Connections

Keeping in contact with old friends and building a network is an area that few do well. I was reviewing some profiles on linkedin and it is amazing to see how social networking has exploded. Some people do a great job at it while others are terrible. Business is built on relationships, direct or indirect, yet some feel business will come to them regardless if they put in the effort.

I have worked with small businesses over the past few years and one of the major opportunities small businesses have is a detailed business and/or a marketing plan. Sure they had one at one point but for some reason they have forgotten about it or have not revised it. I am not advocating owning a business is easy, actually it is probably the toughest thing you can do. However I would venture to say if small business owners consulted with a coach who could keep them on track, set goals, align strategies their success would increase tremendously. If you do not change behaviors you should not expect a change in results.

Holiday Season

Why do people act so different around the holidays? Is it the relief of completing another year or the celebration of the Christmas season? I find it remarkable how people interact during this time with family, friends and peers. People who do not usually talk inevitably end up conversing and catching up on what has taken place over the past few months.

I think we should all strive for a environment and culture where we do not need a holiday to bring out these emotions. Wouldn't it be great if people were genuinely concerned about each other and showed respect regardless of the time of the year. Of course it is now the day after Christmas and I would argue to continue to the spirit of goodwill, just because Christmas is over does not mean the feeling has to go away.

Mitchell Report

If you are a baseball fan the past couple of days have been shocking to say the least. The use of steroids in baseball is at a level that people could have never imagined. There are potential hall of fame players that are being accused and their reputations are in jeopardy. My question is are they a by product of a culture that demands the pressure to succeed?

In business, like baseball, people are constantly looking for an edge. In business it might mean acquiring a new company, hiring a top executive, or hedging the company's assets for capital. Depending on the culture of the organization all of these are relative and the culture decides how far you should go. I once worked in a culture that was so driven by goals you felt that at any given time you could lose your job if you missed the numbers. Regardless of tenure or experience you miss the goals 2 months in a row and you better get your resume ready. I worked in this environment for 6 years and throughout that time I seen numerous people being fired for compliance/regulation reasons. Yes, these people were jeopardizing their careers in order to keep their careers. It seems strange, right? The answer is no, the culture demanded that you hit your goals but did not demand you have the utmost integrity.

I view the situation with MLB to the situation that happens everyday in business. At an early age people are learning how to beat the system, cheating on tests, staying past curfew, under age drinking. So why do we expect these same people once they are in a leadership positions to change. If you do not like the actions that are taking place take a look at the culture and environment. If you change one person you impact one, if you change the environment and the culture you will impact many!

unintentional destruction

Sometimes leaders do not realize what they are saying might actually be causing distruction in the workplace. In a office enviroment people are bound to discuss today's daily events, yesterday's accomplishments and tomorrows goals. However focus on the uncontrolable leads to distruction.

In my career I have seen managers focus their time and energy on things that are out of their control thus bringing their team's productivity to a stand still. This is rarely intentional and most likely an attempt to deliver results. Nonetheless actions that focus on the uncontrollable lead to destruction.

In today's economy people are focused on what is going to happen to my job, what if the housing market never recovers, what if we are bought out by a competitor? All of these scenarios cannot be controlled by the average employee. An employee can focus on what am I doing to provide results for shareholders, am I building a track record that makes me marketable to other firms, and am I learning what or what not to do next time?

As a leader remember to control your environment and help create an environment that is constructive not deconstructive.

Be Consistent

There is a rule in business that is often over looked, consistency. So many times all an employee, team member, boss is looking for is consistency. It is an outstanding experience when someone delivers extraordinary results but at the end of the day the consistent folks are what truly drives the business.

As a team member all you can do is perform at the best of your ability every day. It is important to focus on being consistent in your approach, delivery and communication style. If you are not consistent people will eventually avoid you with the fear of not knowing what might be coming at them.

Sure some might say the consistent person does not always get the high recognition, praise or advancements. However the consistent person traditionally provides stability, clear vision, and accountability. Companies need consistency.

Giving Thanks

It has been a while since my last post. I have been extremely busy with a variety of events taking place. However the holiday season always makes me slow down and realize how important it is to take time to say thanks.

Over the past year like most people I have experienced the ups and downs that come with life. I have been challenged with a new career path, new home and challenging graduate work. However through these difficult times I am thankful to have these opportunities.

Each person's life is in essence a little business. You have to have a good strategy, a will to succeed, and be willing to work hard. Above all else though you have to be surrounded with the best people to make your business thrive. Take care of the people around you and your business, life, will do just fine.

Creating a WOW experince

In business you have to create a WOW experience for your customers, employees and community. I recently encountered a situation where I was walking into a business and as I approached the front door I noticed a dog sitting on the floor. I immediately began to think do I really want to go in here?

As I entered the business the owner took the dog and put him in a closed glass office so we could conduct business. As I began to talk to the business owner he explained he has owned Pit Bulls for nearly 30 years and they eventually become very mean and aggressive. Nothing says welcome to our store like having a killer dog in the window. I then began to question, "how would this business have performed over the past 30 years without this obstacle?"

The same goes for employees does your office providing an inviting experience for employees to have fun and be productive at the same time. If not I would ask that you change your surroundings and review what it is going to take to attract and retain top talent. This does not mean you go out and buy all new furniture but it may be as simple as getting a ping pong table for the break room.

Building Rome

Rome was not built in a day! As a leader and a business we need make sure we understand that and take the necessary approach daily to make a long term difference. So many times business leaders want results today however do not demonstrate the key attributes to that will lead to daily attainable results.

In recently had a conversation with an executive who explained she was asked to attend a breakfast with a part of their organization. Long story short this executive made a decision that the breakfast was too early causing her day to start earlier than expected. Now lets think about this, will this same executive be able to ask her team to come in early or stay late? Will this person's team support the tough decisions that have to be made for the betterment of the business? The answer is probably not.

This is an example of doing the small things in order to build an empire. Business leaders need to take the small steps each and every day in order to build the empire. You do not have to win every deal but you have to win every day!

Coaching Never Ends

Have you ever thought if I coach this person now I will not have to coach them later? Have you heard managers or leaders say I have spent time coaching them I am not sure why they do not get it? Coaching never ends!!

There is a reason NFL teams have coaches for every position because regardless of how go you are you still need a 3rd party opinion to make good decisions. Think about it, in the NFL these are the most talent athletes in their positions yet they still need coaches. Take a look at Peyton Manning, he is possibly the best Quarterback in the game today yet everyday he is reviewing film, working on mechanics and throwing additional passes to his teammates. Do you really think Peyton needs to learn how to throw?? The answer is no but he needs to continue to refine his skills if he wants to remain on top.

As a leader you have to be a great coach, you have to be able to listen, teach, demand performance and provoke thought. So many times in business leaders do not understand coaching is not always about solving problems yet it is about help the person solve their own problems. If you do not have a coach today, go get one, if Peyton needs one so do you!

Professional Distance

What is Professional Distance? Well my definition of Professional Distance is maintaining a relationship that is strong enough internally to grow business ventures however does not jeopardize respect or personal integrity. In business so many times we forget about having professional distance. Sure there are going to be times in which employees, managers and customers are all going to become more than what they are and eventually become friends. The major question is how do these relationships happen and what are you doing to maintain professional distance?

For example lets say you become very close friends with an employee you eventually become the best man in his wedding and even god parent to his children. Then on one Monday morning you find that this person has a gambling problem and has been stealing money every day from the company to protect his family. Well a person who has neglected professional distance is now torn with and ethical and morale obstacle that will not be fixed without complications.

Professional distance is not difficult and in most cases is the most powerful way to build relationships. There is nothing wrong with building long term relationships and friendships as studies have shown this is a way to lead and generate new business. However maintaining a professional distance is key as each person will be faced with making a tough decision that will impact the relationship.

