THE LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE

Leadership Newsletter . . . January, 2012

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Be sure and click on links, headings and photos for more information!
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Success

“Most successful people did not achieve their distinction by having some new talent or opportunity presented to them. Instead, they developed the opportunity that was at hand.”

“In the middle of difficulty always lies opportunity. Each problem has hidden in it an opportunity so powerful that it literally dwarfs the problem. The greatest success stories were created by people who wanted something, recognized a problem and then turned it into an opportunity. They recognized that problems are only opportunities in work clothes.”

“There is really no future in any job. The future lies in the individual who holds the job.”

Jim Abbondante

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Newsletter Content

Where’s the Opportunity in 2012?

What is Leadership?

January Leadership Session Content!

Tribute to our Troops Abroad!

Integrity Leadership!

Time Management (2012 Schedule)

Personal ‘On-Site’ Coaching!

What is Keeping You from Succeeding?

Leadership Development: Luxury or Necessity?

How are Sales?

How to Reach & Teach Adult Learners!

What makes a Good Boss?

Why are some considered to be a Bad Boss?

Getting Employee Feedback on How You Are Doing!

Involvement is the Key!

Recommended Reading!

Who Said It??

Protect Your Privacy!

Come Join Us!

Contact Information!

Enjoy!!
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Where’s the Opportunity in 2012?

Welcome to the new year!

What a great time of year . . . the slate is clean and nothing lies before us now but a new and fresh ‘opportunity’!

The obvious question here at the beginning of this new year, 2012, is what are you going to do with yours and what do I plan to do with mine? Why not begin the new year by taking stock of all of the opportunities that are available to you in each of the important areas of your life, then consider the many ways in which you can take full advantage of those opportunities by turning them into new successes. If you haven’t already, set some meaningful goals, develop a game plan for 2012, and then get started. Commit to making some great things happen. You’ll be amazed at the progress you’ll make, the successes you will achieve and all the fun you will have along the way.

Life really is a ‘do it to yourself’ proposition.

An ancient proverb says, “Opportunity is where you find it.” Note that it doesn’t say “where it finds you”. There is also another ancient proverb that says, “A wise man will make many more opportunities than he finds.” If I have learned anything at all about opportunities, it’s that great opportunities are all around us and that often times they start out disguised as what would appear to be unsolvable problems. I’ve also learned that succeeding is all about perspective, planning and about consistently taking the right steps. It’s also about maintaining a positive expectation.

So, what’s the Secret?

It’s in understanding that every situation, when properly perceived, becomes an opportunity. The golden opportunity you are seeking is ultimately to be found in yourself. It is not in your environment; it’s not in ‘luck’ or ‘chance’, or even in the help you may receive from others; it is in yourself alone. Williams Jennings Bryan said, “Destiny is not a matter of chance; it’s a matter of choice. It is not something to be waited for; but rather something to be achieved.”

Why not invest a little quality time on the front end of this year considering the kind of ’2012′ you want to design for yourself and those around you, (both your team members and your family). You might even begin by considering some of the following very important introspective questions . . .

How pleased were you with your progress in 2011?

Did you achieve all or at least most of the personal and business goals you set out to accomplish at the beginning of last year? Did you invest time at the beginning of the year (2011) considering your goals for the new year and why they were important to you? Did you write them all down so they could be reviewed and checked on a regular basis? Did you include a ‘game plan’ for each goal? Were you pleased with the outcomes? Why? What factors contributed to the successes and/or the failures you might have experienced as you moved toward the accomplishment of your goals last year? What wisdom can you take with you into this new year? (You bought and paid for it last year, why not benefit from it this year!)

What progress are you committed to achieving in 2012?

In what ways are you committed to expanding yourself, your career, and your life this year? At the close of 2012, what do you want to look back and see; something that you and those around you can be proud of or just another year having come and gone? Consider who you are and what you stand for and those things that are most important to you in your life; what kind of a year do you want to experience in 2012 and why? What kind of an impact do you plan to make on those around you this year and for what reasons? What are your most important personal, financial and business goals this year, and what steps are you going to take to reach them? What are you going to be willing to give in order to get what you really want this year? In what ways are you really going to commit to making this year truly different from all the rest? (It’s your year to do with what you will!)

What are your strengths and weaknesses going into 2012?

How have they changed, if at all, during this last year? What are you doing better? Are you doing anything worse? Where do you need to make any improvements? Have you matured as a person and developed as a leader this past year and are you genuinely committed to continuing in your process of growth? Considering that businesses have changing needs and they require different skill sets, are you continuing to develop new skills and abilities? What strengths can you capitalize on as you move into the new year? (Be sure to play to your strong hand as you continue to grow in 2012.)

In what ways are you committed to developing your employees in 2012?

As you have heard said in the leadership sessions, your team members are among your most valuable assets. What are you planning to do this year to protect and develop those assets? Are your employees really satisfied with their involvement in your organization? How do they really feel about their relationship with you their leader, their mentor and coach? Don’t make the mistake of thinking that satisfaction to employees only equates to more money. Not true. They want to feel connected, and they want to feel, particularly the Generation Xer’s – that they are doing something worthwhile, and/or meaningful. As we have discussed in our monthly sessions, team members want to feel that they are valued, respected and appreciated. They want to feel challenged. They want to know that they are making a valuable contribution; and they want and need to feel optimistic about their future. What are your goals going to be this year for the further development of your team, and each team member in particular? (Remember, you and I both are in the ‘people building’ business!)

What are you going to do above and beyond for others during 2012?

I love what one of my early mentors Zig Ziglar says: “You can get everything in life you want if you will simply help enough other people get what they want.” The emphasis, of course, is on ‘enough.’ You may be helping many people already. Others of us, perhaps, could help more people. A gracious God has blessed each of us with talents and gifts and it’s important that we be good stewards of our blessings.

We can be good stewards of the blessings we have been given by helping other people. Whether you help family or friends, employees or colleagues, or you help people in far away lands, what’s important is that you help meet the needs of others. If we would all do more of that, we really would have a better world, not just for our businesses, but for each other. Think about how you can help other people during this new year, choose to follow-through and invest into the lives of others this year and you will see that it really will end up being a great 2012 for you personally and for those who are impacted by the decisions you make in every area of your life!

Well . . . the choice is yours . . . why not go ahead and begin laying the foundation now for a great 2012 for yourself and for those you love and care about; this time next year you’ll be glad you did, wait and see.

Choose to make it a . . .

Happy & Successful New Year!

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What is Leadership?

One of the important truths that we are learning in our leadership series is that leadership in many ways is about fostering positive change in individuals and in organizations. While the term management suggests the oversight or maintenance of existing systems and processes, leadership suggests movement from the place or condition we are in today to a place or condition that will prove to be different and hopefully better at some point in the future. The term ‘lead’ implies action; a movement from one place or condition to another.

Leadership also implies intentionality, in the sense that the change we are seeking to influence or the direction that we are moving in is not ‘random in nature’. For example, it’s not ‘change simply for the sake of change’ but it’s directed toward some future condition or end result which is to be desired or significantly valued by the leader and by those who are following the leader as he or she moves toward the accomplishment of that desired outcome.

Accordingly then, we can say that leadership is value-based in that it involves a process which is motivated by the accomplishment of something that will be valued by everyone involved. Given the fact that leadership is about change, we can view the leader basically then as a ‘change agent’ or ‘one who fosters positive change’, the kind of change that will be valued by anyone and everyone who will be impacted by the change.

Genuine leaders then are not necessarily those who merely hold formal ‘leadership’ positions; on the contrary, they are individuals who have the ability to influence others in a positive way. They have the ability to move people and organizations from where they are today to where they have the potential to be, and they have the ability to do it in such a way that the natural response of those around them is to want to be involved in the process.

Leaders are confident, vision-oriented, high achievers. They recognize potential, they have the ability to communicate vision and they have the ability to empower and motivate others into action. They are all about creating positive change both in and through others while producing outstanding results in the process. Genuine leaders will always play a strategic role in any organization’s ability to succeed.

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“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not just an act,
but a series of choices which become habits.”

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January Leadership Session Content

We are looking forward to seeing you in one of the many leadership development sessions that will be conducted around the country this month.

We have prepared two very thought-provoking and practical segments for you that will focus our attention on the subject of leadership; what it is and what it isn’t, its importance, and how to substantially increase your effectiveness in this extremely important area of your performance.

In our first segment, we’ll go to work on developing an understanding of the meaning and purpose of leadership and what’s really at its core. For example, how can you be expected to perform effectively in your role as leader if you do not really understand what it truly is and what its purpose is? In addition to developing a practical understanding of leadership, we are also going to identify management and the ways in which the two are related. While there’s certainly a big difference between leadership and management, it takes both to get the job done effectively on a daily basis.

Many of us this year are going to be expected to accomplish more in less time, and in some cases, with fewer people; and in addition, both quantity and quality are going to be issues this year. This is going to require true teamwork and a genuine commitment to excellence on everyone’s part, and it’s going to be your job as the ‘leader’ to create a desire on the part of each one of your people to really want to stretch and perform up to the level of their individual ability.

This may mean ‘beyond’ one’s comfort level in some cases. How do you do that? Who are you going to need to be and in what ways are you going to need to be perceived by your people in order for you to be able to accomplish all that you are going to be expected to accomplish both in and through your people this year?

Again, it’s going to require both effective leadership and effective management on your part to get the job done this year, and in the first of our two segments, we are going to define what they are, their relationship and how to achieve the right balance between the two.

In addition, we’re going to take a look at the four primary ways in which the outstanding leader typically demonstrates the effectiveness of their leadership in their organization; and we’re also going to take a look at some of the most dangerous leadership ‘pitfalls’ that you will want to avoid this year. Our first segment is going to be really power packed with information and tools you will want to take back and begin applying immediately.

In our second segment, we’re going to take a look at how to identify and clearly communicate your company’s core values and how to create and effectively communicate mission and vision statements. It’s important that you be able to influence the perspective that you will want your team to take as you begin moving them on into the new year.

It’s important that everyone understand who you are as an organization and why you are in business. Team members need to be able to understand and identify with the answers to questions like: What is our purpose and why should that be important to us? What are we working to build together? What’s good really look like and what’s in it for all of us as stakeholders when we achieve our desired outcomes? These are all very important questions that really need to be addressed and taken under consideration when it comes to your ability to influence your organization’s success this year.

These two segments are both going to be very strategic in terms of you developing a clear and practical understanding of your role as a leader and what it’s going to take in order for you to  be able to achieve the kinds of results you will need to achieve through the people you have been given to work with this year. Both segments are foundational and will prove to be very valuable to you as you begin to move your team forward in 2012.

Two great segments to begin the year with!!

Do your best to be there!!!

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Tribute to Our Troops Abroad!

Patriotism is easy to understand in America. It means looking out for yourself, your family and for each other by looking out for your country. We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude  as we begin this year to those in uniform for their heroic sacrifice both on and off the field of battle with this small tribute:

Let’s remember to regularly pray this year for the members
of our military and also for their families back at home.

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The only safe ship in a storm is leadership.

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Integrity Leadership

One of the things I learned (and consistently saw demonstrated) during my years of working with Zig Ziglar was that integrity alone won’t necessarily make you a leader, but without integrity you will certainly never be one.

Zig often referred to a classic example of integrity displayed by Steuben, the manufacturers of crystal. For generations now they’ve had a policy of breaking every imperfect piece of crystal, no matter how small the flaw.

Needless to say, this is a potent symbolic act, to both employees and to their customers. By the same token, genuine leaders must resolve to uphold their standards and values and act as role models for all of the people in their organization. If leaders don’t place values on a pedestal and defend them against attack, who will? They anchor us against the storms of life.

A person of integrity will make many of his or her decisions in advance. They are guided by principles and decisions that are made not for each individual situation, but according to guiding principles. When values are well established within an organization, when those countless occasions arise where there has been no specific prior example, the integrity principle will lead to an integrity decision. This enables the organization to avoid serious and costly pitfalls.

Leaders with integrity know they are not infallible, so when they make the inevitable mistakes they acknowledge their errors and immediately make amends. In other words, they are big enough to admit their shortcomings and wise enough to right their wrongs as quickly as possible.

In his books and speeches, former Notre Dame head football coach Lou Holtz regularly admonishes people to “do the right thing.” When you do the right thing, even if the results are not good, your integrity remains intact; and your followers’ confidence in you is not irreparably damaged. Because of that kind of inflexibility on your part, your people will know you are a person of integrity and they will want to follow your example and live up to your expectation of and for them.

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Time Management!

LEADERSHIP-THE BOTTOM LINE

You may still be in the process of getting your personal time management system set up for the new year, (2012), so with that in mind, in order to be sure that you will be able to receive the maximum benefit possible from your involvement in the leadership series this year, make sure you place all 12 of your leadership session dates on your personal calendar . . . it’s as simple as applying the . . .

Seven P’s of Professionalism . . .

Proper Prior Planning Prevents Pitiful Poor Participation!

Plan to be with us in all twelve of the monthly sessions to insure you receive the maximum benefit possible from your participation in the leadership series. Let us know if you need a list of the dates for the sessions you will be participating in this year; Click Here!

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Personal On-Site Coaching!

You are missing out if you are not taking full advantage of the opportunity for individual ‘on-site’ coaching as you progress through the twelve month leadership development process with us.

Let me remind you that we are available to meet with you individually, at your location, on an as-needed basis, between each one of the monthly sessions to assist you with the completion of your application projects or to assist you in any areas that might pertain to your responsibilities as a leader and manager in your organization. All you need to do is contact us via email or by phone and we’ll be happy to schedule a convenient time to get together with you at your location. Personal coaching always yields impressive results.

