Posted: August 1, 2019 | Categories: Management, Team Building

In my experience of coaching managers and leaders, I have found the most successful ones know how to make good decisions.  Whenever possible, when facing a tough decision, they take the time to gather the facts, weigh them, and act based on their knowledge and instincts.  I was reminded of this today when talking to my 32-year-old son, David.  He and his wife, Nicole recently signed up to be a Foster Parent for dogs.  Soon after they signed up, they received a couple irresistible pups from the agency.  They were Beagle mix, male and female, and both from the same litter

From the moment that David and Nicole saw them, they could see that these two pups were inseparable.  They constantly have to be near each other, and when one is out of the room, the other panics.  David and Nicole declared, “We will not split up these dogs.  They would be devastated if we did.  We will hold out until we find someone who wants to take both of them.  It is a package deal”.  This made sense to Joyce and I.

Today David talked to a couple that was eager to adopt both dogs.  With great excitement, David called the agency and announced the good news.  When the person at the agency found out the dogs were going to stay together, her enthusiasm dropped.  She said, “We have found that it is not a good idea to let people adopt two from the same litter.”  She explained why, and my crestfallen son did some further research.  It is not a good idea to adopt siblings.  They are so into each other, they tend not to pay any attention to the owner.  That makes them difficult to train and bond with.  They only want to be next to their sibling.  We were all sad, but wiser.  I was reminded again of how powerful the “heart” is in making decisions, and how we always have to get the “head” involved too!

Posted: June 25, 2019 | Categories: Leadership, Team Building

Effective bosses communicate early and often.  When I am coaching managers and owners on their communication skills, we often talk about classifying the type of communication you wish to have.  The four main categories are: Sell, tell, join, and consult.  If we are selling, we need buy-in.  If we are telling, we are delivering a message with a non-negotiable directive.  When we join, we agree to support a team member on an idea or project they have generated.  When we consult, we are seeking input and ideas regarding a possible course of action.

I believe that the “tell” situation is the most challenging.  Most people do not want to appear harsh, and telling means you are really saying, “This is the way it is…no exceptions”.  Here is an example:

In my early 20’s, I began my career in hotel management.  I moved around a lot, and one time I took management of a hotel that had a weekly payroll.  No, we didn’t have a payroll service, and I also did not have a calculator.  (This was in the early 70’s, and calculators were way too expensive).  This meant that doing the weekly payroll took a half a day a week – way too much time.  I decided we would change to a bi-weekly payroll schedule.  I did not even attempt to sell this idea.  It is funny about the word money:  Although not synonyms, “sooner” and “now” seem to be first cousins.  I knew the staff wouldn’t be happy.  I told them about the change.  The announcement came in July, but the new procedure would not begin until January 1st.  I wanted to give them time to adjust to the change.  They were not thrilled, but they understood.  If I had told them in a wishy-washy way like, “Hey, what do you think?”, I would have lost trust, because they would have soon found out that what they thought would not change things.  This was a “tell”.  My point to you: If you have to give a “tell” to your team, don’t disguise it.  Be clear, and realize that there are things we need to say and others need to hear, and we cannot expect people to always be smiling when we give them the “tell” news.

Posted: May 29, 2019 | Categories: Leadership, Team Building

In the spring of 1998 I became an “instant” volunteer to coach a little league team of 9 and 10-year old’s.  My son was on the team, and the coach from the previous year did not return.  Since I had been his assistant coach, I needed to take the job of head coach, or let the team disassemble.  I chose to take the job.

My first challenge was to define my objectives.  The first thing I did was meet with the parents.  I said, “I know some of you are very competitive and love to win.  Others simply want their boys to learn something and have fun.  I want you all to know that we will do both:  Have fun…and win!”

Next came my strategy:  How were we going to dominate our competition?  My strategy was simple.  No walks.  If you wanted to score a run on our team, you had to earn it.  As a result, I enlisted the help of some talented parents and their boys, and we practiced the fundamentals of simply pitching the ball over the plate.  I knew if we could do this. we would have a solid season.  We did.  We went 12-3.  The three games we lost were by less than two runs, and in each case, the teams had to “hit” their way to victory rather than drawing walks.

What I applied here is the same thing all of us must do to make our businesses successful.  We can ask ourselves these questions:

1. What can our team do that is unique and special?
2. Of all the things we can do special, which ones are most critical to our customers?
3. Which ones are currently not being delivered well?
4. How can we work out a strategy to fill this gap?

Once we have done this, go for it!  Make an all-out commitment to deliver that most important thing that is missing and important.  Do it with excellence.  We will build strong trust and loyalty.

Posted: May 24, 2019 | Categories: Leadership, Team Building

A vital part of teamwork is collaborating to solve problems.  With skillful dialogue a solid team can usually come to a consensus on what to do.  Once this occurs, there is one more important step:  Decide how you will make decisions.  Here is an example:

In the spring of 1980, my wife and I had just purchased a house, and we also needed a car.  We were on a tight budget, but we both agreed we needed a new car.  A short time later, I was visiting a dealer, and they just took a car off the truck that was exactly what we were looking for.  It was a basic Toyota Corolla for $4000 brand new.  I caught them before they could put any “add-ons” to it.  It wasn’t long before I was back home with a car.  I thought I made a great decision.  That may be true, but my wife was furious.  She was understandably upset that she was not involved in such an important decision.  Even though we had both agreed that we needed a new car, we had not detailed and agreed upon a decision-making process.

Several years later we were once again in the market for a new car.  This time I was smarter.  Joyce and I sat down and went through all the possible cars and options.  There was give and take, and we ended up agreeing on the process.  Since we had detailed and agreed on exactly what we wanted, the only thing left was to execute.  One day I had an appointment cancelled, and I stopped by a dealer to look around.  They were offering exactly what we were looking for at the perfect price.  I bought the car, went home, and showed Joyce the paperwork.  “Looks good”, she said.  That was it.  (She doesn’t get too excited about cars)  Our process of buying a new car went smoothly this time, because we had decided how we were going to decide.  I recommend you and your team do the same.  It will prevent violated expectations.

Posted: May 20, 2019 | Categories: Team Building

Most of my coaching time involves helping organizations and  build winning teams.  They want to be number one.  Doesn’t everyone?  But how?  Below is an account of a conversation between legendary football coach Vince Lombardi and Lee Iacocca as told by Mr. Iacocca in his autobiography:  Once, at a private dinner with Vince Lombardi, the legendary football coach and a friend of mine, I asked him about his formula for success.  I wanted to know exactly what made a winning team.  What he told me that evening applies as much to the business world as it does to sports.

“You have to start by teaching the fundamentals.” Lombardi said.  “A player’s got to know the basics of the game and how to play his position.  Next, you’ve got to keep him in line.  That’s discipline.  The men to have to play as a team, not as a bunch of individuals.  There’s no room for prima donnas”

He continued: “But there have been a lot of coaches with good ball clubs who know the fundamentals and have plenty of discipline but still don’t win the game.  Then you come to the third ingredient:  If you’re going to play together as a team, you’ve got to care for one another.  You’ve got to love each other. Each player has to be thinking about the next guy and saying to himself:  “If I don’t block that man, Paul is going to get his legs broken.  I have to do my job well in order that he can do his”

“That’s the difference between mediocrity and greatness”, Lombardi said that night.

Sounds so simple, doesn’t it?  We know it is true.