Digital Dealer - July 2018 - 7

EVEN IF THERE IS A PRICE TO BE PAID, DON'T
BE AFRAID TO USE APPROPRIATE DISCIPLINE. IT MAY
HURT IN THE SHORT TERM, BUT WILL PAY DIVIDENDS
IN THE FUTURE."
you should be running up
the score. As a leader you
can't borrow credibility from
what you did once upon a
time. Shift your focus away
from "living" in the past to
"learning" from the past;
prove yourself over again
each day; and attempt, as
Wooden put it, to make it
a "masterpiece." If you're
not doing this as a leader,
I promise your team isn't
either.

2. BRING OUT THE
BEST IN PEOPLE. Wood-

en said, "You don't handle
people. You handle farm
animals. You work with people." Bringing out the best in
people is purely an issue of
skillset, and if you haven't
developed it you'll find yourself more often "handling"
people than "working" with
them. Here are some simple
yet overlooked ways to help
you develop the human
capital on your team. First,
keep respect and consideration for others foremost
in your mind. People don't
buy into leaders who bully,
continually berate, or only
tell people the ways they've
fallen short. You can't
expect to bring out the best
in people if you can't even
respect them as individuals.
Next, try to make the work
environment fun - just not
at someone else's expense. We spend a lot of
time in the workplace, and
people that have fun are

generally more productive,
and more engaged. Lastly,
seek out individual opportunities to deliver a sincere
compliment to someone.
The quicker you can do
this following a productive
behavior or performance,
the more it will mean to the
individual, and the more
likely you are to see that
same result again. Remember that sincerity, optimism,
and enthusiasm are more
welcome than sarcasm,
pessimism, and getting
personal.

3. DON'T BLAME,
DON'T COMPLAIN, AND
DON'T MAKE EXCUSES.

This is pretty straightforward, so I won't spend
much time on it other than
to say: If your mindset is to
blame others and make excuses for why the job didn't
get done, you're teaching
your people by example.
Wooden understood this,
and neither gave nor accepted excuses.

4. DISPENSE
DISCIPLINE AND
ACCOUNTABILITY
EFFECTIVELY. This takes

a blend of both skillset and
mindset. Knowing how to
hold people accountable is
important, but the followthrough in actually holding
a performer accountable
is equally essential. Some
of us know exactly what to
do, but we choose not to
in order to avoid potential

discomfort or hurt feelings.
Understand though, that
accountability, discipline,
and criticism aren't tools
to humiliate, demean, or
punish. Their objectives are
to correct, redirect, and to
improve performance; to
correct something that is
preventing better results.
Protect your culture, team
morale, and the customer
experience, and help the
person by caring enough
to confront them and
potentially make you both
uncomfortable as you
exercise this leadership
duty. Very simply, coach
Wooden said "Even if there
is a price to be paid, don't
be afraid to use appropriate
discipline. It may hurt in the
short term, but it will pay
dividends in the future."
Rest assured Wooden
wasn't slacking up on
accountability in the midst
of UCLA's 88-game winning
streak. He was holding his
team accountable daily both
on and off the court.
5. TREAT PEOPLE
FAIRLY. Don't fall for the

politically correct nonsense
that treating people fairly
means you have to treat
everyone alike. Fairness
is giving everyone the
treatment they earn and
deserve. It doesn't mean
treating everyone equally.
That's unfair because not
everyone deserves equal
treatment. Now obviously
D I G I TA L D E A L E R . C O M

you treat everyone alike in
terms of courtesy, respect,
and regard as a human being. Those are non-negotiables. In terms of opportunity,
rewards, privileges, and
even scheduling, however,
you should dispense according to what people earn
and deserve. Now Wooden
was very good at treating
people in accordance with
this, understanding that
what people gain too easily
they esteem too lightly. In
doing so he enhanced
teamwork and prevented
entitlement form taking
over.
As you work to build a
team of champions, which
of these basic principles
have you gotten away
from? Prioritize one or two
key things you need to start
doing - or stop doing - to
coach like Wooden and
leave your lasting leadership legacy.
DAVE ANDERSON is president
of LearnToLead, which provides
in-person and virtual training
to many of the world's best
dealerships. Dave speaks to
dealer groups over 120 times
each year and has given
seminars in 17 countries. He's
written the leadership column
for Dealer Magazine for over
20 years, and is the host of
the energetic and high-impact
podcast, The Game Changer
Life, based on his 14th book,
Unstoppable. For leadership
tips, follow Dave on Twitter @
DaveAnderson100. EMAIL:
dave@learntolead.com
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