Do You Have A Great Team?

"If I want something I have never had...

 I have to do something I've never done."

- Joe Sabah

Do you have a great team? If you, with conviction, say "absolutely", then no need to read any further.

But if you answer the question "yeah, no, or kind of"  - you are responsible for it. Yes you created this team you manage (or hopefully coach) and you have to take ownership for it.

You cannot solve any problem until you take ownership of it.

We all "say" we want a great team , a team of A Players, because deep down inside we know that a great team will build a better, more profitable company and at the same time do it with less stress, chaos and drama. But knowing is not enough - it takes doing.

Leaders of Great Teams create and then retain them by doing the following:

• They are always recruiting, building a virtual bench.
   
• They are coaching (focused on helping the employee), not trying to manage (focused on results and dragging everyone else along).
   
• They are having Weekly Coaching Conversations - 10 to 15 minutes with each direct report, each week focused on the employee, what their goals are, and how to help them get better at what they do.
   
• They don't answer questions - they have an open door but the employee explains the situation and shares "what I intend to do" rather than you simply telling them what to do.
   
• They are having Weekly Huddles each week sharing goals and values and following up on projects.
   
• They create an environment where there is:
• Consistency
• Autonomy
• The Pursuit of Mastery
• A Core Purpose shared by all
• Trust
• Truly Listening
• Appreciation
• Goal setting
• Accountability
• Peer respect (All A Players)

Here is a 54 minute MP3 audio from Steve Chandler (I promise you will think he is talking about you) on what most of us do today (what I did as a leader) and then what to do to create the Great Teams above. Listen in the car or grab a sandwich and do it over lunch. You cannot outperform your knowledge so pick some up here.

But remember knowing is not enough - you have to do (take action).

Regards,

Rick 

Another Take on The Future

"Fear is most often experienced when I am inactive and thinking about the future."

- Steve Chandler

When I am fully engaged, putting my heart and soul into something, fear is replaced by the RUSH of pure excitement.

A recent WIRED magazine article sent to me by TV producer John Jones said this: "Surfer Garrett McNamara felt many things as the monster wave approached. Excitement. Awe. Joy. The one thing he did not feel, however, is fear."

That might seem unusual, given that he was about to ride what is believed to have been a 100-foot wave on Monday. But there was no place in his heart, or mind, for such things. He was focused utterly on the moment.

"If you have fear then it means that you are not living in the moment", McNamara told Wired by e-mail from Nazaré, Portugal. "You are either stuck in the past or worrying about the future. It is important to not think and just do! Follow your heart and fear does not exist."

McNamara is believed to have set a new record for the biggest wave ever ridden by a surfer.

Regards,

Rick

The Future and My Dog

"If you want to be truly miserable get yourself a future."

- Byron Katie

 

Byron Katie is an author and international life coach. What the heck does she mean? I am a huge believer in setting goals and visions and building plans around them. My last few blog posts have been about planning. All of this is in your future.

She never made sense to me until the other day. I facilitate a mastermind group of women business owners. It has been a great experience for me and each of the women in the group. Recently we were reviewing their Destination Postcards for last year, the results they had achieved and what they want to happen in 2015. One member of the group was reviewing her 2014, was grading herself on her Rocks/Projects and goals, and she did pretty well, in fact really well. When she finished one of the other members said, "great job! ..... but you don't sound happy." She wasn't.

They discussed this and one of the ladies said, "I discovered a couple of years ago that the real happiness is inside me. I just had to get out of the way. Thinking about the future, and thinking that happiness was out there in the future when I achieved certain goals or got certain things... that was a lie. When we dwell on thoughts about future events and things that could happen, it is reality to us and when those thoughts are about failures or bad things, it blocks our happiness that is right now and always inside of us."

But nothing made of thought is real, or for that matter true.

We live in the feeling of our thinking, not the feeling of our circumstances.

Thoughts are our reality even though they are not always true. No one can predict the future, thus our thoughts about the future are never exactly true. We cannot predict the future but we can sure think about it and those thoughts are our reality. The more we let those thoughts hang around and mull over them, try to control them, repress the bad ones and think positive ones the more unhappy we feel right now.

The other day I was working with the person above and we explored why she wasn't happy. She explained that she constantly was thinking about serving her clients. She was always thinking about how they would be let down if she didn't get things done for them on time, penalties, loss of money, etc.

So I went back to Byron Katie and said "if you want to be miserable get yourself a future." I then suggested she stop for a moment and ask herself, "Are those thoughts true? Will any of that really happen? Will you let that happen?" Of course she won't. Why? Because she will do the things right now in the moment that will ensure they won't. She will be creating the future by doing the things that will serve her clients.

In other words, let those bad thoughts about the future flow on through your mind and get to doing the things right now that will create the future you want. The state of happiness is inside you - you and every living animal were born with it. Happiness does not come from the outside, it comes from the inside.

Bad thoughts simply take over and create unhappy feelings.