Here is another example: Mr Smith is a purchasing manager at an industrial company and has been purchasing paint from the same vendor for 15 years. Their relationship has grown and over the years they have went on family vacations together and even shared holidays on occasion. Although the paint dealer has never been the cheapest in town Mr. Smith has always used the same vendor. Recently Mr. Smith's company has downsized 50% of the workforce due to cost cutting measures. The business is still operational but the market has certainly turned for both Mr Smith and the paint vendor. The paint vendor's business is also slow but has recently had another annual price increase. Mr Smith knows no one would question the purchase, so should he search to find a better price?

Professional distance makes decisions easier and eliminates the fog in the process. Although these are 2 short examples in the day an age of business ethics I think professional distance will become more a concern. If someone says I will not do business with you unless.....(gift), do you really want to do business with them? The same goes for employees and managers you have to have professional distance or you will find you do not make clear decisions that will not only effect others they will also impact you.

Key Points for Professional Distance

• Do not treat a business outing like a frat party
• Just because you have a corporate card does not mean you do not have a limit
• Unless you are a family business employees are not family, be fair and consistent
• Do not put your manager, employee or customer in an awkward position
• Control the situation and remove yourself if it goes south
• Know when to call a spade a spade
• Provide inspirational leadership at all times everyone could use the help

Feedback is a Gift

Recently I encountered a situation in which I was forced to have a firm conversation about how the perception of a relationship might be impacting others. The response I received was less than profound and basically refused change the given perception.

As leaders we have to the ability to impact people in both a positive and negative way each and every day. Sometimes the only way we can truly become leaders is to listen rather than talk. A true leader will often go search for feedback, create change teams, and instill excitement amongst all members of the organization. However a poor leader looks for people to blame, hates change and cannot create excitement regardless of the task.

I remember back on my career, early on I would not listen to any feedback regardless of how relevant the information might have been. I certainly would not take feedback from anyone who was not on the same page as me and if I did not like the idea I would shut it down. This was shallow and egocentric approach to leadership. Some how during this process I was able to build relationships but the long term growth of my team was certainly limited. My challenge to every leader is to go ask for feedback, create excitement and have fun. If you are not looking to change the way you are or the position you are in you are likely going to be changed yourself.

Europe Day 1

Day 1 in Europe was filled with culture from the beggining. After a long flight from the states we began our trip promptly at 8am Belgium time. Although the majority of the group was extremely tired we began at a local military museum. This was an oustanding experience and make you really think about how new our culture in the U.S is.

Although all of us would like to think we full of culture and open to change it is amazing what happens when you are forced to adjust. There is something very powerless being in a country in which they speak a different language and you look like a tourist simply by the way that you dress. Although the people have been extemely nice it is our responsibilty to understand we are guests in their world. I think it is imperative for leaders to encounter situations like this as they will grow horizontally as much as vertically.

Who is that?

In business sometimes people forget who they are. I do not mean who they are today but who they used to be and who others around them might think they are. Recently at a local wine tasting event a few of my peers and I worked to help out a local organization. The focus of the event was to raise money for a local YMCA. Although the event was a huge success it was the people who were in attendance who I found interesting.

Since the event was a wine tasting event the demographic was very specific. A quick scan would say median age 51, white, professionals, who were in attendance. There were people from very different professions, Lawn Care Owners, Attorneys, Stockbrokers, Bankers, CPAs, etc. However what I found to be interesting was the attention and thoughtlessness some of the patrons had. Some the the guests were very demanding, rude and to a point almost degrading. While others were extremely friendly willing to converse share stories and enjoy the event.

As a leader it is important to think about each time you have an experience with someone. These experiences will be the lasting impressions that people will judge you by. Sure some are fortunate to have extreme amounts of wealth however this does not by any means they are better than the person who is working the afternoon shift at the local mill. One of the problems when people interact in a way that is less than respectful is the immediate loss of credibility. Although these people might think they will never need help these are the ones that are likely to live a life that is full of material goods but is missing the true meaning of life.

If you treat everyone equally you will likely build relationships that are everlasting which translates into greater rewards than monetary gain.

International Experience

Today I am embarking on an international experience with a few colleagues from my MBA program. Although the experience will be unique for many of us the relationships that will be build through this experience will last a life time. These are times professionals need to enjoy the experience for what it is and remove any feelings they might have had going into the experience.

It will be very interesting to watch the dynamics of the group and how groups will split up. Good, bad or indifferent it will be interesting and it is likely some will not enjoy the experience which is unfortunate. Some of my peers travel internationally very often while others including myself do not. As a leader matures into their role they must think about the global impact of business or they will be left behind.

Lastly it will be the responsibility of the professors to engage the class into this outstanding learning experience. At this point in every one has a career and responsibility, some greater than others but the professors will need to understand this. If the professors do not demonstrate professional coaching and leadership during this experience they will have failed as leaders.

Relationships

In a recent study performed by our MBA program we were responsible for reviewing different cultures. In this analysis we were looking for common themes, like eating habits, work hours, management styles, etc. Although across the board these were very different there was one common them that had direct correlation.

Ability to take your time and build a relationship was apparent. In every culture people wanted to deal with people that they liked and who they trusted. This does not mean that you have to be the life of the party but you certainly need to be in attendance. So many times in business and leadership we forget about this factor and how truly important these relationships are. As a leader you have to be willing to adapt and mold to different circumstances and some of these are going to be tough to adjust to. I am by no mean saying you should change your core values however I am saying you should attempt to try things you might not be willing to accept as normal.

I remember being in Mexico recently and the clubhouse asking if I would like to play golf with someone who I did not know. 10 years ago I would have refused the offer and it is unlikely I would have even thought about playing golf by myself. In this situation I took them up on the offer and was able to play golf with some local citizens. Although we did not speak due to language differences the rules were the same and we could acknowledge each other after a successful hole.

Build relationships and try something new and you will break barriers you did not even know existed.

Remove the Emotion

Leaders need to make sure they leave their emotions at the door. If a leader is having a bad day the team should not be negatively impacted by these emotions. Although this is hard balance to achieve it is important to create this balance. As a leader it is likely you will not have enough time to repair the damage you might cause by having a knee jerk reaction or an emotional day. Leaders are viewed as the most stable person in the organization and if their stability is in question the vision of the company will also be in question.

Emotion should not be confused with passion although they are similar in this context they are very different. A leader can still have passion while controlling his/her emotions. When making decisions you have to be willing to take emotion out of the decision by reviewing the data. Although not all businesses are equipped with the data to make all the decisions, however if you are willing to look for the data you will likely think critically through the decision process. Emotions are part of the human element however managing these emotions is something a leader has to be able to manage to become successful.

Know Your Surroundings

As a leader you have to Know Your Surroundings at all times. There are times that people are going to be watching you, judging you and making political decisions about you. If you do not know these surroundings you might find yourself in a hole you cannot dig out of. In large corporations people traditionally carry their own agendas when making decisions. These decisions might include promotions, team alignment, or compensation analysis.

The question that some might ask is how do you handle these situations. This is a question I do not have all the answers to but I have come up with a couple solutions that might work:

• Communicate to each person as if they were your boss, they might be
• Build a network of people you can trust that are not affiliated with your organization share ideas and concerns
• Identify who is on who's team
• Know what is going on with the grapevine but do not get distracted by it
• Control what you can control, no sense in worrying about things you have no control over

Unfortunately any one who is in a large corporation this will become part of their task as a leader. Knowing your surroundings makes you aware of what might be happening in the future and who can impact your career today.

Selection

The selection process for hiring new people is always crucial. For some managers the approach might be I need to fill the spot so I will take any one. Although this might fill a short term need you will likely be kicking your self later for not taking your time. If the person does not gel with the team, causes internal office conflict, or cannot be counted you will be trying to figure out a way to remove this person as fast as you might have hired them.

The best approach to think about is, am I hiring the best or am I hiring the best available? It is not uncommon for companies to quantify how much it costs to hire someone before they even start. The fixed costs like advertising, recruiting fees, time to interview, and backgrounds checks can all be calculated very easily. If you hire the right people the company will certainly take the leap to higher results. However if you hire the wrong person you will likely be thinking about how you can move on and start the process over.

