1. Get your attitude right! Yes, the last couple of years have been rugged! They have been rugged for everyone. So, get over it and start thinking like a leader. Concentrate on what is possible rather than why you can’t accomplish your goals.
2. Get your team’s attitude right! Identify everyone on your team with an attitude challenge and give them 30 days to make it right (it actually only takes a moment). Sure there are challenges but they are either on the team or not, they are either thinking about solutions or challenges.
3. Hire the best people for the job! If you are not matching behaviors, competencies and talents for each job you will suffer the consequences later. Stop drooling over resumes and interviews! Benchmark every job. Assess every candidate before falling in love with them during the interview, then match the assessment to the job. This will take all the emotion out of the hiring/promotion process and produce vastly superior results with far less turnover.
4. Hire slow and fire fast! If someone you hire or promote isn’t cutting it, you’ll know in 90 days or less. Don’t let your mistakes linger. Act on it. Step up and move on.
5. Get rid of all the micro-managers! Not only are they annoying but they are stifling creativity, motivation, morale, innovation and the development of future leaders. They may produce short-term results but it will be at the expense of the future of your organization.
6. Apply the Rule of 3! Have every person in your organization outline the top 3 tasks they need to complete in the next 30, 60 and 90 days that will contribute to achieving the organization’s mission and goals. Focus relentlessly on these 3 tasks and monitor, measure and celebrate the successes. Don’t let anything interfere with the accomplishment of these 3 tasks.
7. Stop doing those time-wasting performance reviews 2X per year! Have a 15 minute conversation with every employee every 30 days to check in on the progress on the Rule of 3. Focus on:What is working?
   Why is it working?
   What is the ideal?
   What is not working?
   What is needed?
   What is the plan?

   Ask your employees how you can help them achieve their 3 tasks, rather than telling them what to do.

8. Apply generous recognition! An authentic and heart-felt “Thank You” will keep most employees far more engaged for longer than you might think.
9. Love the employees and customers you have! Just for the next 30 days spend more time loving the employees and customers you have than trying to attract new ones.
10. Spend some time considering the culture you have created. Is it positive or negative? Do people lead or wait to be lead? Is the focus on solutions or challenges? Are you developing future leaders or mindless followers? Are people excited about the challenges or do they dread going to work?

However you answer these questions, ask yourself the same 6 questions as in #7 above.

• What is working?
• Why is it working?
• What is the ideal?
• What is not working?
• What is needed?
• What is the plan?

Developing a Contagious, high performance culture is not nearly as complicated as you might think. One thing we know for sure is that it can’t be done sporadically. Talking about your ideal culture and leadership once a quarter at the all employee meeting or once a year at the annual conference doesn’t cut it. Leadership development is an ongoing process, every day, every week, every month. Create an ongoing leadership conversation that every employee is allowed to participate in and you’ll build a productive, high energy culture that serves as a strong foundation for your future.

Be Well & Be Contagious,

John

Related posts:

1. Executive Leadership Coaching: 4 Steps to Building Employee Engagement Bev and I recently spoke for an association meeting attended...
2. Executive Leadership Coaching: Build Strength, Not Weakness The greatest breakthroughs happen after major breakdowns. Leadership bench strength...
3. Executive leadership Coaching: Great Leaders Catch People Doing Great Things Too many so-called leaders spend their days looking for mistakes....

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Many employees are feeling ignored, under valued and under appreciated. There is no big surprise here. Over the past three years many executives have systematically pulled in the reins, focused on survival and left themselves precious little time for engaging with our most important asset — our people.

At the end of the day that activity, engaging with employees, may well be the most important leadership activity of all. Yet, in our busyness we just don’t get around to it. Here is a coaching tip for handling our most important job responsibility.

1. Engage with 1 employee every day. Make it a priority. Schedule it. Ron Johnson, Senior Vice President of Apple and the chief architect of Apple’s outrageously successful retail operation makes it a habit to speak with one store manager everyday during his early morning exercise program.

2. Set everything else aside, be present to the conversation and be sure to practice listening.

3. Have a real 2-3 minute conversation.

4. At the end of the conversation recap what you heard the employee say and how much you appreciate them.

At the end of the month notice how great you feel, how happy your employees are and how energized they have become.