Remember . . .

Every aspect or component of the leadership series has been designed to work together in such a way as to enable you to achieve the maximum benefit possible from your participation in the twelve month process with us. Individual ‘on-site’ coaching is available to active participants and to all of our prior alumni, and best of all, it’s free.

All you need to do is email or call and we will take it from there!

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What is keeping you from Succeeding?

People have asked me over the years why some people seem to succeed while others don’t, and as I have considered the question I have found the answer to be really quite simple. The things successful people find easy to do, unsuccessful people find easy not to do.

For example, in my own life and career, I found it easy to set the kinds of goals that could and would change my life. Others found it easy not to. I found it easy to read the kinds of books that could affect my thinking and my ideas. Others found it easy not to.

I found it easy to attend classes, seminars and workshops, and to invest time around other successful people while others said it probably really wouldn’t matter. If I had to sum it all up, I would say what I found to be easy to do, others found those same things easy not to do.

While many are succeeding, those who are not are still blaming the economy, their parents, the government, company policies, yet they continue to neglect doing the basic, easy things. In fact, the primary reason most people are not doing as well as they could and should, can be summed up in a single word . . . ‘neglect’.

It’s not the lack of money, banks are full of money, nor is it the lack of opportunity, America continues to offer the most unprecedented and abundant opportunities in the last six thousand years of recorded history. It’s not the lack of books, libraries are full of books, and they’re free! It’s not the schools; the classrooms are full of good teachers. We have plenty of ministers, leaders, counselors and advisers.

Everything we would ever need to become rich and powerful and sophisticated is within our reach. The major reason that so few take advantage of all that we have is simply ‘neglect’. Neglect is like an infection. Left unchecked it will spread throughout our entire system of disciplines and eventually lead to a complete breakdown of a potentially joy-filled and prosperous human life.

Not doing the things we know we should do causes us to feel guilty and guilt leads to an erosion of self-confidence. As our self-confidence diminishes, so does the level of our activity. And as our activity diminishes, our results inevitably decline. And as our results suffer, our attitude begins to weaken. And as our attitude begins the slowly shift from positive to negative, our self-confidence diminishes even more . . . and on and on it goes. I’ve seen it happen time and time again.

So my suggestion is that when given the choice of ‘easy to’ or ‘easy not to’ that you do not neglect to do the simple, basic, ‘easy’, but potentially life-changing activities and disciplines that will lead you to the success you desire. Others will see and will surely want to follow.

Remember . . .

“Successful people make a habit of doing the things
that unsuccessful people won’t do.”

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What Do You Really Think?

Leadership Development: Luxury or a Necessity?

Consider your company’s most important and valuable resource, your ‘people’; what kind of ‘return on investment’ are you really experiencing when it comes to what you are investing in your people?

While you might have effective ‘managers’, how many of them are truly equipped to ‘lead’ and to get the very best out of their people? Most managers today know a whole lot about their industry, their products and services and the mechanics of how to get things done in their organization, but the thing they seem to really understand the least is their most expensive and valuable resource . . . their people.

Managers ‘manage’ things and processes; leaders ‘lead’, develop and guide ‘people’ into a greater degree of involvement, productivity and personal and team success.

Imagine the impact in any organization if their managers and supervisors began to understand their people as well as they understood every other part of their operation. Communication and working relationships would improve dramatically, problems would be reduced, productivity would be improved and levels of profitability would be greatly increased.

Realistically, equipping your key leaders with effective leadership skills is becoming even more important during these very unusual times we are all living and working in. As today’s organizations are being expected to achieve even more with less and through fewer people in some cases, developing effective leadership skills can no longer afford to be seen as a luxury, it’s very quickly becoming a necessity. It’s going to be the only way to insure a maximum return on what you are already investing in your people, and most importantly, the only way to insure a strong and secure future for your team and your company.

If you’re interested in learning about one of the most cost-effective and results-oriented approaches to developing strong leaders – click here!

LEADERSHIP-THE BOTTOM LINE

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How are Sales?

In the competitive environment in which we all live and work today, it’s becoming vitally important that your sales people be able to out-think and out-perform your competition.

You can no longer afford to place the future of your organization in the hands of ‘typical’ or even good sales people; if you’re going to win when it comes to achieving the success you want and securing the future you’re committed to, you’re going to have to turn your pretenders into contenders and your top performers into true champions!

If you’re interested in learning about an effective approach to sales development that will empower your sales team with the ability to increase their closing ratios, generate more repeat and referral business and substantially increase profitability, you owe it to yourself to take a look at our career development process for professional sales people.

We call it Sales-The Bottom Line – click here!

SALES-THE BOTTOM LINE

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How to Reach and Teach Adult Learners!

This is a subject I wanted to deal with in the newsletter this month due to the fact that I have had a number of our participants raise questions about this issue and also because we have a number of Human Resource and Training Directors who take a lot of the training material from the leadership series back to their respective organizations.

One thing you can almost always be sure of if you’re training adults is that they are going to be ‘afraid’. To one degree or another, they’re afraid of authority, participation, of losing face, losing their dignity, and of not being able to keep pace. Add to that the fact that adults tend to have a good deal of experience, established habits, and strong beliefs, pride, and the tendency to hear only what they want to hear.

Ready to give up yet? Well, don’t. You can reach your adult learners. You just have to know how. I don’t presume to have all of the answers but I have had well over 30 years in this industry and experience has taught me a few valuable lessons that I would like to pass on to you to help you create a much more positive and productive experience for both you and your adult learners.

Before genuine skill transfer can take place, you must do your best to meet the following certain conditions:

1. Adult learners must feel that there is a need to learn.

Your training mission must be clear. Your learners must believe that they have a legitimate need for what you are teaching and that it will help them in their current position, or to develop their career, or to help them increase their income, or to somehow make their jobs easier. Once they’re ‘sold’, you will have their undivided attention.

2. The training environment must be socially and mentally safe.

The trainer or facilitator must create a setting where there are no ‘wrong answers’ and no ‘unnecessary risks’. For example, the term ‘role-play’ typically strikes fear in the hearts of many adults. Be creative; you can use terms like ‘practice sessions’ instead. Remember that it’s important that your learners feel good about themselves while in the training environment you have created for them, especially in front of their own peers.

3. Your adult learners must ‘own’ the goals for the training.

This is the all important ‘what’s in it for me?’ part of the process. You have heard us say in the leadership sessions that, from their perspective, their ideas and goals will always be much more credible and important than yours so the idea here is to begin to create involvement by introducing the subject and then allowing them to outline the learning objectives. This is most effectively done using a flip chart or erasable marker board.

4. Adult learners must be allowed to actively participate in the process.

You can easily get them involved on the front end by the use of introductory games or with brain-teasers and then through the use of exercises and tasks that are easy to do that offer quick rewards. In addition, using a discussion style presentation keeps the adult learner mentally and emotionally involved and increases their ability to apply what is being taught to actual situations that exist in their working environment. Always remember, the greater the degree of involvement on the part of the participant, the more they are going to internalize while they are there.

5. Learning must ‘relate to’ and utilize the adult learner’s experience.

By asking questions, the trainer or facilitator is not only creating an opportunity for involvement but the trainer is able to find out what the adult learners already know which helps the trainer to better relate the information being taught to the learner’s experience and also to what their greatest needs are.

6. Adult learners must see that they are succeeding at the training.

The trainer or facilitator must look for legitimate opportunities to positively reinforce the learner’s participation or accomplishments during the training. Consistent positive feedback will lead to a very positive and productive training experience for both the trainer and the participants.

7. Learning must involve as many of the senses and emotions as possible.

It’s all about getting them involved from their perspective and relating your training to what they consider to be most important to them, using examples that they can identify with, and challenging them to share their experiences and ideas, and to challenging them to think outside the box as they consider issues from as many different perspectives as possible.

You want to remember that if you’re going to influence and change their behaviors, you are going to have to influence and change their attitudes about those behaviors first, and this might require that you move them through a total paradigm shift during your training process, but then again, isn’t that what leadership is really all about?

For more great ideas and the ‘how tos’, you will want to be sure and participate with us during the month of March when our topic will be . . .

How to Effectively Train & Develop a Winning Organization!

By the way . . . probably the most important advice I can offer the effective leader/trainer/coach is to . . . Make it Fun!!

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What Makes a Good Boss?

Interesting question, don’t you think? A typical manager is rarely considered a good boss, but a good leader is always considered to be a great boss! Ever wonder why? Which are you? There are a number of traits, attitudes and abilities that seem to be common to all effective leaders, the kinds that would be considered ‘good’ leaders.

Good leaders tend to set the tone for the entire department and, often times, for the entire company. Good leaders will always make a difference in the lives of their people.

Let’s take a look at some of the characteristics that are considered the most valuable.

1. Be inclusive.

It’s essential that everyone feels like an equal and an involved part of the team. A good boss is certain to treat each employee fairly, not only in terms of their salary and their other forms of compensation, but also in terms of how that employee is involved in the daily function of the business.

A good boss will encourage feedback, innovation and creativity so employees do feel genuinely engaged. You need to create an environment of integrity, trust and respect and make absolutely certain that everyone is treated fairly, regardless of any differences they may have. It’s essential to be inclusive, because that keeps everyone on the same page when it comes to the business’s short and long-term goals.

2. Mission – not just money.

Very few businesses operate out of sheer altruism, but that’s not to say that turning a profit is the only primary philosophical and practical focus. Rather, an effective boss establishes a genuine business mission. How that takes shape depends both on the business and on the overriding focus the boss wants to establish. For instance, a restaurant owner may push speedy lunchtime service as a way of serving the time-strapped business community. By contrast, a medical supply company may emphasize how its products improve customers’ health. Not only can a clear mission serve to motivate employees, it can also infuse a sense of importance in their jobs. It gets their hearts involved.

The point to be made is that there’s got to be something bigger than money involved. A positive mission will go a long way toward keeping employees from feeling as though they have become locked in to some mundane, day in and day out job.

3. Nothing to fear but fear itself.

Many of us have had bosses who would be right at home with a guillotine next to their desk calendars. Make one mistake on the job and feel free to slip your noggin right in beneath the blade. Conversely, an effective boss encourages his or her employees not to be gun shy about an occasional ‘snafu’ along the road toward better job performance. This requires a mentality that encourages learning rather than a fear of making a mistake. The effective leader will communicate a message that says, “Try something new and different, and know that we’re not going to kill each other if things don’t work out.”

A competitive swimmer in college swam fast when he imagined a shark was after him. He swam just as fast when he imagined he was in the Olympics. It’s a question of what you want your team to focus on, fear or opportunity. Which do you think will be most effective in the long run?

4. Don’t just lead – coach!

It’s common to hear a sports reporter observe that one coach out-coached another in a particular game. The same dynamic holds true for your business, in which you view your position both as a leader and a couch who teaches, encourages and, if need be, corrects employees. A coach sees things very differently than the players. It’s important to use that different perspective to educate and encourage. But it’s also important, like a good coach, to lead your team by example. For instance, while you should point out mistakes by your employees, be sure to admit when you yourself make a mistake. And remember to coach with questions and be sure to use a lot of positive reinforcement along the way.

5. It’s their careers, too.

Don’t forget that the people who work for you are looking to you to help them navigate and advance their careers. As I said, it’s not all about money. But it is all about making your employees see how to improve and create meaningful careers for themselves.

If an employee has a goal of becoming a manager or running his or her own department someday, nurture that goal. Tell them the traits they will need to work on to achieve their ultimate plans. This will give them a sense of purpose and direction and they will become much more self-motivated and more loyal to you in the process.

6. Made – not necessarily born.

One final aspect of being a good boss is recognizing that much of what goes into being an effective leader is, in fact, learned behavior. Of course, there always have been and will be bosses who seem to have a flawless touch in leading and motivating. But for every natural, there are just as many top-flight bosses who got that way by attending management classes and seminars, reading books on effective leadership and, just as important, developing good leadership capabilities. To a certain degree, we all have innate traits that make us good bosses. All you really have to do is continue to develop those traits to their utmost. Stay with it; you’ll become an even better boss than you already are! See you in class!!
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Why are some considered to be a bad boss?

Funny how many bosses think their subordinates are moving on because of dissatisfaction over what they are paid. Wrong.

A 2010 study involving some 20,000 exit interviews found that the No.1 reason people leave their jobs is ‘poor supervisory behavior.’ In other words, ‘bad bosses’. And one of the biggest factors cited as a part of ‘poor supervisory behavior’ was poor communication skills.

People too often are promoted for their workplace accomplishments, without any assessment of their communication skills. Simply put, if you aren’t a good communicator, you probably shouldn’t be a boss. And you probably won’t be one for long, although there does appear to be a lot of bad bosses hanging on out there. (We’re in and out of a lot of companies.)

Fortunately, good communicators are made, not born. We spent some quality time interviewing several management and human resources experts recently about how well today’s managers communicate, (including their use of e-mail). When we asked what bosses generally need to work on, here is our responses to what they told us.

7 Basic Communication Tips!

Practice these simple skills, build better working relationships and keep your good employees.

1. Be a good listener.

Pay attention to your employees. Really care about them. Sounds simple, but it is a common gripe. Among the things that are going to be stressed in our workshops this year is learning how to really listen better.

