First Lap Delusions

I try to swim three times a week and in the Fall love to join high school boys water polo practices with my old friend Carl's team.  

The first lap of a swim workout set is a gift.  I imagine myself as strong, the water feels wonderful, and there is a sense that I can do anything.  It is a refreshing taste of life.

But I can't do anything...

I work harder as the set of swimming multiple 50's, 100's or whatever diabolical plot Carl has devised for our workout continues, but often move slower.  I struggle to keep up with Carl.  He goes faster the longer he swims, which makes me feel like the proverbial hare in a race with the tortoise.

What are First Lap Delusions in leadership?  This is where we can be too excited about something early on and then it is a struggle to follow through, if not a total disaster due to our lack of follow-up or our choice was wrong in the first place:

• Hiring Dr. Jekyll and getting Mr. Hyde
• Setting goals and returning to them daily/weekly for focus
• Signing-up a new vendor and then completing their sales plan / certifications
• Spreading ourselves too thin, even with the best of intentions
• Announcing a permanent change when we should have done a pilot...

I am not pointing the finger at you.  These are my struggles too, but that does not mean we allow ourselves to be repeatedly deceived by them.  Being aware of obstacles gives us the ability to plan our way around and past them.

Enjoy your first laps.  They are a blessing.  Just be prepared for the challenges of the full workout.

It is Monday.  ACCOUNTABILITY TIME!  

1. Did you take Sanctuary time over the weekend to improve your focus?
2. How did you do on your 3Strands last week?
3. Have you defined your 3Strands for this week?
4. By 9:00 a.m. this morning you should have 3Strands emails from each of your direct reports.

Stay on track.

Are You The Best...?

As you complete the week, why not reflect on this question, BUT do not let it fool you!

Are you the best at what matters most?

Look under the surface.  Your company may be more profitable than ever, but your marriage is failing.  You may be doing incredible work, but you are physically unhealthy, or your relationships with your children is not what you will wish it was 10-20 years from now.

To be the best at what matters most requires us to slow down and think before each communication, action, and time commitment.

Everyone struggles in this area.  Only a few realize it.  And even fewer are truly the best at what matters most.  

Email me if you want to talk.  We do have a special offer on our All-In LEADERSHIP program this month if you are interested.

It is Friday.  ACCOUNTABILITY TIME!  

1. How are you doing on your 3strands this week?
2. Is the work remaining to complete this week's 3strands scheduled in your calendar so you can work uninterrupted?
3. Have you scheduled your Sanctuary time later today or over the weekend for personal accountability and focus?

Stay on track.

L.E.A.P.S. Forward

Leaders ask great questions, but are also careful listeners.

This is a skill we need to teach our employees.  Our Leadership Essentials Academy has Dave's Charm School (and other team members) training to develop questioning and listening skills.  However not all of you are members.

Recently I was interviewing a job candidate for a Client and he had a background in the U.S. Coast Guard.  He mentioned they had an acronym in an Effective Communications course to remind him how to be a great listener - L.E.A.P.S.

He said L.E.A.P.S. was explained online and I asked him to send me the link.  It is an interesting document that is very consistent with what we teach.  Here is what the L.E.A.P.S. acronym stands for:

Listen to the message received carefully and attentively.  Keep an open mind to what is being said and don't be quick to offer advice or solutions.

Emphasize by acknowledging the emotions that are being expressed.  It is very important to receive the message without judgment about the sender or the message sent.

Ask questions in order to get more information and to clarify information you do not understand.

Paraphrase what the person has said to ensure you understand the information correctly.

Summarize by restating the situation with all the facts to clarify the role, problem or behavior.

Here is the link to the entire U.S. Coast Guard summary document about effective communications.

IMPORTANT ENCOURAGEMENT:  Do not feel bad if you were not born with these skills or taught them as you were growing up.  

Great questioning and active listening skills are learned, developed over time, and applied with discipline.  Take the time to learn these two skills and you will be a better leader.

Meeting Ideas

I encourage you to have your team read the U.S. Coast Guard document on Effective Communications and have an open discussion about how to improve in these areas.

1. Learning Insights: Ask each person to share what they learned from reading the Coast Guard's recommendations.

2. Strengths: Ask each person to explain their strengths in the areas of asking questions and active listening. Ask the others to confirm their assessment and/or identify other strengths of the person in these areas. Ask the person how they could question and listen even better. Then ask the others if they have any suggestions for the individual to improve.

