20 Years - Never a Compliment

Imagine this: A guy works for an organization for 20 years. He tries to be creative and feels like he’s made a real contribution… but he feels no one cares.

As a leader, I try to use the 5 Languages of Appreciation with people. You and your people will benefit from doing the same. Learn about it - https://www.christianleadershipalliance.org/?page=SRbookdiscussion

Don't shy away because this article is. Learn from anyone, even groups that are different than your beliefs. If it is truth, if it is logical, if it can help you become a more effective leader, then consider piloting their recommendations for 30 days to see if it improves your company culture.

The Eclipse

Sam has always approached his work as though he is a partner in the company, although, he is only an employee. He loves the challenges of his job, interacting with clients and helping them solve problems. The flexibility of his workday enables him to attend his children's sporting events yet he still works as long or longer than anyone else.

Lately however Sam is not happy with the direction the company is taking with their product line and packaging. He is starting to feel that their products are a reasonable value instead of the best. He thinks the new retail packing design will cost him his largest client. (He is right. It will.)

Sam is clearly disengaging. What is happening?

I call this an employee eclipse. It is when the employee has lost sight of the meaning in his work and has become disengaged just as an eclipse of the sun or moon temporarily hides that celestial object. Sometimes there is a valid reason, such as Sam's situation. Other times the individual has become disengaged due to something at work or in their personal life. It can make you (leaders and managers) question their loyalty.

I really like what Reed Hastings of Netflix says about loyalty in his PPT deck about the Netflix Freedom & Responsibility Culture:

• Loyalty is good as a stabilizer
• People who have been stars for us, and hit a bad patch, get a near term pass because we think they are likely to become stars for us again
• We want the same: if Netflix hits a temporary bad patch, we want people to stick with us
• But unlimited loyalty to a shrinking firm, or to an ineffective employee, is not what we are about

Do not let an eclipse cause permanent damage to your employee relationship. Intentionally engage someone when the first hint of the eclipse starts to darken their performance. You may notice something and then allow yourself to justify postponing action. Do not wait. Often your instincts are correct.

When you save someone from "going dark" on you permanently it is a huge savings to your company and demonstrates your company values. Then again, you may find the individual has already checked-out of your company but the lights are still on (they are still collecting a paycheck). In that case you can limit your loss.

Meeting Ideas

THE ECLIPSE is often an unexpected event and leaders are so busy that we talk ourselves out of engaging people to discuss our concerns. Possibly a retention interview will help you discern whether you need to re-engage the employee or encourage them to move on to a new opportunity with another company.

Consider meeting the person one-on-one or with another employee outside of the office in a coffee shop, restaurant, on a walk or other non-business settings. Do not allow any interruptions from cell phones, tablet PCs or other technology. Your total focus should be on the employee and understanding their needs, desires and dreams for your organization.

We have a more detailed description of how to do retention interviews for our Customer Champions Club Members, but here is a sampling of questions you might ask:

1. What do you like best about your job?
2. What is the most fun you have had on the job in the last three months?
3. Are there any challenges you are having where I can help?
4. In the past you have seemed more fully engaged. Is there anything going on that you would like to discuss?

Change

Leaders change things. Regularly. For the better. To build upon strengths.

Be the change you want to see in the world.

- Gandhi

Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.

- Maria Robinson

For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else.

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sometimes it's the smallest decisions that can change your life forever.

- Keri Russell

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

- Reinhold Niebuhr (the Serenity Prayer)

Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts.

- Arnold Bennett

Change takes guts. Briefly, here is my understanding of the story of Caleb and other scouts who reported to Moses on the promise land. The other scouts, except for Joshua, were scared because the inhabitants of the land were big people and it would be difficult to overcome in battle on their own.

Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”

Why could Caleb see “change” and opportunity when the others saw disaster?

1. Caleb’s values were based on the power of God, not people.
2. Caleb had the facts. To make the right decision about what to change you need to have the facts straight.
3. He had the right attitude. In this case, he trusted God to protect them and fulfill His promises. As leaders we have to have the right attitude as defined by our personal values and our four company culture cornerstones (mission, values, vision and accountability).
4. Caleb stated his vision/conclusion clearly, and the action they should take. Truth often stands against popular opinion. At times leaders have to stand alone for truth.

Consider this equation when considering change in your personal or professional life:

Values + Knowledge + Action = Change

Meeting Ideas

Change is a great topic for discussion with team members because often they do not feel included in significant decisions. Here are some ideas on how to discuss change with your people.

