After many long hours and a lot of hard work, it’s always a great feeling to bask in the glory of our achievements, especially ones that exceed our very own expectations. Let’s face it…it’s human nature to do so. Go ahead and congratulate yourself, say Dr. Mikel J. Harry and Richard Schroeder, authors of Six Sigma. Give yourself a quick pat on that back…realizing that career kudos always translate into monetary value, such as raises and promotions. But, get back to work because you must be careful if you think that your past victories guarantee you a spot in the winner’s circle. Just like a company’s balance sheet, it’s important to take frequent stock of your personal assets and liabilities that add or subtract from your personal career goals. Continue Reading…
Learning More Once We Figure It Out
Managing By Walking Around
As commander of the Third Army, General George S. Patton was known for getting the job done. General Patton succeeded because he was a realist who understood what was going on in the trenches. He always took into consideration the big picture and assessed what needed to get done…and then did it without any delay or excuses. More than anything, he hated orders that didn’t make sense or put his men in harm’s way. If the orders were outrageous, he would tweak them just enough so that the troops could still achieve success.
General Patton wanted no part of bad strategy. When he was told to stand by and not advance, he sharpen and polish his troops by sending out small battle groups to keep the enemy guessing and on their toes.
When it comes down to being successful in business, a leader should make sure his or her “troops” have what they need to execute the grand plan, or that plan can quickly become a disaster. Whether you are selling automobiles to customers in a retail setting or delivering parts to an oil rig in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico, how well you perform the task will indicate your level of success. On the flip side, great plans are ruined when the execution suffers. Bottom line…grandiose strategy plans won’t sell more cars, but solid customer service will. Listen to your customers, as for they are always telling you a story on how to keep them satisfied.
With that said, all of this reminds me of something Tom Peters wrote in A Passion for Excellence. In this book, he states that “Customers love being appreciated and hate supervisors who pull the disappearing act.” Heck, who doesn’t for that matter? Peters also stated, “Bad leaders are invisible, while good leaders demonstrate MBWA,” an acronym that he coined which means: “Managing By Walking Around.”
If you want to be informed about your company and provide useful direction to employees and managers, you need to get out of your office and change your focus from analyzing yesterday’s trends to witnessing the daily operation of your organization. By asking questions in the face of the day-to-day operations, you will get answers to problems you didn’t even know existed. By listening to other people within your team, you can give real input into the processes of your organization. By talking to customers, you’ll know if the business is hitting its target or just missing. Talking to a customer is much more valuable than looking at the results or marketing surveys.
So, the next time you want information…take a walk. Good things are sure to happen!
Searching for a Mentor?
Setting unrealistic goals, or goals you never intend to meet, wastes everyone’s time. If you’re so out of touch with your inner self that you spend time daydreaming about wealth and riches with no plan for achieving then, it’s time for an attitude overhaul.
Ron Willingham is best known for helping organizations succeed with ethical, value-driven strategies. He teaches that the right mental attitude can make the difference in what you are realistically going to achieve. Knowing who you are and where you are going helps you set positive goals. Sure, it’s fine to fantasize about buying a Mercedes Benz (and even to purchase one if your budget allows for it), but do not allow yourself to to be motivated or driven by status. Status is really nothing more than buying things to impress people, that you really don’t like, with money you don’t have! Keeping up with the Joneses is a dangerous game to play. If you find yourself more concerned with status than personal values take stock of your life. Change your mindset: read or listen to some good books, listen to personal development CDs, and go to lectures. Redirect your thinking to focus on practical goals based on the reality of what is feasible in your life.
You may be young in the business and in need of a positive support system to plan exactly how you are going to reach your goals. Seek out a mentor and discover some new standards and practices. Experience in the field and right mental attitude is an excellent combination to enable you to achieve. Let’s face it, to succeed in business, you need to stay motivated and focused, right? But of course that is easier said than done. During a lecture by Stephen Covey, who preaches self-reflection as a way to discover the unlimited power of your own potential, knows that at some point, everyone is going to hit a wall. That is where a mentor can step in and help out. But, according to Covey, finding a mentor takes more thought and effort that most people realize.
A good place to start is to find someone whom you admire who shows an avid interest in you. Don’t prematurely choose your mentor. Get to know a variety of people who can potentially mentor you, which will minimize the chance in choosing someone for the wrong reasons. A magnetic personality is captivating, but too often, you can end up becoming a groupie, basking in the glow of your mentor’s superstar stature. It’s better to pick someone whose thought process and personality mesh with yours.
A mentor want you to learn and adapt his or her philosophies to become your own. A mentor should be available for advice and feedback, but not babysitting your insecurities. If you pick the right mentor, and you may have more than one, it’s usually the foundation for a life long friendship.