Tension

In many office conditions you will find there is a certain amount of tension. This tension could be a bi factor of competition but at what point does this tension become a distraction. It is the responsibility of a leader to understand this tension exists and make changes to make it better. I am a strong believer that office politics do not result in positive outcomes. I am a strong advocate of being able to be very open in free in the office and build relationships that foster growth and energy. This however is not effective if people's main concern is the political nature of their comment. If politics is a driving force in your business you might want to consider thinking about what you are losing as far as creativity and energy from the people around you.

It is a proven fact that most people do not quit their role because of the company they quit because of their manager. I would say the same goes for leaders, if they have people that will not commit to the plan and are constantly trying disrupt the plan of action it is likely the leader will leave. If the leader does not feel empowered to make the tough decisions this will also result in the likelihood to leave. In most cases leaders will not wait for others to change, they will wait for people to adapt, but they will not wait for people to change. I once heard a person say,"I do not change people, I CHANGE PEOPLE!" How true is this? Although you might have a strong performer if they are not on part of the team you might want to make a change.

Strange Request

Have you ever had a strange request from an employee? It might be something as strange as I want to get home to see the solar eclipse. The first question that most leaders might think right off the top of their head is "are they crazy?" This is where perception vs reality comes into play as although we might view the request as off the wall this might be something that is very important to the employee. I once had an employee ask at 9:55 to leave work when their shift was going to end at 10:00 because they needed to get to the bank by 10 pm. First of all what bank is open till 10 pm and what is so pressing that it cannot wait until 9 am the next morning. In this case my perception was nothing can be that important that it cannot wait until the next morning. What I did not realize is the person was 2 months late on their rent and if they did not have the money by 7 am they were going to be kicked out.

As a leader I think these strange requests cannot be made as a knee jerk reaction as they have to be thought out. Things to think about are:

• Will this decision be consistent with other decisions I have made in the past?
• Would I be willing to make this exception to someone else?
• Why are they asking for this request and what is the underlining issue?

Lastly you have to have empathy when explaining your decision. Some of these decisions are going to be tough for the employee to handle as this might be the single most important event happening for them. However if you are not being consistent you cannot make a decision as one argument most employees have is their manager is not consistent. If the decision is right or wrong the more consistent your approach as a leader will be understood, not always accepted, but understood.

Listening

As a leader you are going to be challenged each and every day. Sometimes a leader's most important role is to listen rather than solve. I had an experience recently where one of my employees wanted to give me some feedback about my attitude in the office. This person felt I was being very short in the office and I was not spending enough time with each of them one on one. I did not realize this was happening as I was simply focusing on generating new business.

As a leader you have to be willing to listen to feedback and concerns. This might be very simple in regards to business or complicated family issues. The key to this form of communication is to understand if the conversation is actionable or simply a time to listen. A fault most leaders have is they try to solve everything rather than just listening. Sometimes listening and leading people to their own conclusions is more important than just solving the issues at hand.

Change leads to Change

As a leader you have to be willing to adapt and accept change. At the same time you also have to be an advocate to change. If you are not willing to change than you can not expect results to change over time. The best leaders in the world think about not only what went well but why did it go so well. If things did not go well, why? What can we do to change so it does not happen again.

So many times businesses are so consumed with what is going on today they do not take time to reflect on the past or dream about the future. If change does not occur it is likely you will fail behind the market and competition will grow. The leaders who are willing to change and adapt will be ahead of this curve while other will fail behind very quickly.

The question I would ask any organization is, "where are you going and how are you going to get there?" If the leader say we are going to maintain our current model I would question how long will this last? Leaders have to identify what needs to be changed and then make the changes necessary.

EGO or ECHO

I have seen many times in business that people need to tell others how great they are or what is going on it their life. The person's EGO is so huge that it absorbs all aspects of his/her life and they begin to think they are the single most important part of their community. The problem is this EGO becomes and ECHO and all people hear is them talking about how great they are and they begin to block out value they might bring. It is a funny thing because people with these problems really think that people care about what is going on in their life but most people find themselves asking how does this impact me?

True Leaders do not have this problem as they will traditionally put other peoples' best interest first rather than their own. As a leader you have to be humble, you have to genuinely care for others around you and be willing to adapt and change. A leader is willing put their personal ego on hold and help others around them first knowing this will translate into long term success.

Fair and Consistent

Leaders each and very day have tough decisions to make about people and their performance. These usually review how are they doing today and how they are doing compared to their potential. However what happens when you have an employee who has an excellent attitude, great work ethic and passion to obtain results but this same employee has made a mistake that has cost the company thousands of dollars? Tough decision as you do not want to demotivate the employee or worse cause attrition?

Lets think about another employee; this person does not have passion, they do everything they have to do to obtain the minimum standards but do not exceed them. This employee is not negative but does not quickly buy in to new ideas and causes a challenge for managements "do what I say" approach. They have also recently made a mistake which has caused the company to lose thousands. Is this decision much easier?

Well I am sure most would agree we want the 1st employee on our team and build our business around winners. However, this does not mean the the approach to leadership should be different. The best leaders in the world are Fair and Consistent! This creates trust in the organization as employees feel there is no favoritism. This does not mean that you have to be friends with each person in the organization it means you have to be consistent in your approach to making decisions. Corporate politics are hard enough to deal with for employees but if they feel their leader will make fair and consistent decisions the tough decisions become much easier to understand. Looking at the example above I would love to have employee #1 but at then end of the day the mistake is the same and exceptions should not be made. Sure no one wants to work with employee 2 but that does not mean they should be treated any differently if the results of the mistake are the same. If you are consistent and fair you will not only gain trust from your employees it will make the tough decision become much easier.

Stepping Up

There are leaders in this world who are quiet and will surprise you at anytime. Although these people have the ability to lead all the time they selectively use this talent. It might be sending flowers to a spouse or giving you a nice email when you are down. The challenge that these people have is getting these emotions out more often and helping their team to higher results.

As a leader you have to be able to identify this talent and capitalize on it. People truly love to feel part of the team and know they have value in the organization. They also need to know they have options and there is no such thing as a glass ceiling. A leader needs to make each person develop their career into their own personal goals whatever those might be. Help their employees take on more challenges that might position the employee for long term success. If the employee feels they have this support of their leader trust will build and production will increase.

Free Agents

Company loyalty 50 years ago was a dominant force for the global economy. My father and grandfather were very loyal to their companies and almost felt a obligation to stay with their companies regardless good or bad. Today that is not and option and employees are really becoming "free agents" just like athletes going to the highest bidder. The problem with this concept is the most money does not always translate into the largest opportunity. Here are a couple of things to think through when you have filed your papers for free agency.

• What is the responsibility and scope of this role
• Will I be challenged both professional and intellectually
• Is there opportunity to change roles and if so how fast
• Who will I be working for and what type of a leader are they
• Is the business growing or focused on efficiency

The reality is companies cannot count on an employee staying for a significant amount of time. If they hire the right people for the right roles the have a better chance at staying, but not a guarantee. However most people leave roles because of their manager so regardless of pay if you are not treating people right they are going to leave. Since employees are not loyal there is no reason not to be honest as it is too costly for a company to have attrition.

Sales

There is a reason a majority of the CEO's have a former sales background. This is because they likely value the ability to build relationships, deliver presentations and take risks that have high rewards. Most people do not take a sales job thinking "I Want To Sell." In my case I was SOLD on the idea this was a starting point to a larger role. I have no regrets!

Sales is what makes the world go round. Politicians, Attorneys, and Teachers are all selling whether they believe it or not. They are trying to get their point across and hoping that others will follow their lead. However if you asked either of these professions if they are sales people they would all say no.

