Tuesday, June 21, 2016

What You See is Not What You Think

Why do multiple eye witnesses to a crime provide different stories? Why do we as business people stick so firmly to beliefs of how things are supposed to work or be done?  Why is multitasking so inefficient?

Give me 8 minutes and watch these two videos. The first is less than 2 minutes long but a lot of fun and the second provides the answer to the questions above. The implications are that by being aware how our beliefs and memory and intuition are flawed we can stop, question, seek, absorb and act on knowledge that will provide better solutions and results.

Have some fun with this and then read the false beliefs below that are holding you and your business back.  

Passing the ball (1:21 minutes)

TEDX Talk 7 minutes - Daniel Simons


Knowing this, here are some false beliefs held by many business owners - myths that you need to question:
  1. I can't find good people
  2. Everyone here needs to be a good multitasker
  3. Everyone is so busy now we cannot possibly do more with the team we have
  4. I need to be a better manager
  5. Goals, values and purpose - bunch of soft things my employees will laugh at
  6. Quarterly reviews are instrumental in helping our people grow
  7. I must have an open door policy and be here to answer all their questions
  8. I'll fit that in sometime this week
  9. I'll get the results, I just need some people to support me
  10. To improve profit we must cut expenses and/or raise prices and I have tapped out on both
  11. We want any customer we can find
  12. I just need to get our name out there more
These beliefs are holding you back,  seeking the truth and acting on it will take you and your business to the next level. 

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

You Can't Play The Game and Win

"If you always do what you've always done,
you'll always get what you've always got."
- Henry Ford
 
I have heard it said many times, a company is nothing more than a group of individuals who come together to create or provide a service to the market. The key is assembling the right team of individuals that are greater than the sum of their parts and work well together to truly achieve greatness. It takes a team of intelligent, skilled, passionate and motivated people who want to work together to achieve synergy. One wrong person on the team can destroy this, and this is why it is so very important to hire the right people. I have always liked the mantra, hire slow and fire fast. Adding new members to the team is one of the most important and disruptive things a company can do. One new member and you have a new team.

A true leader understands the concept of synergy and can be compared to a musical conductor who assembles a team of individuals and provides inspiration, hope, and direction to accomplish amazing things.

This requires A Players in every position. My definition of an A Player is someone who is competent/skilled, but more importantly is committed to improving, learning and growing, and who is engaged with the team and the company, i.e., not in it just for themselves. (These people cost 50% more but they are 3 times more productive than the average employee.)

So first evaluate the team you have by these three criteria: Competent (Skill), Committed (Will) and Engaged (Thrill). I guarantee you will have now (or have had) at least one highly competent person who is so good that they don't think they need to learn anything new and is so disengaged that they poison every new initiative you try to launch.

Learn what it means to be a great coach and forget about all you have learned about managing people. Start coaching using the Weekly Coaching Scorecard and Weekly Coaching Conversations, and you can turn B Players into A Players, provide things for the employees to get engaged with, and begin now to Topgrade the C Players you have with A Players. Most C Players like the ones described above cannot be coached.

Check your ego at the door if you want to truly create a synergistic team.

Here are four things you can do to create synergy in your company:

  1. Create and ingrain a shared vision, core values, purpose, and strategies. As the late Stephen Covey says, "Begin with the end in Mind." Having a foundation for your business and a clear direction where to take it is very important. Once people understand this, they can work together to get there in the true spirit of the organization. They have something to get engaged with.
  1. Demonstrate clear servant leadership and begin coaching them. Focus on making them better. A Coach knows they cannot play the game, they know to win they have to make every player the best they can be. (Managers not only know they can play the game but feel they are the best at doing it.) Quit pleasing everyone by answering their questions all day. Serve them by asking them to tell you what they intend to do and then say "sounds great or let's discuss it". Nothing I know of will help them learn, become more empowered and confident. The bonus is they come and interrupt you less.
  1. Through coaching develop trust, respect and passion in your team.
    Promote open and honest communication via 10-15 minute Weekly Coaching Conversations. Build a team that does not rely on or tolerate egos and standalone performers. Ensure every member feels valued and appreciated.
  1. Build a positive environment where accountability for results, success and achievement are recognized and rewarded.
    Ensure that individuals are in the right positions doing the work they enjoy and are passionate about. Have fun every day.
Yes it takes time - but you take it a bite at a time. Block a couple of hours a week, commit to it (you can't "fit it in") and focus on your team. Over a few months you will be amazed at the change in the environment and your business. This work and focus will create a team that plays the game well and wins.