2. Make time for employees.

Regular, one-on-one meetings with your team members are important; if employees work remotely, meet by phone. If you can’t meet weekly, do it at least twice a month. And don’t take phone calls during meetings, unless it is an emergency. Show your employees they have your full attention. Talk about their career paths and how you envision them growing in their jobs.

3. Get the word out to those affected as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Take great pains to reach those who should be in the know about workplace changes coming down from above. This is tough. It’s so easy (it is) to forget to tell someone, on a timely basis, something they should know about in order to be able to do their job. We’re all busy but know the downfall; Work may not get done, and you may also end up looking like you aren’t really in the know . . . which doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in your troops.

4. Put out a consistent message about your values.

Knowing who you are, and what you stand for, can help your employees make better decisions on their own, (or at least decisions that you will like better). If you’re sending mixed messages, explain them or suffer the consequences.

5. Give regular feedback; avoid surprises.

Employees shouldn’t first learn about significant performance issues in an annual evaluation. They should be made aware well beforehand, (and as respectfully as possible), that there is something that they need to improve. The annual evaluation should be more of a recap of the progress they have achieved and a discussion of future direction and the benefits of continuing to apply themselves to the accomplishment of their goals.

6. Be effective in speaking to groups.

I’m not talking here about speaking to the local chamber of commerce or Rotary Club, although that is not a bad skill to have also, by the way. I mean speaking to employee groups. If you can’t speak well at employee meetings or in front of employee groups, you risk losing your credibility as a manager and leader. Learn how to do it; learn how to get better at it. The same thing goes for writing group e-mails, (which we will look at in a future newsletter).

7. Don’t hide behind e-mails.

Most delicate matters must be discussed in person. Most conflicts must be settled in person, or at the very least by phone. When emotions are involved, e-mail becomes a less-appropriate vehicle to communicate. And e-mail is never an appropriate method to tell someone he or she is being laid off. (Yes, we know it unfortunately happens in the real world). Nonetheless, e-mail is an important communications tool, so I will include a set of tips on how to communicate more effectively using e-mail in the February newsletter.

One of the smartest moves you can make is to get regular feedback from your employees on how you are doing!

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Getting Employee Feedback on How You Are Doing!

Should you seek out feedback from your employees on your performance as a manager? You bet. I highly recommend it! It will engender loyalty, and likely make you a better boss.

1. How do you solicit such feedback?

Larger corporations typically have annual manager feedback forms that can be answered by employees, (anonymously, if they so choose). While that is one way to do it, and a way that is helpful in a corporate setting where you have a large enough Human Resource Department, I suggest you continually strive to get the feedback in person, as part of an ongoing personal dialogue with each of your employees.

Example . . . “What can I do to make it easier for you to do your job and what can I do to help you succeed at accomplishing your goals?”

2. Don’t do it via e-mail.

Use your one-on-one meetings with an employee to hear him or her out on an issue or concern. Care about the employee and try to disarm the employee as much as possible, with humor or by simply listening and understanding, and it is important that you be sincere in your interest about what he or she has to say. It may be hard for you to do in some cases, but it may even be harder for the employee to speak his or her mind. The end result is likely to be a better relationship with the employee and also improved performance on your part as a leader and manager.

3. What if you can’t get the employee to speak up?

Your best bet is to keep working at your dialogue, without making the employee feel at all uncomfortable. Over time, the employee will confide in you. A smart way to end every one-on-one meeting is to casually but earnestly ask, “Is there anything else on your mind?” Then be willing to listen because, over time, you will be hearing more about what the employee is really thinking and that’s the only way you will be able to make the kinds of decisions that you will need to make in order to improve everyone’s performance, (your own included).

Acting on Employee Feedback You Are Receiving!

What you do with the information and insight provided by your employees is critical to your image and credibility in their eyes and to your effectiveness and success as their leader and manager.

1. How do you handle an employee’s criticism?

You listen to what the employee has to say, ask questions where appropriate, get the employee’s suggestions on how you might be able to improve and then pledge to consider it. You are likely not to agree with everything said, at least initially. But be patient; keep an open mind and take it all under advisement. Your initial reaction might be to reject the feedback completely. Bad move. Thank him or her and then tell them that you will take some time to think about the criticism, and then get back to him later. Then be sure and do so.

2. Should I follow-up with the employee?

Chances are, you will appreciate what the employee had to say, even if, (after spending some time thinking about it), you still disagree. Do get back to the employee and pledge to do what you feel is necessary to improve your performance and enhance the relationship. It takes a confident person who is committed to excellence in their example and performance to be able to take these kind of steps. And that must be you or you wouldn’t have read this far down in the newsletter!

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The great thing about living in a democracy is
that you can say what you think
without really thinking.

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‘Involvement is the Key!’

My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and say, “You’re tearing up the grass.” “We’re not raising grass,” Dad would reply, “We’re raising boys.”
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Book Recommendation!!

This is a very interesting book on leadership that comes highly recommended; one I think you will really enjoy.

It’s called . . .

Winners Never Cheat!

Everyday Values We Learned as Children (But May Have Forgotten)

by Jon M. Huntsman

Next time someone tells you business can’t be done ethically—corners must be cut, negotiations can’t be honest—hand them Jon Huntsman’s new book. Who’s Jon Huntsman? Just someone who started with practically nothing, and built a world-class business that carried him to Forbes‘ list of America’s wealthiest people. Here, he presents the lessons of a lifetime: a passionate, inspirational manifesto for returning to the days when your word was your bond, a handshake was sacred, and swarms of lawyers weren’t needed to back it up.

This is no mere exhortation. It’s as practical as a book can get. It’s about how you listen to your moral compass. It’s about how you build teams with the highest values…share success…take responsibility…earn the rewards that only come with giving back. Huntsman built his career and fortune on these principles—from his refusal of the Nixon administration’s corrupt demands, to his lifelong commitment to charity, to the way he approaches his biggest deals.

You don’t live these principles just to “succeed”: you live them because they’re right. But in an age of many business scandals, Huntsman’s life proves honesty is more than right: it’s your biggest competitive differentiater.

This has got to be one of the best books I’ve read on achieving success and being a success. If you want to put your people individually (and your team as a whole) on the fast track to success, this is a must read!

It’s available at Amazon.com
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Who Said It?

See if you can match the following quotes with the right person.

People:

A. Golda Meir
B. Muhammad Ali
C. Norman Vincent Peale
D. Mark Twain
E. Ruth Gordon
F. Jim Abbondante

Quotes:

1. Always do right. This will gratify some people and it will astonish the rest.

2. Courage is very important. Like a muscle, it’s strengthened by use.

3. The man who has no imagination has no wings.

4. Getting people to like you is simply the other side of liking other people.

5. You can’t shake hands with a clenched fist.

6. Honey, what’s for dinner tonight?

See how many quotes you can match to the right person.

Let me know if you want me to send you the correct answers!!

Jim.Abbondante@LeadershipInstituteUSA.com

Enjoy!

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Protect Your Privacy

BLOCK YOUR DRIVER’S LICENSE

We appreciate being alerted to this situation by one of our leadership series participants. Quite frankly, I can’t believe that this level of personal information is being made available on the internet so easily.

Just when you thought you were safe. You may want to go to this site and make sure that your personal information is blocked immediately.

Now you can see anyone’s Driver’s License on the Internet, including your own! I just searched for mine and there it was . . picture and all! I definitely removed mine; I suggest you all do the same. Go to the website and check it out. Just enter your name, City and State to see if your Driver’s License is on file.

After your license comes on the screen, click the box marked “Please Remove”. This will remove it from public viewing, but not from law enforcement.

http://www.license.shorturl.com

Good Luck!
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Come Join Us!

Once again, let me remind you that we are looking forward to seeing you again in one of the ‘on-site’ or public sessions that will be conducted this month around the country.

If you need any additional information or any assistance of any kind, please feel free to email or you can give any one of us a call at any of the numbers listed below as we are committed to your success.

And remember once again to say your prayers . . .

“Lord, when I am wrong, make me willing to change;
and when I am right, make me easier to live with.
Strengthen me that the power of my example
will far exceed the authority of my rank.”

Let’s make 2012 our best year ever!

Jim Abbondante

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Contact Information . . .

Jim Abbondante
President, Director of Training
Direct Line: (817) 304-2225

Leadership Institute
Main Number: (903) 960-5636

Student Services Number:    1-800-955-0109
(Personal and/or Executive Coaching, Misc. Needs, etc.)

E-Mail:    Leadership.Team@LeadershipInstituteUSA.com

Web-Site:    www.LeadershipInstituteUSA.com

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God Bless!

Psalm 78:72
John 10:10
Isaiah 48:17
Deut. 8:18

LEADERSHIP-THE BOTTOM LINE

Four Behavioral Styles
Building a Great Place to Work!!

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Leadership

The former mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani, emphasized in his book ‘Leadership’ that the role of effective leadership in times of crises was about inspiring and motivating people, fostering and recognizing teamwork, and remaining visibly present and optimistic even during the toughest of times. Subordinates, colleagues and peers all look to their leaders for confidence, direction and motivation. This means that senior executives, department heads and front line managers all carry a tremendous responsibility for the level of morale in their organization, not only when times are going great, but especially during tough times. Moods and behaviors of leaders carry a lot of weight, and they communicate powerful non-verbal messages; genuine optimism, trust and personal integrity are much more important than simply charisma or the power of command, especially when an organization encounters rough sledding. Peter Drucker once observed that Harry Truman did not have one ounce of charisma, yet he was among the most effective chief executives in US history. Employees will go to the mat every time for a leader they respect, admire and that they can place their complete and total confidence in. While it’s great to see that conditions are improving and that brighter days are just over the horizon, it’s still important that we keep this in mind as we continue to work to successfully lead our organizations through the challenging times we are moving through in our nation.

Jim Abbondante

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Thursday,
December 22, 2011

We have completed our last monthly session, not only for the month of December, but now also for the year 2011, and what a great year this has been for all of us here at the Leadership Institute. We’ve been honored to have been able to work this year with some very outstanding organizations and we have developed some wonderful new friendships along the way. With that in mind, we want to express our sincere appreciation to each of our client companies for the confidence they placed in us this past year and also for the opportunity they gave us to make a difference in the lives of many of their participants and in their organizations; and we would also like to wish everyone a very happy holiday season and a very prosperous 2012!

December Leadership Session

With regard to the December leadership session, if you were in one of the sessions with us this month, you know first hand that our focus in December was on 1) understanding and adapting to the behavioral styles of others, and on 2) the primary factors that need to come together in just the right way in order for our employees to be able to perceive their work environment as being a truly great place to work. Let’s do a quick review of what we covered in each of our two segments – from an ‘application’ perspective. (Page 12-1)

First Segment: Social Styles

“How to Work Productively with Various Social Styles!”

In our first segment this month, we reaffirmed the fact that as leaders, when it comes to achieving measurable results through our people, we have two primary objectives in everything we do: 1) to accomplish the goals and the objectives we have been assigned in our area of responsibility, while 2) finding ways to inspire, and even accelerate, the genuine growth we are able to achieve in our people in the process. Why? Not only do we want to be able to ‘exceed’ our projected outcomes in terms of the accomplishment of our goals and objectives, but we want to be able to end up with a much stronger team, a much more mature and more capable team in the process.

As was discussed in previous sessions, the foundation upon which we will be able to achieve this level of success will be our personal credibility and influence, the growth-oriented nature of the relationships we develop with our people, our ‘leadership’ style of management and finally the quality of the environment we create for our people.

The quality of the relationships we develop with each member of our team, and our ability to communicate and work effectively with them, will play a big part in our ability to achieve the success we desire, both in and through them, so the more we understand about human nature, and about each one of our people in particular, the more effective we will become. It was with that in mind that we set aside the month of December to study behavioral styles (or social styles as they are sometimes referred to by some instructors).

Scientific research shows us that people typically  think, communicate and behave predictably different, and it’s because of these unique differences that we agreed in our sessions that we need to learn to understand and adapt to other people’s behavior styles. As we develop our strengths and abilities in this area, we will greatly increase our ability to communicate effectively and thus build more compatible and productive relationships with the people we lead and work with.

The December segment was designed to equip us to become more comfortable leading and working with people whose ‘behavioral styles’ might differ from our own. In addition to learning how to identify our own personal behavioral style, we also learned how to recognize and adapt to the behavioral styles of the people we work with on a daily basis. As we begin to consciously practice what we learned in the session, it will significantly increase our effectiveness and our ability to achieve our goals, and greatly enhance our ability to really succeed in the people business.

The Four Styles

We learned that the concept of behavioral styles, the grouping of human behavior into four separate categories, has been around for literally hundreds of years. The four groupings have been referred to by a number of different names such as:

Earth, Wind, Water & Fire

Melancholy, Sanguine, Phlegmatic & Choleric

Feeler, Intuitor, Thinker & Sensor

Dominant, Interactive, Compliant & Steady

Valuing, Visioning, Relating & Directing

Analytical, Driving, Amiable & Expressive

Relater, Socializer, Thinker & Director

(By the way, one of my favorites when it comes to teaching the concept of behavioral styles is Dr. Tony Alessandra. He has produced a wealth of information of the subject and he is an extremely effective presenter.)

So, what do all of these terms (or perspectives) have in common?

Even though the names have been changed, the basic concept remains the same. Our objective in the December session was to consider all of the different perspectives taken in each of the different studies, consider all of the commonalities involved, and then distill it all down into an approach that would make the concept easy to understand, easy to apply and thus easy to benefit from.

