Not every department in an organization gets to sit on the proverbial pedestal. So, how do we ensure as leaders that our teams are seen as integral components of an organization? In this episode, I sit with Carmine Merlucci, Vice President of Land Development at Toll Brothers, one of the largest land developers in the United States to talk about ensuring his team gets the “spotlight” they deserve. His team gets dusty, dirty, and consistent with the rest of the industry, is considered a cost center. But without them, the rest of the organization can’t move forward.

Key Takeaways:

• How to avoid being viewed as the "death by meetings" department
• The critical skill of presenting, the right information in the right way, to your stakeholders based on their needs and not yours
• Consistently demonstrating to your stakeholders how your team is an important and vital piece of the organizational puzzle
• Setting your people up for success by reviewing their work before they present to your stakeholders without feeling like you’re micromanaging
• Reminding your people how they play an important role to the company's bottom line, even if they are not on the revenue side of the business
• Positioning your team so that when the market starts to go down, your team is the last one standing because your company views them as the “A Team”
• Provide opportunities to stretch their skills by delegating tasks beyond their daily tasks, which ultimately makes them more marketable during a declining market
• Learning from the mistakes of promoting someone too soon or moving them into a role that wasn't aligned to their strengths