After talking with employees to understand process they were using, and listening to frustrations they were experiencing, it quickly became evident that current procedure had lost significant value. What used to work perfectly had now become not only more vulnerable to errors, but costly. And, with business continuing to grow, this was not a short-term challenge.

With minimal investigation I discovered that process could be shortened to two steps, performed by two employees, with one simple solution -- an upgrade of property management software they were using.

Naturally, software upgrade was prominently placed in my assessment and recommendations report. I knew, however, that owners would view this as an expense that would cost them more than $2,000 and, therefore would not likely top their To-Do list.

Time for "no pain, no change" discussion.

In addition to recommending software upgrade, I detailed a conservative estimation of current 'real' costs associated with this procedure that primarily consisted of overtime and error reconciliation. I then detailed estimated resulting costs associated with implementing upgrade. The difference? A savings of nearly $7,500 a year! That's a significant profit leak for a small, 6-person operation.

Do you think owners were more motivated to change habit that currently supports $7,500 profit-draining leak? You bet they were! Suddenly, it was evident that $2,000 software upgrade was an investment, not an expense. It carries measurable ROI.

Because client could now see an immediate (financial) pain, there was an increase in desire for immediate (procedural) change. Every critical process of your own business should be looked at with this same "no pain, no change" assessment.

What is it really costing you to do what you've always done?

Identify pain, and you'll increase desire for change.

Now, reconsider these questions with regard to this person.

- What specifically did they do?

- How did they behave towards you and others to create this feeling in you?

- How much fear did you feel associated with working for them?

- Did you feel controlled or influenced by them? In other words, did they have an indirect effect on your behavior, or did they directly regulate your behavior?

We’ll call this person Worst Supervisor.

Most people say that Best Supervisor got more voluntary effort and better long-term performance and relationship results from their team. I have yet to meet person who says Worst Supervisor got great performance from their team.

Now consider this question for a moment: Who do you think these two people thought/think about first? Most people say that Best Supervisor tends to keep their focus on others. Most people also say that Worst Supervisor tends to think only of themselves and their interests.

The question for leaders becomes – How do I want people on my team to view me?

The answer lies in how we, leaders, think.

Our thoughts become words or actions that influence behavior of people around us. When I focus on my personal desires, I act in selfish ways. When I act in selfish ways, I inspire mediocre performance in my team. When I focus on team, I act in team’s best interest. When I act in team’s best interest, I inspire high-level performance in my team.

As I close this article, my mind is racing with possible questions and qualifying statements. Due to space and time constraints, I haven’t even begun to address some of issues that come to mind:

- How does this apply to team members who don’t want to play nice?

- How do you preserve integrity of your vision while working with people who see things differently? etc.

These issues are too big to consider all at once. I'll address these related issues at a different time. So for now, I encourage you to remember this one tip . . . Develop a “we” focus and not a “me” focus.