1. Identify 1-3 changes you could make in your organization, product/services, team structure, policies or other area that either resolves a recurring problem or builds upon your strengths to grow your company.
2. Discuss each of the quotes above individually by asking how does it apply to each of the changes you would like to make.
3. Discuss each of the changes you would like to make in this sequence:
   • What changes can we make so the way we handle this situation is totally consistent with our values and for company culture cornerstones?
   • What additional information do we need to gather to have all the facts?
   • What actions can we take to develop a better approach to this situation?
   • How can we pilot change for 90 days to test our assumptions?
   • How can we build in accountability for the changes that pass our 90 day test so people are trained in how to deliver this change and our entire organization consistently demonstrates this improvement?
   • Should we structure some type of regular recognition or celebration for successfully implementing this change?

Great Leaders

Great leaders do two things consistently well. First, they set clear, measurable objectives. Second, they follow-up (and follow-through).

Here is a simple test for you to evaluate your leadership in these two areas:

1. Have you set goals for your company, yourself or your people for 2011 and not followed up to confirm progress is on track on a weekly or biweekly basis? If you are not following-up, then how can you require your people to follow through consistently?
2. Do you make commitments to your staff that you will complete something by a certain date and then miss those due dates? If you miss your commitments to your people, then how can you require them to fulfill all their commitments to you and your clients?
3. Have you met with an employee about a problem and agreed to follow-up with them, but you have not followed-up as expected (yet)? What does this communicate to the employee, and how do they mirror your dysfunctional behavior to clients and coworkers?
4. Have you identified an issue that is hurting your company and procrastinated on making a decision? If you procrastinate when making important decisions, then how can you expect your employees to be decisive?

OUCH. These two skills are second only to holding yourself strictly accountable to being a person of integrity and good character. When you fully develop these two skills into consistent habits then you will be more effective than 81% of other leaders.

So why not start today? Contact us if you want coaching to help you accelerate the process.

Meeting Ideas

So you say, "This is not my problem. I already do this well." Wanna bet? If your staff is willing to be candid, then I suggest you gather a group of employees and ask for candid feedback. Or you can do this one-on-one. Basically you just need to ask the same questions I asked above to the group. Here they are:

1. What goals have I set for our company, myself, you or any of our people for 2011 and not followed up to confirm progress is on track on a weekly or biweekly basis?
2. What commitments have I made to anyone on our team that I would complete something by a certain date and then I missed the due date?
3. This year have I met with an employee about a problem and agreed to follow-up with them, but I did not follow-up as expected?
4. What issue have we identified that is hurting our company and I am the one who is delaying action being taken to resolve it?

No Management?

What if you had no management? Just owners and employees. That’s what Jason Fried is trying at 37 Signals with some success. This is also consistent with Reed Hastings' Netflix Culture of Freedom & Responsibility. One thing I really like about Jason’s approach is to rotate team leaders weekly so it eliminates the “toxic labor-versus-management dynamic.” I don’t buy into everything he recommends, but if you are willing to really systematically hire only superstars and then have systems in place to fully engage and train them, this “no manager/rotating team lead” concept is worth a 90-day pilot in many organizations.

Culture by Netflix's Reed Hastings

Ted: Stanley McChrystal

General Stanley McChrystal shares some quick thoughts on what he learned as a leader in the military. It is interesting that rather than top-down management, he emphasizes the importance of relationships, for they “…are the sinew that hold the force together.”

I will be candid with you: I am recommending this talk because of my great respect for General McChrystal and the men and women who serve in our armed forces. It is an enjoyable 15 minute talk with a few key nuggets, rather than a totally incredible talk.

It is also interesting to note that relationships are what ended General McChrystal’s military career. He and his men spoke negatively about President Obama, who unlike President Lincoln, was too thin-skinned to allow it. Too bad. The President’s unwillingness to allow himself to be the focus of some banter removed a very talented asset from our military. As leaders we should be stronger than that.

Testing - Part 2

Last week I introduced the question, “Is it a good thing when you are tested?” I then discussed the importance of having a firm foundation of four company culture cornerstones upon which to make your decisions when testing occurs.

This will be brief so please give it a quick scan through to my conclusion. What happens when we embrace testing as an opportunity rather than a problem?

Saint Paul in the book of Romans writes, "And not only this but we exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulations bring about perseverance; perseverance, proven character; proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint..."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born to wealth in pre-World War II Germany. He could have done anything in his life, but he chose to pastor a small church. As the Nazis rallied the churches to support their extermination of the Jews, Bonhoeffer stood against them. Most of us cannot comprehend the challenges he faced.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. faced challenge after challenge, hatred, violence, death threats and more yet he never wavered from his vision of equality for people of all heritages. Consider for a moment how it would hurt to be treated as Dr. King was in those days.