To further the accomplishment of that goal, we used various types of ‘birds’ to identify the four basic behavioral types or styles; (Page 12-6)

What comes to mind when you consider each of these four types of birds? What do they typically represent? The dove typically represents peace; the peacock flash and excitement; the owl detail and the eagle power.

Identifying Behavior Styles

On page 12-8, we discussed the various perspectives that you will want to take under consideration when you want to determine which behavioral style best represents a particular person, be it a co-worker, team member, or even a member of your own family. They included each of the following behaviors:

Supporting

When it comes to their interaction with others, to what degree do they appear to be people-oriented, open in their communication style and supportive of others? Do they tend to be more relationship-oriented than task-oriented? If so, they would probably be considered more ‘supporting’ than controlling.

Controlling

On the other hand, do they seem to be more reserved, non-communicative and self-controlled when it comes to their style of communicating and relating to others? Do they appear to be more task-oriented than people-oriented? If so, they would probably be considered more ‘controlling’ than supporting.

Indirect

When it comes to how they typically approach their work or specific tasks, to what degree do they appear to be methodical or process-oriented? Do they prefer to maybe move a little slower and even exercise caution until they are able to gather and carefully consider all of the facts involved? If it would appear sometimes as though the facts, the process and taking all of the necessary steps are equally, if not more important than the results, then they would probably be considered more ‘indirect’ than direct.

Direct

On the other hand, do they have a tendency to be much more strait-forward and results-oriented, with a lesser degree of concern for the process and all of the specific facts involved? Would you say they prefer to take a more ‘direct’ approach to achieving the goal or completing the task?  If so, they would probably be considered more ‘direct’ than indirect.

We covered each of these four very important perspectives in great detail on pages 12-9 through 12-12. We also considered the specific people we work with on a daily basis from all four of these perspectives in order to be able to begin identifying their individual behavioral styles.

By the way, which are you?

Combining Perspectives

Dove

(Supporting & Indirect) (Relationship-oriented)

On page 12-13, we began putting it all together. For example, if an individual is perceived as being an open, people-oriented communicator who prefers to focus on the process and its impact on relationships as opposed to just the results, he or she is probably going to fit more comfortably in the ‘dove’ category.

Owl

(Controlling & Indirect) (Detail-oriented)

If an individual is perceived as not being very open or very people-oriented, a person who would much prefer to focus on evaluating the facts and is somewhat preoccupied with making sure that each one of the steps are methodically taken in order to complete the task, he or she is probably going to fit more comfortably in the ‘owl’ category.

Peacock

(Supporting & Direct) (Socially-oriented)

If an individual is perceived as being open, enthusiastic and very people-oriented, a person who instead of being burdened with all the specific facts would much prefer to enthusiastically focus on pulling a team together to accomplish the goal, he or she is probably going to fit more comfortably in the ‘peacock’ category.

Eagle

(Controlling & Direct) (Results-oriented)

If an individual is perceived as not being very open or very people-oriented, a person who, instead of being burdened with all the facts or slowed down by the process, would much prefer to focus on achieving the goal, to the degree that they are more than willing to take control of the situation in order to get it done, he or she is probably going to fit more comfortably in the ‘eagle’ category.

Identifying Co-workers

On pages 12-14 through 12-18, we discussed in great detail the primary characteristics of each of the four behavioral styles and how to quickly identify them, and we also began using those insights to identify the behavioral styles of some of those who we work with on a daily basis.

Identifying our own Behavioral Style

On pages 12-19 through 12-21, we had some fun taking an introspective look at our own behavioral tendencies as we went to work on determining our own personal behavioral style using the personal evaluation found on page 12-19. By the way, if you have any additional questions about your personal evaluation or how to benefit from what you discovered about your own personal style, please feel free to get in touch with us. We’re glad to help.

Adapting to other Behavioral Styles

Once we developed an understanding of the concept of behavioral styles, how to identify our own style and the styles of others, our next task was to begin focusing on how best to become flexible and adapt to the styles of others in order to improve our communication skills, build more productive relationships and to be able to achieve more with and through our people. This included detailed discussions on how to accomplish each of the following:

Steps to Increase our own Behavioral Flexibility!

On page 12-24, we discussed the fact that being able to successfully adapt to the behavioral styles of others begins with our ability to become flexible where our own personal behavioral characteristics are concerned. We may need to be a little less of ‘this’ and a little more of ‘that’ based upon the behavioral style of the person we are interacting with. You can find the behavioral areas that each ‘bird’ will need to be prepared to be flexible in listed on this page.

Steps to Better Relationships with each Behavioral Style!

On page 12-25, we discussed the specific steps that we can take to begin building better long-term relationships with each of the other ‘birds’ that we typically work with on a daily basis – understanding of course, that it begins with our own willingness and ability to be flexible in the areas listed on page 12-24.

Steps to Achieving Greater Success with each Behavioral Style!

This page provides a very practical and efficient overview of what it means to truly adapt to any of the four behavioral styles. On page 12-26, we discussed how to actually customize your interaction with anyone (based on their particular behavioral style) in order to be able to achieve a greater degree of success with that person. The chart is laid out in such a way that you can very quickly develop a strategy for achieving success with just about anyone you may find yourself working with.

Steps to Effectively Managing each Behavioral Style!

This page was created to be a very practical tool for busy managers who don’t want to settle for just shooting from the hip when it comes to dealing with important management issues with team members. On page 12-27, we discussed the fact that each behavioral style really needs to be managed differently based upon which ‘bird’ they are (as well as a number of other factors we covered in several of our other monthly sessions). On this page (12-27), we discussed how to motivate, compliment, counsel, correct and delegate to each individual behavioral style. The page is again designed to be a quick and practical resource for busy managers who are committed to excellence when it comes to dealing effectively with their people.

Conclusion

We ended each of our first segment by discussing specific relationships that we (as leaders) could potentially improve by adjusting our approaches and our behaviors in specific ways when interacting with those particular individuals. The discussions yielded some very practical observations and commitments on the part of everyone who participated in the sessions and I am looking forward to hearing about some of the successes that will be achieved as the result of everyone’s follow-through.

The Bottom Line

Your ability to adapt to the needs of those around you will prove to be one of the primary keys to your success. Adaptability is your willingness and your ability to adjust your approach or strategy based on the particular needs of the situation or relationship that may exist at any given time. It’s something applied more to yourself (to your patterns, attitudes and habits) than to others. Adaptability has everything to do with the way you manage your own behaviors; and it’s a reflection of how much you really care about succeeding with the other person.

You practice adaptability each time you slow down for an Owl or a Dove; or when you move a bit faster for the Eagle or the Peacock Styles. It occurs when the Eagle or the Owl Styles take the time to build better relationships with a Dove or a Peacock Style; or when the Peacock or Dove styles focus on facts or get right to the point with the Eagle or the Owl styles. It means adjusting your own behavior to make other people feel more at ease with you and the situation you both find yourselves in. Choose to Adapt and Win!

Segment Two: Building Loyalty

“How to Develop Loyalty and Keep Winners!”

In our second segment we began by discussing the fact that one of the fastest ways to minimize turnover in any organization is to hire right, provide quality training and then demonstrate the kind of leadership that inspires true loyalty on the part of every member of team. We agreed that every successful company that we could think of was made up of good people with great attitudes who were loyal and genuinely committed to the success of their company. So, the question was “what does it take to develop this kind of loyalty on the part of each one of our people?”

In order to be able to answer that question, we took a look at the results of a recent Gallup Poll that showed that successful companies can trace their success to three very important elements; 1) they have a growing number of customers, 2) they provide a great place to work, and 3) they have a positive cash flow.

On page 12-32, we began to discuss each of these three very important factors and agreed that they should be placed in the following logical order of importance:

Three Characteristics of a Successful Growing Company!

1. They provide a Great Place to Work!

2. They have a Growing Number of Good Customers!

3. (and) They Maintain a Positive Cash Flow!

Confident, competent people with great attitudes who really care about their company, and who genuinely care about their customers, have to come together and perform as a genuine team in order to be able to consistently provide the kinds of quality products and services that make it possible for them to enjoy a growing number of good customers. When that happens, they begin to enjoy a steady flow of repeat and referral business which then leads to a positive cash flow.

On page 12-33, we went on to discuss the fact that a great place to work is not found in a specific setting, but it’s found wherever employees are able to experience six important realities in their workplace which you can see listed on page 12-34, in your student manual;

A Great Place to Work!

1. Having the opportunity to do what I do best.

2. Having the sense that management cares about me.

3. Knowing specifically what’s expected of me.

4. Getting individual recognition for what I do.

5. Having the opportunity to learn and grow.

6. A feeling of being productive and making a meaningful contribution.

We agreed that when employees are able to experience these important realities in their daily work life, they then begin to perceive their company as being a great place to work; and when employees are provided a great place to work, attitudes improve, people have a tendency to feel good about themselves and about their contribution to the success of the organization, there is a greater degree of pride taken in the quality of the work they produce and there’s also a greater degree of loyalty demonstrated toward their manager and to the accomplishment of company goals and objectives.

In addition to discussing the importance of each of the six important realities, on page 12-35, we also took some time to consider the twelve monthly leadership sessions included in Leadership-The Bottom Line and we identified many of the specific sessions that actually addressed the six realities that were included in the Gallop Poll research project.

Conclusion

So what really makes for a great place to work? When you really think about it – any company has the potential be a great place to work – a place that employees actually look forward to showing up at every day!

When you get right down to it – at its core – a great place to work is a place where employees have a genuine respect for those they work with and for – they’re able to place their confidence and trust in the people that are in positions of influence; they take pride in what they do, they enjoy the people they work with and they enjoy the relationships that exist at all levels in the organization. They like who they are when they are there, they feel that they are making an important contribution and they are optimistic about their future. Now that’s a great place to work!

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It’s important that you remember that you set the pace,
the tone and the mood – you’re the leader!”

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Servant Leadership

We had a participant in one of our ‘on-site’ leadership sessions forward this photo of Albert Einstein to us this past week. The quote at the bottom of the picture got me really thinking about the essence of what we teach in Leadership-The Bottom Line. While we focus each month on different leadership principles and various management processes, our underlying message is one of servant leadership.

Servant Leadership is essentially all about you and I choosing to be the best we can be in order to be able to set a good example and be the inspiration that we really need to be in the lives of our people. It’s about positioning ourselves to be able to influence others in a positive way while working with them in ways that will ultimately prove to be in their best interest.

Servant Leadership is a philosophy and practice of leadership, coined and defined by Robert Greenleaf (which is supported by many leadership and management authors and trainers such as James Autry, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Peter Block, Peter Senge, Max DePree, Larry Spears, Margaret Wheatley, Jim Hunter, Kent Keith and Ken Jennings, just to name a few), that’s geared toward demonstrating a genuine commitment to meeting the needs of others.

Servant-leaders achieve results for their organizations by placing a high degree of priority on meeting the needs of those they serve, which includes their colleagues, their employees and their clients and/or customers. Servant-leaders typically demonstrate a nobility and a humility that is often admired by those they work with, and they are known to be exceptional stewards of their organization’s resources (human, financial and physical).

What are some of the main characteristics of the servant leader?

1) They devote themselves to serving the needs of their organization and its members.

2) They focus on meeting the needs of those they lead individually and corporately.

3) Their commitment is to the development of their employees and to bringing out the best in each of them. They expect the best ‘from’ them and also ‘for’ them.

4) Their focus is primarily on mentoring and coaching as opposed to simply managing, although they are typically considered to be extraordinary managers.

5) Their ultimate commitment is to ‘growth’ – their own, their people, their organization and all who may directly or indirectly find themselves impacted in some way by their leadership.

6) They are great listeners. They listen with their heart; they care and are open to considering the views of others.

7) Their approach is to build a sense of community. And finally, they demonstrate wisdom, reason and responsibility when it comes to making decisions.

Servant leaders are felt to be effective by so many because they demonstrate a level of confidence and the kind of commitment to excellence that commands the respect of those they serve and a genuine desire on the part of those they lead to want to live up to their expectations. It’s that kind of leadership (that quality of leadership) that really does impact the ‘bottom line’ in a very positive way!

Leadership-The Bottom Line

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“Leadership is not wielding authority, it’s leading
and empowering your people to succeed!”

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Application Projects!

“How to Work Productively with Various Social Styles!”

Turn in your manual to pages 12-29 & 12-29A

One of the characteristics of the outstanding leader is that they not only understand human nature, but they have developed the unique ability to apply, in a very practical way, what they have learned in order to increase their influence when it comes to helping others succeed.

Consider two individuals that you’re committed to influencing in a positive way as you move forward into the new year. Following the steps that are outlined for you on pages 12-29 and 12-29A, develop a relationship strategy for each that when followed will make it possible for you to significantly improve the relationship you have with them and thus your ability to influence them in a positive way.

Be prepared to provide us with feedback regarding the design and implementation of your relationship strategies, including some insight into how your relationships with them have improved at the beginning of our session next month. If you will not be joining us for the session in January, you can scan and email, or fax your completed project to us directly at the Leadership Institute. The contact information you will need is listed below.  And as usual, please feel free to contact us for personal assistance if we can help you in any way with the completion of your application project.

“How to Develop Loyalty and Keep Winners!”

Turn in your manual to page 12-43.

The new year that is now just over the horizon presents to each of us as leaders a clean slate – a fresh opportunity. With respect to the ‘people side’ of your business, what is your vision for 2011?

As you begin to prepare to move into the new year, what steps do you plan to take to make sure that each of your team members are able to genuinely experience each of the six important elements that we covered in our second segment this month?

