•Our Greatest Source of Security
The only real source of security any of us have in this time of change and downsizing and merging and new business models and all the other stuff we see, read and hear - is what? The only real security any of us have comes from our own accomplishments. Top performers - the people who will prosper even in the toughest of times - believe that. For others it's a frightening thought - or a frustrating thought - or just plain not true.
Victims will ask "How can it be true if I work in a...
•7 Steps To Developing Personal Power
The most successful people are those who know who they are. They know that each of us is made up of three selves. Each of us is first, the person we think we are - our self concept; second, the person we want others to think we are - our mask; and third, the person others think we are - our perceived self. These can be three very different people. Successful people know that, and work hard to closely align their three selves.
When all three selves are closely aligned, a tremendous amount...
•Captain Sullenberger, Preparation, Routine and Opportunities
Hats off to Captain Sullenberger and his crew and their rescue - I can't think of a better word to describe what they did - in saving the passengers and themselves when they had to ditch in the Hudson River. The accolades and gratitude and respect that the crew have received are well earned.
And there is a real lesson for all of us as we go about the business of our lives - every day - some routine days, some difficult days, some boring days, some really special days.
The lesson can be...
•How To Hire The Right People
"The first thing you have to do is hire the right people." Have you ever heard that profound piece of advice? Of course you're going to hire the right people - if you know who the right people are. If that's the case, why isn't more time spent defining what the job requires of the right person as the first step in any talent selection?
If you Google the keyword phrase "hire the right people" you will get 76,000 responses. If you Google the keyword phrase "hire the best" you will get 872,000...
•Ten Behaviors For Success In A Business Downturn
A lot is written about what to do after losing a job, but what about the people who don't lose their jobs, but are faced with the results of business slowdowns - layoffs, reduced expectations, salary freezes, greater responsibility with fewer resources and the uncertainty of what's next?
In every economic downturn and resulting workforce reduction, the internal dynamics of organizations change. Everything takes on more importance - every behavior, mistake, judgment, comment gains importance...
•Use SMART Goals to Overcome the Tyranny of the Unimportant
Have you ever caught yourself rearranging your desk, or your E Mail files, or checking E Mail, or making a purchase on Amazon, or automatically answering your cell phone, even when you know the call isn't important - when you know, in your gut, that there is more important work to be done? And you just can't bring yourself to make that phone call, or that prospect call, or answer that E Mail request for information, or work on the quarterly reports?
If you answered Yes, welcome to the world...
•Where Success Happens
What does it take to be successful? What is success? How can I get there?
The best answer to the question of what is success is from Og Mandino: " Success is meeting your goals."
The answer to what it takes to be successful and how to get there is a bit longer: Success happens at that special intersection of passion, commitment, talent and persistence. Think of those four as separate paths that flow into one path - one powerful path that leads to success - in it's infinite variety.. It's...
•My Top Resolution For 2009
I'm not that great at keeping New Year's resolutions, but this one is going to stick - I promise. I resolve to wipe the F word "fair" from my vocabulary, from my thinking, from my emotions.
How did I arrive at this resolution?
The biggest reason is that "fair," in many of its form as an adjective, is for losers and whiners. My goal is to help people multiply their s uccess - and the use of "Fair" isn't going to make that happen.
There is no more overworked, misunderstood, manipulative,...
•There Is Plenty For Everybody - Share It
A friend sent me a story about Heaven and Hell and sharing. It just struck me as such a good example of why a belief that there is plenty for everybody and a behavior of interdependence represent the highest order of living. At this time of year, and at this time in our economy, it's worth reminding ourselves of that fact.
The story: A man died and went to see St Peter. He was offered the choice of Heaven or Hell. He told St Peter he'd like to see what they looked like before making his...
•How To Be A Top Contributor In Tough Times
In these times - tough times by anyone's measure - it's important to be seen as a contributor - a person who makes a positive difference in the success of their enterprise.
But having said that, when is the last time you read an article, or a book, on how to be a contributor to any enterprise? Go in any bookstore and see the books on leadership - rows of them. No titles on being a contributor. And yet effective contribution results in most of the successes in any enterprise - just ask the...
•Victors Do The Work, and Forget The Silver Bullets
Victors know success comes from doing the work. And that belief is even more important in tough times.
At a time when resources have to be carefully committed, and when the need to focus on getting the really important things done is crucial, the temptation to look for silver bullets is greater than ever. And there are plenty of pitchmen out there ready to sell their product of hope - and quick fixes.