Both of these leaders had clearly defined their mission, values, vision and how they would be held accountable for their actions. Because of this preparation, each test could be accepted with joy, thankfulness and viewed as an opportunity for growth rather than a challenge too great to overcome.

QUESTION #2: What happens when you fully commit yourself to change the world, improve your community or even demonstrate greater love for only one individual?

ANSWER: Testing, and if you pass the test then Significance. Meaning. Purpose. Peace. Joy. Love. Satisfaction. None of these benefits occur without the test, yet this is what we all want to experience. So why not pause and smile the next time you are tested. Ask yourself, "What am I supposed to learn through this opportunity?"

Then what happens? Tune in next week for one last quick, very important thought on Testing.

TESTING (2 of 3) is a good thing even though it can be very painful. For instance, Michael Phelps is a great swimmer in part because he has to push himself to win when competing against others. He has to move beyond strained muscles, fatigue, mental challenges and more.

In the same way leaders in every company are stronger and find their work more fulfilling when they embrace challenges rather than fear them. Here are some ideas to discuss with your team this week about being tested:

What is the biggest test you have faced in the last week?

How did it make you feel when you were first faced with this situation? How many times before have you faced a similar test? What did you do to pass the test or overcome the challenge? How did you feel after you passed the test? Do you need to let go of some negative feelings so you can move on more strongly? Is there something you learned through the test that you can apply in the future to either avoid or more quickly overcome similar challenges?

Commit to pausing and thinking before you speak or act when you are tested over the next week.  Consider how you can work with a partner to discuss daily the tests you have faced and how you responded.  Keep track of what you learn and share the results during your next team meeting.

Testing - Part 1

I have a friend whose character is being tested. He has known times of great prosperity and moments of unfortunate loss. He is now working to restore the profitability of this company starting with himself. He is challenging himself to demonstrate better character and leadership skills. It is not easy to change old habits.

Is it a good thing when you are tested?

Every leader gets tested at one point or another. Meg Whitman, the former CEO of eBay, recently ran for governor in California. I have always admired what she did at eBay, but when asked about her candidacy my reply was that she would not be a good governor. Although she made many good decisions at eBay, she was never tested with catastrophe, and that is what California is facing. She did not have the vision or toughness to save our State from disaster. (I am not a Jerry Brown fan either.)

That is not to say that a leader has to demonstrate previous skill in turning around a company to be able to save a company. My point is that today more than ever we need leaders in government and private enterprise who have integrity, a vision and an uncompromising will to do what is right rather than what is popular. Only these intentional leaders will be able to pass the rigorous tests that life throws at every organization.

Part of this testing reveals whether a leader will take shortcuts or invest the time it takes to develop and build an organization based on four company culture cornerstones:

1. Mission with a purpose

2. Non-negotiable values

3. Vision that communicates positive change

4. Accountability for your mission, values and vision

You will be tested often as a leader. Without these four company culture cornerstones firmly in place, how can you make decisions that consistently drive your organization to achieve significance?

Meeting Ideas

TESTING (1 of 2) is a reality in our professional and personal lives. The first part of this discussion is focused on whether you are taking the time to fully develop your character and rules of engagement to do battle in the workplace. If you do not, then your decisions are based on emotion rather than the foundation of a strong company culture.

Here are some ideas to ponder with your team this week about being tested:

1. What are our company culture cornerstones?

   • Mission (with a purpose)

   • Values (non-negotiable)

   • Vision (communicating positive change)

   • Accountability (to make certain everyone is demonstrating and pursuing our mission, values and vision)

2. Name one time in the last month when something has happened that tested you and you made a bad decision that is contrary to your company culture cornerstones. Discuss candidly the process you followed, how it might have been easier to make that decision, and how the people involved in the event felt about the experience afterwards.

3. Name three times in the last month when something has happened that tested you and you made a good decision based on your company culture cornerstones. Discuss candidly the process you followed, how difficult it was to make that decision, and how the people involved in the event felt about the experience afterwards.

4. What is the biggest test you face in the workplace? Why is it so challenging? How can you overcome this test more easily in the future?

5. Discuss what it would be like to work without anything that challenged our company culture cornerstone

Marketing Happiness

Jennifer Aaker, a Stanford marketing professor, teaches a graduate-level course called "Designing Happiness" that can only accept less than half of the students who sign up for it. She has worked with AOL, Adobe, Facebook and other companies to help them figure out how to use happiness to increase employee productivity and increase customer loyalty.