3. Weaknesses: Ask each person to explain their weaknesses in the areas of asking questions and active listening. Ask the others to confirm their assessment and/or identify other weaknesses of the person in these areas. Encourage everyone to speak respectfully. Ask the person to identify simple steps they could take to question and listen better. Then ask the others if they have any suggestions for the individual to improve.

4. Typical Scenarios: Prepare at least five typical scenarios your team faces on a regular basis where better questioning and active listening skills will help them achieve more in less time, and enjoy their work more. HAVE FUN posing the typical scenarios to the group and having them share their ideas on great questions to ask and key information to listen for in the answers.

As an alternative, you can pair people up to go through each typical scenario.  After they complete one typical scenario then each pair of people shares the results with the rest of the group.

Object vs. Process

Two quick housekeeping items:

1. Schedule Change:  Due to a need of our great Client, Mainstay Technologies, we have moved our Bedford, NH LEADERSHIP Essentials Academy to September 11-12.  Join us there or come out to the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area on August 7-8 or October 2-3 for our hometown Academy.
2. # Merged:  You may notice the jump in this newsletter's number to #348.  This is because I merged the numbering of my email accountability and leadership suggestions.  This would have been #133 of LEADERSHIP Accountability and there have been 215 of my Work Smart Live Well ideas.  I will continue to focus each newsletter differently, but the dual numbering was confusing to some people.

Is leadership an object?  Well, this is worth a pause for consideration as we start this week. Dictionary.com gives us five definitions of an object:

Anything that is visible or tangible, and relatively stable in form.

A thing, person or matter to which thought or action is directed:  an object of a medical examination.  

The end toward which effort or action is directed;  goal;  purpose:  Profit is the object of the business.

A person or thing with reference to the impression made on the mind or the feeling or emotion elicited in an observer:  an object of curiosity and pity.

Anything that may be apprehended intellectually:  objects of thought.

What do you think?

I suggest that although some attributes of leadership may be objects, the power of leadership resides in systematic processes involving meaningful work and constantly reinforcing relationships.

An object can be something without life or a moment in time, whereas leadership is alive in constant movement in ever developing best practices and processes.

The question:  What is one part of your leadership responsibilities where you are stuck as an "object," and what is the process needed to achieve a breakthrough?

It is Monday.  ACCOUNTABILITY TIME!  

1. Did you take Sanctuary time over the weekend to improve your focus?
2. How did you do on your 3Strands last week?
3. Have you defined your 3Strands for this week?

By 9:00 a.m. this morning you should have 3Strands emails from each of your direct reports. Stay on track.

Day 132 | You Never Have Time

What is the #1 reason I hear from leaders explaining why they do not become more systematic in the way they hire, manage, develop, and retain employees in a FUN, productive and profitable company culture?

"We don't have the time..."

The problem is this reason is a deception.

We have the time.  We just decide it is easier to do things the way we have been doing them for a little bit longer...  and that becomes years and decades of unnecessary mistakes, lost profits, and missed opportunities to change lives for the better.

The best leaders who I am privileged to serve make the time to better focus themselves, their organizations and embrace accountability to become the best they can be.

Just stop saying you do not have the time.  Everyone has the same amount of time.  The challenge is sustaining your focus, managing your schedule, and embracing accountability to achieve greatness.

Wise leaders throughout history have found ways to balance working in their business with working on their business.  You can too.

It is Friday.  ACCOUNTABILITY TIME!  

1. How are you doing on your 3strands this week?
2. Is the work remaining to complete this week's 3strands scheduled in your calendar so you can work uninterrupted?
3. Have you scheduled your Sanctuary time later today or over the weekend for personal accountability and focus?

Stay on track.

Irreplaceable

As a teacher of leadership, I strive to always pass along lessons I have learned personally and professionally.  Each of these newsletters communicates something that has been learned through pain, enjoyed as success, or perspectives I have found thought-provoking.

This morning at 5:07 a.m. on 05/07/2014... there must be something meaningful in that "coincidence"... I am changing the focus of today's newsletter because last night I saw the movie premier of Irreplaceable.  In a word, it was overwhelming.

