Posted: November 12, 2019 | Categories: Leadership, Management, Team Building

A good leader cares about his team.  Who would want to work for someone who didn’t care?

I have a good friend who is a caring leader and a successful businessman.  I was talking with Jim a couple months ago, and he talked about a challenge he accepted a month before while attending a trade convention.  The challenge was this:

“Imagine that someone contacted you, and wanted to buy your business.  They made you an offer that was hard to refuse.  You quickly realized that you could retire early if you accepted this offer.  It was in cash, and you accepted.

After about a year, you received a call from the same person, and things weren’t going well.  They were desperate, and wanted you to know if you would be willing to buy the business back for 10 cents on the dollar.  You were twitching to get back to work, and you took the offer.  Here is the question:  Now that you own the business again, who would you hire back?  Is there anyone you would not hire back?  If so, why is this person still working for you?”

It was a day of reckoning for Jim.  He did have a manager that he would not hire back in that scenario.  He knew what he had to do.  He let him go.  The person who has since replaced the dismissed manager is doing very well, and the business is doing much better.  Jim, like many I know, said the same thing after he let a sub-performer go:  “I wished I had done it sooner”.  If he had, it would have saved him a lot of grief and money.

Here is the message:  If someone is consistently under-performing, and he or she has been given ample opportunity to improve, it is usually wise to part company.  It can actually turn out to be a “win-win” rather than a “lose-lose”

Posted: September 23, 2019 | Categories: Leadership, Team Building

Last week the Wall Street Journal featured an article by Joanne Lublin entitled, “To get ahead, rivals get along.”  In the column Ms. Lublin pointed out that 73% of the heads of S&P 500 companies who were selected last year came from within, compared with 69% in 2017.  Along with this rise, candidates with exceptional people skills are most desirable.  “Employers now prefer to elevate highly collaborative executives.”  Here is an example of just how important this quality can be:

Two years ago I was working with a company that had two internal candidates named Jim and Bob.  They were applying for the same position.  They like, trusted, and respected each other, and were willing to be a good sport about it if they weren’t selected.  After one was selected, these two continued to work together and keep their relationship solid.  Two years later, the candidate who was passed by was offered a management position at another location.  It was just what he wanted.  He has since excelled at the position, and has now been given another promotion.  Jim and Bob both have a position in the company at a corporate level, and their ability to work together is exceptional.  As the classic rule of synergy goes, Jim and Bob together are greater than the sum of the two.

If you are playing in sports, you play to beat the other team.  That only makes sense.  When it comes to competing with people on your own team, try competing against yourself.  Like Bethoven and Shakespeare, strive to compete against yourself and your own record.  Your team will be a combination of strengths.

Posted: September 10, 2019 | Categories: Leadership, Management, Team Building

Have you ever water skied? I have done so about a half-dozen times. With a few misfires in the beginning, I got up and stayed up. When I was skiing, the most prevalent thought I had was to avoid falling. As I result, I stayed in the wake and made no attempt to risk crossing it.

I have a friend who is an expert water skier. Not only would he cross the wake, he can do it barefoot! He loves to ski and finds it to be a never-ending adventure. He is also a very successful business owner, and as you might expect, he likes his employees to enjoy themselves in their work, and always rise to a challenge.

Now let’s talk about the opposite:  There are companies I have seen where the team member’s main thought is to not do or say anything that would rock the boat. If they have an idea that they think would help the company, they hold back for fear of being shot down. In other words, like me on skis, they are afraid to cross the wake.

When we think of the companies that have become successful and stayed that way, names like “Disney” or “Apple” come to mind. Where would these great companies be without the input and engagement of their staff? These companies are smart, and they have learned that creating a culture with idea fluency is vital to continued healthy growth.

Let’s consider our own team. When someone comes up with an idea, do we suspend judgment and hear them out? Are they confident “crossing the wake”? If we sense not, this may be a good time practice more encouragement and better listening. It will pay!

Posted: August 21, 2019 | Categories: Leadership, Management, Team Building

I’ve always been told that repetition is one of the ways we learn.  If we are playing a musical instrument or learning a new skill, repetition makes sense.  Then there are other times when repetition does not work.  Have you ever found yourself having the same conversation over and over again with someone you are trying to correct or re-direct?  I’ll bet you have.  How do we break the cycle and solve the problem?  I will illustrate with a personal example:

In the summer of 1974, I was the manager of a hotel in a Chicago suburb.  My boss lived in Denver, and Mr. V would come in to check up on things about every six weeks.  He always had a list of things he wanted me to work on.  Some things I enjoyed, some I did not.  As time went on, it seemed like the stuff I didn’t like doing never got done.  Mr V. and I kept having the same conversation.  Then, one day, he broke the pattern.  I’ll never forget what he said, “Steve, what can I do to get you going on this?”  Whoa!  I’m tuned in.  The time for excuses was over.  I needed to execute.  I did, and we enjoyed a long working relationships that lasted for another 10 years.  He also promoted me to manage some of his other properties.

What happened in this conversation?  Mr. V shifted gears.  Before, he was focusing on the specific situation of what didn’t get done.  In our capstone conversation, he instead called attention to the “pattern” I had established, and let me know that this pattern needed to change…immediately!

Do you have a team member who just can’t seem to “get with the program”?  Once they established an unproductive pattern, address the pattern, not the incident.  Throw it right back to him or her like Mr. V did.  It will be tough.  We also know that the best coaches and teachers in our lives always challenged us.  We can do the same.

Posted: August 11, 2019 | Categories: Customer service, Leadership, Networking, Sales, Self-Improvement, Team Building

“The expression one wears on one’s face is far more important that the clothes one wears on one’s back”

– Dale Carnegie

Today I was reminded of an important principle in building team trust:  One of my friends mentioned that she had taken a picture of a colleague in a meeting while he was looking at his smart phone.  The expression on his face was not radiant.

In building strong team trust, approachability is critically important.  Our team members must be comfortable approaching us with questions, ideas, and genuine concerns.  If the “at-rest” expression on our face is stern or  intense, many will avoid us.  This leads to a weaker team.

Many years ago I was coaching a business owner who talked about his most significant growth as a leader.  A friend commented about the normal expression on his face.  He said, “You look mean.”  Carl was smart enough to realize that if he had a mad countenance, many of his team would hesitate to approach him.  That day, Carl decided he would develop the habit of having an approachable expression as much as possible.

Carl got to work.  It was tough.  He claimed it was nearly 2 years before the sparkle on his face became a habit.  Carl said the effects his efforts on teamwork and productivity were immeasurable.

I realize there are times when we will not have a sparkling expression on our face.  We may be in a serious or intense conversation and we want our facial expression to match our message.  The objective is, whenever possible and appropriate, always have a friendly expression on our face.  This builds trust and leads to stronger relationships.