Finding the right person to employ in today’s competitive job environment is just one of the many challenges that managers face on almost a daily basis. Once you find the right people and you make a commitment to develop and make those people part of your team, it is imperative that you then take the steps to keep the people bound to the organization. Money is not the way to do this. What you have to do is really very simple. It is something that is so often overlooked by managers who are so focused on tasks that they forget about the importance of the human psyche in the process of achieving the task at hand. To be effective in today’s environment, a manager has to be a leader and a leader has to be a good manager.

The difference between managers and leaders is simply put as follows: A manager is one who worries about things first and people second. A leader worries about people first and things second. To be effective leaders, we have to manage the tasks associated with job performance with a solid understanding as to the contributions the people in our organization lend to achieving the task. Without solid performers we will not be successful no matter how simple or how difficult the task is. So, how do we build a successful team?

The managers and leaders within an organization should practice the following activities in an effort to make an investment in the development of their people and to create loyalty and commitment to the organization. One of the easiest and best ways to motivate your staff is to take an interest in things that are important to them. Know the name of their wife, the names of their children, or what their interests are. Take time to take an interest.

Another method of involvement is to share everything with the team. The more things that you keep from an employee, the more isolated and excluded they feel. It is important that we practice an attitude of inclusion rather than exclusion. Another important element of management and leadership skills development is having a good sense of humor. Anyone that can laugh at himself, laugh at a situation, and laugh with others is someone that can relate well. Relating well is what it takes to get the job done. If you are willing to laugh with someone, you are demonstrating a commitment to that person; you are taking an interest in them. This helps to create loyalty. Loyalty and commitment are keys to every organization’s success and to every team’s success. If you don’t have unified commitment, you won’t be able to achieve the goals of the team.

Finally, remember not everything goes right all the time. You want your people to think outside the box. In order to be a high-performance team, they have to be willing to take risks. When they do take risks and it works, you have to praise in public. When they take risks and it fails, you have to criticize in private. If criticism is required, you then need to sit down and review what went right and what went wrong and how the same situation can be approached differently in the future to achieve a different outcome.

Success is never absolute and neither is failure. We have degrees of success and failure in almost everything we do. Developing discipline, commitment, loyalty, and risk-takers will allow you to build a team that will exceed your every expectation.