The movie focused on how society worldwide is devaluing sex, which in turn devalues family, which then devalues marriage, which leads to devaluing being a parent, which ends up devaluing, or destroying children.  

Why this cascading devaluation?  We are sold lies that appeal to our natural desire for self-gratification.  (My conclusion, not the movie's.)

Let's apply this to leadership of your business, which is often very similar to being a parent.  I mean, don't you feel like you are running an adult daycare center at times?

1. When we devalue the relationships we have in our workplace, then success and enjoyment are momentary rather than lasting.  We allow busyness to replace purpose instead of having meaningful work drive all that we do.
2. This leads devaluing company culture so employees have different experiences working for us and the majority feel negatively about their managers and/or our organizations.  We become a band of individuals instead of a spirited team striving to achieve common goals.
3. This cascades into devaluing 1:1 management of people who report to us.  We opt for "managing with a long leash," hiring people who can operate without our involvement, or the opposite, micro-management focused only on what they do wrong rather than encouraging accountability while reinforcing what they do right.  We encourage individual self-governance with varying standards instead of responsibly engaging in caring, professional 1:1 relationships with consistent values.
4. This devalues leadership into self-serving activities rather than systematic efforts that help our people become the fulfilled top performers they were designed to be.  Lost leaders consciously or unconsciously act as though "It's all about me, baby!"  We churn through employees instead of being inspiring, nurturing and protecting leaders.
5. Lastly, this then devalues individual employees into commodities who only have value if they meet the leader's needs for self-indulgence.  Make me look good.  Do the work without my guidance.  Do a great job without training.  No accountability, just inconsistent bursts of condemnation.  

We engage employees in moments of time based on conflicting standards rather than systematically leading them to achieve their dreams, and ours.

You are not irreplaceable, yet as leaders we should strive to be remembered as people of character who our employees and peers will miss when we move on to our next challenge. 

3strands LEADERSHIP helps you be the leader you were designed to be.

BE a 3STRANDS LEADER

Systematic Leadership, inspiring others in Meaningful Work, and consistently expressing Sincere Gratitude to people around you.

Meeting Ideas

Just take 30-60 minutes and consider points 1-5 above.

1. Strengths:  What are you doing right?  How can you do more of this?  How can you systematically focus more of your time on your strengths?
2. Weaknesses:  What mistakes are you making?  How can you apply your strengths to overcome a weakness?  Where do you need someone else's accountability, guidance, or to delegate away a weakness?  How can you systematically remove each weakness?
3. People - YES:  What needs to be done to more fully engage your employees?  Top performers do not stay with weak leaders.  Do not assume your superstars are happy.  Improve your systems for full engagement.
4. People - NO:  Do you have people who are not performing?  Work with them to define a 90 day Success Plan.  Strive with them 1:1 daily and weekly to achieve their plan as they develop new habits.  

Or maybe they just will not work out, or are a cancer that are negatively affecting the performance of others.

Work with me or someone else to give them a great opportunity to prove what they can do.  If they cannot meet your standards, then let them move on to other opportunities.

Let me know how it goes.

Day 131 | It's The People

Lee Cockerell was the EVP of Operations at Disney World.  What was the #1 focus of his time?

#1:  Hire the right people.  He focused on who they hire and promote rather than working in the business.  Hang out with the right people because "...you adjust to the environment you are living in."  

By the way, how many questions do you have on your employment application?  Disney World has 136 questions.

#2:  Training, testing and enforcement.  This applies even to job candidates.  They have to watch a reality film on what it is like to work at Disney World.  25% drop out of the hiring process after the film.

#3:  Be a role model.  He had 72,000 people who had to want to get out of bed and come to work in the morning.  Tell your people you appreciate them.  Make them feel they matter.  Be careful what you do and say every second.  You are being judged constantly.

Do you see how each of these are consistent with being a 3strands LEADER?

It is Monday.  ACCOUNTABILITY TIME!  

1. Did you take Sanctuary time over the weekend to improve your focus?
2. How did you do on your 3Strands last week?
3. Have you defined your 3Strands for this week?
4. By 9:00 a.m. this morning you should have 3Strands emails from each of your direct reports.

Stay on track.

Day 130 | Apply Disney's Survey Results

I heard Lee Cockerell, former EVP of Operations for Disney World, speak last night at Bayside's THRIVE conference.  A lot of what he said reinforces our LEADERSHIP Essentials and 3strands LEADERSHIP principles.

