The key to driving maximum employee performance and effort

How would your employees describe their relationship with you? And how does this relational dynamic influence their motivation at work?

In this week's quick tip, we'll draw on insights from my daughter's recent soccer tournament to explore a critical strategy for creating strong employee relationships that will directly boost performance and effort levels on your team.

• Read the video transcript

  My youngest daughter, Harper, just wrapped up a soccer tournament and at every single game there was someone there watching.

  Yes, I was there, my husband was there, my other daughter was there. But we don't really matter quite as much anymore, she cares about other people coming to watch.

  And we have such a great community. Really at every game there was either a friend there watching, an extended family member there watching, or even her teacher came to one of her games which was amazing.

  So for Harper, when somebody is there watching she gets so excited to give it her all and you could just see her level of effort and performance on the field it just was taken up to a whole new level. She was playing and sprinting her heart out out there on the field.

  It reminded me of a story that I heard a couple years ago at a conference. I believe Pam Strain was the speaker, and she was talking about visiting some kids in another country. And so their English was a little bit broken and these kids were also, I believe playing soccer in their village and they came up to her. And instead of saying, "Watch me, watch me!" The term that they used was, "See me, see me!" in their translation.

  And "see me" feels so much deeper than "watch me".

  Don't just watch me on the surface level but truly know what it is that I'm doing here, know and care for me at a deeper level. And this profound story has stuck with me and I think it's so applicable in leadership.

  If you are in a formal leadership position my question for you is, would your employees say that they feel seen by you, that you truly know them, you know and understand the work that they're doing, you value the effort and the talent that they bring to the team? If you can't answer a screaming yes to that question then there is opportunity to invest in them more to truly see them.

  And yes, that will build the relationship that's top priority, but guess what? Bonus, you are going to see greater levels of performance and effort as a result when they feel truly seen just like I saw in my daughter on the soccer field this last weekend.