Sales does not have to be brutal and the most effective sales people in the world have an ability to build a relationship and rapport quickly. Does this sound like some of the same characteristics a leader has, it should. There are some people that are very data driven, process oriented and technical and they do not think they have sales ability. I would argue everyone has a sales ability ultimately to be successful in sales it is not rocket science. You have to have passion and knowledge of what you are selling. If you have each of these and you can build rapport you will be the next rainmaker.

Talent Upgrade

I have worked in some very aggressive corporations in which talent upgrade was a constant theme. Almost to a fault in some regards as the bottom 10% was constantly forced out of the organization or into a different role. However in some companies today this is not the case. There is nothing worse for a young aggressive talented person to join a corporation that is built upon tenure.

I have worked with some extremely talented people in my career. These are the people that if I were starting my own business I would want them on my team regardless of the business venture. In my opinion successful people are successful regardless of the task at hand. However when developing talent especially at the management level the manager demographic should mirror the employee population. For example if the organization is built with a sales force under the age of 30 does it make sense to have some one leading that group who is 50? I would argue there is little in common and the relationship might struggle. The same goes for all forms of demographics. Once you have found talent you will find it is colorless and does not have gender as anyone can be successful.

Talent upgrade does not come easy and there are a couple questions you need to think of:

• How are they performing today vs their potential?
• How do they fit into the business plans for the future?

If either of these questions have negative responses it is likely this is an area to upgrade the talent at this position. If you want to grow as a leader you have to surround yourself with talented people. If you decided not to make these tough decisions it is likely you might fit into one of the 2 questions above.

Show Me, Dont Tell Me

An area in business that is lacking is the ability to teach and coach people to higher results. In many organizations today leaders gather together and come up with ideas without gaining feedback from the peoples that it will be impacting. The other challenge is if the leader is not willing to step up and lead by example there will be absolutely no buy in.

As a leader you need to be able to show people how to accomplish the goal before you can hold them accountable. In most cases manager hire people and hope they can figure it out. The problem with this approach is the employee immediately will begin to feel they are on an island without help. Furthermore if their leader has never proven they can do the job (ex. make sales calls) they will not think the goals are realistic. If this continues results will decline and belief in the leader will diminish.

If you want to make an impact trying doing your employees job for a day. Show them you can do the role and be successful. Regardless of the end result you will likely build a relationship with your employee and build trust. On the other side of the coin if you need help and you ask your supervisor to show you rather than tell you. If they cannot deliver or worse refuse to try might be a good time to ask why?

Vision

Each and every day a leader must think about the vision that he/she is creating. More importantly what are they going to do to inspire, engage, and motivate people around them toward the vision. As a leader you have to have a clear vision for where you see the direction of the business or organization and remain firm with the vision.

If your vision is to be the best supplier of widgets then every decision you make for the organization has to have a correlation with this vision. In some cases leaders fail by creating a compelling vision and then 6 months later change the vision or focus. As this happens you will lose momentum and eventually lose productivity and efficiency.

Creating a vision is not as difficult as many organizations make it out to be. The process of implementing the vision is highly complicated but the vision itself should be simple. "We want to be a global leader in technology" great vision the question the leader then has to ask is how and why? After you have created a vision that is understandable remain consistent to not deviate from the vision. You will have to make changes to the process but the vision should remain consistent.

Acting the Part

There are times when leaders have to "Act the Part." What does this mean? Well in my opinion it is the responsibility of a leader to build a network of people and strengthen his/her internal community. When I think about the word community I am not stating the zip code in which you reside, this might be part of the community, but I am thinking about the people that you can have an impact on each and every day. As a leader there are going to be times you have to "Act the Part."

People want to be led and if at any given moment they do not feel you are a capable leader you will have lost trust in your community. For example in business their are many after hour social gatherings and most times these include alcohol and appetizers. It is the responsibility of the leader to set the tone if the leader begins to do keg stands the group were certainly follow. Sure people might have a great time but what type of reputation has been set? In these situations it is great to think about your people and how would they appreciate you spending time with them. Time is so valuable and we rarely have enough of it to "act the part." There are times in which everyone has to let loose but this should only happen in the confines of your closest of companions.

"Acting the Part" does not mean changing who you are or what your values might be. It simply means treating people with dignity ad respect at all times. If this is something that a person really has to work at odds are they are not a leader and will never be one. Leadership is not easy; it is challenging, but if you genuinely care about people you are likely to have success. Remember to "Act the Part" because whether you like it or not everyone is watching!

Strengths

So much is written about people's strengths that it can be very overwhelming. How do you manage to someone's strengths if you are not able to identify them or uncover them. It has been my experience that you have to dig deeper than knowing the person on a professional level you have to know them on a personal level. Who are they? What are their core values?

For myself as an example I have spent my professional career in sales and sales management. However one of my personal strengths is the ability to build relationships with my staff quickly and develop them as leaders. If you looked at my resume you would probably say this person is a pure sales person and how would they fit into our organization?

As a leader you have to find out what makes people tick. In my example I would rather spend 10 hours a day working with people, reviewing strategies, implementing ideas however a majority of my time is spent working on sales and business development. Leaders need to build a relationship with their staff and engage in these conversations on a regular basis. As people's lives change so do their goals and aspirations. A very good friend of mine was a high level executive who had all the perks (company car, expense account, large salary, and bonus) then he had a child and all of a sudden these were not as important. He decided to leave this role and satrt up something on his own to spend more time with his family. I guess the morale of the story is if you are engaged with your team you will know when these changes take place. You will be more likely to make proactive changes than reactive changes. As a leader it is not enough to hit the numbers you have to build deep relationships that can stand the test of time.

Influence

Influencing is an area that a leader will have to master to be effective when it come to making decisions. Most managers try to influence others but their problem is their personal interest seems to always show through. So how do the greatest leaders influence others? The first step they do is to set a clear task or goal that each person can see value in. If there are people that do not have value in the project they will likely try to read deeper into it and wonder what the underline cause might be. Leaders have an outstanding ability to influence others to think they way they do in order to achieve goals. As a leader is trying to influence others they will need to make sure people understand the entire part of the puzzle. In other words we are trying to do this to improve efficiency, increase profits, drive and increase in sales. If this is clear than influencing will be much easier. Therefore leaders are outstanding communicators.

So how do you practice this to see if you can begin to influence others. Here are a couple of things to try:

• Create a contest that changes a lifestyle change (weight loss, quit smoking, etc)
• Begin using a word associated with success often to see if people will pick it up and use it (fantastic!)

Sure these might seem like little things but leadership is about starting small, building trust and then making changes. Influencing and leadership go hand and hand, however you have to be able to balance influencing as it can quickly become brainwashing.

Building Consensus

Building Consensus is one of the areas that a leader must do each and every day. The question to think about is how do you do this effectively if you are meeting with so many personalities each and every day? Well this is what becomes very tricky and you have to be able to make people think critically and come to the conclusions you are looking for on their own. If someone owns the idea regardless if you pushed them in the direction they will have 100% buy in in the direction the business is going. I would call this Imagination Penetration because you are penetrating peoples mind to think the way you think. This is an outstanding approach if you are going to be delivering a tough message or a new innovative idea. The main reason this is effective is most people would rather hear ideas from their peers rather than their boss. If they hear ideas from their peers they will likely adopt the idea quickly as they feel the person is trying to do something that will directly impact their role in a positive manor. Although this is tough in some regards it can help make a business operate very successfully to an extent.

This approach should only be used in the initial forms of leadership development and tough decision making as if it continues the team is really beginning to experience group think. This will then lead to lack of new ideas a culture that is wrapped up in current process and not willing to change. If a company is not willing to change they will likely fail in the upcoming years.

In order to build consensus effectively make sure you are engaged in conversation with the key players before the meeting or presentation. Make sure they are on your side and you have buy in before the meeting even takes place. From a political standpoint this will cause less distractions and the flow of the meeting will be very effective. Make sure to always conclude the presentation on a positive note and lead people to the vision ahead.