Be Well & Be Contagious,

John & Bev

Related posts:

1. Executive Leadership Coaching: 4 Steps to Building Employee Engagement Bev and I recently spoke for an association meeting attended...
2. Executive Leadership Coaching: Build Strength, Not Weakness The greatest breakthroughs happen after major breakdowns. Leadership bench strength...
3. Strong Words Build Confidence Here’s a passage from Today We Are Rich just released...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

The greatest breakthroughs happen after major breakdowns.

Leadership bench strength will be a huge factor in the coming recovery. Those organizations that build strong benches will win. Every other organization will either lose of barely hold on. Allowing your leaders to take risks, try, and even fail on occasion will build strength from real experience. Micro-managing will build weakness.

How’s your bench strength?

Gives us your comments so we can all benefit and build strong teams.

Thanks,

John Hersey & Beverly Belury

Related posts:

1. Executive Leadership Coaching: Ten Steps for Creating a Culture of Contagious Leaders 1.) Vibrantly communicate to everyone that accountability and commitment are...
2. Executive leadership Coaching: Great Leaders Catch People Doing Great Things Too many so-called leaders spend their days looking for mistakes....
3. Executive Leadership Coaching Tip: Practice Spotlighting to Build Engagement Many employees are feeling ignored, under valued and under appreciated....

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I witnessed something remarkable recently. After delivering the opening keynote speech for First American Equipment Leasing’s annual sales kick-off meeting, the Chairman and co-founder, delivered his state of the company address.

I have seen and heard these hundreds of times. The Chairman/CEO runs through the results from the previous year, acknowledges a few folks, talks about how important the upcoming year is and tells the audience they are the “best team in the league” and “together we deliver a huge years this year”.

That was only part of what the Chairman of First American did. After the review and the projections for the year he came down from the platform, among the people. Then, he asked if they could have a candid conversation. He went back to 2008 and reviewed 6-8 goals that had been outlined for the next 3 years. He asked the group for their candid opinion on what had been done well, which areas they had missed the mark on and which were not worth pursuing at all.

As the opinions and comments began to come forward he did not try to defend, convince or persuade. He actually listened. He noted what was being said, asking others if they agreed. An actual dialogue ensued the likes I have rarely seen. As the outsider in the room I was totally impressed while at the same time being somewhat envious. I had always wanted to work for or with a company like this.

The Chairman admitted that neither he nor the executive leadership team had all the answers and that the company was only as good as the great people in the room. As I looked around the room I could not help but notice a confidence, a belief, a commitment, an attitude of pride and determination. Each person, in their way, seemed focused on what they could do to help the company take on its mission for 2011. This is a company with a goal to revolutionize an industry. Now, that’s a big goal! Creating ownership in that vision is the first step to making it happen. The Chairman accomplished both, in my mind, in a 30 minute session. It was a pleasure to watch a revolution in the making.

It all started when he did not presume to know it all.

Be Well & Be Contagious,

Related posts:

1. Executive Leadership Coaching: 4 Steps to Building Employee Engagement Bev and I recently spoke for an association meeting attended...
2. Executive Leadership Coaching: Build Strength, Not Weakness The greatest breakthroughs happen after major breakdowns. Leadership bench strength...
3. Executive Leadership Coaching Tip: Practice Spotlighting to Build Engagement Many employees are feeling ignored, under valued and under appreciated....

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

In the beginning, it is common and even necessary, for the head of a company or department head to be involved in everything, from project development down to each project’s fulfillment; however, at some point, this person will realize that there is only so much he can do himself.

Steve Brewer owns a technology development company and once he went on a sales trip to Baltimore. 

The only hotel he could book had no Internet, and his iPhone’s battery had died, so he decided to find out what would happen if he were out of reach for twelve hours.

As it turns out, that night one of his company’s servers failed and hell exploded. 

His staff called the hotel and he was up the whole night making alarming calls to various data centers.  This was surely not the best way for him to spend the night prior to an important sales meeting.

That was the episode that prompted him to think whether someone else could have done what he had to do.  He discovered that no, no one could, because he had never explained to anyone what steps to take if a server failed.

As a consequence, he returned from the trip and started working with his staff to document their procedures. They started creating a “contagious” culture where teaching others to do what you know how to do is a good thing instead of a bad one.    

