Leader’s Top Disciplines Series IV: Designing Work That Your Team Loves (You Too)

On to article four of the Leadership in Hospitality (in the Golf Industry) Series. Surprise, I found more inspiration in the writing/posting of Marcus Buckingham. For this one, I’ll share the points I’ve gleaned from his book “Designing Work That People Love.”

In Designing Work That People Love, Buckingham shares his belief that creating meaningful and fulfilling work for individuals within an organization is highly worthwhile and, better yet, highly impactful in driving the productivity and impact of teams. Primarily, he centers on the belief that team members (employees) will perform at their best and feel truly motivated when their work (their role) aligns with their natural strengths, passions, and desires. Further, like a great sports coach, Buckingham stresses the importance of designing roles that allow people to thrive or flourish. Here’s a quick summary of his framework for designing roles:

• The Role of Strengths: Buckingham underscores the importance of understanding and leveraging individual strengths in the workplace. He argues that when people are engaged in work that highlights their natural talents, they are more likely to feel motivated and perform at their best. Strengths are specific to each person, and a leader’s role is to identify them and ensure that employees are doing work that fits their unique capabilities.
  • In hospitality and golf operations, each employee—whether in guest services, food and beverage, or golf course maintenance—has unique strengths.
  • In James Clear’s book, Atomic Habits, (listen to it on Spotify, like I did 3x) he has a chapter focused on work that isn’t too easy, or too hard…it needs to be just right to maintain motivation. Clear calls it the “Goldilocks Rule,” where staying motivated requires finding the right balance between difficulty and skill, neither too easy nor too hard, to achieve a state of flow and intrinsic motivation. In other words, it should be something they can do, something that taps into their innate talents and strengths, but also be something that requires them to grow, think on their feet (and “live at the edge” of their comfort zone.)
  • Want to show your team how much you care? Take the time to discover (or uncover) and nurture these individual strengths. And then, schedule informal check-ins and personalized 360⁰ feedback to help all involved can better understand what’s working right, what needs some attention and where they are excelling and thriving.
• The Power of Autonomy: One of the primary drivers of job satisfaction, according to Buckingham, is autonomy. People should have the freedom to make decisions about their work and how they approach challenges. This autonomy fosters a sense of ownership and responsibility, which in turn drives performance and engagement.
  • “Define Their Box” (Autonomy within it): Our front-line employees often deal with dynamic and fast-paced situations that require quick decision-making under pressure (and possibly conflict). Giving employees autonomy to manage their workload and make decisions that still get the leader’s clearly defined outcomes (without constant supervision) will drive higher job satisfaction and quicker, more effective responses to customer needs.
• Clarifying Expectations: People need to know exactly what is expected of them in their roles. Uncertainty or lack of clear goals leads to frustration and disengagement. Buckingham states that 1) setting clear expectations and 2) aligning employees’ roles with business objectives (and getting their buy-in/understanding) is crucial to ensuring that employees feel they are making a meaningful contribution.
  • “Define Their Box” (Delegating within it): As stated in the previous bullet, clear communication of job expectations (and outcomes) is especially crucial in hospitality and golf, where employees’ roles can be complex and multifaceted. “Systems, scripts and outcomes define the box, but the team member brings it to life to make it an experience worth having.”
  • Define Their Box (Goal-Driven within it): Engage them in setting specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals for themselves and share how their role, their goals and their productivity will drive broader organizational objectives, creating a more cohesive and motivated team.
• Creating a Sense of Belonging: A strong sense of team identity and belonging is essential for creating a work environment where people feel valued and supported. A leader must foster a culture of inclusivity and connection, where individuals feel they are part of something bigger than themselves.
  • “Define Their Box” (Who’s Got Their 6?):A leader’s success in each of the above bullets will undoubtedly build and foster a sense of belonging that is part of a high trust, highly collaborative team environment where the motto is more “better together” vs “I’m better alone” or similar. In the stress that always hits on the longest days, it is the “6” that gets tested or built. Who’s got my back? Whose back do I have? These are the questions asked and answered by attitudes and effort delivered by every member of the team.
• Balancing Challenge and Support: As outlined in the “Role of Strengths” bullet, effective leaders must hit the center of the face (aka the sweetspot) between challenging individuals on the team and the “squad” on their teams to stretch their abilities so it’s not always comfortable and close to boring. Employees need opportunities to grow, but they also need reassurance that they have the resources and support to meet the challenges ahead.
  • “Define Their Box” (Who Will Tell Them Truth in the Right Way?): Any parent knows that children will tend to “feel for where the guardrails are” and, in my experience, it seems employees are no different. Like children, team members need to know they matter and they have value. One of the best (and hardest) ways leaders can prove how the team member matters is when they need to say the “hard thing in the more appropriate way and context.” Often, the stressed leader just unloads on the team member(s) and it goes from “sharing the truth” to “harsh and unhelpful. I’d be lying if I said I’ve never fallen into that trap (and you know that.)
• Fostering Positive Feedback: Going further, and somewhat naturally, Buckingham highlights the importance of honest and relevant positive feedback in maintaining employee engagement and motivation. In other words, it has to be current and believable. Constructive feedback, recognition of accomplishments, and encouragement can boost morale and strengthen an employee’s commitment to their work.
  • “Define Their Box” (Top Employees Often Get Taken for Granted): The last two bullets can get us to think only of the average or slightly below team members who need to be re-engaged, re-oriented and similar more often. Of course, that makes sense. Positive reinforcement for high performers is often an afterthought because they are consistent in delivering their best. Think differently about how to acknowledge their excellence and how to model the right behaviors. Doing so in private, and in group settings can go a long way to fueling their vocation (not their job) and keep the momentum going for the whole team that looks to them for what is needed.
• Designing Work as a Continuous Process: Designing meaningful work is not a one-time event, it is a journey. Buckingham stresses that leadership must be a continual process of assessing and tweaking the work experience to ensure that it aligns with both organizational outcomes (goals) and individual team members’ aspirations.
  • “Define Their Box” (Redefine It and Re-develop it When Needed): With AI, evolving communication methods for customers/members and between team members, hospitality leaders must be open to continuous “kaizen-style” growth in their own leadership style with the team. A wise, modern leader would embrace an iterative approach to work design. Regularly assessing and adjusting workflows, team structures, and job roles to ensure the work experience stays relevant, engaging and enhances team cohesiveness for all members of the squad.

Clearly, and now that there are new factors and megatrends/economics that are affecting our industry “post-Covid,” it would seem that Marcus Buckingham’s book has even greater relevance in defining the work experience for the team members we count on the most to drive top-line revenues (and needed revenue growth) at every type of facility in our beautiful and varied PNW Section.

Applying principles from Designing Work That People Love can significantly improve team performance, employee morale and team cohesion. By re-centering on strengths, autonomy, clear expectations, belonging, and positive feedback, you can be a modern leader who creates an engaging, collaborative and consistently high performing work environment for your team members that, in turn, drives top-line revenue growth and sustainability when instability is the norm.

If you’re a leader now or an emerging leader on the path to leading your own organization, I would love to connect with you when you have time to talk about the context of your situation and how we can work together to help you apply these principles in your own way that makes you a difference maker who benefits the entire organization and your career in the process. Check out my calendar booking link below to find a time that works for you.