Employee 1st

As leaders you have to be able to give clear direction on where the business or project is moving and how the team is going to get there. So many times a manager is great a giving orders and giving out goals but very few are outstanding at setting up a road map of how to get there. I have seen in my career many managers who simply walk the "corporate line." The corporate line is telling every one what the company wants them to hear without being creative or innovative with new ideas. These are the types of managers that love corporate wide contests, special discounts, and new corporate marketing concepts. They love these because they are not creative to come up with something on their own.

A leader however will challenge the status quo they will create environment that is dynamic and robust. A leader has the ability to be political at all times, sometimes this means saying the corporation is wrong taking the side of the employee. At all costs they will defend their employees. They will do anything in their power to promote them although this usually means hard work for them in the future. Once a leader has built this level of trust the possibilities are endless. Although this type of leader might suffer short term struggles they will have a much longer career that will be filled with joy as they have built a team of winners. Although this concept is simple there are very few LEADERS that can actually put their employees success in front of their own.

Positive Workplace

A positive workplace is tough to define for many leaders as sometimes they feel their actions are very positive. In reality they have no idea that they are coming off as arrogant, lack of personal concern, or self absorbed. The less interaction a leader has with someone the more positive they have to be with them as this time cannot be recouped in most cases. If you are only spending 5 minutes with someone every week and the only thing the leader ever says is "we need more," "what have you done lately," "last months numbers were terrible" this is only going to transpose to a negative feeling for that employee. I believe that everyone for the most part comes to work to do a good job and at the point of contact with his/her manager is when motivation is changed in an instant. A great leader can take that same employee and build them up for the upcoming day by saying, "Good Morning, Great day yesterday I appreciate the hard work lets do it again today." Even if they had a bad day a great leader can say, "Yesterday was tough lets think about what might have went wrong and make some changes today, I know we can do it!"

The key to leadership is that it never ends, leaders are leaders 24/7. They are leaders at work, home, and the community. They are constantly trying to make others around them better and they never settle. However the title leader is not like Vice President and does not come with tenure. At any point a change in direction and focus can quickly change someone from being a leader to a manager and gaining the title of leader will be hard to regain. The best thing about leadership is it does not have to have a title, anyone can be a leader as long as others are willing to follow. If you create an environment that fosters growth, imagination, and feedback motivations will come very easy.

Hiring

Over the past 2 days I have been interviewing to build a team. This is one of the most important decisions a leader can make in order to build long term success. There are couple of areas that will help make this process effective.

• The first is to identify if the person has the talent to contribute to the organization?
• Identify how they will fit within the team. Will there be internal or external conflicts based off of personalities?
• What is the person's motivation to change career paths and what are their long term goals?

Of course there are many other questions you can ask to identify the candidates drive, ambition, creativity, and leadership. However, one area that cannot be jeopardized is settling for a candidate. Organizations struggle with the inability to be more selective in hiring rather they view the process as filling a spot. As a leader it is important to think about the future and hire leaders who will lead and drive change. It is important to remember that tasks can be taught but talent is something that is hard to find.

Heart Felt

Leaders find themselves each and everyday making an impact on people around them. Regardless of the title they might have they can have a positive impact with everyone they meet. There is one thing that a leader can control every day and that is his/her attitude.

Granted there are going to be times that things are just not going well and these are going to be the times a leader really needs to step up. Leadership is how people perceive you whether you like it or not the way you are perceived is reality. When things are not going well this is when true leaders shine as they can make the best of a bad situation. When this happens great relationships are built that will last a life time. If the leader has not built trust these times will kill a career or a business.

Appreciate the impact you have on people and be compassionate to their needs. Leaders find a way to make others around them better. Enjoy being a leader and embrace the opportunity as it can be taken away in a blink of an eye.

Human Element

In any business there are going to be goals assigned the business plan. The key for a leader is to determine goals that are fair, consistent and can be attained. In business leaders sometimes throw a number out there with no real plan of action on how to attain the goal. This is where data can come into the discussion. Most large businesses today operate under a data driven model like six sigma. This creates the guess work out of how to come to conclusions about business the only problem with this system is it does not always look at the human element that might be involved. In other words there might be an opportunity to drive more sales through a direct mail marketing approach and the numbers look great for this venture. The only area that might be lacking is the knowledge the sales people have about the product or service that is being offered.

This is what I would call the human element, will they be able to handle in the incoming questions, will the service level drop due to lack of training. It is important for a leader to identify these areas of concern and make sure regardless of the data are you truly looking at the Human Element. I can remember a time where our company was changing to a different software system we went through all the formal training and everyone seemed to be on track. After a couple of weeks we noticed some associates were still using the old system which was slowing down productivity. After having a conversation we realized the roll out was not effective the training was not consistent and the goals on how fast to be up to speed for the conversion were not attainable. We lost some very good people because of this transition and ultimately cost the organization tremendous amounts of money. If we would have reviewed the Human Element in the beginning we would have created focus groups, rolled the conversion out in pilots and created an excitement about the change. All of which are standard in future projects.

Training

How many times have you heard of a company stress how great their training is? The question that I would ask is how do you quantify the training that you are giving to people? Is there a direct impact that can be seen after the training, (ex. increase in sales, leadership development, morale boost) and who is held accountable for delivering the training. It is my opinion most people that end up as internal trainers were not successful in their previous roles and have elected to take a path with less demands. This is why in most organizations you will find trainers that have a very long tenure with a company. Thus begging the question what are their minimum standards and how are they measured to improve each year?

I strongly feel as a leader this is a core competency that has to be present. I would say it also can be one of the areas that leaders fail to address and are not effective. A quick way to analyze if you are effective is to try a unique approach the next time you deliver training. Rather than having the employee fill out a survey at the end of the training ask them to send you everything that they learned in the training session. This can be in the form of an email or on a piece of paper. As you gather the responses you will find you might have covered 70 pages of material however the employee only retained 5% of the information. At this point it is time to redefine the training approach and material as it is not the employees fault. To put it into common sense terms we do not ask children to get on a bike and ride with showing them how to sit, balance, pedal, etc. Training should take the same approach.

Sure there are going to be some that are more advanced for the training and might not see a value to attend. In these cases I would argue if the person is not interested in the training to begin they should not attend. Life is full of choices and each person has to make a decision on how they want to spend their time. There is one guarantee if the trainer is effective regardless of the material you will find the training classes will fill up in advance.

Positioning

Positioning is important in leadership and in some regards is not talked about enough. How often do leaders put their self in a position to be successful? Do they put their teams into positions to be successful? Do they put their customers in positions to be successful? In most cases leaders think they have put their self in position to be successful however they forget the most important part of positioning is taking care of the employee, vendor, or customer.

As positioning takes place it is important to understand a leaders position is defined by how he or she has positioned their team. In other words if the team is struggling with closing business how is the Leader positioning marketing for the office? If the leader positioning the marketing resources in the correct location they will see ultimate success. If you have a great market do you position your strongest team or your weakest team? Knowing the business is going to continue to drive in you might have the best customer service team however not the best outbound sales focused team.

When thinking about positioning it is key to position people around you for success. If a person is not having success but has drive, motivation and a strong work ethic what is going wrong? It might be an opportunity to reposition the person define their strengths and capitalize.

Molding a Leader

As I spoke to one of my managers we began to discuss an action plan for one of our team members. I explained that I was going to have a conversation with this person and discuss the great opportunities that we were going to be coming up. I then realized this would be a great opportunity to empower this manager to deliver this positive message. This brought immediate confidence and excitement to this manager as I then coached on how to prepare for the conversation. It not only showed I had the confidence in her as a leader but it helped her build a relationship with the team member.

As leaders it is important to empower people to make critical business decisions. If a manager is not willing to empower his/her team it is unlikely their team will grow. I feel the managers number one responsibility is to identify peoples strengths and help them achieve their goals. If this development does not take place the manager is simply doing a disservice to his/her employees. However if this does takes place you will find future business leaders that will create new process and challenge the status quo. Once they build confidence they will grow to new heights and will become the overall leaders of the business. As the legacy is being built the culture will change and the business will reach heights it never thought it could perform. This is an awesome achievement and a truly exciting time to be part of the business.

