The Leadership Behavior Your Team Needs Most and Gets Least

Ask any group of dealership employees what they wish their leadership did more of, and the answer is almost always some version of the same thing.

They wish someone would tell them specifically what they are doing well.

Not a general "good job" delivered in passing. Not a team-wide recognition that includes everyone and therefore recognizes no one specifically. A direct, personal, specific acknowledgment of a specific thing they did that reflected the standard the organization is trying to build.

This is the most underinvested leadership behavior in automotive retail. And the cost of that underinvestment is measured in engagement, retention, and the discretionary effort that team members give or withhold based on whether they believe their contribution is genuinely seen.

Research on employee engagement is consistent across industries and decades. People perform at higher levels, stay in organizations longer, and contribute more discretionary effort when they feel recognized and valued. The recognition that produces these outcomes is not elaborate or expensive. It is specific and personal.

The difference between "great job today" and "I noticed how you handled that difficult customer this afternoon, the way you stayed patient and found a solution without escalating it, that is exactly the standard we are building and I want you to know I saw it" is the difference between a moment that is forgotten by tomorrow and one that shapes how that team member approaches every difficult customer interaction going forward.

Specific recognition does several things simultaneously. It tells the team member exactly what behavior to repeat. It communicates that leadership is paying genuine attention. It reinforces the standard in a way that policy and instruction never can. And it builds the kind of trust between manager and team member that makes every subsequent coaching conversation, including the difficult ones, land more effectively. 

The managers who are consistently excellent at this do not have more time than the ones who are not. They have made the decision that noticing and naming what people do well is as important a leadership responsibility as addressing what they do wrong.

That decision, made consistently, changes the culture of a team over time in ways that training programs and incentive structures rarely do.

Who on your team did something worth recognizing today? And did you tell them specifically?

To learn more about creating a winning culture of leadership, register for the next Leadership Summit. Learn more here.