I cannot explain this concept - that thoughts are our reality and thus can block us from being happy -- in a short blog post, but I can explain what Byron Katie meant by the future.

Happiness, success and joy are in the present, right now, in this moment. They are not in the future. It is the project or action you are focusing on right now that will create your future. Be in the moment. How many times have we heard that in our lives? Let the thoughts of the future simply flow through your mind, catch yourself when you let one get stuck in there and ask yourself, "is it true"? Then let it move on and get back in the present. Doing, taking action, creating the future you want.

Only in the present can you be happy.

So true happiness is always inside you and you can only be happy in the journey, never in the destination.

"If you want to be miserable find yourself a future". If you want to experience happiness, focus on the present and on the actions/projects that will create the future you want to have.

Oh yeah, my dog!

Quick example: The other night I was sitting on the coach watching TV and petting my dog. Now that is happiness huh? I begin to think about how old he is and how he probably only has a few years more to live. I started "feeling sad" and my thoughts began to run on about this dog's death, how it would happen and what I would do, etc. Then I caught myself - hey you have no idea when or how he will die or what you will do when he does - enjoy right now with him there beside you. Happy again. Because just like the dog, I was not thinking about the future I was enjoying the moment.  

Regards,
Rick 

Get Your Price and Use Visuals

"If you want money simply go find someone with a problem and help them solve it."

- Steve Chandler

Here are two great articles by Steven Meyer in Forbes magazine about "sales". Remember we are all sales people persuading and serving all day long.

The first one is about the power of visual communication and how it works for sales people in selling situations and leaders in tracking goals and measuring performance.

The second is about how to present your price and get the most for the value you deliver.

Persuasion: Fascinating Study Shows How To Open A Closed Mind
by Steven Meyer - Forbes

What's the best way to persuade people whose beliefs stand in the way of the facts?

Let's do a role play. I'll be the entrepreneur. You be the jerk investor who hates my idea.

I need to persuade you I've invented a better mousetrap. But you, the expert, know that mousetraps are so over.

The facts say you're wrong. Mousetrap sales are on the rise. You could look it up yourself. But you won't, because you already know you're right.

So how do I convince you, the know-it-all-skeptic, that I'm right and you're wrong? Should I:

• Explain it to you in simple-to-understand words?
• Show you a chart?
• Praise you for your open-mindedness and then explain it to you?

I'll tell you in a moment why one of those options is best...

Read Full Article 

 

The No. 1 Reason Why Salespeople Leave Money On The Table
Steve J Meyer - Forbes

Salespeople talk too much.

In an earlier article, I discussed a study suggesting salespeople would be more persuasive if they relied more on visuals than words. Here we'll talk about what's perhaps the most likely point in the selling process where salespeople say too much - and trigger the price bully that lurks in every buyer's heart.

Courting is a little like sales, right? Imagine you're a guy who's been dating a woman for some time and you decide to propose. You want to close the deal. So you buy her a ring and take her to a nice restaurant. As you hand her the ring, you lay out, like bullet points, the five reasons you're the guy for her.

What she wants is for you to let the ring, and the sincerity expressed in your misty eyes, do the talking. Laying out your value proposition at this point seems like desperation, or doubt. She's thinking, "After all that courting, why does he think he needs to convince me? Or is he not convinced himself?"

How many times have you seen salespeople, just before a close, try to justify their price by revisiting the key benefits of their product or service?

Read Full Article 

Regards,

Rick 

5 Questions You Should Ask Yourself Right Now

"People who have too many distractions to actually do any real work are in that bind because they haven't invested enough time, effort or risk in their people, their organization and their processes." 

- Seth Godin

Five Questions You Should Ask Yourself Right Now

Borrowing from a Vern Harnish article, recently in Fortune Magazine, here are my 5. I'll give you a bonus #6:

1. Write down each employee on a piece of paper. Now ask yourself: "If each one of my employees walked in today and quit how hard would I fight to keep him/her?"
   
   A 10 would be "give it all you got" and 1 would be "man I'm happy about that". (This a theoretical question, as we know employees that come in to quit are usually already gone and trying to bribe them into staying usually doesn't work out over the long run).
   
   Any less than 6, you better start building your Virtual Bench (watch this 25 minute presentation), if you don't have one already. People, A Players in every position, is the single biggest factor in leading a great company. I cannot stress enough how important this is to a company's success and to building a company that does not rely on you to make it work every minute of every day.

"There's something rare, something finer far, something much more scarce than ability. It's the ability to recognize ability..."
 

- Elbert Hubbard

2. Who is your Ideal Customer/Prospect?
   
   Do you have a written document that profiles them? The Markets, Size, Characteristics, Wants and Needs and Pains and Fears they have in common?
   
   If not, you will never be able to create an effective marketing and sales plan and the messaging that goes with it. People don't care about you or your company, they care about themselves and you need to understand them to be able to effectively communicate with them.
   
   Not everyone out there is an Ideal Customer because not everyone values what you do in your own unique way. Profitably growing companies are built on the foundation of ideal customers.
   
