As a business owner or business leader, I would guess that you have some priorities and objectives that you need to achieve. If you have a team of employees who are supporting you in achieving those objectives, are you off running your own race trying to achieve those objectives or are you setting the pace for others to support you?

Think about a Nascar race. As the race begins, the pace car sits out in front of all the cars and it’s there for a reason. It’s there to get everybody heading in the right direction, at the right speed, at the right time. That’s the essence of the best possible race and by doing that, everybody can pick up speed quickly and reach top speed quickly.

This is what we want to achieve in business.

As a business leader, what you really need to do is set the pace for your employees.

Consider these three things for setting the pace:

1. Do your employees connect their priorities with the vision and objectives of the company? Help them make that connection. They need to understand what you’re trying to achieve and why it’s important to achieve it.

2. Participate and interact with your employees. If you’re on the road all the time travelling, or you sit in an office that’s separate from all of the employees, how do you know what they’re working on? How do you know what challenges they are experiencing in trying to achieve your objectives? You need to be out there having conversations understanding what’s going on.

3. You need to synchronize the team. Think about the cars on the racetrack. If there was no pace car, what would happen? Some cars would turn into one another, some cars would speed off quick, some would hang back. They may not even make one lap.

If you’re not trying to synchronize all of the different people of different skill sets and mind sets towards your vision, you’re going to have a problem. People will work in different directions doing different things, at different times, so focus on synchronization of your team.

Business is a race. It’s a race to be the best, the most profitable, the most successful and it’s a race you need to win. As a leader really think about how you can set the pace for your team rather than run your own race.

For more tips on leadership and creating a workplace full of engaged employees who are committed to your vision, grab my book Operational Empowerment by clicking here.

© Shawn Casemore 2014. All rights reserved.

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