Here is something you can apply in your business to improve relationships with customers - it is the results of a Barna survey of Disney World customers that asked just one question:  What are your expectations when you come to Disney?

The top answers:

1. Make us feel special.
2. Treat me as an individual.
3. Show us respect - all of us.
4. Have knowledgeable people working for you.

Simple, yet VERY POWERFUL.  Why not apply these results in your business... and more?  Please consider:

1. How a simple survey like this can build stronger relationships with Clients, employees, and at home.
2. Working with an outside firm or an intern to call all of your Clients, ask this question, and bring you their feedback.
3. Consider taking one month on each expectation and piloting new ways to exceed that expectation.

Never, never give up.

It is Friday.  ACCOUNTABILITY TIME!  

1. How are you doing on your 3strands this week?
2. Is the work remaining to complete this week's 3strands scheduled in your calendar so you can work uninterrupted?
3. Have you scheduled your Sanctuary time later today or over the weekend for personal accountability and focus?

Stay on track.

Tomato Head

It is springtime!  Many of us might grow tomatoes, which are botanically a fruit but considered a vegetable for culinary purposes.  How does this relate to leadership?

Go with me on this for a moment...  Your employees share the following attributes with tomato plants. They are:

1. Attractive (at least they were during the hiring process) because of their excitement to be alive and grow in your organization.
2. Healthy when they are "good fruit" who positively contribute "vitamins" and "fiber" that strengthen others.
3. Fuel to grow your organization.
4. Limited in their ability to grow and provide value without structure, care and nurturing. 
5. Rotten to your company culture when your care for them is inconsistent and/or limited.

Consider a tomato plant that is growing within a tomato cage, a metal structure that is specifically designed to help it grow to its full potential.

Without the cage the plant grows without focus and some of its fruit rots on the ground.  While your people may be growing as they work for you, are they truly developing the skills that best support your organization?  Their activity level may be impressive, but without focus it has limited value.

The LEADERSHIP Essentials we teach help you become a great gardener.  Our leadership systems are comparable to a well-designed tomato cage to help people fully develop their talents and apply them to collectively build an organization that positively impacts the lives of others.

Do not mistake activity for accomplishment.  Your people need you to to be the leader you were designed to be.  Help your tomatoes thrive.  Move beyond assumptions to intentional, 3strands LEADERSHIP

P.S.  My thanks to Bill Hybels for his mention of a tomato cage recently.  it reminded me of the many hours I spent with my grandfather working in his garden that was overflowing with tomato plants.

BE a 3STRANDS LEADER

Systematic Leadership;  inspiring others in Meaningful Work;  and consistently expressing Sincere Gratitude to people around you.

Meeting Ideas

I suggest the following for conversation with your leadership team: 

1. Hire:  Is our hiring process clearly defined in-writing?  Are we consistently following the process when adding new people to our team?  What parts of the process are we not following consistently - do we need to be more diligent in these areas, or drop these activities from our hiring process?
2. Manage:  What structure do we have in place to manage our employees so we are providing them with focus, support, accountability, and the tools they need to succeed?  Do we have a strategic plan for each employee success?  Does each employee have clear, measurable goals?  Does each employee have written behavioral expectations, and the opportunity to express what they want from their boss to be successful?  What is our process for helping our people focus on what is most important instead of getting caught up in the tyranny of the urgent each day?
3. Develop:  What specific activities are happening to develop the natural strengths of our employees?  What is the accountability in this process?  How are they encouraged?  How is their progress recorded?  Is our process to develop our people exciting them, increasing our ability to improve client relationships, and building a stronger bottom line for our organization?  How?  If not, what are we going to do about it?
4. Retain:  What intentional activities are we doing to make certain we retain our best people?  How consistently do we do these things?  Do we have people on our team who have been with our organization for a while and we need to reignite their passion?  How much would it hurt to lose our top 5-10 people?  Specifically what are we doing to make certain we retain those people, separate of just throwing money at them?

As you can guess, I can go on for quite some time in this area...

Let me know how it goes.

Day 129 | Accountability on Investments

At some point we will be held accountable to the success of our investments in people, time, and stuff. Who will hold us accountable?