Their ‘Project Organization’ turned out to be much more than a manual for putting out fires, they included their procedure to bill clients and how to hire new employees, and there were some exciting surprises too. 

One Monday, an employee came to work holding a new code manual he had written during the weekend.  It was not asked from him and Brewer was not even aware that they needed one, but as soon as he studied it, he wondered how they had been able to grow so much without it.

But this was just the beginning.  When they started, they just began writing things down and ended up going in many different directions.  The systems were over-documented and didn’t tie together, so they had to take each part of the document and turn it into one set of interconnected procedures.  But it was not over yet…

Once the document was revised, they hired a new person and handed her the documentation saying, “This is how we do things here.”  She lasted 6 months, because they had not put the information in context.  She had the manual, but was completely isolated.

You see, when the processes were not documented, there was a lot of talking between old employees and the new hires to explain how things were done.  This was not an efficient process, but made the new employees feel a part of the team and helped them fit in. 

A written manual can’t do that, so they had to look for balance.

Today, Brewer talks to his new employees regularly to find out how they are doing, and most importantly, everyone participates in explaining to them why doing things they way they do them helps the company be successful, instead of just saying, “this is how we do it here.”

The process is open, everyone can review and revisit the procedures, and people feel like they are a part of it.

Now, the business runs more smoothly.  Employees first review the document when something happens. If they can sort things out 70% of the procedure before they ask for the owner’s or division head’s help, that is very valuable work.  Afterwards, they can add more or clearer information to get the procedure closer to 100%.

Brewer thought that an informal structure would make them stand out and be successful; but soon enough he discovered what every good leadership speaker and coach knows, that there is a thin line between flexibility and improvisation.

Related posts:

1. Executive Leadership Coaching: Ten Steps for Creating a Culture of Contagious Leaders 1.) Vibrantly communicate to everyone that accountability and commitment are...
2. Executive Leadership Coaching Tip: Practice Spotlighting to Build Engagement Many employees are feeling ignored, under valued and under appreciated....

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Outstanding leadership is now manifesting through one of the oldest forms of communication, the handwritten note. 

Writing personal thank you notes expresses how you feel about aspiring leaders and their value to your company.  The hidden message behind a written note of praise is that “I truly appreciate you.” 

Handwritten notes can greatly help you create a leadership culture within your organization and their benefits are huge.  These notes are remembered, and they produce a feeling of distinction and individuality on the one who receives it.

John Hersey, renowned leadership speaker and coach, has heard from people who, after several years, still remember that special thank you note they received from their supervisor or CEO.  Such a small, but personal touch can truly leave a lasting impression and positively impact someone’s life. 

Some leaders state that it is easier to email, and maybe it is, however emails are impersonal, cold and hollow.  Emails are the electronic version of a Post-It note.  It is like buying plastic flowers for an anniversary; it is a gesture, but a very superficial one. 

Still, other leaders say it is easier to delegate the task to their secretary or assistant, and again, perhaps it is, but in this case you are better off not sending anything.

Hersey recommends a leadership program called ‘Recognize Five’.  In this program, every week or month you identify five team members within your organization or department who deserve praise for something they did or said.  Handwrite a short note to each one of them detailing what they did, how it impacted the company, and say something in appreciation, then, send it to their home address.

The result of a handwritten note is increased morale, production and loyalty, which in turn bring about higher leadership retention.  The costs of a first-class stamp and five minutes of your time are a low price to pay for such a positive outcome.

Related posts:

1. Executive Leadership Coaching: Build Strength, Not Weakness The greatest breakthroughs happen after major breakdowns. Leadership bench strength...
2. Executive Leadership Coaching: Top 10 Contagious Leadership Tasks Get your attitude right! Yes, the last couple of years...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Change, dreadful change!  It is amazing how hard we, human beings, reject change, and even more when it is forced on us.

So, don’t be surprised if, in the beginning, the people in your organization appear nervous and cynical about any changes you want to introduce, even if they clearly are for good.

In order for you to build endorsement towards the change to a contagious leadership culture, you must be receptive to the attitudes of others and put into practice a contagious leadership program that will encourage participation.

