And third, when I drive I listen to talk radio.

I am not quite bad enough to be yelling at the kids to get out of my yard yet, but I may be getting close.

While driving recently, the talk radio show had a discussion on the best love songs. That is a hard question. Some songs remind you of that slow dance in middle school when you wanted the world to stop spinning and time stand still because it couldn’t get any more perfect. Kind of the Winnie Cooper and Kevin Arnold moment.

Then there is one of those dates in high school when the song comes on while you sit in her drive way and try and think of how you’re going to kiss her good night. When it happens and you get back to your car, and you really aren’t sure how you actually drive home.

Some songs bring back the memory of rewinding the cassette and playing that song over and over. You would just take roads and detours so you could play the song one more time.

And the songs that are some remote song on an album that elicit a sweet memory with your wife and only mean something to you and your bride. When it pops up on your play list the kids wonder why you start holding hands.

With all that, I wanted to list my top five (impossible) and then top ten (too difficult). So I settled on a top 40 (Too Many)…… but today I will share my top 20. Do you have any of the same?

20.   My Funny Valentine – Frank Sinatra

19.   One Hundred Ways – James Ingram

18.   The Closer I Get To You – Roberta Flack

17.   All of Me – John Legend

16.   Too Hot – Kool and the Gang

15.   After the Love is Gone – Earth Wind and Fire

14.   The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face – Roberta Flack

13.   God Only Knows – The Beach Boys

12.   You’re the First, The Last, My Everything – Barry White

11.   Back at One – Brian McKnight

10.   Let’s Get It On – Marvin Gaye

9.       Just Once – James Ingram

8.       The Way You Look Tonight – Tony Bennett

7.       You Don’t Know Me – Michael McDonald

6.       Your Song – Elton John

5.       Here and Now – Luther Vandross

4.       Endless Love – Luther Vandross / Lionel Ritchie

3.       Have I told You Lately – Van Morrison

2.       Always and Forever – Heatwave

1.       Our Love – Michael McDonald

Mr. Poole

Mr. Poole died this week. For the past 30-years he’s told me to call him Bill, but he will forever be Mr. Poole.

Between the ages of 14 and 20, the Poole house was my home away from home. I probably spent the night there at least 30 times a year. I am thankful he never charged me and the entire crew for eating and drinking him out of house and home!

One weekend, he confronted our group about some missing Chivas Regal. I told him I didn’t “Know Nothing About No Buick Regal.” It took a while for him to let me live it down.

I also had a Bassett Hound who would wander the neighborhood and knock over trash cans. One morning early he found my dog with her collar stuck on the post that rolls the cans out to the road. He gently helped my dog loose and then kicked over the trash can for her and said, “Have at it!”

One thing I am so thankful to Bill Poole for is my love of Jazz music and Frank Sinatra. I guess I was about 15 years old when I walked in the house and he was playing Frank Sinatra and his Concert for the Americas. I may have been the only 16-year-old driving around with cassettes of Frank Sinatra, Earl Klugh, Grover Washington, Jr., Stanley Clark and George Duke. Now that I think of it, that may explain my dating history or lack thereof.

When I look back on my teenage years I am thankful for a wonderful neighborhood (Holly Tree), back yard football, hide and seek, riding my bike everywhere, learning to drive, dozens of friends, first kisses, broken hearts, big apologies, too many of William’s car accidents to count and being raised by a group of adults that weren’t my parents but then again were! Know what I mean?

Thanks Mr. Poole! ……..Bill.

The Yah-Yah Club

A few years back I took our Y Executive team on a bench marking trip to visit a vendor who has been recognized multiple times for their work place environment.

 
One of the funny things that we learned about their culture is they have this principle rule around the office called “No Yah-Yah.” It doesn’t sound like the Yah-Yah from the Sisterhood but more nasaly. (Sounds like ant) Say it to yourself……More nasal….perfect…No Yah-Yah!

It just means that you don’t complain and whine all the time. I recently read a phrase and shared in our staff training to “leave the drama with your mama!” It is the same principle.

We all have those people in our lives that are just negative. They are the naysayers. They sound like Charlie Brown in that everything that happens in their lives is bad. And when you have a story, they always trump it with a negative comment. They kill culture in your office. They destroy family gatherings, dinner parties, Sunday school, PTA, youth sports, yard work, nap time, car rides…you name it they stomp it into the ground. They create what a recent article in Men’s Health magazine calls “the Bitch Spiral.”

The people that bother me the most are the ones that can come up with 10 ways and idea want work instead of just one way that it can. Can’t never could and won’t never will!

Have you ever noticed that those people are never successful? I mean, the leaders in our world are never the cynics. Oh, you will get the occasional complaint or back to reality comment, but for the most part, great leaders are positive people. Think about it. Name a successful person that is negative all of the time. You can’t do it. Great leaders have to have the belief that they will succeed no matter the circumstances and that usually inspires other leaders around them.

I think of people like Cubs Manager Joe Madden, Bono, Steve Jobs, Tom Hanks and Bill Gates as leaders who have passion for their jobs and an undeniable belief in themselves and the mission of their work. That is what inspires and motivates our peers, the people we lead and even those that lead us.

Make a pact that tomorrow at work, at home, at school or even in the back yard talking to your neighbor, whenever they start the bitch spiral, you spiral back. Be the better person and above the fray!

Remember, We “No Yah-Yah” around here!