Her conclusion is that marketing happiness is one of the few ways companies can be authentic with employees and customers. According to an article in Fast Company Magazine (March 2011), her class has "... discovered that a meaningful experience (acquiring a new skill, volunteering, or spending time with family) often makes people happier than moments of pure pleasure."

Better than "pure pleasure?" Is that what your employees experience at your company? Do your customers come away from each interaction with your people saying it was "pure pleasure?"

THE BOTTOM LINE: The most important thing you can do as a leader to engage your employees is to make certain they feel like you value them as a member of your team and they are convinced they are doing meaningful work.

Companies Throwing Everything At Recruits! Sounds like the wrong focus...

In Silicon Valley Hiring Perks: Meals, iPads and a Cubicle for Spot, Claire Cain Miller describes the fierce playing field in the market today for talent engineers. Companies like Google and Zynga are offering free iPads and allowing recruits to bring their dogs to work. Makes me wish I had chosen a different major! However, at the same time, I see a fundamental flaw in this recruiting process.

The problem with this emerging business model is that it is not sustainable. It is based on the value that, "It's all about me." Teaching people how to start their own business and the beginning of their employment relationship? Ridiculous!

Truly great companies are built based on strong values, a mission that provides meaningful work for all employees to achieve a purpose greater than themselves, and a clear vision for how everyone, including customers, benefit from the company’s success.

Once again, Americans are being fed a fantasy that the only true success is greed, fame and being an entrepreneur who is the top dog and owner. This fantasy is just another get rich quick scheme repackaged by the media to appeal to people's natural self-centeredness rather than to truly motivate a sustainable job creation engine for our nation. The life of this latest fad will be in dog years rather than the thousand year commitments of Chinese nationalist leaders.

Why is employee loyalty at a three-year low? Response to USA Today

There's an article on USAToday about a recent MetLife study, reported by Laura Petrecca that details how businesses are losing focus on their employees.

Key points:

• MetLife 9th Annual Study of Employee Benefits Trends
• Employee loyalty is at a three-year low
• Slightly more than one in three hope to find a new job in the next 12 months

This is evidence that companies are focused on getting work done instead of fully engaging their employees in a mutually-fulfilling company culture. In my opinion, this is the equivalent of driving your car 100,000 miles and never putting oil in it or getting a tune-up. At some point the car dies. In this case employees are reaching the breaking point where their relationship with their employer will end and employees will move on to what they perceive to be greener pastures with another company.

Don't let your people forget how much you need them.

The Top 5 Excuses Why Leaders Don't Lead

A thought-provoking list of possibly the Top 5 Excuses Why Leaders Do Not Lead:

1. I am leading! People feel they are leading others because they make the key decisions and have the final say. Unfortunately that is ownership, not effective leadership.
2. No time. Every leader is challenged to manage their time. Great leaders make developing people a priority over other activities.
3. People should know what to do. This is the assumptive leader. They think hiring people is like buying a television. It should just work right out of the package, rather than need training, support, direction and other leadership activities.
4. Limited leadership skills. This is reality. We all have gaps in our leadership skills. We have leadership tendencies, but not deep, broad skills because we have not been trained, mentored and invested enough time in developing our true ability to guide others. The question is, what are you going to do about it?
5. Limited, broken or non-existent talent management system. This is the easiest way to develop and sustain great leadership skills. Focus on building your systems for hiring, managing, developing and retaining superstars. Without a Systematic Power approach our leadership is inconsistent and limited in its effectiveness.

Meeting Ideas

TOP 5 EXCUSES is an opportunity to consider how to become a better leader. Your primary excuse for not fully developing your leadership skills may be different than one of these. I encourage you to identify your most common excuse so you can grow beyond it.

Whether you are an owner, executive, manager or team member with other responsibilities, you can be a leader who positively impacts the lives of others. Individually or as a group consider identifying your most common excuse so that you can overcome its ability to sidetrack your growth as a leader.

1. What are the 3-5 most common excuses I make to avoid investing more of my time in hiring, managing, developing and retaining great people?
2. Approximately what percentage of the time do I use each of these excuses?
3. Which of these excuses am I going to focus on eliminating from my life first?
4. Pilot an effort to make progress overcoming one excuse for 30-90 days with accountability from at least one other person.

Pick Your Battle

You are rushed and have no extra time. You are wondering whether to even scan this newsletter past this line. The answer is in your answers to these questions:

1. Are your people showing up for work or are they working to the best of their ability?
2. Are your people consistently creating positive memories for clients or are they memorable in other ways?
3. Is there meaning in your work or are you working to find meaning in what you do?

