Today I flew to Atlanta to participate in the MSP University Boot Camp.  United Airlines upgraded me to Business Class on the first leg of my journey, from San Francisco to Chicago.  I was fortunate to sit next to Steve Hazard, Manager Surgical Support for Cochlear.  Cochlear enables deaf people to hear - it's revolutionary.

Consider three key desired results I recommend in my Success With People system that Steve validated:

1. Understand How You Make a Difference: The most important thing you need to do to fully engage employees is help them understand how they are doing meaningful work. Steve told the story of how his product enabled a deaf to regain his hearing. The man and his wife cried. The wife said, "Thank you for giving my husband's life back to him." You can bet Steve loves his work.

2. LOI: Live It - Observe It - Improve It: Steve brings people who manufacturer the Cochlear devices to watch surgeries and meet people with Cochlear implants. One patient was a deaf and blind man in his sixties. This patient visited Cochlear and Steve introduced him to a young technician. Steve encouraged the tech to ask the man a question, so he hesitantly asked, "So what do you think about it?" The patient immediately quipped back, "Well, what do you think about it?" He could hear that quickly and normally. The young tech has never forgotten it.

3. Compensation That Pays: I am a BIG believer in pay-for-performance, but it must relate to the individual. I am sure Steve gets paid well, but because his management is fully engaging him in other ways he does not work for the money. He loves the way he helps improve people's lives. He actually does not want to be paid heavily on his individual performance and would leave if that was mandatory.

It is not hard to be successful with people.  You just have to recognize leadership as your #1 priority and then be intentional about it.  Why not have the rest of your career be the best of your career.

Meeting Ideas

Validation is a reminder that they way to fully engage people has not changed.

Please consider asking your people these questions at your next staff meeting to test how engaged they are in the three desired results discussed above:

1. Tell me a story of a customer that was "wowed" by our company recently? (Maybe you need to ask this client for a testimonial.)

2. Why do you like to work here?

3. What would make your work more meaningful to you?

4. Describe the last time you observed a client using our products or services? What was the benefit to them? What could we have done better? Did we confirm without a doubt the client was happy?

5. What would you like to learn or experience on the job that would make your work more fulfilling?