Infuse Your Team With Independence
While taking some time to refresh myself on ‘going back to basics’, I revisited Stephen R. Covey’s book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People for the second or third time. Mr. Covey believes that we need to infuse our organizations with lots of independent team members. One way to achieve this is by being prepared to resolve mistakes that are predicated by poor decisions. As leaders, how we react to a misstep is key in helping those around us learn to work autonomously and ultimately, when appropriate, interdependently.
First, let’s remember that mistakes do happen. That is a reality in any operation. However, we also want our people to feel comfortable approaching us about these occurrences right away. These situations present an opportunity for a leader to help group members in correcting the problem before it grows into a larger complication with possibly unmanageable consequences.
For example: Let’s suppose that you asked one of your team members to assist you in creating and putting together a press kit. He or she took the proper initiative and had the documents they created proof-read. With their proof-readers approval of the draft, your co-worker had several thousand copies printed. The press kits were then stuffed into envelopes before he or she re-read the copy themselves only to discover that a crucial word had been omitted.
Your team member has two choices: Let it go, mail the kits and hope the typo isn’t noticed, or he/she can approach you and report what has happened. If they are comfortable with the way they’ve seen you handle similar scenarios, they will willingly inform you of the mistake having faith that you’ll objectively give direction and delegate an appropriate response. Conversely, if you have intimidated your work group with rash consequences in the past, the results will very likely be less favorable for the overall perceived value of your team and possibly cause irreparable damage to your organization.
When we stay calm and keep our composure, our leadership skills show. These are the qualities that help build a great team of players that will not lay blame or point fingers; Those who appreciate the value of teamwork and most importantly: A team that feels comfortable enough to ask for advice. Hence, when Stephen Covey said “Interdependence is only a choice independent people can make”, he meant it for us: Team Players.
The Ego Factor
After studying a leadership model called “The Ego Factor”, I noticed it pointed out that torpid growth, lost market share, and panic response management are more likely to occur if growth objectives are Ego driven vs. Profit driven. This often leads to personal needs getting ahead of business needs and is a common symptom of the lack of leadership within an organization.
A servant leader makes a conscious choice to lead by being a servant first. He or she is noticeably different from the person who is leading first, because of the need to alleviate an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions.
Good managers get employees to respect them, effective leaders get employees to not only respect them but more importantly they get them to respect themselves.
It has been shown that effective leaders go through a never ending development process that includes education, self study, training, experience and coaching and mentoring from one or several individuals that have a very positive influence on their personal development. Leadership is the ability to influence, inspire and motivate others to accomplish specific objectives. It includes creating a culture that helps direct the organization in such a way that it makes it consistent and coherent keeping short term goals and objectives in alignment with long term strategic initiatives. The success of leadership in this process is directly influenced by the individual leaders’ beliefs, values, ethics, character, knowledge and skills.
Position and title may give one power but power in itself does not make one an effective leader. To become an effective leader there are specific skill sets that one must understand and master. This does not come naturally. It takes dedication, passion and commitment to the process. That commitment, dedication and passion includes a tireless effort to improve on specific skills and the development of a personal leadership methodology. This is referred to as your personal leadership model.
What is your personal leadership model?
Setting Goals
It’s incredible to see so many people out their achieving their goals in times like this. The clock is ticking and so many of us are doing things that we’ve only dreamed of.
There are five frogs and they’re all sitting on a log. Four of them decide to jump off. How many are sitting on the log??? The answer is five. Why? Because their is a difference between deciding and doing. You have to make a decision that do it! You have to see it through to the end. So many times we get started in things and then we just stop. We meet an obstacle and instead of going “You know what? I am going to find a way through this, I am going to learn it..I’m not sure how I am going to change but I am going to get together with my mentor and we are going to talk about it and figure this out!”.
We all dislike correction, don’t we? Understanding that correction is constructive criticism is a way to take a step back and put things in perspective, because we are in the middle of it and we can’t see what we are doing wrong all the time. When we are setting goals, we need to always remember to apply the “M.A.S.T.” (Meaningful, Achievement, Specific, and Time) equation to it. Meaningful. Is it going to benefit you and others. Is it going to be something that I can make a difference in somebody else’s life too? Achievement. Ask yourself if the goal is achievable because sometimes we set are goals so far out there that when we get into it, we get to a point where we say to ourselves “What was I thinking, I can never do that”. Well, then you’ve set your goal so high that in your own mind, you can’t achieve it. SO ask yourself, “Is it achievable?” Specific. Is your goal defined, is it specific? Sometimes we get out there and we are all pumped up and we’re like “whoo hoo…this is what it is and….” What exactly is it? We always have to know what we’re running for. Then there is Time. Do we have time on it? Do we have a time limit? If not, then it will be forever and we will keep running after this goal forever.
After we put a MAST on our goal, we then need to ask “How much is this going to cost? What price is it that I’m going to have to pay for this goal?” We ask ourselves this because we are going to have to determine what the price is that we are going to pay…if we don’t set the goal! Understanding that there is a price for everything. Check and Adjust.
Are you hanging around toxic people, or hanging around the people that inspire you!
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