1. Ourselves - have you ever wished you had behaved differently?
2. Others - have others ever complained that you should have done better?
3. Last but not least depending on your perspective, God.  (Please note:  I respect your spiritual beliefs, whatever they may be.  I do not believe in an angry, judgmental God, but it is logical that someday a higher being will judge our stewardship of what we have been given.)

You can hold yourself accountable by setting clear, measurable Goals That Work each year and reviewing your progress BRIEFLY each week and day.  "Eat your elephant one bite at a time," which reminds me... 

It is Monday.  ACCOUNTABILITY TIME!  

1. Did you take Sanctuary time over the weekend to improve your focus?
2. How did you do on your 3Strands last week?
3. Have you defined your 3Strands for this week?
4. By 9:00 a.m. this morning you should have 3Strands emails from each of your direct reports.

Stay on track.

Hard One on Time

Note:  I am in Wisconsin this week with CCB, Inc.  This is a really unique company culture.  I am sharing my new Power of One talk for the first time at two sold-out events.  Thank you, CCB!

Do not be fooled by the simplicity of the question below.

The impact on your life is so significant, but this exercise appears so simple that most of you will not bother to do it.

I guarantee you in one hour or less you can identify something that will create a minimum of $100,000 in revenue or profits.  (Or the money you paid for this newsletter back!)

All joking aside, invest one hour or less in this exercise and you will gain an advantage to achieve what you believe is important.

QUESTION:  Are you spending time as a leader, or investing time as a leader?

ANSWER:  Follow these steps in 30 minutes alone, without any distraction:

1. Look at your calendar last week starting with your first activity the morning of the first day and working through activity-by-activity each day.
2. Questions for each activity:
   • Which of my 2014 goals did this meeting relate to?
   • Did I really need to be there or do this?
   • If "yes," then what was my ROI on this activity, an investment of my time?
   • If "no," then who could have been delegated this activity or how do I avoid this waste of time in the future?
   • How could the activity have been more productive?
   • If a meeting, did everyone need to be there?
   • What information could have been shared pre-meeting to save time?
   • What 1-3 things could have been done to shorten the activity but increase its effectiveness?
   • What could I have done that relates to my 2014 goals if this activity took less time or was avoided?

   P.S.  Where should you invest your time the most?  In relationships.  (Thanks for the reminder, Jeff Mazz!)

3. Commit to invest your time, not spend it.
4. Assess the ROI of your time investments weekly in Sanctuary.

BE a 3STRANDS LEADER

Systematic Leadership, inspiring others in Meaningful Work, and consistently expressing Sincere Gratitude to people around you.

Meeting Ideas

The Meeting Ideas are simple:

1. Check It:  After you complete the exercise above, confirm your conclusions with someone you trust.  Look for guidance on how to be a better investor of your time.
2. Group:  You can also do this exercise as a group.
3. Sanctuary:  Do not underestimate the power of Sanctuary.  The discipline of taking Sanctuary time to improve your focus will always lead to a higher return on your investments of time.

Let me know how it goes.

Day 128 | Common Trait - Jim Collins

QUICK... when Jim Collins did his Good to Great study of 1,435 companies there were only 11 that qualified as "Great."  What was the one common qualification of every leader of a "Great" company?

Humility.

How consistently do you demonstrate humility?  One simple definition of humility I recently heard is putting others first by giving up what you think you deserve.

I encourage you to consider one way you could better demonstrate humility and test yourself this week.  Why settle for "good" when you are designed to be GREAT?

It is Monday.  ACCOUNTABILITY TIME!

1. Did you take Sanctuary time over the weekend to improve your focus?
2. How did you do on your 3Strands last week?
3. Have you defined your 3Strands for this week?
4. By 9:00 a.m. this morning you should have 3Strands emails from each of your direct reports.

Stay on track.

Day 127 | Do They Want Your Opinion?

We leaders serve all kinds of people in a wide variety of roles, such as peers, partners, employees, contractors, vendors, clients, etc...

One skill we are developing is becoming intentional leaders.  Consistent with this objective is to develop the habit to think before we speak.

Another good habit to develop is to ask ourselves:

Are they asking for my opinion, or for validation of their idea?

WARNING:  This is a two-way street.  Too often in the past I did the latter and sought out people who were not strong enough to tell me "no" or that I was wrong.  This did not build strong relationships and led to many mistakes.