Breakthrough

Today I experienced a breakthrough with one of my team members in regards to leadership. As we began to talk we discussed the prior feedback session and what changes were going to have to occur in her leadership plan. We discussed a book that I have recommended that she begin to read so we can discuss different strategies that will result in success. As a teacher and a coach these are the times I really enjoy.

With all this being said there was one change in behavior that was outstanding. She explained to me she went out looking for feedback from her team on how she could be a better leader. Self perception is the key when identifying leadership. Breakthrough!!

As a leader these are the times you can really impact people to become better leaders. In this example I could easily have turned a blind eye to this aspect of her career as she is in the top 1% of sales people in our organization. Quite frankly she is great at what she does but will she be great at leading an organization? As this process continues I am excited to see the transformation take place. I am a strong believer that anyone can change. Sure you cannot change peoples values or opinions however you can make people understand others perception. In leadership it is not always about delivering the perfect message sometimes it is about leading people to deliver the message for you and empowering them to change.

Career Development

Today I had a conversation with an employee about career development and mapping. As a leader these are the times you can directly impact overall relationships. In today's business world we are always focused on next quarters earnings report that sometime we forget about the people that are actually making the earnings possible. I would argue that in some cases career development and being part of the larger picture is more important than compensation. Sure some might say "I want more money," my question would be are they in it for the right reasons? In my career I certainly wanted more money but I would rather be part of the bigger decisions, have a larger impact, all of which traditionaly result in higher compensation. Once you have an employee that wants more out of their current role these are the easiest people to motivate as they see the bigger picture.

As leaders it is our responsibility to sense how our employees are feeling. Employee surveys are great if they are used for mass organizations the key is to have strong individual relationships to drive these results higher. Too many times a company drives training, development and career mapping based off these results. For example if the mass survey says the group needs more training the company might react by hiring external trainers to deliver this additional training. The company feels great as they have delivered on the action item. The question is did they know one of their top performers wanted to be engaged in the training? The company might have lost this opportunity to challenge someone and develop their skills further.

When having these thoughts it is important to be honest with people and deliver on the on the promises that you make. The excitement that comes with opportunity can be crushed in a matter of seconds with a lost promise. Once this level of trust has been broken this relationship might never be restored.

Communicating

When I think about communicating I think about the one time you can really make a difference in business. This is because the way you communicate can make you better in sales, management and operations. In a world that has become driven by data and results the concept of communication will always be important.

If you are not effective when it comes to communication odds are you will not be an effective leader. Regardless of the how your results are if your communication is lacking you are not maximizing performance. The key to successful communication is taking the time necessary for each opportunity. Some issues might seem small for some but could be very large for others. Unless you are willing to take the time you will not know if the issues are large or small. Once you have taken the time then think about tone, presentation, and eliminating distractions.

Annual Review

Every year in large organizations there is a time called ANNUAL REVIEW. The difference between a good organization and great organization is how they handle these situations. A good organization will review this time as a point to cover last year's performance and maybe upcoming year's goals. A great organization will talk about these same things but will have a few more clear objectives. Here are few items a great organization will do:

Year in review:
The first key is to review the numbers. This is a great time to talk about specifically what might have went well and why. In the same regard it is a great time to talk about what did not go well and how you are planning on addressing these issues in the upcoming years.

Peer Evaluation (360):
Perception is reality and the way your peers feel about us is very important for long term career development. So many times this piece is left out of a performance review especially if you are a manager of people. This is a valuable time to gain feedback about on areas that you might want to change in the upcoming year. If this is done effectively the candidate will be able to address issues and work the entire year to make behavioral changes.

Career Mapping:
Great Managers say, "Where do you want to go and how can I help you get there?" If an annual review does not cover this point the candidate will probably feel very demotivated and feel their career is in a holding pattern. This is great time to talk about future opportunities and set stretch goals for the individual. Something great companies do is map careers with additional training needs thus giving the employee the support to grow emotionally, professionally and spiritually.

Merit Increase:
This needs to match both the potential of the employee and the overall results. In other words if you have a top talent but they have not been able to contribute you might be willing to provide additional compensation. Results traditionally drive this number however it is never popular to say "we have a pool of money and this is how much you get." Remember it is no how much you pay people it is the people that you pay.

Lastly the action plan for the upcoming year should be specific and measurable with each person accountable. The manager should have specific objectives to assist in the career development of their employee. Furthermore the employee should have an action plan on how they are going to develop their career over the upcoming months and year. This is great time to show your employee you care more about their career than the hard numbers that have to be executed.

Resignation

Yesterday I was faced with an employee who had decided to resign his position within our organization. This is a really unfortunate situation as the employee has only been with us for a couple of months. The question that comes up during this time is, why? Why has this person decided to leave the organization? What could we have done differently to prevent this person from leaving?

The first decision that a business or a manager has to decide was the decision to hire this person the right decision to begin with? If the answer to this question is yes than there is going to have to be some further research about the reason for leaving. The first question would be to think about onboarding and if the onboarding experience was performed successfully. This includes the time the offer was made, the first day of employment and initial training. If all of these were done successfully than the next place to review would be the team they were working with. Did this person feel part of the team, did they feel they had the support of the leadership, and do they feel like they are valued? The last concern would be how was the communication with the employee on a daily basis and did they feel like they had a personal contact with leadership.

The fact of the matter is it is very difficult to find the right person for the right role. Once you have found this person it is important to understand they have an option to leave. It is the role of the manager to make sure the employee is happy, producing and challenged. Every manager is busy but if they do not build a bridge of communication with the employee the employee is certain to lose interest quickly. Leaders find a way to be accessible, touch base and respond when needed.

Interviews

Today I had an interview with a future candidate in which I introduced behavior based questions. I am a strong advocate on keeping the process very consistent and driving the interview with standardized questions. Too many times organizations leave the hiring process up to one person and do not set measurements for these results. Hiring the right people is the most important task a business can take.

Today I held a panel interview in which the candidate met with myself and another person. For most candidates this is a very uncomfortable situation but is very effective. The candidate is surrounded by multiple people and they will only have to share experiences and history once. There is nothing more frustrating for a candidate to explain their resume 3 times to 3 different people, this process eliminates this frustration. This process also allows the panel to have a discussion about the candidate after the interview and deliberate over the questions and answers.

Although it is important to have follow up conversations of the candidate it is important that you have 100% consensus when making a hiring decision. If for some reason you have any reservations about someone you should hold off and look for another candidate. I think it is important to remember it is not how much you pay people it is the people that you pay. Hiring is an art and attracting and retaining the best talent takes skill and patience.

Attacking the Opportunity

In the business you are going to have to attack opportunity when it is available. In most cases people let opportunity slip away they not because they do not see it rather because they assume it will be there again. When teaching sales I have always stressed the importance of taking the customer out of the marketplace quickly. This is for the simple reason that regardless of the product you are selling someone will always promise to deliver it cheaper and with better service. Although this promise is often made the results are rarely honored. This ultimately causes the customer pain and remorse. Here are a couple of sales tips to remember when entering the market:

• Engage the customer into dialogue and build rapport, personal interaction will deliver higher results as the customer feels valued
• Move the sales transaction through the process swiftly, under promise and over deliver
• View each transaction as a relationship, set future expectations with the customer
• Follow up and be accountable to the clients needs
• Return your phone calls
• Give each client individual attention
• Work for referrals, "who else do you know that could use my services?"
• Never downgrade the competition explain what sets you apart
• Never sell based on price, sell based on benefits, (faster, accountable, service)
• Continually touch base with clients
• Ask for the business

Although there are many other areas that you can focus on; however, if you do each one of these effectively you will increase sales and production. Sales is not rocket science however most people make it more complicated than it is. The simple fact of the matter is you have to talk to more people each day who are interested in your products, build long term relationships, and ask for the business. Once you have established yourself in the market place it will be time to refine your sales process as times will change and new relationships will need to be built.