Your challenge now is to find ways to apply the 7P’s where each one of those elements are concerned in order to make sure you really do provide your team with a great place to work in 2011!

Complete the simple exercise on Page 12-43, and then be prepared to provide us with a copy of your completed project as you check in at the beginning of our session next month in January. If you will not be joining us for the session in January, you can then scan and email, or fax your completed project directly to us at the Leadership Institute.

Student Services Fax Number: (903) 960-5636

Leadership.Team@LeadershipInstituteUSA.com

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Proper Prior Preparation Prevents Pitiful Poor Performance!

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Application Projects . . .

When it comes to any of our application projects, the idea is to see them as the first formal step in terms of getting the content out of the classroom and out there into the real world where it belongs and where it will do you and your people some good. Your goal is to take the information we covered, the material we discussed in our session together, and find as many opportunities as possible to apply it out there in your real world. Remember, adults learn by doing and they grow as the result of being given the opportunity to succeed on a repetitive basis. That’s the meaning behind our madness with regard to all of our application projects.

Their design is always simple; just read the directions at the top of the pages, follow the prompts, answer the questions, fill in the blanks, take the appropriate steps, then be prepared to share your results with us at the beginning of the next month’s session. You’ll do great!! You always do!!!

Call us if you need any assistance with any of your application projects.

We want to make sure you receive the maximum benefit possible from not only the application projects referenced above but from everything you’re learning as you progress through the complete leadership development process with us!!

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Great Idea!!

Why don’t you go ahead and follow through and get started on your application projects now while the content and all the concepts are still fresh in your mind?

As a matter of fact, once you get started, you’ll really enjoy thinking through the processes and succeeding! Your people will enjoy you applying the processes too!

Remember:

Please feel free to email or you can give us a call if you would like any personal assistance and/or coaching when it comes to completing your application projects this month.

You can call or email – or reach us through our website!  (See Below!)

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Coaching!

Let me remind you once again to plan to take full advantage of your opportunity for individual ‘on-site’ coaching in any of the areas that pertain to the application of the concepts, principles and processes we cover in our monthly sessions.  In addition, we are always happy to assist you in any areas pertaining to everyday ‘people’ issues.

We can assist you by phone or at your location. Just email or give us a call and we will go to work on scheduling a convenient time for us to get together.

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Office Humor!

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One Last Thing . . .

Would you take a minute to provide us with some feedback regarding what you experienced in the December session by leaving a comment for us at the end of this follow-up article. You can just click on ‘leave a comment’ above or below or you can send an email. We always appreciate and enjoy hearing back from you.

Have a great month and remember . . . .

“The will to win is worth nothing . . .
. . . unless you have the will to prepare.”

Sincerely,

Jim

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Leadership works best when people are equipped to manage themselves. When that happens, everyone on your team is working proactively. Everyone is participating in leadership. You create this type of environment through win-win agreements which stem from quality relationships built primarily on respect and trust instead of on authority alone.

Jim Abbondante

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Contact Information . . .

Jim Abbondante
President, Director of Training
Direct Line: (817) 304-2225

Leadership Institute
Main Number: (903) 960-5636

Student Services Number:    1-800-955-0109
(Personal and/or Executive Coaching, Misc. Needs, etc.)

E-Mail:    Leadership.Team@LeadershipInstituteUSA.com

Web-Site:    www.LeadershipInstituteUSA.com

THE LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE

Monthly Leadership Newsletter – December, 2011!

(Click on all the photos for more information)

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The boss drives people while the leader coaches them. The boss depends on authority while the leader depends on loyalty and good will. The boss instills fear while the leader inspires confidence and enthusiasm. The boss says “I” while the leader reinforces “WE”. The boss assigns the blame while the leader assumes responsibility. The boss says, “YOU BETTER GET GOING” while the leader says “LET’S WIN TOGETHER!”

                                                                                                Jim Abbondante
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Monday, December 5, 2011

We want to thank everyone for making this a great year for us here at the Leadership Institute. In addition to the work we have done this year with many of our existing clients, we have also enjoyed working with a number of new clients during 2011.

On the leadership development side, the predominant interest on the part of both new and existing clients this year has been on finding ways to equip their people with the ability to achieve more with less, and in less time, while increasing the degree of value they are able to deliver to their clients in the process. On the sales development side, the predominate interest has been on equipping their sales organizations with the ability to adapt to the new ways their customers and prospects are approaching making buying decisions, with an emphasis on lowering their expense-to-sales ratios and also increasing their average profit per sale. And in both cases (leadership and sales development), we are very excited about the results we have been seeing throughout the year. We’re honored to have been given an opportunity to make a positive impact on their success.

With that in mind, we are looking forward to the opportunity to help you maximize the investment you’ll be making in your people during 2012 in the areas of leadership and management development, sales development, employee development and also personal and professional success coaching. You can click on the link below for an overview of the services we will be offering through the Leadership Institute in 2012.

Overview of Services

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Newsletter Content

The December newsletter will be on the short side again this month as we have been on the run ‘non-stop’ but we certainly hope you will find it enjoyable and the information useful and helpful.

Positive Responses

December Session Content

Personal ‘On-Site’ Coaching

What are Behavioral Styles?

Sales-The Bottom Line

Complimentary Sales Workshop

Recommended Reading  (Book)

Necessary Leadership Qualities

Habits Working For or Against You?

You Are What You Repeatedly Do

How Management Demotivates Employees

Some More Office Humor

Demonstrating Leadership at Home

Holiday Wishes

Come Join Us!

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Positive Responses

I would like to thank all of you for the very thoughtful email messages and the testimonial letters which you sent after our session on understanding inner motivations and working with different personality types. We also received some interesting feedback on how the strategies we covered in the problem solving segment were applied. I never cease to be amazed at how creative some of our participants can be. Your positive responses always mean a great deal to us and they are much appreciated.  It’s important to know that we are making a difference in the organizations that we are being given an opportunity to work with!

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December Session Content

We are looking forward to seeing you in one of our leadership sessions around the country this month. Not only are we going to learn a lot but we are going to have a great time in the process!!

How to Work Productively with Various Behavioral Styles!

Our first segment will focus our attention on the fact that people do not all speak, hear and interpret information or approach relationships or their work in the same way. In November we considered the degree to which an individual’s self-confidence impacts their personality characteristics, their relationships and their performance. In the December session we are going to go to work on developing an understanding of basic behavioral styles and how they also impact working relationships and performance. Behavioral styles remain a constant no matter where an individual might be in terms of their personal growth. Recognizing and adapting to the behavioral styles of others creates opportunities to improve communication and to develop stronger and more productive working relationships. We’ll also be looking at the correlation between the personality type study we went through in the November session and what we will be learning about behavioral styles this month in December. You’re going to find it enjoyable and practical.

How to Build a Great Place to Work!

In our second segment this month, we are going to take a hard look at how to create what employees typically consider to be a great place to work. We will be referring to a comprehensive research project undertaken by the Gallup Organization that shows that building and maintaining a positive working environment is the single most important factor when it comes to achieving organizational success. What do employees really consider a great place to work? You may find it surprising. You’re going enjoy and benefit from both segments next month.

Please feel free to email or you can give us a call if you have need of any additional information or assistance between now and our next session. We’re here to insure that you receive the maximum benefit possible from your involvement in Leadership-The Bottom Line.

We are looking forward to seeing you in class this month!!!

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Personal ‘On-Site’ Coaching

I want to remind you again that you are really missing out if you are not taking full advantage of the opportunity for individual ‘on-site’ coaching as you are progressing through the twelve month leadership development process with us. It’s included as part of the complete leadership training program.

We’re available to meet with you individually at your location (or by phone) on an as-needed basis between each one of the monthly sessions to assist you with the completion of your application projects or to assist you in any areas that might pertain to your responsibilities as a leader and/or manager in your organization.  All you need to do is contact us via email or by phone, or through our web-site, and we’ll be happy to schedule a convenient time to get together with you at your location.  Personal coaching always yields impressive results.

Remember . . .

Every aspect of the leadership development series has been designed to work together in such a way as to enable you to achieve the maximum benefit possible from your on-going participation in the twelve month process. Individual on-site coaching is available to both active participants and to all of our past leadership series participants.

And most importantly . . . it’s FREE!
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What are Behavioral Styles?

Have you ever met someone who you liked instantly? Or, maybe just the opposite, a person who made you feel uncomfortable? Either way, these feelings are the result of something that is a very real part of who we are as people; our behavioral style. We all (quite unconsciously) seek out others who have a similar behavioral style to our own, and we can all tell (again unconsciously or intuitively) who has a behavioral style similar to ours and who doesn’t. It’s a psychological reality that people like to be around people they are like. The secret to success, then, particularly in a work environment, is to not only understand what your own personal behavioral style is, but to be flexible enough to understand, appreciate and then adapt to the behavioral styles of others.

When you consider basic behavioral styles, sometimes referred to as social styles, we’re not really referring to personality types as much as we are to the basic ways that people approach managing themselves, their environments and their interactions with others. Hippocrates got the ball rolling with his “four temperaments” study. Carl Jung later described the four temperaments as “Thinker, Feeler, Intuitor, and Sensor.” Today, management consultants and trainers (folks who do what I do) use a variety of different names for the same basic four categories. Wilson Learning Systems, for example, has for many years described these four “Behavioral or Social Styles” as “Analytical, Driver, Amiable, and Expressive.” Others refer to the four categories as “Thinkers, Directors, Relators, and Socializers.” We are going to take a slightly different approach in our session this month; an approach that I think you are going to find very interesting and practical in terms of your ability to apply the information in a way that will prove beneficial both to you and your organization.

Your ability to understand your own behavioral style tendencies and those of the people around you will significantly improve your relationships overall. When you understand behavioral styles, you will find that you are able to better understand yourself, your co-workers, your employees and also your clients. It will also help you build much more rewarding relationships with those people in your life who you consider to be most important to you such as your spouse and family.

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The art of being yourself at your best is the art of developing your true personality and becoming the man or woman you really want to be and have the potential to be. Be fair with yourself, learn to love yourself and to forgive yourself, for only as we have the right attitude toward ourselves can we ever have the right attitude toward others.                                 Jim Abbondante

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SALES-THE BOTTOM LINE

Are you committed to really succeeding in 2012?

We would like to encourage you to consider the importance of professional sales development and its potential value to your organization as you prepare to move into the New Year.

As you know, we are living in changing times and it’s very important not just to stay up with all the changes that are rapidly taking place out there, but to stay ahead of the changes.  One of the changes we can expect to see is the way business is conducted in the marketplace. The way products and services are marketed, sold and serviced is going to become much more competitive and much more challenging as we move on into 2012.

You have heard the old saying, “When the going get tough, the tough get going.”  What’s that mean in terms of the effectiveness of your sales organization?  First of all, those organizations that are committed to winning in 2012 are going to have to quit relying on the old established ways of selling and servicing customers in the marketplace. The old models won’t work anymore.  They’re going to have to out-plan, out-think and out-perform their competition if they’re going to win in 2012. It’s going to come down to ‘preparation’ and ‘execution’.

Those organizations who have the most well-prepared teams are going to be the ones who will enjoy the greatest degree of success in our rapidly changing marketplace; and that’s where our proven career development process for the professional sales executive – SALES-THE BOTTOM LINE – comes in.

It’s a very effective sales development approach that’s been designed to turn pretenders into contenders and top producers into true champions in the world of selling.  It will equip your sales people with the ability to write more business in less time and generate a greater degree of repeat and referral business for your organization. SALES-THE BOTTOM LINE will lower your expense to sales ratio and increase your overall profitability in the process.

When it comes to winning in the profession of selling, it’s all about “proper prior preparation preventing pitiful poor performance”  both on and off the field!

Give us a call if you are considering strengthening your sales organization during 2012 and we will be happy to provide you with all of the information you will need to make a smart decision on behalf of your sales organization,  your company and your clients.

We now have two versions of Sales-The Bottom Line; our complete twelve month career development process and our new two day Sales Acceleration Workshop.

You can click on the following links for more information:

Sales-TheBottomLine Brochure (2 Day)

Complete Career Development Process

Free Sales Development Workshop!

Be sure and ask about the opportunity to have us conduct a complimentary two hour sales development workshop at your location. It will not only provide your sales people with valuable information and tools that they will be able to put to work immediately, but it will give you an opportunity to learn more about SALES-THE BOTTOM LINE in the process.

One of our complimentary test drives will be of value to your sales organization whether or not you choose to get them involved in our complete sales development process.  Just email or you can give us a call and we will be happy to provide you with more information.

LeadershipTeam@LeadershipInstituteUSA.com

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Recommended Reading . . .

I thought I would recommend a great read that I’m reading through again this month.

On Becoming a Leader

by Warren Bennis

There are many widely read books on leadership that most would consider classics such as Good to Great, In Search of Excellence and Built to Last. And while these are all great reads, they are for the most part about what makes a great company, not necessarily a great leader. Great leadership skills must be practiced, honed and developed. Warren Bennis, a leadership sage that genuinely deserves to be called one, looks ‘within’, exploring how it’s only through knowledge of oneself that good leadership can be developed. His classic work On Becoming a Leader has served as a source of insight for countless readers. In a world increasingly defined by turbulence and uncertainty, the call to leadership is now more urgent than ever; at home, in the marketplace and beyond. His approach to understanding and developing leadership in many ways reflects what is at the core of Leadership-The Bottom Line.

If you already have On Becoming a Leader in your own personal library, pull your copy of the shelf – blow the dust off – and give it a fresh read!