RECOMMENDATION:  Develop a habit to pause and think before speaking both before you speak, and before you respond to someone else's request for your opinion.  It will help you avoid a lot of pain.

It is Friday.  ACCOUNTABILITY TIME!  

1. How did you do on your 3Strands this week?
2. At the end of today or at least before 9:00 a.m. Monday take Sanctuary time and hold yourself accountable to this week's 3Strands and define your 3Strands for next week?

Stay on track.

3 vs. 1

Many years ago a friend of mine was asked to become the chairman of the board for a non-profit company in my local community.  

This organization was having serious trouble.  The board meetings were long affairs, often lasting until one or two o'clock in the morning as the top executive fought it out with the board members and everyone had to have their say.  It was unproductive and contrary to the values of the organization.

To start his initial meeting as chairman, my friend said:  "I have two rules on how these meetings will proceed.  First, each meeting will end at 11:00 p.m., even if someone is mid-sentence.  Therefore please keep your comments brief and try not to repeat what others have already said.  Second, if you have something negative to say, you must first say three sincere, positive things."

He then enforced those rules.  The situation turned around rapidly.

Notice my friend had carefully considered the situation and then focused on the positive.  Human nature leads many people to build themselves up by putting others down.  Being negative does not get results long-term.

If you think you are a "realist," then you might actually be a skeptic or pessimist with "the gift of correction."  This creates some potential problems that are hard, but not impossible to overcome:

1. It is easier for you to correct people than compliment them.  Following my friend's advice can help you better reinforce the behaviors you want to see in your people.
2. You have difficulty admitting you are wrong.  Yes, you may be right a high percentage of the time, but if you cannot recognize and fully embrace the areas where others are correct and find commonality then you are throwing up barriers to working most productively with others.
3. SINCERE compliments are important, but consistency in positively engaging people - i.e. thanking them specifically for the little things they do rather than occasionally in general makes a big difference.

How do you develop a habit of better complimenting people?  See the Meeting Ideas below for additional ideas.

BE a 3STRANDS LEADER

Systematic Leadership, inspiring others in Meaningful Work, and consistently expressing Sincere Gratitude to people around you.

Meeting Ideas

The 3-to-1 communication style with other people can be very engaging, if done sincerely and not strictly.  

Let's be candid, it would be irritating to be complimented three times before a correction each time you talk with someone, but here are some ideas to consider if compliments are challenging for you:

1. Shut Up:  Develop a habit of thinking before you speak.  If you react without thinking you will correct someone.  If you pause and think, you can direct your thoughts to something sincere and specific to compliment.  Often times the compliment can lead to asking questings and finding that another approach to a problem may be better.
2. Ask:  Do not tell them what is wrong, ask them.  For instance, "I liked the way you closed that service ticket with the client.  One of our values is to exceed expectations.  I am wondering, would it help close the experience on that ticket better if we (not an accusatory "you") also sent a follow-up email confirming the work that was done and thanking them for their support through the process?"
3. Choose Your Battles:  Let some stuff go, just not the important activities.
4. Good Cop, Bad Cop:  Make your company values, policies, Always/Never Standards, etc. the "bad cop."  Encourage people to meet these standards rather than your opinion.  You are the "good cop," who wants only the best for them, your team and clients.  (The best for people, rather than focus on what is best for "the company," which is impersonal.)
5. Gratitude:  Too often "realists" are not thankful enough for what they have.  Instead they wallow in not getting their high ideals met.  (Sometimes they are not meeting their own standards or following their own advice.)  

Consider what might happen if you developed the 3rd Strand of 3Strands LEADERSHIP, Sincere Gratitude, and it led your thoughts rather than follow weakly if not at all.

You may need to say or write statements of gratitude like dictums to reprogram your brain.  For instance, "I am thankful for the way (employee name) does (something specific they do).  I am thankful for (Client's name) because they..."

The behavior of being a "realist" can be positive if it is balanced and follows a skill of sincerely, positively reinforcing people. Communication lacking sincere positive reinforcement is toxic.  Try changing for one day.  Just one full day.

Add a comment and let me know how it goes.

Day 126 | Why Do They Join...

When people join your company for a long-term career instead of a short-term job they often join because they believe your mission offers them meaningful work, or your vision is aligned with where they want to grow in their career, or your values are consistent with their beliefs.

Why do they stop performing well?

