A team is only as strong as its weakest link. Leaders must hold team members accountable for their duties and responsibilities. This is only fair to those employees doing a great job.

Hold accountable any team member who is not doing his/her fair share. In order to achieve great things, you must expect great things from your people. Consider these examples:

BE CONSISTENT in your counsel. Hold yourself accountable! Did you TEACH? Did you COACH? Only then can you EXPECT!

BE CONSISTENT in your counsel.

1st offense = verbal warning (ensure clarity of roles and responsibilities)

2nd offense = written warning (get signature for documentation)

3rd offense = final notice (employee must understand that you will support their choice to either improve immediately or to move on to a more rewarding opportunity.)

4th offense = termination

and finally, BE CONSISTENT in your counsel.

In wrapping up this conversation may we reiterate one last time - when you have succeeded in creating a team that is connected, you can count on each of them having a higher degree of personal engagement toward meeting the goals before them.

Still wondering if this connection thing is really that powerful of a concept? Think about the following examples of leaders who have connected with people on a broad scale and the kinds of results that came from achieving such a powerful connection.

  • President Reagan - connected so effectively with the people of a foreign nation and around the world by effectively communicating the words "Mr. Gorbechev, tear down this wall!"

  • Boris Yeltsin - won support from people all across the globe as he stood on a tank and quite literally stared down the face of communism.

The final point here is that you do NOT need to be a world leader in order to be a great leader.

Through the power of connection you can inspire a higher degree of employee engagement which will enable you and your team to achieve new levels of efficiency and production.

Enjoy the journey!

About The Author

Richard Gorham is the founder and President of Leadership-Tools.com. His web site www.leadership-tools.com is dedicated to providing free tools and resources for today's aspiring leaders. Leadership-Tools.com offers tools in the areas of Business Planning, Leadership Development, Customer Service, Sales Management and Team Building.