I was reminded of that watching a commercial directed toward parents with relationship...
•Use Goals To Stay In Play
Never has there been a more critical time to remind ourselves to "Stay In Play." There is so much bad news, so many bad numbers, so many gloom and doom forecasts that can suck the life right out of people, and take them right out of the game.
How often have you watched a sporting event, a political race, any other kind of competitive event, and felt that some of the participants were out of their league, lacking in skill, over matched? And then, something happened, and those same people...
•Victor Or Victim - Your Choice
Right now it's tough to not feel like a victim. So many events seem to be beyond our control, and so many consequences of the decisions of others appear to have cost so many so much. It's an easy time to choose to blame others and let events just carry us along- the perfect example of a victim.
And an awful lot of people will do that, and be the poorer for it. They will stop trying to swim upstream, and instead let the current carry them where it may, and they will feel out of control and...
•Use SMART Goals To Get Through Tough Times
The most effective thing any of us can do right now is to focus on our goals - define them, refine them to reflect changing realities, test them to see if they remain realistic and relevant, and act to achieve them.
It's hard. The steady drumbeat of news - about the economy, about the elections, about man's inhumanity to man - delivered with passion by so many talking heads on the 24 hour news cycle, can really divert attention from the really important things.
Rudyard Kipling, in his poem...
•SMART Goals Reduce Ambiguity and Increase Commitment
One of the core competencies for leaders is the ability to deal with ambiguity - that condition where things are not what they seem. And the higher in an organization a leader goes, the more ambiguous things become. Leaders know ambiguity is the enemy of commitment. They know it can't be eliminated. They know the majority of people work best in an environment where expectations and contribution and recognition are well defined.
Leaders know ambiguity kills initiative - it creates a compliance...
•Make Sure Dreams Are Your Servant, and Not Your Master
In effective goal setting, using dreams to establish ideal outcomes is a critical step in creating the vision and purpose that become the building block for goals. When used that way, dreams are your servant.
But when the word dreams is mentioned, many people are turned off - to them dreams are a waste of time - a trip into fantasy. They feel dreams are not for the real world. They see dreams as taking away from action and accomplishment.
The line between dreams as the servant and dreams as...
•How to Ensure Dissatisfaction Is A Key To Success
In the important areas of our lives, dissatisfaction is a positive - a way to constantly improve. At the same time, dissatisfaction has its limitations. Applying dissatisfaction to many areas of life just leads to frustration and regret.
In my first job, as a salesman with Procter and Gamble, at the annual sales meeting the Vice President of Sales got up and gave a speech on "divine discontent." He told us we should never be satisfied with what is, we should always be striving for more, we...
•When Is The Best Time To Change?
? The best time to change is when you don't have to - when you're not forced to - when events and circumstances provide the opportunity and momentum for change. It's also the most effective time to change. It's when astute leadership has prepared for change and acts when the opportunity presents itself - as it almost always will.
I learned that lesson from one of the best leaders I ever worked with. He knew how hard change without a pressing need can be. In the organization he lived in...
•Looking At Life Through Your Rear View Mirror
Many of us spend a significant amount of time looking through the rear view mirrors of our lives. Some people spend all their time there - some spend no time there - but most have a nice balance between looking at what's behind and what's ahead.
Sometimes the "mirror" can be really helpful, and sometimes it can cough up those really embarrassing, stupid, negative memories that are best forgotten, but that the mirror wants to keep front and center.
Have you ever had the experience of suddenly...
•Valuing Individual Differences - Key To Team Success
Seeing things in a different way can be the road to success. Leaders place a high value on being able to see things through different lenses. Successful problem solving teams and project teams value individual differences as the means of arriving at innovative ways to meeting their goals.
Most of us - based on our personal set of values, experiences, and a wide variety of other factors, develop a unique view of whatever we come in contact with. We each see things a little differently. In...
•How To Set SMART Goals - Start With The End In Mind
Setting worthy SMART goals can be a real challenge. SMART is the acronym for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic/Relevant and Time framed. For a lot of people, getting to goal statements that meet those criteria is tough.
So where to start in this process of establishing SMART goals?
Start with the three to five most important things that cannot be left to chance - the things that are most important - the things that action and focus can make happen - right now.
Then identify the...
•Your Attitude Is Showing - Now What?
? Your attitude is showing - and it's not good. What to do about it?
A story about an attitude needing adjustment - and about critical personal decisions.
