John Hersey Leadership Blog

While in the gym the ‘you can’t do this’ saboteurs showed up. The same thing happens to leaders.

Leaders are just as inclined to be resistant in certain areas and issues as anyone else. The difference is Contagious Leaders work through their resistance.

We can work through our resistance by:

1. acknowledging the resistance in the first place
2. calling it what it is, resistance to something we should be doing or working on
3. stop avoiding it and work in the resistance, nothing else, just the resistance we are experiencing
4. share our resistance with others
5. journal about it, meditate on it or otherwise do whatever we have to do to begin calling it out
6. change the story we have about that which we are resistant to. How do we do that? Simple, create a new one with a happier ending.

Contagious Leaders see their primary role as providing clarity in an increasingly unclear world. These leaders practice being clear in vision, setting expectations and demonstrating desired behaviors.

Sometimes even the best contagious leaders find themselves waiting for inspiration even though we know that the best tactic is to just get on with getting it done. Read what our friend and mentor Steve Chandler says about waiting for inspiration– go to http://tinyurl.com/yf2bzg5

Have you ever had someone stick their head in your office and ask “hey, got as minute?”

Of course you have. Well, when is the last time the question was followed by just a minute of your time? The “just a minute” is usually much more time. It takes your time, breaks your flow and makes you unproductive.

When a person asks this question they are really saying “I have a problem that I would like YOU to solve. I have a monkey on my back and I want to put it on yours”. No wonder we end our day feeling as though nothing got accomplished.

The 30 Minute Rule changes the game and keeps you productive. Here is how it works:

1. When the person asks “got a minute” you answer “Not really. I am right in the middle of something important. I would really love to spend some time with you. Could you come back in 30 minutes?” You want to appear genuinely interested in helping them but just unable to do so at the moment. Be polite and sincere, even if you are not in the middle of something important.
2. Don’t worry, if the challenge cannot wait the person will tell you so.
3. In 85% of the cases the person will say “sure it can. I’ll come back.”
4. in 90% of these cases they never return. They wanted you to solve their problem. Usually they find it was not such a big problem after all, or, they handle it themselves.
5. When they do return in 30 minutes listen carefully to the challenge and then ask what they have done to handle it. When they say “well, nothing, I wanted to discuss it with you first” you know you have someone who either can’t make a decision or they want you to do their work. In this case, ask them to suggest a solution or two. More often than not they have the correct answer.

Leaders are problem solvers but often we confuse this with doing someone elses work. We do not develop the leadership skills of others by jumping in and solving their problems. It may make us look smart and be the hero but it wastes our time and fails to develop them.

Try the 30 Minute Rule and see for yourself just how much quality time you have during your day to do the things that really matter to building your business. Also, see how people develop as leaders. Overall, sit back and watch how productivity soars in your organization.

Be Well & Be Contagious,

John

In today’s business and economic climate, knowing your people and loving them may be one of your top three most important daily activities.

It’s amazing how little most Leaders know about the personal lives of the people they work with. More importantly, most Leaders don’t have a clue as to the real strengths of most of the people reporting to them. As Leaders you have know about your employees’ education, technical skills, behavioral style, and values.

Knowing your people doesn’t have to involve any uncomfortable or sophisticated systems. Just talk with them. Having real conversations with people can produce amazing results. Furthermore, you can just ask employees what they think their strengths are.

Strength Workshop Worked for Wells

By knowing each other better, we can honor each other’s strengths instead of working at defending our own ways of doing things. John and I will never, ever do things the same way. But focusing on our strengths and looking to each other’s greatness, we don’t have to be right. We just have to be effective. These same benefits will accrue to any organization using these incredibly powerful tools.

To help o help you get to know the strengths of those around you we are offering a complimentary Teleseminar, How to Accelerate Your Success by Knowing your Strengths

, on February 5 at 4:00pm Mountain time. We will introduce two tools, the JigSaw Challenge and the “I AM” statement. These are the most revealing and effective tools we have ever developed to help you get to know how to be your best!

Here are the details:

Date: February 5, 2009
Time: 4:00pm (Mountain Time), 3:00pm (Pacific), 6:00pm
(Eastern)

For more information and to register please go to:

http://www.johnhersey.com/strengths.htm

Even if you have a schedule conflict on February 5, get registered, and after the call we’ll send you information on how to access the tele-training replay.

Knowing your people is loving them and loving them is what they need most today.

We are looking forward to being with you on the call.

Best Regards,

John Hersey & Beverly Belury

PS: If you have a friend or business associate who might benefit
from this offer please forward this information to them.