Get Better at Getting Better

by Chandramouli Venkatesan

To be successful, you must make your team better. The biggest benefit of a team getting better accrues to the boss. To make the team better, you have to change your hiring strategy: From looking for the right answers to your questions to looking for the methods to finding the answers. From looking for past success to looking for the GBM that predicts success in the future. The same technique helps you get hired. Don’t stop at giving the answer to a question; show them how you have built capabilities in getting to that answer and how those capabilities can make a difference to the new assignment. To make your existing team better, there are four techniques you can use: Focus on the ‘why’. Set high standards which force them to get better. Do not misinterpret setting high standards as a licence to setting high and unreasonable targets. Make the effort to drive formal training where you are the trainer. Leverage company processes like appraisals and development planning to make a difference to the teams. If you are trying to make the team better for your selfish gain, they will not accept it. The greatest gain from helping your team get better comes to you, but the right intent and values are the licence you require for that. 10 Leveraging the External Ecosystem Many years back, when I was the head of marketing at Cadbury, I conducted a session for the younger people in the marketing team.