A very close friend had her position cut from full time to 3 days a week. Her duties and responsibilities didn't change - just her hours and her compensation - which was cut by 40%. She was given 24 hours to decide whether or not she would accept the change. She decided to stay and work through the situation. But it hasn't been easy. Three...
•Become Thirty Percent More Effective In Selecting The Right People
Success starts with the right people in the right jobs. Particularly in leadership positions. But if that's really the belief of most organizations, why is it that so many selections fail at their jobs - or - even worse, just hang on and take up space? Based on feedback from any number of studies, candidates hired for leadership or emerging leadership positions are successful about a third of the time, with success being defined as meeting or exceeding the expectations of the organization....
•The Biggest Barrier To Building Relationships- One Way Conversations
At a recent event, I met a speaker and consultant who told me her specialty is leadership and communications development. Perhaps "met" is the wrong word to describe our exchange. "Listen to her tell me all about herself " is a more accurate description of our all - too - long one - way conversation. Once she had finished with her autobiography, she looked over my shoulder and spied another target of opportunity. And away she went without asking a single question about me. It may not be fair,...
•The More Trust, The More Time To Succeed
Bill Oncken, in his book Managing Management Time, says that the more trust you have with your "universe " of people, the more time you have to do the things that lead to success.
Trust is hard to earn. Once lost it's hard to regain. It's the most precious asset in any relationship - at any level - at any time.
Without trust, time can stand still. Every action can be scrutinized, every request for money or assets or people be subjected to a tremendous amount of documentation. The result is...
•Excellent Customer Service Starts With Excellent Employee Service
Nothing sets the standard for excellent customer service more than excellent employee service.
I was reminded of that just the other day. The manager of a fast food restaurant was really giving an employee hell - and in view of customers. The person who waited on me was sullen, slow and seemed little interested in making my transaction a good one. As I sat and ate my cheeseburger and fries I watched the overall behavior of the staff. It wasn't good. Lots of slow walking, no smiles, no attempt...
•How To Increase ROI On People Development Investments
Organization X brought in an outside seminar company to "give the supervisors and managers a little boost." The seminar company suggested the executive group attend a preview as a way to support the development, to become aware of what was going to be presented, and to customize the message to meet the unique needs of the organization. They were all too busy. OK - how about a 4 hour overview ? Still too busy. The CEO ended up telling the seminar company to "Just give the people your message -...
•Nine Essentials Of Employee Termination
It started so well - high expectations and enthusiasm on everyone's part. And then it started to unravel. And in a period of months, that new hire or promotion or transfer is just not working out. And it comes time to part company.
At that point, the most critical part of the termination process takes place. It's the place where the people remaining evaluate how it was handled - it's critical because well handled terminations create positive emotions toward the organization, and poorly...
•Overcome The Wall Through Worthy Goals
Overcome The Wall Through Worthy Goals See if this sounds familiar.
It's halfway through the year. Time for a goal review. No surprises - in good shape on some, and hitting the Wall on the tough one or two. Unfortunately, those one or two always include really important stuff. They're goals that have to be met. And yet, every time a certain point is reached this Wall gets in the way. It's a Wall you can't see, it's built of things like fear of failure, fear of unworthiness, fear of lack of...
•How To Increase Your Personal Energy
Successful people have an energy about them. It's one of their most valuable resources. We asked many of the most successful people we know where they would put energy on the scale of requirements for success. All placed it in their top three. They were not talking just about physical energy, but about that hard to describe internal energy - in fact, when pressed, almost all placed internal energy above physical energy in terms of critical attributes.
How do they get and maintain their high...
•Organizational Silos - How To Deal Effectively With Them
I was driving through dairy country in Virginia, and the silos at every farm reminded me of a client I was working with at the time - a successful manufacturing company undergoing change. They had organizational silos - much tougher to deal with than the ones on the farm. But they do share certain characteristics.
The company had been successful for many years, but new competition and new technology were forcing change. Their organizational silos were big obstacles to change.They were firmly...
•Eleven Ways Leaders Create Focus
Focus is a key Personal Skill of leaders. The ability to bore into the most important things and stay attentive and focused on them, and continue that behavior as a means of solving problems, contacting prospects, writing a report, preparing a presentation, doing an analysis, maximizing the value of a meeting, is key to success. Focus maximizes time - it results in more being done in less time.
And yet, for most people, acquiring the Personal Skill of focus seems impossible - too many...
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