If you do not like any of your answers to these questions, then why not schedule 30-60 minutes to:

1. Get out of the office and consider what needs to happen in 2011 for you to answer these questions differently.
2. Schedule a free conversation with me to discuss the battles you want to win in 2011 and beyond. 
3. Do the first two items above, and then develop a plan with your people, me, one of our coaches, mentors you trust and/or your spouse (if applicable) to confirm what you are going to do differently this year.

Tomorrow a tsunami may roll in, an earthquake may hit, a nuclear reactor may blow, a drunk may kill someone you love or another unforeseen tragedy change your life. In 2011 you will invest over 2,000 hours on the job. Doesn't it make sense to invest at least one of those hours to confirm you are fighting the battles that are truly most important to you?

Yesterday was the Ides of March 2011. In 44 A.D. Julius Caesar was assassinated on the Ides of March at the pinnacle of his career. You can choose the battles to fight, or the battle of busyness will kill your productivity for the remainder of the year. It's your choice.

PICK YOUR BATTLE is a reminder that it is easy to be busy, but great leaders are clearly focused on why they are working and what they are trying to achieve. Here are some ideas to how you might clarify your purpose and allocation of your time for the remainder of this year:

Ask yourself and possibly your team to questions from above:

• Are your people showing up for work or are they working to the best of their ability?
• Are your people consistently creating positive memories for clients or are they memorable in other ways?
• Is there meaning in your work or are you working to find meaning in what you do?

Consider the fact that you only have so much time available to you. List your top priorities based on the time you are investing at work and any other priorities which actually should be receiving your time. Estimate the financial or other type of impact of each priority. List them in order of importance based on their impact. Discuss which priorities need to stay on the list and how you will build accountability into your week so that you and others are focused on these key priorities rather than other distractions.

Start scheduling Triple Play time weekly where you:

• Tech Out: Turnoff all technology so you are not interrupted as you work.
• Schedule Out: Schedule the time (30-120 minutes in blocks) on your calendar so it happens.
• Shut Out: Close your office door and put a sign on it that no one is to disturb you.

Let Go

Too often leaders try to take control of situations that are out of their control. The objective is to take a shortcut to a result.

For instance, we:

• Buy lottery tickets or gamble in other ways in an attempt to control the timeframe of our financial success.
• Drink coffee or energy drinks to control when we are alert no matter how unbalanced our lifestyle is.

But what about in leadership? We:

• Hire people quickly to control the timeframe to fill a seat rather than confirm the job candidate is a good match.
• Not pay people based on results because we want to control expenses rather than motivate superior performance.
• Not set clear, measurable goals for our people because we want to control what they are doing at a whim.

The time and struggle it takes to accomplish results is a blessing, not a curse. As Saint Paul once wrote, "… we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us..."

I am not recommending that you do not work creatively to accomplish results in the shortest time possible. I am suggesting that our pride subconsciously tempts us to take control of situations we should be working through or avoid actions we should be taking.

Choose wisely the level of control you are exerting in your leadership role.  Not only is this important for your productivity, but you are setting the example for others.  It may be time to “let go” in some areas.

Let Go is an observation that will be difficult for many people to consider.  Micromanagers do not typically want to consider how they are over managing and in contrast, managers who are not systematically leading their people have difficulty comprehending the value of truly being a leader.

Here are some questions to consider this topic with your team:

1. Describe a shortcut you tried to take in a task, project or part of your career that did not work out.  What were you trying to control?
2. What is one activity you are avoiding that would you make you a more effective leader?
3. As an organization what process are we doing poorly because we are primarily trying to control the profit rather than delivering a superior client experience?

LET GO is an observation that will be difficult for many people to consider.  Micromanagers do not typically want to consider how they are over managing and in contrast, managers who are not systematically leading their people have difficulty comprehending the value of truly being a leader.

Here are some questions to consider this topic with your team:

1. Describe a shortcut you tried to take in a task, project or part of your career that did not work out.  What were you trying to control?
2. What is one activity you are avoiding that would you make you a more effective leader?
3. As an organization what process are we doing poorly because we are primarily trying to control the profit rather than delivering a superior client experience?

Cycle 4

Here is a thought provoker for you: I often get asked, how can I motivate my employees?

The answer is: by creating an environment where they motivate themselves. I have a complete system, Success With People, and we train/coach teams of people for a year in our Customer Champions program. However, some people prefer simple steps to ponder.