You will realize More Money, More Time and a Better Team and I think that is what we all wanted when we started or took over the business.

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

The Brick Wall

"A lot of things we just know are true, turn out to be wrong."
- Jim Rodgers, Billionaire Investor
 
"Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do."
-  Johann Wolfgang Von Goeth`e
 
I am a big believer in not using this blog to sell anything. I freely share the knowledge I have gained in over 35 years in business and the last 8 years of coaching. It is what I love to do: learn, share the learning and solve problems creatively. As a coach I get to do one of those activities 80-90% of my day. (Wouldn't you like to do what you love to do 80-90% of your day?)
Do you ever feel like you have hit a wall.  Here is a picture of it. Look it over, it is a neat wall, look at the colors, texture.

 
 
If you read this post regularly you know I discuss the power of self-limiting beliefs. I see my job as tearing down self-limiting beliefs -- beliefs in our subconscious mind that are in stone, "truths" common knowledge" - but many of them are just not true. Well those beliefs are simply facts to us until we show our brain the truth.
 
Look at that wall again and see if you can see the lit cigar sticking out of it. Once you see the cigar you can never look at that picture again without seeing that cigar sticking out of the wall. Your brain has been retrained, shown the truth.
 
So I have hit a wall. I love to learn and share, I love to help business owners build businesses that work for them and give them the time and money to do what they love to do. But I cannot  take on more clients as I do not want to let my current personal clients down by losing focus on the work we do together. You see I have clients all over North America some of which I have now worked with for over 6 years continuously and we are still going strong.
 
So I was faced with a dilemma - I want to help more small business owners build great, profitable businesses, places that work for them not places that depend on them to work. More Money, More Time and a Better Team.
 
My clients and I, have and continue to, learn and execute best practices we have proven work. The tools we have built over time, work.
 
I have thought about sharing all of this in a book, but you see, I do this because I want people to get the results above. Books are good but they are just the knowledge, the how to. Without taking Action on the learning you simply stay where you are, but feel smarter.
 
Thus I am breaking a rule this one time and using this platform to announce my solution to the problem.
 
I have built an Online Coaching Course that is the platform for sharing the knowledge to a greater audience. This not just an educational program - it is a true coaching experience. Every lesson includes ACTION steps and tools to execute what you learn - the exact same content articles, videos, audio and templates I use in my one on one practice to take you through, step by step, building a great company. 
 
This will be a subscription service priced at only $167.00 per month. You will receive a Lesson every 10 days and I will hold a group call once a week for questions and discussions. I will monitor your progress and provide a nudge when needed (we all need that nudge from time to time).
 
This program will tear down long held beliefs (walls) that just are not true about building a great business and show you best practices that really work. You will walk through The Leadership Matrix - a 9 step process for building a growing, profitable business.You will document this in a two- page Strategic Process Document and then execute the process with the best practices and tools I provide.
 
Warning: This is an investment of time and money. My objective is for you to realize a true ROI from the first month on. But to do that you have to
commit to 2-3 hours a week learning and most importantly executing the learning with the tools I provide. 
 
"Knowing is not enough, we must do."
 
So if you want to do something about your business instead of doing more of what you have been doing - beating your head against that wall - then make the commitment and sign up for the journey. I'll show you the cigars and then how to take action to get the results you have been looking for.
 
"Willing is not enough we must do."
 
Here is the course outline and here is the link to sign up now:
 
 

Think of all the beliefs you have about building a business - they are all pictures of walls. But many of walls have cigars sticking out of them.  This online coaching course will uncover the false ones and provide you with the best practices that work.