Let me know what you think . . .
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Necessary Leadership Qualities

Managers don’t become leaders overnight. Even what some might refer to as “born leaders” don’t start out possessing all these necessary skills. Here are ten skills that should be considered fundamental to good leadership in any organization: (all of which are covered in our monthly leadership development sessions.)

1. Have Vision.

Leaders have a clear sense of where they want to go and how they intend to get there. They see the big picture; they set realistic goals and they create strategic plans for achieving their goals.

2. Make Decisions.

Leaders aren’t afraid to make difficult or unpopular decisions because they have confidence in themselves and in their abilities. They know that indecision wastes resources and opportunities and it diminishes their credibility in the minds of their people.

3. Take Risks.

Leaders have the courage to act in situations where results aren’t necessarily assured. They’re willing to risk failure in order to succeed. By the way, don’t expect perfection. No one wins all the time. Leaders grow by making mistakes. Just don’t make the same ones twice!

4. Motivate Others.

Leaders effectively articulate their vision and ideas to others, convincing them of the value of their ideas. They inspire people to want to be a part of their vision and to work toward common goals, and to achieve things they never thought they could possibly do.

5. Build Teams.

Leaders create productive teams that bring the best out in people. They effectively coach teams in the areas of collaboration, consensus building, and how to win.

6. Possess Self-knowledge.

Leaders know their own strengths and weaknesses and are able to view their abilities and behavior objectively. They recognize their shortcomings, they open themselves up to constructive feedback, and they are willing to make valuable changes when necessary.

7. Display Integrity.

Leaders must be trustworthy before others will trust and follow them. Qualities that establish trust in others are confidence, competence, constancy, caring, candor, and congruity, all of which are perceived by others as being authenticity, reliability, and a feeling of being comfortable with oneself; all of which engenders loyalty in others.

8. Pursue Lifelong Learning.

Leaders have a desire to continually learn and grow and are open to new ideas. They look for practical ways to expand their knowledge. They look beyond their own colleagues and their own industry for ideas and inspiration. They read books and participate in on-going training programs to stay on top of new management theories and ideas.

9. Communicate Effectively.

Leaders can convey their ideas to diverse individuals and adjust their communication styles to meet the needs of the people they lead. They ask the right questions and listen well and read between the lines during conversations, especially when dealing with subordinates who may be reluctant to say what they really think.

10. Help Others Succeed.

Leaders empower others and go out of their way to help them achieve their full potential, thereby benefiting the employee and the organization. They understand that their success is dependent on the success of their people, individually and collectively.

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Are Your Habits Working For You or Against You?

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.”

One of the things we have learned working the people business is that success truly is a habit; and so is failure. If we were to slow down long enough to really consider the matter, we would come to the stark realization that it’s our habits (good or bad) that ultimately produce our quality of life. With that being the case, our goal then should be to establish as many good habits as we possibly can. The more good habits we have, the better our life will become.

The question then is how do you create ‘good’ habits in your life? Using willpower to force yourself to do something will only last for so long. Things like motivation, self-discipline and determination will get you started but they won’t get you across the finish line when it comes to you establishing the kinds of habits that really will change your life for the better.

So what’s the answer? The goal is to get yourself to do something long enough until it becomes a habit or until it simply becomes a part of who you are – without all the struggle. Once it becomes a habit, you won’t have to put much effort into it anymore. It’ll become automatic without you even giving it a thought.

To simplify the process, consider the following truth; As human beings, we move away from those things we believe will cause us discomfort and/or pain and we tend to move toward those things that we believe will produce pleasure in our life. The secret then to establishing good habits is to find ways to associate good feelings to the activity you want to develop as a habit. There are a lot of ways to accomplish this. Here are just a few ideas to get you started:

1. Focus on why establishing the new habit it so important to you.

You need to sell yourself on the new habit. Why do you want to create the habit in the first place? What is the downside of you not developing the new habit? What is the upside? Think about the feelings you would experience if your new habit was already developed and also how it will positively impact your life when it is.

2. Think about the very real consequences of NOT following through.

Create and associate pain to you not following through. Imagine where you’ll be months or even years down the road if you don’t create this new habit. What will the real cost-factors be? How will that feel? In what ways will those cost-factors negatively impact those you really love and care about the most in your life?

3. Think about the rewards associated with you consistently following through.

Imagine how great your life is going to be when this habit has become a part of you. In what ways will your life be enriched? How will you feel about yourself? In what ways will those you love and care for the most in your life benefit from your new habit?

4. Get started and reward yourself immediately after you’ve taken each action.

You want to give yourself something that will make you feel good, something that you normally wouldn’t do. The idea is for your mind to be able to begin associating pleasure with the new action you’ve just taken each time you take it.

5. Think about what feelings you’re looking for and find other things you can do that give you the same feeling and combine the two while you are working on establishing your new habit.

For example, if the habit you’re trying to create is to workout everyday and the feeling you get is a feeling of power and confidence and you happen to have a particular song that when you listen to it, it gives you that sensation, listen to it while you workout.

6. Consistency will be the key to your success.

Once you begin the development of your new habit, be sure to take the new step (practice your new habit) as often and as consistently as you can; daily or even hourly if possible. We are creatures of habit. We learn through repetition. How did you learn your multiplication tables?

Stay the course and you will be amazed at the changes you will begin to see occur in your life! It will feel great to begin to take back control of every part of your life – one new habit at a time!!

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You are what you repeatedly do.

Sow a thought, reap an act.
Sow an act, reap a habit.
Sow a habit, reap a lifestyle.
Sow a lifestyle, reap your destiny.

You really do reap what you sow in life!

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How Management Sometimes Demotivates Employees

As was mentioned above, our second segment this month will focus our attention on how to create what is perceived by employees as being a truly great place to work. Why is that important?

In order for companies to experience the greatest return possible on what they are investing in their people, their people must place a high degree of value on being an important part of the organization. Employees need to feel good about themselves while they are on the job and they also need to feel good about the contribution they are making to the success of their team.

Unfortunately, management sometimes forgets that they are first and foremost in the people business and that there are several ways that they sometimes unwittingly have the opposite effect on their people. Without even realizing it, they demotivate their employees and diminish, if not outright destroy their enthusiasm.

Without meaning to, many companies treat employees as disposable. At the first sign of business difficulty, employees—who are usually routinely referred to as “our greatest asset”—become expendable.

Employees generally receive inadequate recognition and reward. About half of the workers in employee surveys report receiving little or no credit when deserved, and almost two-thirds say management is much more likely to criticize them for poor performance than praise them for good work.

Management inadvertently makes it difficult for employees to do their jobs on more occasions than they realize. Excessive levels of required approvals, endless paperwork, insufficient training, failure to communicate, infrequent delegation of authority, and a lack of a credible vision on the part of those in leadership capacities contribute to employees’ frustration.

One of the first steps to creating a great place to work for your employees is to recognize those blind spots; those things that may be seen as demotivators by your employees. Then your next steps will be to begin taking the positive steps we will look at together in our second segment this month.

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Office Humor

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Demonstrating Real Leadership at Home . . . First!

Let’s consider ‘forgiveness’ for the next few moments together.

Is forgiveness a conscious choice, a rational act involving the will, or is it a feeling, an emotional state of being? Leaders recognize how divisive and destructive unforgiveness can be in a marriage or in a family environment. Their first choice is always to forgive.

A genuine leader has the capacity to absorb the offenses and weaknesses of others, not just demand that they perform up to a set of unrealistic expectations. Love recognizes that people typically do the best they can with what they have to work with and they choose to make allowances for people when they make mistakes. Leaders choose to forgive. Their approach is always loving and growth-oriented.

Many people are afraid to forgive because they feel they half to reinforce the wrong or nothing will be learned from the experience. The opposite is true. Through forgiveness, the wrong is released so that we together can genuinely learn from the experience.

Forgiveness is a gift not a given. 

Asking for Forgiveness

1. Make an unconditional apology.

An unconditional apology focuses on our responsibility in the matter not our spouse’s.  It should sound something like this, “I was wrong for what I did and I am so sorry.”  Period  Don’t make excuses or point the finger at our mate.  An unconditional apology should not sound like this, “I am sorry, BUT IF YOU wouldn’t have . . .”  That is not an unconditional apology.

2. Humbly ask for the gift of forgiveness.

Again, since forgiveness is not a given, we must ask for it.  After our apology we need to sincerely ask our mate to forgive us. Care more for your mate than you do for yourself and empathize with how they must be feeling.

3. Follow up with action.

This is what gives substance to apologizing and asking for forgiveness.  We need to sincerely repent or turn away from our wrongs.  Whether it involves our attitudes or our actions, we need to show our spouse that we are changing.  And, we need to be open to their input as to what constitutes satisfactory change.  Remember, they are the one who has been hurt so they might require more from us than we think should be necessary.  But, we should be aware of their needs and be open to their suggestions. Our heartfelt desire should be to love them and to bring unity back to our relationship.

4. Give your spouse time.

Even if our spouse does accept our apology and grant forgiveness, we can’t expect things to be better right away.  Now sure, you might get over the small things more quickly but for bigger things, it can take our spouse time to get beyond their feelings and warm up to us again.  Be patient with them.  Time will show that you are changing and are sincere about not hurting them again.

Granting Forgiveness

1. Forgiveness is a choice not a feeling.

We may not feel like forgiving our mate but what does that have to do with anything.  We may want to harbor the anger and hurt and make them pay for what they have done; (how incredibly selfish and immature is that?)  But, once you decide you want to grant forgiveness, you can begin to work through those hurt feelings. Feeling bad is not wrong. It’s really all about how you choose to process those hurt feelings that will be the determining factor. Remember, forgiveness is a choice, a quality decision that you are making on their behalf and not your own; also on behalf of the quality of your marriage relationship. The true secret is choosing to die to self in favor of loving your mate unconditionally.

2. Share your hurt.

After your spouse has apologized and asked for your forgiveness, you may need to talk about the matter before you move on.  It might be uncomfortable, but you may need to share how you feel about what has happened.  Don’t point a finger at them; just share how you feel, so they understand the depth of your hurt. It’s important to speak the truth in love.  Make sure you feel heard, before you move on, and most importantly, remember to keep the person separate from their performance. Don’t attack the person, simply deal with what happened and its impact on you and potentially the relationship you share together.

3. Plan for change.

Decide together what your spouse’s change of heart will look like.  Be clear about what you expect and what you need – but not in a demanding or demeaning way.  The goal here is not to punish with requirements, but to set up guidelines or boundaries that you both can agree to.  That way, there will be fewer gray areas that can lead to the possibility of future disappointment.

4. Stop the video.

Do not replay your spouse’s infraction over and over again in your mind.  When your mind starts to wander and you begin to dwell on the incident and the hurt they inadvertently caused you, tell yourself to stop. Choose to quickly take control of your own thought process. It’s one thing to need to talk to someone like a pastor or a counselor about your pain so you can move past it, but it’s another thing entirely when you keep inflicting the same pain on yourself again and again by dwelling on the hurt.  Deciding to truly forgive your spouse is re-committing to your relationship.  Don’t sabotage that recommitment by focusing on the negative.

5. Give yourself time.

Just deciding to forgive will not strip away all of the pain of the incident, depending on the severity of the infraction of course.  You may need to give yourself time. Remember what the good book tells us . . . it says that love will cover a multitude of sins!

The Bottom Line on Forgiveness . . .

No one can make you forgive.  It is your choice.  But, if you decide not to forgive you will suffer the consequences of bitterness and frustration that harboring resentment always brings.  On the other hand, when you grant forgiveness you are taking the first step in ridding your heart of the pain you may now feel.  You are saying, “Yes, you hurt me and what you did was wrong.  But, I am giving up my right to punish you.  In so doing, I am rising above the pain you have caused you and me both and I am choosing instead to love you more than the pain hurts me.”

Remember that genuine leadership starts at home!

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Holiday Wishes

Dear Lord . . .

Help us to rightly remember the birth of Jesus that we may share in the songs of the angels, the gladness of the shepherds, and the worship of the wise men and may Christmas morning make us truly happy to be your children.

We pray that God’s presence will be especially near and dear to you during this Holiday Season and may the miracle of Christmas fill your heart with warmth and love. Christmas is a time of giving and sharing, loving and forgiving. Our hope and prayer is that we all will carry the Spirit of Christmas with us throughout this Holiday Season and on into and through all of 2012.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to Everyone!

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Come Join Us

Once again, let me remind you that we are looking forward to seeing you in one of the leadership sessions around the country this month.  If you need anything at all, please feel free to email or you can give any of us a call as we’re all committed to your success.

We sincerely appreciate the privilege of working with you and your outstanding organization.  Oh, and by the way, remember to say your prayers.

“Lord, when I am wrong, make me willing to change;
and when I am right, make me easier to live with.
Strengthen me that the power of my example
will far exceed the authority of my rank.”

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Leadership works best when people are equipped to manage themselves. When that happens, everyone on your team is working proactively. Everyone is participating in leadership. You create this type of environment through win-win agreements which stem from quality relationships built primarily on respect and trust instead of on authority alone.

Jim Abbondante

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Contact Information

Jim Abbondante
President, Director of Training
Direct Line: (817) 304-2225

Leadership Institute
Main Number: (903) 960-5636

Student Services Number:    1-800-955-0109
(Personal and/or Executive Coaching, Misc. Needs, etc.)

E-Mail:    Leadership.Team@LeadershipInstituteUSA.com

Web-Site:    www.LeadershipInstituteUSA.com

LEADERSHIP-THE BOTTOM LINE

Personality Types & Problem Solving

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Adversity – Our Greatest Ally!