Here are four cornerstones for success. You can build the house of your career or business many ways with different cornerstones, but here are four. If you work these systematically in a cycle you can achieve great results. (I admit more detail is needed, but that would take a really long newsletter.)

#1 Desire: You have to have a strong desire to succeed which leads you to commit yourself to focus on what's truly important rather than what seems urgent. Leaders or employees without strong desire do not commit, and therefore are average or poor performers even if they work long hours.

#2 Information: Desire initiates your journey and sustains you through challenges, yet wise use of information enables you to hire-manage-develop-retain great people, discern competitive threats, identify opportunities and build upon your success.

#3 Repetition: Otherwise known as Systematic Power, your ability to develop, repeat and evolve best practices enables you to deliver a more consistently positive employee, customer and vendor experience. The outcome is superior results, however you define your pursuits.

#4 Accountability: Success is elusive and/or unsustainable if you do not hold your people and processes accountable to delivering a "perfect" client experience and to achieve clear, measurable results. Your processes for accountability are repeated often to catch minor mistakes before they become major issues.

Check out the discussion questions below and add your own. You may identify some ways for your individual performers or organization as a whole to improve certain processes, behaviors or objectives.

Meeting Ideas

CYCLE 4 is one way to simplify your approach to improving your leadership skills and/or company culture. Although there is a lot of detail missing in this brief email, there is value in having a discussion with your people about these four cornerstones of your business because they exist whether you like it or not.

Here are some questions to consider this topic with your team: For the best conversation be honest and candid.

1. Desire: What burning passion do we have as an organization and how does it apply to our core business strategy? How about as individuals?
2. Information: What information are we gathering to support our business, or hold ourselves accountable, that is great? How can we leverage it even more? What information should we be gathering, but are not, and how should we present it serves us best?
3. Repetition: Start simple, but what best practices have you defined as a system? How can you more consistently follow those systems? How do they need to be updated? Make a list of additional best practice processes you need to define or update; organize the list in order of priority; and set dates for when each one will be released and people trained to follow it.
4. Accountability: As a starting point, what needs to happen for us to be held accountable to follow through on what we defined in #1-3 above and who will do it? (More than one person can share responsibility for accountability.)

What's The Minimum?

Have you ever been frustrated because your people do not work as hard and/or as smart as you do? They just seem to be too comfortable doing the minimum instead of seeking to exceed expectations. By "your people" I mean employees who report to you, or if you are an undercover leader, then I am referring to your coworkers.

Do you wonder how they could make what seems to be the wrong choice so often?

Do you then start to blame "them" for your circumstances? If only they were as dedicated as you are then your company would stop meeting minimum requirements and start achieving great things!

Let's limit today's discussion to one aspect of this situation: Where are we making ourselves out to be the victim and in doing so avoiding the truth?

You say, "WHAT?!"

Too many prominent and underground leaders invest the minimum of time to hire the right people, manage them effectively, develop their company culture and employee engagement, and retain top performers.

The next time the "kids" in your work environment seem to be putting in the minimum, pause and consider whether they are merely reflecting their leaders.

Meeting Ideas

WHAT'S THE MINIMUM is a gauntlet thrown at your feet, challenging you to a fight. No company can sustain greatness unless its leadership demonstrates greatness. Are you the victim or a contributor to the problems your company is facing?

There are lots of questions you can ask to consider this challenge. Here are a few to get started:

1. The employee who just did "the minimum." What was the training process they went through? Did it include giving the employee multiple opportunities to demonstrate they had developed the skill and commitment to deliver a superior customer experience? If they were not thoroughly trained how to be a superstar, then how do you expect them to be one?
2. Now put a leader in the position you just placed that employee. What training process has that leader gone through to develop their ability to hire, manage, develop and retain top performers? Were they taught systems and processes? Were they mentored? If your leaders have not been trained how to lead others effectively, then why do you expect them to be great leaders?
3. How much time does your company waste daily or weekly trying to satisfy an unsatisfied customer because an employee did not meet their expectations? Discuss three examples, and with each example explain the training the employee was given and the accountability they have had since the training to confirm they are demonstrating the skills they were taught.

Only Superstars

Intentional leaders enable companies to thrive by making decisions based on facts, logic and prudent financial management.

Would you like to have only superstars working for your company? By "superstar," I mean people who are passionate about your company culture, consistently do their best for your company, and contribute positively to the company's bottom line.

If this is what you want, then you have to make the decision that you only want superstars. Next you have to consider what every manager hates to do: Firing someone, or maybe multiple people.