Leading

There are going to be times in which you have to lead and make tough decisions. In organizations I think it is important as a leader to think about the long term strategy rather than the short term gain. I have recently experienced a situation that will be very difficult to handle. I have decided that it is neither in my best interest professionally nor monetarily to address but as a leader I cannot turn a blind eye. I think this is one of the times that will define a person as a leader. As a leader people have to understand you are addressing issues, making changes, or sacrifices based off of their best interest not yours. Until this level of trust has been built it is very unlikely you will be viewed as a leader.

As I have mentioned in the past I think there are 2 characteristics that a person can be categorized into by answering 2 simple questions.

1. When you arrive at an office are people happy to see you, are they glad to spend time with you, and are they upset when you leave?
2. When you arrive at the office are people on eggshells, do they change their behaviors, is the tension in the office higher, are they relieved after you go?

Obviously we would all like to be #1. The challenge is making people feel comfortable giving you the feedback if you are a #2.

Remain Humble

Regardless of your overall success it is important to remain humble. Remaining humble enables you to build relationships that will drive more success. Everyone wants to be a winner but nobody wants to hear the winner tell others how good they are.

Surprise Feedback

Today I had a firm conversation with an employee about perception and leadership. It is amazing to see how people act when feedback is giving. Although she has been an outstanding producer I feel like she has been somewhat misguided when it comes to leadership development.

Unfortunately she is faced with some major obstacles that are in her way that she will have to remove. The obstacles are not going to be easy to change and she is going to have to want to change. As we began to talk she asked me how? How do I change? I said it is simple the 1st step is to identify areas that you might want to change. I once has a manger explain to me the importance of self awareness, although this might seem like a simple concept most people do not understand it. In this case she has been buying her staff gifts, food, etc but ultimately what they want is direction (guess what, that is free these days).

As a leader you have to understand who you are, what you can be, and how you are going to get there. This is not going to happen overnight and certainly will never come to a point when you can say I have mastered this skill. Leadership is ongoing it is not a kit that you can buy in the store. Leadership is individualized not only for you as a person but for the people you are surrounded by. If you are not willing to change and adapt than leadership is not for you.

Perception

How do others perceive you? This is a question that most people cannot answer intern could cause harm in their professional career. Most people have the feeling that everyone likes them and therefore are not constantly looking for feedback in order to change behaviors. I once worked with an employee who said "feedback is a gift." She could not have been more right, and being open for feedback is what will make the leader learn to change and grow.

Leadership is not defined by hitting huge monetary results leadership is defined by leading people to a common goal. I remember being told once you are not a leader until people choose to follow. This comment will make anyone think, what would happen if I left? Would people want to come with me? Could I call them if I needed a favor? Would they run through a wall for me? If the answer is yes than you are a leader! If you are not sure what the answer is it might be time to think about gathering feedback on what you can do to make yourself more productive.

Making people think

Yesterday I was speaking to a former employee who has recently taken over a new team. During our discussions we were talking about performance management and how to develop the metrics that he is going to use. Initially he was thinking about rolling out metrics to each person. As a new manager coming in I warned him that this approach needs to be sensitive as the people who really care about the business are going to take this personally.

Today he called me back and has made a decision to address each one individually. As you think about performance development and management this is the best approach to take. Unfortunately, Corporate America in most cases has to play the role of being fair and consistent to avoid litigation.

As a manager and a leader I would challenge each person to establish a system in which they are coaching their team to higher results. As the results increase begin to set stretch goals for each person individually. Since each person has different motivations you will find this process time consuming but ultimately more rewarding.

Team Meeting

Today we had a meeting with my peer group. The group has a very interesting dynamic and the leader of the group is trying to integrate the team. It is amazing to me to see how people react in group situations. Today we were able to brainstorm a few ideas that were going to take our business to the next level. Some people were very positive and open to ideas others seemed to shoot down everything.

A point that I brought up, that we will be integrating, is to create a mentor system amongst our peers. This is to build good team unity and relationships. The team lacks a sense of loyalty to each other and is working toward making this a focus in 2007. I am really looking forward to working with my peer, she is pregnant and she will be going through some challenges in the upcoming months. This is going to be an outstanding opportunity to build a relationship with someone who is going to be going through an emotional roller coaster.

I really hope to see the team work through this process as if done correctly it can build trust amongst each other. It will be the responsibility of a few of us to create the environment that is open to new ideas and are willing to make changes to adapt to the team. For those who are not willing to adapt and learn it will be their choice if they want to be part of the team in the future.

Day Off

Today the my team had a day off. I cannot stress the need for days like this to happen in order to maintain high levels of productivity. About a year ago I was in a completely different role which required me to work about 70 hours a week. For some reason I really enjoyed this stress and it pushed me in ways I would otherwise have not tried. However one thing I would not do is let my team do this. For certain people this is an acceptable life style however the majority of people would not choose this approach. After working all of these hours I began to think of a question.....Is it better to give 100% for 40 hours or 75% for 60 hours?

I would argue that if an employee is disciplined, highly effective with time management, and task oriented it is possible to be more effective in 40 hours at 100%. The problem that arises is most people are not this disciplined and causes slow downs in production. In the course of my career I have always taught sales people to make one additional call. This means that no matter what they are going to do make one extra call, restroom, water, lunch, or leaving for the day. If every sales person would do this it would result in 10 more calls a day or 50 more a week. Seems like a simple thought process but very few can grasp the concept. The other area that I preach is removing the non-value added items. These would be items that are holding you back from generating business. Certainly it is impossible to eliminate all of these the but the fewer you have the more productive you will be.

Another thing to remember is once you see someone burning out give them some time off. Even if it is just a Friday afternoon this will help refresh and rebuild. After all it does not help if they are not productive as this usually results into negativity. 40 hours or 60 hours the choice is yours!

Coaching

Today I had the opportunity to coach and develop a couple of my team members. There is really nothing better than to watch people develop and grow. Regardless of age or experience if people are willing to learn and adapt they will be successful.

Today I have a group that is mixed with some experience and some who have relatively no experience. The challenge is making sure the team members that have experience are able to utilize their skills when it comes to long term success of others. In the business world it is sometimes tough for people to realize that leadership is more about developing others rather than personal development.

When the development of others happens a leader begins to build a legacy. This legacy is what I call Residual Leadership. This is something that is taught and will carry throughout your career and through the careers of many others. Residual Leadership is like a family tree of sorts, who have you lead, who have they lead and who will they lead. Another words regardless of the role a leader is in today they are molding the future of the organization.

Valentines Day

Yesterday was Valentines Day which is celebrated across the world. For most this is time to be shared with your significant other. However this is a holiday that leaders can really utilize as a time to really say thanks and that they care about their team. Valentines day for some is about love but in business it can be about caring .

If there is one thing you can do every day for your team is show them you care for them. It is not good enough to show them you care about results you have to care about them as individuals. In business we are sometimes concerned about driving our results from our team we sometimes forget we should be driving our team to the results. However if you do not show that you care for them as individuals you will be facing a constant battle. Today loyalty for a company can be lost very quickly but if you can build personally loyalty the rewards are endless.

Snow Day

What happens when a manager is faced to make tough decisions about results vs. employees well being? Well the answer is simple, choose employees well being as they are the ones who will drive the results. In business there are going to be days in which adverse conditions are going to happen, this might be due to weather, technology, or illness. The key is to effectively manage these situations and build trust with your employees.

These are the best times in which managers can become leaders. The employee will see a side of personal concern rather than the bottom line. Thus will lead to a more dedicated workforce since they realize you have their best interest in mine rather than just simply caring about results. These times do and should not happen very often so take advantage of them as they can be a springboard to building trust that could last a lifetime.