1. Their relationship with their manager, or others, is poor.
2. Their expectations (#1-3 above) are not met.
3. You hired Mr. Hyde instead of Dr. Jekyll.  

What can you do about it?

1. Demonstrate Systematic Leadership - be consistent, but not consistently bad.
2. Inspire them with Meaningful Work - work that appeals to them.
3. Regularly express Sincere Gratitude for their contributions.

It is Monday.  ACCOUNTABILITY TIME!  

1. Did you take Sanctuary time over the weekend to improve your focus?
2. How did you do on your 3Strands last week?
3. Have you defined your 3Strands for this week?
4. By 9:00 a.m. this morning you should have 3Strands emails from each of your direct reports.

Stay on track.

Day 125 | Disagree But Learn

I encourage you with words from Rick Warren this morning because it carries forward thoughts from this past Wednesday's newsletter:

You can learn from people with whom you disagree.

As a matter of fact, those people who are the most frustrating, irritating or outright WRONG...  may inspire some of your greatest creativity and life change.

Remember, in many parts of the world dung is fuel.  Maybe some of what they are spewing can actually be applied for good, even if that means they simply inspire you to do something different than what they want.

Give this some thought today and over the weekend.

It is Friday.  ACCOUNTABILITY TIME!  

1. How did you do on your 3Strands this week?
2. At the end of today or at least before 9:00 a.m. Monday take Sanctuary time and hold yourself accountable to this week's 3Strands and define your 3Strands for next week?

Stay on track.

Lies... All Lies

My daughter Jenny picked me up at the airport last week.  She mentioned that it was irritating how some people preface their judgment with a lie.  So we made a short list and thought of how we might gain from the insensitivity or cluelessness of others.

"Now, I say this without judgment..."
Then they communicate their judgement on where they believe you are wrong.

"To be honest..."
You were lying to me or withholding information before?

"You did a good job, but..."
The person's big "BUT" cancels the compliment.  Yes, I meant to put two "t's" in the word "but" because the person's judgment is that offensive.  And I also meant to put two "t's" in the word "but" in a newsletter last week.  Many counselors recommend using "and" instead of "but," however the second half of the statement is still a negative that cancels the positive.

"We never... or... We always..."
No you don't.  That would be un-human perfection.

"From this point forward we are going to..."
...Break another commitment to never change.  (Pilot new ideas instead.)

"It was incredible, the absolute best I have ever..."
It was okay or good, not "incredible...".  Get the hip waders, the level of verbal dung may rise and get pretty thick...

REALITY:  Somebody or multiple somebodies will lie to us every day, yet most people are clueless that they are not telling the truth.  It is just the way they communicate.

MY POINT:  Increase your awareness of the lies, but do not let them bother you.  Prudence allows you to avoid bad decisions based on lies.  Nor should you confront these people.  That just results in unnecessary drama.  Instead ask questions to confirm your conclusions and/or get them to explain more.  Their weakness is often your opportunity.

See the Meeting Ideas below for additional ideas.

Meeting Ideas

Common lies can be a very fun meeting agenda in any industry.  Here are some ideas on how to challenge your people to consider how to leverage lies to better at what they do and enjoy their work more:

1. Us:  Ask people to share the most common intentional or unintentional lies they are told on the job.  Make a list of no more than ten.  Prioritize the list from most serious to least serious.
2. Responses:  Reactions are instinctive, without thought or much thinking.  A response is communication and/or action from someone who is in control.  Next to each lie define one best practice response for your team to practice over the next four weeks.  Post the list on a wall in plain view.  Ask for joint accountability - everyone holds everyone else accountable.  Discuss progress in your weekly meeting.  At the end of four weeks assess the results over a company-sponsored lunch.
3. Us Again:  Now, list up to ten lies your team tells people.  Prioritize the list from most serious to least serious.
4. Responses:  Next to each of your team's lies, define one best practice response for your team to practice over the next four weeks.  Post the list on a wall in plain view.  Ask for joint accountability - everyone holds everyone else accountable.  Discuss progress in your weekly meeting.  At the end of four weeks assess the results during the same company-sponsored lunch.
5. Personal:  Encourage your team to apply this same principle in their personal lives and pilot new behavior for one month.

Just think what would happen if everyone completed these five steps and applied them for one month...

Let me know how it goes.