Tony Hsieh, in his book Delivering Happiness (page 97), says "... We realized that we had laid off the underperformers and the nonbelievers, but because everyone remaining was so passionate about the company and believed in what we were doing, we could still accomplish just as much work as we had before."

Reed Hastings, the CEO of Netflix in his Reference Guide on our Freedom & Responsibility Culture (slide 32) says, "People who have been stars for us, and hit a bad patch, get a near term pass because we think they are likely to become stars for us again... But unlimited loyalty to a shrinking firm, or to an ineffective employee, is not what we are about."

The Society for Human Resource Management ("SHRM") in a recent article on "positive turnover" (page 20, Jan. 2011) stated, "If a low-performing employee is discharged, it... shows that the performance management system is working and managers are doing their jobs. In addition, other employees may gain confidence that their leaders are making decisions that will keep the organization strong."

The bottom line: If you have an employee who is not a superstar and/or not fully passionate about your company then you are better off firing the person with a generous severance and investing the money and time that employee was receiving into developing a stronger company culture.

Time and again companies do better without someone who has a negative attitude, poor work ethic, is constantly late and demonstrates other behaviors that prove they are holding your company back. Let the person go. Keeping them encourages their behavior and poor performance, whereas letting them go may help them understand that they need to develop better work habits so they can succeed in their next job.

ONLY SUPERSTARS is a fork in the road for many leaders. Do you have the guts to get rid of people who are holding your company back from becoming the best it can be? It is better to run a little leaner and harder than to invest money and time in someone who will never give their all for your company.

Obviously this is not a company-wide discussion. It is a decision you have to make on your own or with your management team. Here are some questions to consider:

1. Are certain employees performing so poorly that no other company wants to hire them?

2. Is our company not growing as rapidly as we can because one or more employees are fighting positive changes, not working a full day, not giving their job everything they have to give, and/or behaving in another manner that is negatively affecting other employees?

3. What would happen to our organization if we decided 2011 is the year we redirect everyone's focus to developing a superior company culture that gives us a sustainable competitive edge in our markets?

4. Reed Hastings of Netflix estimates the difference between an average performer and a superstar is 2x for procedural work and 10x in creative work. How much better would we be performing if we let our poor performing employees go, and invested in our company culture and developing the skills of our remaining employees?

5. Developing a superior company culture is a lot of work, but it provides you with a significant competitive edge. That is why the best companies invest in it.

Teflon Leader

"Our employees just do not get it.  They do not take responsibility.  They lack passion.  They do not follow through..." (The list goes on.)

Not to be confused with the "Teflon Don" John Gotti, (although there are some parallels) the "Teflon Leader" makes mistakes because they are human, but they are allergic to blaming themselves for anything.  For a time some of them can retain a leadership role without blame, but their lack of performance always catches up with them eventually.

Rather than serving their employees, clients and partners, the Teflon Leader is consciously or subconsciously driven to impress other people to earn their approval.  The thought that something is wrong with them makes them uncomfortable.  They instinctively react to situations by trying to focus on who made the mistake, except themselves.

Part of the learning process to become a great leader is to gain knowledge from your mistakes. Unfortunately the Teflon Leader misses these opportunities to develop competitively effective leadership skills because they do not accept responsibility for their errors.

Sometimes even without knowing it they become, as the movie character Dirty Harry concluded about the serial killer, "... a legend in their own mind."  Unfortunately that is not reality.

This self-justification eliminates their ability to be a Level 5 Leader who can sustain growth and profits over time.

How about you?  Are there times when you have missed opportunities to grow because of your unwillingness to accept responsibility for your share of a mistake?

Meeting Ideas

Our discussion of a Teflon Leader is a challenge for you to consider whether you or a member of your management team is too effective at avoiding blame or responsibility for their mistakes.

Consider these questions to help your team to take responsibility for both their success and mistakes in your workplace, starting with yourself:

1. During the last 24 hours have you failed to use a fully professional, positive tone of voice in a conversation with another person?  How could you have communicated differently?  Do you need to apologize?  Should you work on pausing before responding in more conversations, and in particular with this individual?
2. Describe the last time someone suggested that you admit a mistake and you refused to take full responsibility.  How can you replace that reaction with a more thought-out response in the future?
3. Before you conclude you need to confront someone else about their Teflon Leader tendencies, please do a thorough evaluation of your own actions and motivations; and then confirm your conclusions with people strong enough to hold you accountable.
4. If you are a person of faith, then consider how to adjust your thoughts and behaviors so you seek the approval of God rather than people.  Accepting full responsibility for your mistakes and sincerely repenting creates opportunities for learning and enables you to become less upset by other people's offenses against you.

