In our culture it is acceptable to “not have the time because I’m swamped” or to “just be too busy” to make sales calls, to face challenges directly, to be on time for appointments, to change when it is necessary, or to simply get the job done.

To make up excuses means giving up and abandoning responsibility. A company full of employees that at every level only make up excuses generates apathy, and passiveness and detachment kill leadership.

True leaders don’t tolerate excuses because these excuse no one. There is no such thing as a valid excuse for being late, for not contacting a client, or for not changing to improve a company.

However, excuses have become acceptable, are seldom questioned, and have turned into a cycle where effective feedback and leadership coaching are not welcomed.

Contagious leaders and their staff never focus on excuses; instead, they have an unobstructed vision, meaning they focus on a clear picture of the desired outcome. In their case, it is very rare that a distraction or excuse will become more important than the desired result.

But, how do they do it? Well… contagious leaders generate engaged and productive employees who in turn create involved customers.

Here we give you the 3 strategies that contagious leaders use to permanently ban the excuses cycle from their organizations or departments:

1. They commit to their company or department’s leadership goals and vision. They get passionate about them, believe in them, and visualize the result. This brings more excitement than thinking up excuses.

If an excuse clouds their vision, they acknowledge it and find the way to get rid of it.

2. They practice vibrant communication every day. Contagious leaders believe that the attitude of employees and customers is a result of communication, because when one feels involved and understands the direction the company is taking, in other words, when one writes, speaks, and lives in that direction, one makes better and more productive leadership choices.

3. They practice meaningful permission mentoring. They offer their staff thoughtful and straightforward feedback, they speak out their people’s greatness, and extend a helping hand to get people out of the excuses cycle.

Show your concern if you perceive the cycle of excuses in your organization because it is a sign of defeat, and instead… make your team remember the Nike leadership slogan: JUST DO IT! Every good leadership speaker and coach does…

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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.

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Each week, we will be highlighting (or “spotlighting”) someone we think demonstrates the actions, thoughts and mindset of a Contagious Leader.  This week’s spotlight is on Jeff Eschliman.

Jeff Eschliman, Director of Construction for Maracay Homes in Scottsdale, Arizona, has been a student of Contagious Leadership since 2005. He recently reached out and asked me to connect with him on LinkedIn. I agreed, mentioning in a return message that I was looking forward to getting to know him better. He took this as a green light and sent me the following email through LinkedIn; “I’d love to buy you lunch some day and get more insights into Contagious Leadership. I just received the book (Creating Contagious Leadership) and I’m looking forward to diving in.” 

That’s initiative!

During our lunch Jeff mentioned he has been practicing Recognize 5, our program for the Habit of Involved Recognition. We immediately invited him to do a video interview that will be shared with other Contagious Leader Coaching Club members.  

Jeff Eschliman is a true Contagious Leader for a number of other reasons: 

1. In an industry that has been hard hit by the economic challenges of recent years, Jeff works at staying positive
2. He continues to build his inventory of talents for the future by practicing the leadership habits he learns.
3. He faithfully practices Recognize 5 week in and week out without expecting accolades from the employees he works with or his superiors.
4. He has recent;y committed to deep and lasting changes in his personal life in the areas of fitness and exercise.  

 Yes, Jeff Eschliman is a true Contagious Leader, our Contagious Leader of the week. He is also our new friend.

If you would like to nominate someone, feel free to send us an email by clicking here, and we would love to consider them!  Please tell us a bit about them and what makes them Contagious in their leadership.

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Close up of Deanna Brown's winning pose at Copper Classic, Las Vegas

I met Deanna about a year ago. She was teaching a weight lifting class at my health club. She was precise, inspiring and committed to help us get results. Class was over and Deanna was explaining to another instructor her diet for an upcoming competition. My interest was heightened and I started hammering her with questions about her workout routine, food choices and how she packed it all in…wife, 40 something mother of three with the youngest 13 years old, working at 3 health clubs and a personal trainer, meeting with her trainer once or twice a day and cooking, cleaning…yipes!

There was a time she didn’t work out. She gained weight with each pregnancy and slacked off on her good eating habits. She weighed in at 200 pounds! Take a look at her picture again. She has come a long way!

An interesting story, perhaps even inspiring, but what actually makes Deanna a Contagious Leader? She made a decision to get back in shape, got in action, set a goal to compete in the 2010 Copper Classic in Las Vegas, and let nothing interfere. She has unobstructed vision, nothing is an obstacle for her. 1st competition and Deanna came in 2nd place. She’s amazing!

If you would like to nominate someone, feel free to send us an email by clicking here, and we would love to consider them!  Please tell us a bit about them and what makes them Contagious in their leadership. 

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Curt Dunham and Peggy Fiandaca with Eppy (their sweet black and white baby) are our Contagious Leaders this week. They are masters at looking to each other’s strengths so they can be engaged in life in a big and exciting way. Behaviorally speaking, they couldn’t be more different. Kurt is steady, dependable and persistent with a fabulous attention to detail while Peggy is more of a Driver (aggressive competitive and results oriented) who is optimistic and loves to engage with others. They each ‘do their thing’ together and life is great.

Peggy and Curt continue to grow  Partners for Strategic Action, Inc., their 17 year old planning firm by creatively pursuing challenging and innovative projects in the area of community sustainability and smart growth planning. They aggressively explore and establish collaborative relationships with  visionary leaders addressing complex community development issues. Recently they also started Lawrence Dunham Vineyards in Cochise County, AZ focused on hand-crafted, estate-grown Rhone varietals.

Check out: www.lawrencedunhamvineyards.com   Their philosophy of winemaking is to choose the right location, select the perfect vines, and meticulously manage the vineyard, letting nature do its magic with as little intervention as possible.

If you would like to nominate someone, feel free to send us an email by clicking here, and we would love to consider them!  Please tell us a bit about them and what makes them Contagious in their leadership.

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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.

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John and Bev dancing at EuroRhythm

In my pursuit to learn to have fun again I have engaged in as many wonderful and new experiences as possible. We’ll share some of them with you from time to time. Beverly and I have taken up ballroom dancing (this is amazing fun,; check out EuroRythm Studios) and photography while expanding our interests in learning about wine, cooking, travel and Opera.

This weekend we engaged in several of these activitites. A ballroom dancing event Friday evening, Tosca at The Met at the Movies (fabulous and you must try this) on Saturday, and a musical Saturday evening. Sunday was the topper. We took a helicopter to Four Peaks Mountain and toured one of the finest (certainly the hardest to reach ) Amathyst mines in the world. The pictures below say it all.

Boarding Helicopter for Four Peaks Mine

Entering the Mine (From L-R; Doc, John, Garrett, Bev and Donna in front)

John Having Fun, Hard Hat and All

We got to keep the minerals we mined and the people at Sami’s Fine Jewelry will process, cut and polish the best of our stones and give it to us. Bev had some pretty huge rocks so maybe we’ll retire soon.

Finally, Just in case you are thinking this was looking like lots of work and very little fun check out the picture below.

John & Bev

You have no doubt heard the saying about all work and no play making John a dull boy. Learn to have fun again and the work and play will make us all better leaders. Besides, it makes for Unforgettable Weekends filled with Unforgettable Experiences.

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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.

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