Take GE for example.  When this company launched its Work-Out program to give workers, managers, and leaders the opportunity to get together, share ideas, and get barriers out of the way, in the beginning it was a voluntary program.  It seemed (like) a town meeting, and many people showed up with healthy disbelief. 

Before anyone was willing to take an active part in it, they had to confirm it was a safe setting, a place where they could voice their opinion without taking the risk of being accused later, and they had to believe that the ideas they were presenting were being considered seriously; thus, Jack Welch and his team defined a strategy to create endorsement.

To begin with, they asked people to wear khakis and t-shirts so that no one would look superior to others, and the leaders were directed to address ideas right there in one of three ways: approve it, reject it, or request more information. 

Very soon, everyone noticed that they were serious about the program, and eventually, it was a requirement to attend.

Getting someone to get your back takes time and honest effort.  If you don’t walk the walk and talk the talk, you will kill any program you start.

These are some strategies to build endorsement, right from the files of the top leadership speaker on the topic of contagious leadership:

-      Define clear goals and ensure everyone on your team knows what you are planning, what you wish to achieve, and why.

-      Start a vibrant communication program, in other words, communicate early, regularly, and harmoniously; and make sure everyone is informed about:

-     What you are doing

-     Who is doing it

-     Why you are doing it

-     How well you are doing

-     Who is doing well

-     Ensure communication is internal and external.

-     Focus on successes, not on failures.

In the end, your goal should be that everyone in your organization gets your back… not for your sake and personal interest, but as every contagious leader believes, for a greater and general good.

Related posts:

1. Executive Leadership Coaching: Top 10 Contagious Leadership Tasks Get your attitude right! Yes, the last couple of years...
2. Executive Leadership Coaching: Build Strength, Not Weakness The greatest breakthroughs happen after major breakdowns. Leadership bench strength...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Yes, it is no longer enough to see someone’s resume to know if he or she is the best person for that meeting planner or assistant’s job.

Long gone are the days when people were rotated through a position to find a match, or when a competitor’s star player signed on for the big bucks only to fail miserably in meeting very high expectations.

A bad hire today implies such high costs, that the future of a company may very easily be in the hands of the person in charge of hiring the best candidate for the job.  

Today, you have to look beyond the resume when hiring a leader, because normally that piece of paper is more filled with air than a hot air balloon. 

Presently, you have to hire leaders by measuring their cultural compatibility.  Instead of regarding only a certain set of skills, first you have to consider the person’s behavior and attitude towards the meeting planner’s environment.

In fact, there are 4 criteria that are crucial when hiring or promoting someone to a meeting planner or assistant’s job:

Attitude

It is not easy, but is a must, to identify a “can do” leadership attitude.  This requires observation, open-ended scenario questions, and self-confidence demonstrations.

Behavior

This one also requires lots of observation and assessment, because it impacts everyone within the company. 

You have to decide if you need an aggressive, results-oriented, fast-paced leader, or a stable, dependable, and caring one; this based on what the meeting planner or assistant’s job requires, not on your personal preference.

Competencies and cultural compatibility

Every job needs a given set of competencies.  Define the competencies and behavioral attributes that best fit the position and see which candidates have them. 

 The candidate who best fits the competencies needed is the most compatible with your company.

 Skills

You should hire a skilled meeting planner or assistant, but do not make his or her skills the decisive factor. 

Most candidates will be able to learn most skills; however, not everyone is capable of changing or learning a new leadership attitude, behavior, or competency.

A leader should develop a system that measures a combination of these 4 criteria to find the right candidate. 

This process is so vital that many companies hire a renowned leadership speaker and consultant to guide them through it as well as to help them design the right behavior, values and competency assessments, to conduct email and face-to-face interviews, and to thoroughly analyze resumes when hiring and promoting individuals, all of this in order to lower the chances of making a bad hire.

Related posts:

1. Executive Leadership Coaching: The A, B, C, ‘S of Hiring Leaders We were standing in a Las Vegas line to get...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Permission mentoring is the habit of ripening aspiring contagious leaders.  It is a crucial step in becoming such a leader, who literally learns from example, and one that must be tackled correctly to be able to get the best out of the person being mentored.