Validation

Today I flew to Atlanta to participate in the MSP University Boot Camp.  United Airlines upgraded me to Business Class on the first leg of my journey, from San Francisco to Chicago.  I was fortunate to sit next to Steve Hazard, Manager Surgical Support for Cochlear.  Cochlear enables deaf people to hear - it's revolutionary.

Consider three key desired results I recommend in my Success With People system that Steve validated:

1. Understand How You Make a Difference: The most important thing you need to do to fully engage employees is help them understand how they are doing meaningful work. Steve told the story of how his product enabled a deaf to regain his hearing. The man and his wife cried. The wife said, "Thank you for giving my husband's life back to him." You can bet Steve loves his work.

2. LOI: Live It - Observe It - Improve It: Steve brings people who manufacturer the Cochlear devices to watch surgeries and meet people with Cochlear implants. One patient was a deaf and blind man in his sixties. This patient visited Cochlear and Steve introduced him to a young technician. Steve encouraged the tech to ask the man a question, so he hesitantly asked, "So what do you think about it?" The patient immediately quipped back, "Well, what do you think about it?" He could hear that quickly and normally. The young tech has never forgotten it.

3. Compensation That Pays: I am a BIG believer in pay-for-performance, but it must relate to the individual. I am sure Steve gets paid well, but because his management is fully engaging him in other ways he does not work for the money. He loves the way he helps improve people's lives. He actually does not want to be paid heavily on his individual performance and would leave if that was mandatory.

It is not hard to be successful with people.  You just have to recognize leadership as your #1 priority and then be intentional about it.  Why not have the rest of your career be the best of your career.

Meeting Ideas

Validation is a reminder that they way to fully engage people has not changed.

Please consider asking your people these questions at your next staff meeting to test how engaged they are in the three desired results discussed above:

1. Tell me a story of a customer that was "wowed" by our company recently? (Maybe you need to ask this client for a testimonial.)

2. Why do you like to work here?

3. What would make your work more meaningful to you?

4. Describe the last time you observed a client using our products or services? What was the benefit to them? What could we have done better? Did we confirm without a doubt the client was happy?

5. What would you like to learn or experience on the job that would make your work more fulfilling?

Recession's Over - What Now? (Part II)

Last week we considered how the recession ending affects the ability of employers to retain and attract top talent like YOU. Now let's consider how employees should consider taking advantage of this change in the economy.

The Employee Perspective

You have been fortunate to have a job during the recession, no matter how good you are at it. Now as the economy turns consider tightening your career game plan so you maximize your opportunities.

Early in the year may be a good time to jump into a new job, but if you have a reasonably good future with your current organization then I recommend you focus on maximizing opportunities with your existing company. In brief, here are some ideas:

1. Review past performance - Consider your performance in 2007, 2008 and 2009. What are the strengths you have demonstrated and weaknesses you need to avoid? What have you learned? What do you need to learn? How can you build upon your strengths?

2. Results - The economy is turning, but it may not be a lasting recovery. Therefore you want to focus your efforts in 2010 on delivering results. Make certain your 2010 goals are realistic, yet stretch you. (You can set higher goals for yourself than the targets your boss defines.) Clearly define key action steps and milestones so at the end of 2010 you have followed your game plan to meet or exceed your boss's expectations.

3. Give back - Do not let 2010 be all about you. Consider giving back to your organization by mentoring someone else, serving on a committee (but not too many), helping to define a best practice that enables others to perform at a higher level, or in some other way.

There are opportunities everywhere. Make the most of your career in 2010 by understanding your strengths, defining the results you are going to achieve, giving back and then following-through on your plan.

Meeting Ideas

Recession's Over - Now What? (Part II) is about growing in your career during 2010 even if you are not going up a company organizational chart.

Here are some ideas for discussion during your next staff meeting to encourage you and your team to consider how to make the most of the upcoming year:

1. What happened in 2009 that helped you better understand your behavioral strengths?

2. What are your top three behavioral strengths in order of intensity?

3. What do you think should be your key objectives in 2010 and how do they leverage your strengths? (I recommend everyone have three annual goals. One that is revenue-related; one about customer satisfaction; and one involving their professional development.)

4. How do you plan to give back, or give to others during 2010 so your work is more meaningful and you are contributing to the overall health of our organization?

5. What is the number one thing you want from your company (or boss) in 2010? (Make certain they know and you both have clear expectations for one another. If you need guidance on how to set expectations, email me.