It’s been suggested that adversity is the soil of great accomplishment. Smart organizations will typically view a difficult environment as a genuine opportunity. It offers a chance to re-think products and services, fine tune internal processes, sharpen policies and procedures, and an opportunity to take a fresh look at their strategic plan.

It’s also been suggested that necessity is the mother of invention. Difficult times produce better ideas and they become a filtering process, if you will, for what works and what doesn’t, what’s a good idea and what’s an even better idea. The most valuable thing you can do right now as a leader is to put a very legitimate, positive spin on the times we are going ‘through’, rally your people and engage them in positive, reality based, solution oriented discussions regarding the steps we can take ‘together’ as a team to win in the midst of what many are calling tough times.

Smart leaders will take full advantage of the intellectual capital that’s available to them in their organization; and as the result, they will not only stay afloat but they will ultimately make it to the other side without having to throw any valuable cargo overboard in the process. Adversity can become your greatest ally if you will only allow it.

Jim Abbondante

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Wednesday,
November 23, 2011

Wow, what a great month this has been. The monthly sessions have all been very enjoyable this month and the individual coaching sessions extremely productive. We scheduled our November session dates this year in such a way that we have been able to take some time off this week for Thanksgiving and we’re looking forward to a great day tomorrow with family and friends. We hope each of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving this year as you meet together to give thanks for the many blessings you have in your life.

If you were in one of the sessions this month, you already know that we focused on two very interesting topics. The first having to do with being able to recognize various personality types and how to allow that to help you understand why people typically say and do the things they do, and how to respond in such a way as to produce the most productive outcome possible; and the second having to so with the best approach to take when it comes to involving the members of your team in the process of coming up with creative solutions to problems and also coming up with new and better ways to help your organization succeed. Let’s take a quick look at what we covered in each of our two segments.

First Segment: Personality Types

“How to Work Productively with Various Personality Types!”

In our first segment we began by reminding ourselves that as leaders we are first and foremost in the people business and that our effectiveness in the people business will have a lot to do with how well we understand human nature and what typically makes people tick. It’s important for us to understand our own people in particular, given the fact that we have been tasked with the responsibility of being able to achieve the maximum productivity possible through our people while contributing to their personal and professional growth in the process. We’ve discussed in prior sessions the fact that effective leaders really know their people better than their people know themselves, and that our flexibility in dealing with people based upon ‘who they really are’ is one of the secrets to our success as leaders in our organization.

We went on to discuss the fact that achieving success in any area of life will ultimately come down to your ability to establish long-lasting, love-motivated, productive relationships with others. That’s especially true when it comes to leadership and management. It’s tough to achieve anything through people who you aren’t able to enjoy a good relationship with. We discussed in past sessions the fact that success as leaders and managers is defined as being able to meet or exceed expected levels of productivity through your people while facilitating their growth in the process. That’s truly working smart and it requires that you be able to establish productive relationships with each one of your people.

And by the way, let me remind you again that great relationships in the workplace lead to a positive and optimistic work environment, the development of loyalty on the part of team members toward their manager and their genuine commitment to the success of the company.

There are a lot of factors that have to come together in just the right way to produce productive relationships with others. Here are three of the most important factors we discussed in our session:

1. Who you are.

Why would I want to be involved in a relationship with you? It’s important that you be the kind of person that others can respect, believe in and admire. There’s an old saying that says, “Who you are will speak much louder than what you say.” It’s really all about being a ‘class act’, and without really trying, being the kind of person others wish they could be more like.

2. How people feel about themselves in your presence.

Do I like who I am when I am around you? People will either like who they are when they are around you – or they won’t. People will gravitate toward someone who causes them to feel good about themselves when they are around them; and the opposite is true as well. If I respect and believe in you, and I like who I am when I am around you, I will perceive you as being much more credible and you will enjoy a much greater degree of influence with me.

3. What your genuine motivation is toward them.

Do you really understand who I am and care about what’s really important to me? It’s important that we remember that one of the strongest human nature characteristics of them all is, “What’s in it for me that I can get excited about?” Everyone is different and they are motivated by different things. Different things are important to them in their life. Everyone defines success differently. One of my early mentors, Zig Ziglar, was right on target when he said, “You can get everything in life you want if you will simply help enough other people get what they want.” And I like to add “from the inside – out”.

In light of these three important factors, on page 11-4, we went on to discuss one of the basic ‘tools’ we use when it comes to building successful relationships, which is ‘communication’. Again, in the people business, it’s all about remembering that it’s not always what you say, but it’s how you say it that will make the big difference. For example, when communicating with others, instead of reacting negatively to the negative things people say and do, we really want to understand and respond to the reasons ‘why’ they are acting the way they are so we can help them begin to see themselves in a much more positive light and feel much more confident and truly empowered when they are in our presence. In addition, we also want to remember to communicate not just from our own perspective but from theirs as well, taking under consideration those things they consider important as a part of our approach with them. As that occurs we begin to enjoy all the benefits listed on the second half of page 11-4.

On page 11-5 we discussed the fact that personality traits (or characteristics) are an outward reflection of inner motivations, which are the inner reasons or inner needs that will cause people to act outwardly the way they do. Instead of ‘reacting’ negatively to the ways people act outwardly, our goal is to learn to ‘respond’ by recognizing and fulfilling the inner need that is causing them to act outwardly the way they are. My folks used to say that people will either pull you down to their level or you will raise them up to yours. It’s true. Ultimately, people have a need to feel a particular way about themselves in order feel comfortable with who they are based upon where they are at in the development and growth of their self-image, which is what typically causes them to act outwardly the way they do. You pull them up to your level by making it possible for them to feel confident in who they are when they are in your presence.

As you learn to successfully ‘respond’ to inner motivations or inner needs, instead of ‘reacting’ to negative personality traits, you will then be in a position to establish better relationships with your employees, which is important because, again, the secret to your success in the people business will be based upon your ability to establish long-lasting, love-motivated, productive relationships with each one of your people. As leaders it’s important that we remember that when people feel great about themselves in our presence, and they know we care, we then enjoy a much greater degree of credibility, believability and influence . . . which is important if we are to be successful at achieving the results we really need to – both in and through our people.

After laying this foundation, we then went on to proceed through the study of the five basic personality types (or the five categories of personality characteristics). You will find them listed as a part of the diagram on page 11-7.

As we progressed through this extremely interesting study, we took under consideration each of the following:

1. External personality characteristics

2. Inner needs that motivate their outward behavior

3. Fears that exist on a sub-conscious level

4. Current condition of their self-image

5. How to quickly recognize each type

6. How to produce the needed growth in each type

7. How to increase levels of productivity through each type

At the end of the study we had some fun taking an introspective look at ourselves in light of what we learned about this aspect of human nature (with a self-assessment) and then we summarized our study on pages 11-13 & 11-14.

While this segment certainly included so much more than we could possibly touch on in this short follow-up, probably one of the most important realizations we want to take away from this first segment is the fact that in organizations, real power and energy is generated through relationships. The quality of relationships and the capacity to form them are much more important than tasks, functions, roles, and positions. Leadership is about credibility, influence and growth-oriented relationships; and the quality of leadership, more than any other single factor, will always determine the success or failure of an organization.

Dr. Orv Owens

By the way, much of the content we covered in our first segment was based on material developed by Dr. Orv Owens who was a very early mentor of mine and has remained a dear friend over the years. Dr. Owens not only gave me my start in the training industry and taught me a great deal about life and people, but he also made a very important and lasting impact on my life for which I will be eternally grateful. He has authored an outstanding book that really needs to be a significant part of your library. It’s a content-rich book that you will want to refer back to on a regular basis. It’s called “The Official Know-it-All Guide to Relationship Selling”. While the context is ‘selling’ it will provide you with a wealth of insight when it comes to understanding human nature and how to increase your personal influence in every part of your life. Copies are available through the Leadership Institute. Click here for more information. You’ll love it!

(Click on the covers for a larger view)

(Click here to order a copy of Dr. Owens’ Book)

Second Segment: Problem Solving

“How to Turn Problems into Opportunities!”

In our second segment we began by discussing the fact that much of what managers are expected to do in their department is solve problems and make tough decisions. In some cases managers will attempt to solve problems and make decisions pretty much ‘on the run’. They are often times ‘under the gun’, usually ‘stressed’ and very short on time. In other cases they may take a more deliberate approach as they analyze the facts and take all of the necessary perspectives under consideration before coming up with a solution to a problem or making an important decision. Either way, their best solutions and the most important decisions they make are not always ‘warmly’ received by the members of their team. And that’s an important consideration, especially if the manager is going to have to depend on the team’s ‘buy-in’ in order to successfully implement whatever has been decided upon.

In our second segment, the goal was to consider how the effective leader will typically approach the so-called problems they face in their organization. The effective leader will typically begin by choosing to ‘respond’ to the problem as opposed to ‘reacting’ in a negative, un-productive way. They will typically view problems as ‘opportunities’; opportunities for growth where their people are concerned and as opportunities to make needed improvements where their operation is concerned. They’ve learned how to rely on the most valuable creative resource they have available to them – their people.

They have learned that by involving their people in the process, they position themselves to be able to take advantage of each of the following benefits:

(There were many other advantages discussed in our session but these seemed to be the most obvious.)

1. More perspectives that just their own

2. Unlimited supply of creativity

3. Better solutions

4. Team’s ‘buy-in’

5. Team’s commitment

6. Better quality outcomes

7. Increased team loyalty

8. Individual and team growth

9. Better utilization of resources

10. Time savings

On pages 11-17 and 11-18, we discussed a very practical approach to solving problems that has been proven quite effective over the years.

It includes the following eight steps:

8 Step Problem Solving Process!

1. Determine that a ‘genuine’ problem really exists!

Does a problem really exist that needs to be addressed and solved, or are there existing guidelines or steps already in place that are not being applied?

2. Carefully analyze and discover the ‘core’ problem!

Analyze in writing the problem you want to solve and be sure that you are focused on solving the ‘real’ problem (the core problem); this will include a focus on the causes of the core problem and an analysis of the other problems that are occurring as the result of the core problem.

3. Identify the most ‘ideal’ desired outcome!

Fast-forward into the future. Assuming that you would be able to clearly identify, analyze and understand the true causes of the problem, and then successfully implement a workable solution, how will you know that the core problem will have been effectively solved; what circumstances will exist at that point in the future? Clearly defining your desired outcome and the circumstances that will exist when it’s achieved will go a long way toward stimulating your creative processes.

4. Develop a ‘workable’ solution to the problem!

Once you have clearly defined your objective, involve as many others in the process as you possibly can. Brainstorm for solutions to the problem. Collect as many ideas as possible before screening them to find the best possible idea or solution. It’s critical when collecting the ideas to not pass any judgment on the initial ideas but to just write them down as you hear them. Select the best and most workable solutions to the problem and try to consider which will be the most realistic long-term solution; also consider affordability, needed resources, and  both time and risk factors.

5. Develop an ‘action plan’ to apply the solution to the problem!

Identify the specific steps that will be taken to implement the solution you have developed. What processes will potentially be effected in your organization? For example, it could mean a new policy or procedure. Create a schedule for implementing your solution that includes start and stop times and when you should be able to expect to see certain indicators of success. Who will primarily be responsible for ensuring implementation of the plan? This and other information specific to the successful implementation process should be detailed in written form.

6. Implement the agreed upon solution (work your plan)!

Monitor whether or not specific tasks are being completed in the appropriate manner and within the time frame of the plan, and that short-term targets are being achieved. This can be achieved through group or individual meetings, quality control ‘spot checks’, personal inspection of work produced, or by interaction with clients impacted by the change or changes made.

7. Analyze the outcome of the applied solution!

One of the best ways to determine whether or not your solution was the right one for your organization is for you to resume normal operations while paying attention to how ‘smoothly’ things are flowing in that part of your business. Consider the normal ways that you typically measure the efficiency of your business; are you seeing what you would expect to see from those indicators; if not, was the plan realistic; should more priority be placed on various aspects of the plan, or should the plan be changed.

8. Make continual improvements in that part of your business!

Consider what you learned from your ‘problem solving process’. Carefully consider any new knowledge, understanding and/or skills that were gained. Ask yourself what changes could have been made prior to the issue becoming a problem and/or changes that should be made to avoid this type of problem in the future. Consider making changes to policies and procedures or to training, etc, if it seems appropriate to do so. Finally, why not consider writing a memo that highlights the success of the problem solving effort, and what you learned as a result, so other departments can benefit from the time and expense that you invested in your ‘new education’.

Green Light Thinking Process

After discussing our way through the eight steps and their application to the different ways  people had approached specific problems in the past, we began discussing some of the real life problems that existed inside each of the organizations we were working with and selected a problem that we could work on solving together using the tool found on page 11-19 called Green Light Thinking!

We followed the steps for actually implementing the Green Light Thinking process found on page 11-20, and not only were we able to get a feel for how the process actually works but we were able to move toward arriving at some pretty creative solutions to some of the actual real-life problems we were focusing on together in our various sessions.

The general consensus in each of the sessions was that the Green Light Thinking process is a very efficient approach that can be used to tackle just about any kind of problem that might come up in the normal course of business. We also agreed that it will be a great process to use when there’s not necessarily a problem to solve but you are just looking for creative ways to become more efficient or even more competitive in your marketplace.

Sometimes some of the most simple processes can yield the greatest results!

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Additional Opportunity!