Lead by Example

Lead by Example, is this a management concept or a way of life in your organization. So many organizations say that their leaders manage by this method; however, if you ask their employees you will probably hear a different reaction. Is this method effective? In a recent study I was able to determine that a high percentage of associates would rather see their managers lead by example rather than any other strategy. The most alarming point of the research was the associates did not necessarily care if the manager had success or failure. The fact they were willing to dig in with them was enough to understand their daily struggles.

In business we as leaders sometimes forget about the daily grind that our front line has to deal with each and every day. It is always a good idea to understand their challenges and opportunities and there is no better way to accomplish this than just jumping in. If a manager is viewed as someone who is not willing to jump in and help out. They are not looked at as part of the team but rather an outsider.

Employee appreciation = customer appreciation

Have you ever thought the way that you treat your employees will result in the way they treat your customers? This is something that I have been thinking about and I am convinced that treating an employee well will carry through when it comes to customer satisfaction scores. The biggest question is how can this be quantified? Why would this have any correlation?

I think the correlation is two fold and starts with long term employees engage long term customers. Today people change jobs, locations, and careers faster than ever. For the younger generation the thought of doing the same job for the next 10 years is just not an option. Competition for talent is tougher than ever before and this is because very few people are willing to make the tough sacrifices to become successful. However the number one reason people leave is because they do not feel appreciated. If your employee does not feel appreciate how are they going to treat the customer?

It would be interesting to poll the top 500 corporations see is attrition rate is correlated to customer service score. I would predict the lower the attrition rate the higher the score. I think the real point is our employees are our customers and if we do not take care of our customers someone else will.

Taking the Chance

As I spoke with a friend today I was realizing how passionate he was becoming about opening up his own business. This is a huge chance since he walked away from a large corporate role with a ton of perks. However at the end of the day the perks, big salary and responsibility were not the passion that was driving him.

I think this is a great way to look at life in general. You have to have passion for what you do or the largest paychecks in the world will not mean anything. Ultimately each person will have to measure success differently but the ultimate goal is to have fulfillment each and every day and a passion that drives you to higher results. During our conversation he asked me, "how many people do I know that are real go getter's?" It took me a while to think of a few people that are trying new things each and every day to change where they are either financially, professionally, emotionally, or spiritually.

However the few that I could think of find a way to be successful regardless of the task at hand. It is people like this that you have to associate yourself with as they will teach you how to win and how to fail. Although no one wants to be a failure you have to be able to recognize when you failed and why as this will result in future successes.

providing feedback

Providing feedback to a team member is one of the best opportunities a leader has. It is important that the feedback has substance and proper timing. It is important for a leader to recognize when feedback is appropriate and where it should take place. Great leaders make sure to praise in public and provide feedback in private. If feedback happens in front of others you will not only lose trust in the individual who is receiving the feedback you will also lose trust from others who witenessed the action take place. Why is this? Simple they do not know when they are going to be next on the list.

Positive feedback is always welcomed, however an organization will not grow if developmental opportunities are addressed. Behaviors will not change unless the behaviors are addressed. Make it a priority to provide constructive feedback at least quarterly to your team. The other key to providing feedback is being willing to receive feedback and adapting to change.

Managers vs Leaders

Leaders are hard to find and defining who a leader is is even harder. I think a leader can be defined as a person who is willing to challenge the status quo, redefine processes and create innovation that will take their companies to the next level. However the most important characteristic a leader has is to be willing to learn and adapt to unforeseen circumstances. The challenge that some managers have is allowing future leaders to perform these special talents.

Why does this happen?

The answer is very difficult and there are many reasons why this might happen. I think one reason would be lack of confidence from the manager. In some regards they fell threatened and change could result in additional work or worse loss of employment. Another reason would be they are blind and do recognizing the talents of their employees. They might not value the creation of new ideas or want to personally challenge the status quo.

In business there are many managers; however, there are very few leaders. If you have a chance to work with someone who is an excellent leader take advantage of the experience as it is likely they will be moving to larger roles.

Some of the Top Leaders I have worked for: Jim Nowak, Bob Binnie, Brian Call, Nonnie Williams if you ever get a chance to work for these people jump at the opportunity as you will be a better leader for it.

Email Communication

In today's day in age email is more common than ever. In some cases this is more popular than talking to people over the phone and can cause major problems. This can happen for a few reasons which I have outlined below:

1. The tone for the email is tough to determine. Depending on who is writing or who is reading it the tone can be perceived 2 different ways. For example if an employee just walked out of a tough meeting and was very frustrated, regardless of the content of the email, this employee will probably be viewed the wrong way. Although the author might not have planned this to happen it is a common mistake that happens in the work place.

2. Eliminate emotion and keep the email short and to the point. This is something that most people really seem to struggle with and make the emails much longer to try to get their point across. A best practice is to make sure the email is no longer than one page. The longer the email the less likely it will be read. It is very common for people to displace an email that looks time consuming. People today are very busy keep the email short, factual, and to the point.

3. Reply to ALL? This is something that can be blown way out of control and cause nightmares for the team. In most companies there are a few people that would be classified as reply to all bandits, feeling they need everyone to know their opinion. This usually take place because of lack of attention when reading the email. When reading the email make sure it states to please share your opinions with the group, if it does not say this then replying to the author individually is appropriate. There is nothing worse than opening your email and seeing the same name in the subject for 15 different emails. This wastes time and is rarely productive.

Lastly know your audience, who is going to be reading this? If you have not built a strong relationship with someone and you display a negative email you have just dug a whole you are unlikely to craw out of. Never give negative feedback in email this is gutless and is sure to lose respect quickly; on the other hand, positive feedback is fine and is usually very welcomed by any audience.

Closing a chapter

Although it was a very short time that I spent with my recent team it was an outstanding experience. We capped it of tonight by going out unwinding in a very casual atmosphere. It is great to see a team come together and really enjoy working as a team rather than individuals.

Once you can say you have strong friends at work you are likely to share success, failures and feedback more often, This is because you will be building trust which is the single most important trait in any relationship. If a person does not have friends at work and distances themselves from others you can almost count on them resigning in the next few months. However if you can engage them, understand them, and recognize them you will have an employee and friend for life.

Over my career I have built outstanding relationships with people that I have worked with. These people might have been my employees, bosses or peers. However today I would call them my friends.

Pursuit of Happyness

Today I was able to attend a public speaking appearance from Chris Gardner. Early this year I hear about Chris and his story from an employee of mine who I was helping take his career to the next level. We read his book together and discussed concepts along the way. I thought tonight's presentation was outstanding and included these key points

1. Provide for your family, whatever it takes
2. Focus on the baby steps that you make in life it is important to recognize that you are moving forward.
3. There is only one person in control of your outcomes and that is you.
4. Stop the cycle, whatever that may be, (health, failure, family neglect) stop the cycle that might be happening in your life as it will effect others in your legacy.
5. Create a legacy by having an impact in your community

As I think about my career and my life there are things I need to do better, today's results will lead to tomorrows plan.

Consulting

Over the past few months I have been working with a local business and doing some consulting for them. It is amazing to see the compassion the owner has for his employees and truly wants them to be happy. The tough questions that needed to be answered is where are you going to take the business over the next few years and how do you plan on getting there? In business we are constantly busy chasing down daily, weekly and even monthly results that sometimes we lose track of the big picture.

This is a major issues especially for small business owners who traditionally do not have the resources to give them the feedback they are looking for. However change is inevitable in business and those who do not change will be faced with tough times. Competition is getting tougher each and every day; therefore hiring the right people to perform is the single most important job for a business owner.

Today we were able to solve a major problem and I made a recommendation to hire an additional Manager to develop the office. The structure this individual will give to the office will increase results if managed appropriately. This is where goal setting, accountability and feedback will become the backbone of the organization. Although this will be a tremendous culture shock to the business it will drive sustained results. The next challenge is to identify what the company wants to be do not try every great idea. Think through good ideas try them for a specific amount of time measure the results and identify if it is cost effective. A business leader who is not willing to change will not have to because the market will soon forget about them and move on leaving them in the dust.