   "If you want to be the best in the world - make your world smaller."
                                               - Seth Godin
   
   "Defining my Ideal Customer was the single most important thing I did. Once we knew that we focused on people just like them and our growth and profitability took off."
                                            - Keith Koetting
3. What can I do to double and triple the number of conversations the company has with prospects and customers on a daily basis?
   
   Wake up! The customers/prospects aren't like they were even 5 years ago. They come to you much more educated and knowledgeable about you and your products and services. Even in markets where we all believe "you have to meet them face-to-face, do demos, etc.", there is a place for Inside Sales People. They can double and triple the good "conversations" your company has each day and work in tandem with your outside people. Think how much you could increase your sales if you tripled the number of conversations your company had with customers and prospects every day.
   
    
4. Are we following up and executing ideas, solutions, plans as a company? I believe strongly this is the big problem of all businesses.
    
   Are you getting too busy, starting and stopping and forgetting about projects and actions you know you need to finish? If you are, don't feel like the lone ranger. A recent Harvard study found 85% of companies fail to execute their plans. What process do you need to start using to ensure you are in the other 15% that do it well?

5. Have you set and communicated key goals (measurable ones, numbers or ratios) for the business to everyone on the team?
   
   Do you track and discuss the results on a weekly or biweekly basis with the team? If you don't set goals for the company and your team, no one else will. See #3 above - if you don't take action to reach those goals they will end up as dreams. 
6. Bonus - Who are the 20 people we need to build a relationship with this year that can have a major impact on our revenues and profits?
   
   Write them down. They could be prospects, customers, a banker, accountant, consultant, non-competing owners in your industry, etc. Start scheduling some lunches and start building those relationships.

Regards,

Rick 

Client Wisdom

"The hardest thing in business is to realize that you don't need every customer. Success in business is to identify which customers you don't need before they cost you money and you have to fire them."

- Ray Moher, President, Waterblast 
(Alberta, BC and North Dakota)

 

 "You can't outperform your knowledge."

- Bob Bonwell, President, Advantage Restoration
(Indiana, Michigan and Kentucky)

 

Sometimes a quote is enough. These are from two of my clients who started with a small, few person company and over the last few decades have grown them into multi-branch operations in highly competitive markets. Sound advice from both. 

Regards,
Rick 

What are you going to do to keep from Executing?

"Our research shows that 85% of all businesses
never execute their plans."

 - Harvard Business School

I woke up this morning thinking about this quote above. I see it every day in my coaching practice, and experienced it my whole career in corporate America when I held positions in 3 international corporations. I have come to realize that this is the biggest problem in business.

Businesses large and small share this inability to follow through and execute. We know what things we need to do to make the company better, but we just can't seem to execute them.

"The companies that understand, plan and execute their strategies and tactics and win. Period."

So why is it so hard to execute?

1.    It is not because we don't want to.

2.    It is not because we know deep in our hearts that it will ensure our success.

3.    It is not that we know we don't need to.

4.    It is not that we don't know what it is we need to execute.(We think so many things have to be done, we overload everyone's plate and it is overwhelming thus little if any get done.)

So why is this so hard?

Well ask yourself "What is it I really want to happen and then what will I do to keep from getting it?"

This is not a typo. From my experience I believe we are doing the following and it keeps us from executing:

1. I will avoid adopting a process to ensure companywide execution.
2. The urgent, little fires need to be put out immediately.
3. I have to do it all. Every minute of every day, I will be in reactionary mode. Thus we "think" there is no time for coaching, planning and following up.
4. We "manage" everyone with our "expectations" vs. coaching them and using agreements

What's the answer then?

1.    A process to lead the business - a one page plan with a workable number of priority Actions/Projects.

2.    Assign accountability of each Action/Project to one person and get agreement from that person they can complete the project and the help they need to do it.

3.    Complete a dashboard for everyone with their Action/Projects on it (no more than 2 per person per quarter).

4.    Hold no cut 20 minute huddles every week where those dashboards are updated and reviewed. No forgetting, no pointing fingers, just subtle but consistent follow up and peer review of everyone's progress week to week.

Video on dashboards and sample dashboard template. 

This whole process for your direct reports will require 1 hour every week (30 minutes to prepare and 20 to conduct the Huddle). I can guarantee this 1 hour invested in execution will be the most profitable hour you can ever spend.

If you want to get your company into the elite 15% that execute, take it to the next level and win, then follow the recipe above.

Or continue to be in the 85% of companies that can't execute and keep doing what you're doing, but try to do it harder and see if the results are not the same.

The other thing I have discovered is that only 10-15% of leaders/owners can do this on their own. They fall back into the old habits, they don't execute the execution plan.

For the other 85-90% of us we need, and should want, a coach. Someone to implement and train on the process and then work with you over a period of time to ensure it is being followed. We all need to be accountable and most small business people are accountable to no one.

There are lots of good coaches out there - it is a strength to reach out for help. Are you strong enough to do it?

Regards,

Rick