According to a top leadership speaker, here’s how to get into the permission mentoring habit successfully:

Ask permission

Always ask people if they are interested in being mentored.  Never assume everyone wants to become a leader, because this is not true.

Some individuals are not interested in becoming contagious leaders, and some others may not be interested in being mentored by you, and this is fine, everyone is entitled to choose what works best for them; thus, it is only wise to make sure you are investing your time in people who truly want what you can offer them.  

The good thing is that a very powerful force is activated when you ask and someone says yes, a new level of commitment arises, and the results are remarkable; in other words, a new individual is born.

Create parameters

Your mentoring must have well-defined and approved boundaries.  If the goal is for the employee to become a contagious leader, focus on the habits such a person requires and reach an agreement as to what is expected.   

Before beginning the mentoring program, ask the employee to self-assess each habit, and compare it to your assessment.  Talk about the progress you both expect to see, and establish time limits for each session and for the totality of the program in a way that lets you both get the best out of it.

Focus the parameters on activities and behaviors instead of on results, because the first are the ones that will guide the person towards the desired result, while many outside circumstances can affect the second. 

Schedule uninterrupted time

There should be a time exclusively devoted to discuss, review, measure, and offer feedback.  Honor the process, and your commitment to being a contagious leader and a mentor, by giving it meaningful time.  Never allow the person to feel forgotten or neglected.

Employ involved recognition

A mentoring program is a great opportunity for you to practice the habits and qualities of a contagious leader.

Keep an eye on your attitude, focus on the person’s strengths, and employ involved recognition as much as possible.  Pay attention and identify as many opportunities as you can to recognize the actions and behavior of the person you are mentoring.

This is key to strengthening the confidence in their ability to become contagious leaders, and will teach them how to use it themselves.   

Never stop measuring

Your job as a contagious leader is to develop many other contagious leaders, and you have to make sure the persons you are mentoring are moving in the right direction. 

You must keep track of how each one of them is doing and of how many you have at a certain stage of development, so as to be able to control and anticipate when these individuals are ready to move on.

Related posts:

1. Executive Leadership Coaching Tip: Practice Spotlighting to Build Engagement Many employees are feeling ignored, under valued and under appreciated....

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

This may sound impossible to you, but in many cases, it is true.  Not everyone wants to move on to a leadership position… and this is actually a good thing. 

Some people are more comfortable and much more effective in other roles; they know themselves and are intelligent enough to make choices that are right for them. 

There’s also the possibility that they do want to advance, but may not want your help to do it.

This is why contagious leaders should always ask for permission before mentoring someone, and this is something a good leadership speaker can’t emphasize enough. 

Permission mentoring is the habit of ripening aspiring contagious leaders.  Mentoring someone who does not want to be mentored is not only a waste of time but will deeply annoy the employee. 

Think for example that your teenage daughters love borrowing your clothes because they are so “cool”, and they just go and take anything from your closet at any time.  You would probably feel exasperated every time this happened; however, if they just asked, you would most likely and very gladly let them take anything they wanted. 

Well, the same goes for mentoring, you have to ask if the person wants to be mentored, and this is necessary for various reasons:

1.    Clarity

Simply to know, for sure, that the person is open to your mentoring.  Once a person says yes, you and him know you are the mentor, and your time will be worth spending. 

Even when you only want to offer a suggestion, you should ask the person if they are open to ‘suggestions’ or ‘a bit of mentoring’, before presenting it.  Just basic psychology. 

2.    Good manners

Not asking is simply disrespectful and invasive, and this behavior is never welcomed. 

Most people hate change because it is forced on them, this is why it is so hard to see it initiated spontaneously; thus, if you force mentoring, it will be basically, hated.

3.    Choice

Everyone likes to be given a choice.  We like to feel we can either accept or reject a suggestion, an opinion, or mentoring. 

A very strong energy arises when we accept something after seriously considering it.  A powerful commitment is established, everything is taken more seriously, people prepare more carefully, and the results are amazingly productive.   

Ensure you are ready to hear ‘no, thank you’ after you offer a choice, because you will hear it sometimes; so be prepared to accept it.   

 4.    Politeness

It is always polite to ask.  Since a while back, business has become a very bad-mannered arena.  Once you start asking for permission in your company, the environment will relax in unimaginable ways.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.