Day 124 | Price Changes & Accountability

Have you subscribed to Certle, the only application that tracks ALL of your vendor programs and certifications?  How about MANAGEtoWIN?

If not, subscribe now before the May 1 price changes and lock in lower pricing through this year and possibly longer.  Here are the changes coming on May 1, 2014:

THE GOOD NEWS

1. Integrations are free.  (Saves you $49/month for our ConnectWise or Autotask integration)
2. Existing Clients' monthly subscriptions will remain the same

THE CHANGES

1. Certle Basic Plan (up to 25 people) increases from $49 to $59 monthly
2. Certle Plus Plan (up to 50 people) increases from $99 to $119 monthly
3. Certle Premium (up to 100 people) increases from $199 to $229 monthly
4. MANAGEtoWIN monthly subscription increases from $49 to $59 monthly (the $2.25 per person fee stays the same)

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It is Monday.  ACCOUNTABILITY TIME!

1. Did you take Sanctuary time over the weekend to improve your focus?
2. How did you do on your 3Strands last week?
3. Have you defined your 3Strands for this week?
4. By 9:00 a.m. this morning you should have 3Strands emails from each of your direct reports.

Stay on track.

Day 123 | Teaches Only...

My friend, Art Grecko, reminded me recently of an old Aldous Huxley quote that I encourage you to consider as you complete this week:

Experience only teaches the teachable.

Dear Leaders, how many times have we repeated an error because we were not teachable at an earlier moment when someone else caused a problem or we made a mistake?  The honest answer is too many.

And by the way, look in the mirror on this one rather than think of others who do this.  You only have full control over yourself.

BUT (there's that big "but" making excuses again) you were too busy...  You procrastinated (for years)...  You blamed someone else instead of learning from the experience...  You moved too quickly to think about it, or thought a lot about it, yet did not take action...

As you head into the weekend, consider how well you are doing on your annual goals and confirm you achieved your 3Strands for the week.  Then consider the events of the past week.  Identify one thing that happened where you can be more teachable, consider how you can apply what you learned, commit to change, and implement a new habit or system that improves your life and positively affect the lives of others.

It is only one thing.  You can do this.

Why You Are A Super Hero

I was driving my adopted son, Izaiah, home from school last week.  He loves Spiderman.  He said, "When I grow up, I'm going to be Spiderman."

I said, "That's great.  Go for it!"

He quickly replied, "Who's your favorite superhero?"

I thought for a moment and answered, "Captain America."

"Oooh..." came the reply.  "Is that who you want to be when you grow up?"

At 57 years old, I couldn't stop myself from laughing, but I agreed, "Yep.  That's who I want to be when I grow up."

Who do you want to be when you grow up? Is it the same leader you are today?

You and the leaders of your company have some things in common with superheroes.  At times you are:

• Expected to do things no one else can do
• Taken for granted
• Too quickly judged negatively
• Appreciated solely based on your performance
• Doing your best to work in your world yet think like you are from a different world

If you could...  would you like to be a superhero boss when you grow up?

Does that mean you feel like you have some "Bad Boss" attributes today?

If so, then maybe it's time to grow up.  Leadership requires us to be superheroes at times, so why not develop our superpowers now?

To start, our LEADERSHIP Essentials and All-In programs can help.

Meeting Ideas

The topic of superheroes can be a very fun meeting agenda.  Here are some ideas on how to challenge your people to become the leaders they were designed to be:

1. Favorites:  Ask everyone to confidentially bring a printed image of their favorite superhero - the person they might want to be when they grow up someday.  Remind them to not reveal the identity of their favorite superhero.
2. Guess:  Everyone sits with the image of their superhero face down on the table.  Go around the table and have others guess each person's favorite superhero.  The identity can be revealed when guessed or if people give up.
3. Similarities:  Discuss the similarities between superheroes and leaders.  Go beyond my list above.
4. Pros and Cons:  Ask everyone to participate in an exercise that lists the positives and negatives about each individual's superhero.  Make the point that even imaginary superheroes are not perfect.
5. Grow Up:  Have an open discussion of what it might be like in your company, or for each individual in the meeting, to focus their first efforts each workday on becoming a better leader.  Other priorities could be done afterwards.

Great leaders are mature and experienced, and behave like it.

Why postpone becoming an "adult" in our leadership skills when acting like a child is comparably so unproductive?