Posted: August 10, 2012 | Categories: Leadership

Several years ago I was working for a company that prided itself in their positive and supportive culture.  One day I was asked by the company owner for my opinion on the new email marketing plan.  I responded by saying I had received two leads from the program.  Keeping in mind our commitment to continuous improvement, I also suggested that they may want to reduce the frequency a little, since I had two customers comment that they felt they had been “spammed”.  My comment was not welcome or appreciated.   Afterwards, my manager took me aside and said, in effect, “Don’t do that anymore”.  I followed his advice, and that was the beginning of my next chapter – becoming a certified coach and starting my own company.

In his book The Mind in the Making, James Harvey Robinson said, “We are incredibly heedless in the formation of our beliefs, but find ourselves filled with an illicit passion for them when anyone proposes to rob us of their championship”.

There is always room for improvement.  If we are going to make a constructive suggestion, we should heed Mr. Robinson’s words, and realize that a person’s pride is attached to an idea.  “Cushioning” is important.  Here is an example.  Using the above situation, I could say, “I wanted to give you some feedback about our new marketing program.  First of all, I like the graphics, and am pleased to announce that I already have two leads I have closed.  If I were to look at a way to make this marketing effort even better, I would re-evaluate the frequency of the emails we are sending out.  I say this because I did receive two comments from good customers.  They said they appreciated the follow up.  They would prefer that it be every two weeks instead of each week. “

If we position ourselves like this, we increase our chances of avoiding a defensive barrier emerging.  This strengthens our ability to influence.

Posted: August 9, 2012 | Categories: Leadership, Team Building

One of the benefits of having my own company is being able to select who I work with.  I prefer to work with teams that operate at the championship level.  It is more fun, and far more rewarding.  But you say, “If they are champions, why do they need me?”  If you are a good bowler, golfer, or baseball player, do you ever stop wanting one more pin, a lower handicap, or a higher batting average?”  Championship teams operate differently from so-so teams.  In addition to focus, extra effort, and character (See link to 2/6/12 blog below), the champions all do the following:

1.  Working agreement:  (See link below) whether formal or informal, winning teams know how they work together best.  Everyone is important, and so are their needs.  Building a working agreement establishes a frame of reference that keeps each team member with a healthy mindset with maximum focus and minimum distraction.
2.  Winning mindset:  Powerful teams welcome challenge and see setbacks and disappointments as an opportunity to try again more intelligently
3.  Problem solving skills:  Not only to the champs have a good attitude about difficulty, they stick to the problem solving process and see it though without skipping a step.  That is why they are so good at focusing on the problem and not the personality.
4.  Skillful, synergistic communication and coordination: Not only do they have a process for solving problems, they also have the skill that goes with it.  Everyone’s input is important, and meetings and discussions produce quality results because they have idea fluency and incorporate collective wisdom.
5.  They know their roles.  It’s one thing to say, “That’s not my job”.  It is another to do someone else’s job for them.  Champions know their roles, and they count on their teammates to do the same.  These winners put heavy demands on themselves and create a “structural tension” that gives them that winning edge.

Putting these all together, I think we can best sum it up with a quote from Hall of Fame Coach Vince Lombardi:

“You’ve got to be smart to be number one in any business.  But more importantly, you’ve got to play with your heart, with every fiber of your body.  If you’re lucky enough to find a guy with a lot of head and a lot of heart, he’s never going to come off the field second”

http://www.durhamcoach.com/blog/2012/02/08/championship-teams-do-all-three/

http://www.durhamcoach.com/blog/2011/10/19/does-your-team-have-a-working-agreement/

Posted: July 23, 2012 | Categories: Leadership, Self-Improvement

Remembering Steven Covey…

Last week brought the sad news of the passing of Steven R. Covey, world-renowned leadership and management expert.  In hearing of Covey’s death, thoughts of all his contributions came to mind.  His work was transformational for those companies and individuals who took the time to understand and apply his timeless, common-sense principles for joyous and abundant living.  I want to share a three of his principles that were especially important to me.  Here they are:

Begin with the end in mind.  This sounds so simple, doesn’t it?  Why wouldn’t we begin with the end in mind?  According to the late billionaire, Bunker Hunt, “Most people don’t take the time in life to determine exactly what they want.  Success comes in two steps:  Knowing exactly what you want, and being willing to pay the price to achieve it.”  To illustrate, just imagine trying to put together a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle without a picture on the box!

Balance your Q2 and Q1 ratio.  In his classic book, “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”, Covey had a quadrant that included these four categories:

1. Important and urgent
2. Important, but not urgent
3. Urgent, but not important
4. Not urgent or important.

It is easy to get caught in the world of “tantalizing trivialities”.  There is such a temptation to spend time in the 3^rd and 4^th categories.  We allow ourselves to be distracted by low priority interruptions.  We spend too long on our lunch hour and spend production time talking about sports.  When I coach teams, many of them are constantly in the “important and urgent” category”.  Covey taught us to put a sense of urgency on the important by planning and delegating well, and using and respecting deadlines.  If we don’t put a sense of urgency on what is “important but not urgent”, it will eventually become urgent.  Example:  Having a conversation with your teenager today.  It is important, but not urgent.  If you keep putting it off, the conversation may become urgent!

 Synergistic Communication

Covey says  there are three levels of communication.

1. Win-lose:  No trust is needed in this mode.  It is a zero sum game.  As a result of our conversation, I win, and you lose.
2.  Compromise:  Some trust is involved here.  Each side must be willing to give and take.  The result is coming up with a plan that everyone can “live with”
3.  Synergistic communication:  This was Covey’s favorite.  At this level the sum is greater than the total of its parts.  We have a problem.  I have an idea.  Instead of disagreeing with me, you look for common ground and say, “I like what you are saying about_______.  How about if we added_______”   The other person responds, “OK.  If we add that, how about if we included this also?”  The conversation goes back and forth, and in each exchange, your thinking is at a higher level.  When you finally come up with your action plan, it is better than either of the original individual ideas. When we can reach this state of communication and problem solving, great things can happen.  I have personally witnessed this.

Thank you, Mr. Covey for these nuggets of wisdom that have helped form my career today.  You have left a legacy, and we will miss you.

Posted: June 22, 2012 | Categories: Leadership, Self-Improvement

When I am coaching teams, one of the key components I use is a working agreement.  To maximize ownership, working agreement is built by input from the entire team.  Each team member is asked to write down all key characteristics and qualities of a working environment that enables them to be the most productive.  One word that has been popping up more frequently is “fun”.  In addition to all that good stuff like a sense of belonging, self-fulfillment, and good benefits, they want to have fun!

At first, some seem timid when they suggest “fun” to be on the menu.  Possibly they are afraid that they will be perceived as not taking their work seriously.  Let’s remember what baseball great Harry Caray once said:  “I take my responsibility seriously, but I don’t take myself seriously” Say what you want about Harry Caray…he knew how to have fun.

In his best-selling book, The Happiness Advantage, Harvard Scholar Shawn Achor has concluded that “bosses who discourage fun for their employees are at a double disadvantage, because they tend to be people who are most negative themselves.  In short, sacrificing fun in the name of time management and efficiency actually slows us down”

Southwest Airlines is the only major commercial air carrier that has made a profit every year they have been in business.  Here are their top three priorities in order of importance:

1.  Employees are #1

2.  Having fun

3.  Making the customer happy

If you have ever flown on Southwest Airlines, you probably know what I mean.  They are one zany bunch.  They even went so far as to do a rap song to deliver the standard safety message required before each takeoff.

Here are some ways we can make work more fun:

1. Check your fuel gauge before the day begins.  Thoreau referred to the first hour of the day as the “Golden Hour”.  He believed that our thoughts and attitude in this time frame were critical to our attitude the remainder of the day.  We must do what it takes to get our attitudes on “full”.  Do some inspirational reading, listen to some zesty music, or watch a motivational video.
2. Plan your day well.  Dr. Hans Seyle said, “A successful life is a series of successful days”.  If we want to feel fulfilled at the end of the day, we need to plan it well.  We all know what happens when we don’t plan our day well:  We end up caught in the trap of hurry and indecision.
3. Make a game out of it:  If we have tasks to do, we can set a goal and see if we can beat it.  Occasionally, when I have some tedious work to do, I will use my stop watch on my cell phone, and track my time per item.  Of course, the goal is to keep improving on the time without compromising the quality of my work.
4. Have your favorite video and audio clips available when you need a pick-me-up.  I have mine.  One of them is a famous Three Stooges clip.  Another is the MAD TV Bob Newhart clip called “Stop it”.  It is always good for laughs, and helps get me back on track when I get in to a funk.
5. Take breaks:  A walk around the block or a breath of fresh air can reduce stress and spark creativity.
6. Play a game with co-workers.  This can be anything from dollar-bill poker to video basketball.  It is a complete diversion, and it is fun.

 If none of these appeal to you, just Google, “Ways to have more fun at work”, and you will find scores of additional ideas.  I close with a quote from Dr. Wayne Dyer:  “There is no way to happiness…happiness is the way.”

Posted: April 27, 2012 | Categories: Leadership

“History has repeatedly been changed by people who had the desire and the ability to transfer their convictions and emotions to their listeners.”

-Dale Carnegie

When I first read the above quote from Dale Carnegie, I began to reflect on numerous examples that validated this statement.  The Gettysburg Address, Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech, and FDR’s “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” radio address all took ahold of history and turned the page.

The good news is that the same fundamentals hold true for us.  When we can transfer our thoughts and convictions to a group (public speaking) we are in a position of potential big influence.

This morning I was coaching a client who manages a group of sales managers in the Midwest.  He works for a large company that has undergone major change in the past two years.  Their method of compensation and information management system have been totally changed.  This has caused stress and frustration in the team and Bill (not his real name) was determined to change history and lead his team positively forward toward the numerous opportunities before them.  He was given an opportunity to present to the whole team, and here is how he did it:

Humor:  He used good, healthy, laugh-at-life humor wherever he could and this made his team more relaxed.

Personal example:  He shared his own frustrations he had endured going through all the change, and others were able to relate.

Example to illustrate:  He told a powerful story about someone who had benefited from their product.  This re-ignited the enthusiasm of the team.

Vision:  With enthusiasm and passion, he articulated the vision that lay ahead.  The group liked it.  They were ready to engage.

As a result of his presentation, attitudes changed from skeptical and frustrated to excited and triumphant.  Here is what we can do to generate similar results:

1. Remind ourselves of why we are so excited about our work.
2. Think of examples of stories we can have fun with that will illustrate this excitement.
3. Construct the clear action or thinking we want to leave with the group.
4. Get in front of a group
5. Expect progress

And remember the words of Goethe:  “Be bold…and might forces will come to your aid!”