We would be pleased to schedule a convenient time to meet again with you on an individual basis, or as a group, to answer any additional questions you might have about creative ways to approach problem solving or about any of the specifics we discussed in our first segment having to do with dealing effectively with people related issues. You may have a few specific applications you’d like to discuss. We would certainly welcome the opportunity to be of additional help in any way we can.

Please email or contact us at the number listed below to schedule a convenient time for us to get together – or you can reach us through our main website by clicking on ‘contact us’. There are no additional costs involved other than the costs associated with you taking no action!

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Application Projects!!!!

“How to Turn Problems into Opportunities!”

Turn in your manual to page 11-22.

Review the information and the simple process we covered this month pertaining to the most effective approach to problem solving. Select a challenge that needs to be addressed or a problem that needs to be solved. Following the steps we outlined in this session, involve the members of your team in a ‘Green Light Thinking’ process in order to arrive at a workable solution to the problem you selected for your team to address together. Create a form for your team to use patterned after the one you see on page 11-19 and follow the simple steps you will see on page 11-20. You and your team will really enjoy working through the process together. And remember, we are here to help you if you need us!

Complete the simple exercise on Page 11-22, and be prepared to turn in a photocopy of your completed project as you check in at the beginning of the December session!

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Application Projects . . .

When it comes to any of our application projects, the idea is to see them as the first formal step in terms of getting the content out of the classroom and out there into the real world where it belongs and where it will do you and your people some good. Your goal is to take the information we covered, the material we discussed in our session together, and find as many opportunities as possible to apply it out there in your real world. Remember, adults learn by doing and they grow as the result of being given the opportunity to succeed on a repetitive basis. That’s the meaning behind our madness with regard to all of our application projects.

Their design is always simple; just read the directions at the top of the pages, follow the prompts, answer the questions, fill in the blanks, take the appropriate steps, then be prepared to share your results with us at the beginning of the next month’s session. You’ll do great!! You always do!!!

Call us if you need any assistance with any of your application projects.

We want to make sure you receive the maximum benefit possible from not only the application projects referenced above but from everything you’re learning as you progress through the complete leadership development process with us!!

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Great Idea!!

Why don’t you go ahead and follow through and get started on your application projects now while the content and all the concepts are still fresh in your mind?

As a matter of fact, once you get started, you’ll really enjoy thinking through the processes and succeeding! Your people will enjoy you applying the processes too!

Remember:

Please feel free to email or you can give us a call if you would like any personal assistance and/or coaching when it comes to completing your application projects this month.

You can call or email – or reach us through our website!  (See Below!)

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Coaching!

Let me remind you once again to plan to take full advantage of your opportunity for individual ‘on-site’ coaching in any of the areas that pertain to the application of the concepts, principles and processes we cover in our monthly sessions.  In addition, we are always happy to assist you in any areas pertaining to everyday ‘people’ issues.

We can assist you by phone or at your location. Just email or give us a call and we will go to work on scheduling a convenient time for us to get together.

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Next Month . . . December!

Our first segment in December will focus our attention on the fact that people do not all speak, hear and interpret information or approach relationships and their work in the same way. In November we considered the degree to which an individual’s self-confidence impacts their personality characteristics, their relationships and their performance. In the December session we are going to go to work on developing an understanding of basic behavioral styles and how they also impact working relationships and performance. Behavioral styles remain a constant no matter where an individual might be in terms of their personal growth. Recognizing and adapting to the behavioral styles of others creates opportunities to improve communication and to develop stronger and more productive working relationships. We’ll also be looking at the correlation between the personality type study we reviewed in the November session and what we will be learning about behavioral styles in December. You’re going to find it enjoyable and really fascinating.

In our second segment next month, we are going to look at how to create what employees typically consider to be a great place to work. You may find it surprising. You’re going enjoy and benefit from both segments next month. I’ll tell you more about what to expect in the December Leadership Newsletter.

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One Last Thing . . .

Would you take a minute to provide us with some feedback regarding what you experienced in the November session by leaving a comment for us at the end of this follow-up article. You can just click on ‘leave a comment’ above or below this follow-up article or you can fire off an email.  Either way, we always appreciate and enjoy hearing back from you.

Have a great month and remember . . . .

“The will to win is worth nothing . . .
. . . unless you have the will to prepare.”

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Leadership works best when people are equipped to manage themselves. When that happens, everyone on your team is working proactively. Everyone is participating in leadership. You create this type of environment through win-win agreements which stem from quality relationships built primarily on respect and trust instead of on authority alone.

Jim Abbondante

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Finally . . .

We wish everyone a joyous Thanksgiving!

I will praise the name of God with a song, and I will magnify him with thanksgiving; Psalm 69:30.

Tomorrow, on Thanksgiving, we as Americans will gather with family and friends to share a meal and give thanks to God for our many blessings. It is one of America’s most beloved holidays — one of those rare times when we come together to reaffirm our Judeo/Christian values and the principles that made this a great nation, and also to acknowledge the fact that the good we have received as a nation and as individuals is a direct gift from God and a reflection of His great love for us. We all have so very much to be thankful for both individually and as a nation, some of which we sometimes take for granted.

Decie and I would like to wish each of you and your families and friends a Blessed Holiday Season!!

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Contact Information . . .

Jim Abbondante
President, Director of Training
Direct Line: (817) 304-2225

Leadership Institute
Main Number: (903) 960-5636

Student Services Number:    1-800-955-0109
(Personal and/or Executive Coaching, Misc. Needs, etc.)

E-Mail:    Leadership.Team@LeadershipInstituteUSA.com

Web-Site:    www.LeadershipInstituteUSA.com

THE LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE

Leadership-The Bottom Line . . . November, 2011

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“We are what we repeatedly do; excellence then is not just an act,
but a choice which becomes a habit.”         Aristotle

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Tuesday,
November 1, 2011

What a great year this has been for all of us here at the Leadership Institute. I’m very happy to report that this has been an exceptional year for us primarily due to the fact that we have adjusted both our message and our fee structure to effectively address the challenging times we have been going through in our nation. Influencing perspectives, providing practical tools and the follow-up and support needed to make a legitimate positive impact on behalf of our clients and their participants has made the big difference for us in 2011. We are looking forward to the opportunity to help you maximize the investment you’ll be making in your people during 2012 in the areas of leadership and management development, sales development, employee development and personal success coaching. You can click on the link below for an overview of the services we will be offering through the Leadership Institute in 2012.

Overview of Services

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Newsletter Content

The November newsletter will be on the short side as we have been on the run ‘non-stop’ this month but we certainly hope you will find it enjoyable and the information helpful.

Positive Responses

November Session Content

Personal ‘On-Site’ Coaching

Personal ‘Success’ Coaching

Is your Sales Team equipped to compete in the New Economy?

Complimentary Sales Workshop

Recommended Reading  (Book)

Necessary Leadership Qualities

Habits Working For or Against You?

You Are What You Repeatedly Do

How Important is Leadership?

Raising Emotionally Healthier Kids

A Little Humor!

Come Join Us!

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Positive Responses

I would like to thank all of you for the very thoughtful email messages and testimonial letters which you sent after our session on interviewing, hiring and retaining good people. Your positive responses mean a great deal to all of us and they are much appreciated.  It’s important to know that we are making a difference in the lives of our participants and a positive impact in their organizations.

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November Session Content

We are looking forward to seeing you in one of our leadership sessions around the country this month. We have prepared two thought-provoking and practical segments for you that will have us focusing our attention on two very important leadership/management functions; Understanding how to respond effectively to the reasons why people say and do the things they do; and also how to successfully engage people in the process of turning typical problems into real opportunities.

How to Work Successfully with Various Personality Types

Our first segment will focus our attention on developing a much better understanding of ourselves and the people we work with on a daily basis. Have you ever wondered why some people seem to be easier to work with than others? Have you ever wondered why one person will remain open to constructive input while another person will seem to resist you every step of the way? Why one person seems to brighten up a room when they walk in while another person seems to brighten up the room when they leave? If you have ever been ‘stumped’ in your attempt to answer these types of questions, you will really enjoy and appreciate this month’s first segment. It will bring a whole new meaning to the old saying, “It’s not always what you say but its how you say it that will make the big difference!”

How to Turn Problems into Opportunities

In our second segment, we are going to look at how to create that all important ‘buy-in’ from the members of your team when it comes to coming up with new and creative ways to solve problems and/or improve the ways things are done in your organization.  As a matter of fact, as you begin to understand both the concept and the process we will be providing you with in this second segment, you will find yourself better utilizing the most valuable resource you’ve been given when it comes to finding creative solutions to the problems you’re typically faced with in your organization; it’s a simple process but powerful!

Please feel free to email or you can give us a call if you have need of any additional information or assistance between now and our next session as we are here to insure that you receive the maximum benefit possible from your involvement in Leadership-The Bottom Line.

We are looking forward to seeing you in class this month!!!

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Personal ‘On-Site’ Coaching

I want to remind you again that you are really missing out if you are not taking full advantage of the opportunity for individual ‘on-site’ coaching as you are progressing through the twelve month leadership development process with us.

Again, we are available to meet with you individually at your location on an as-needed basis between each one of the monthly sessions to assist you with the completion of your application projects or to assist you in any areas that might pertain to your responsibilities as a leader and manager in your organization.  All you need to do is contact us via email or by phone, or through our web-site, and we’ll be happy to schedule a convenient time to get together with you at your location.  Personal coaching always yields impressive results.

Remember . . .

Every aspect of the leadership series has been designed to work together in such a way as to enable you to achieve the maximum benefit possible from your on-going participation in the twelve month process. Individual on-site coaching is available to both active participants and to all of our past leadership series participants.

And most importantly . . . it’s FREE!

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Personal Success Coaching vs. Personal On-Site Coaching

We have had a few of our participants ask us to explain the difference between the two types of ‘coaching’ we make available through the Leadership Institute.

Personal On-Site Coaching is included as a part of the leadership series, (Leadership-The Bottom Line), as is explained above and there is no limit to the amount of coaching that is provided – and there is no cost involved.  Its focus is geared toward helping participants develop a better understanding of the application of the material that is being covered in each of the monthly leadership sessions.

However, Personal Success Coaching is quite different.  It is a very personalized professional service designed to provide clients with directed feedback, valuable insights, and guidance from an objective perspective.  The profession of ‘coaching’ is similar to the practice of a physician, attorney, or psychologist.

Having a Personal Success Coach is having a dedicated mentor; someone who knows you and who helps you to better understand yourself; a specialized coach who moves you through the process of being able to really capitalize on your personal resources to position you to achieve your full potential in all of the most important areas of your life and career.

It’s getting knowledgeable support and sincere encouragement and being provided with a new way of looking at things when you need it, in the way you need it in order to succeed.

If you think you might be a candidate for Personal Success Coaching or if you would simply like more information about what’s involved in the process, please feel free to contact us for more information.  We will be happy to schedule a convenient time to meet with you for the purpose of answering all of your questions and also to help you determine if Personal Success Coaching is right for you.  Just give us a call or click on the link below!

Personal Success Coaching

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“I love the man that can smile in trouble; that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection.  It is the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.”  Thomas Paine
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Is your Sales Team equipped to compete in the New Economy?

SALES-THE BOTTOM LINE

We want to encourage you to consider the importance of sales development as you prepare to move into the new year.  As you know, we are living in changing times and it’s going to be very important to not just stay up with the changes that are taking place, but to stay ahead of the changes.  One of the changes we can expect is to see the marketplace become much more competitive than it already has been as we move on into the new year.

You have heard the old saying, ‘When the going get tough, the tough get going’.  What does it mean to toughen up your sales organization?  First of all, those organizations that are committed to winning in 2012 are going to have to quit relying on the old established ways of selling and servicing their customers (before, during and after the sale).  They’re going to have to out-plan, out-think and out-perform all of their competition if they’re going to capture market-share and grow their business in 2012. It’s going to come down to preparation, execution and learning how to facilitate buying decisions.

Those organizations who have the most well-prepared teams are going to be the ones who will enjoy the greatest degree of success in the ever-changing market place; and that’s where our career development process for the professional sales executive  SALES-THE BOTTOM LINE  comes in.

It is a very effective sales development approach that not only turns pretenders into contenders, but it has been designed to enable sales organizations to write more business in less time while lowering their expense to sales ratios and dramatically increasing their profitability in the process. We now have two versions of Sales-The Bottom Line; a twelve month career development process and a two day sales acceleration version. You can learn more about both versions by clicking on the appropriate links below.

When it comes to winning in the profession of selling, it’s all about the effective application of ‘proper prior preparation preventing pitiful poor performance’ both on and off the field!

Give us a call if you are committed to strengthening your sales organization during the year 2012 and we will be happy to provide you with all of the information you will need to make a smart decision on behalf of your sales people and on behalf of your company and your clients.

Free Sales Development Workshop!

Be sure and ask about the opportunity to have us conduct a complimentary two hour sales development workshop at your location. It will not only provide your sales people with valuable information and practical tools that they will be able to put to work immediately, but it will give you an opportunity to learn more about SALES-THE BOTTOM LINE in the process.

One of our complimentary test drives will be of value to your sales organization whether or not you choose to get them involved in our complete sales development process.  Just email or you can give us a call and we will be happy to provide you with more information.

Sales-The Bottom Line

Complimentary Introductory Session

LeadershipTeam@LeadershipInstituteUSA.com

Sales-The Bottom Line Brochure (2 Day Version)

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Recommended Reading . . .

I would like to recommend a book that I am presently enjoying.

It is a great read on leadership that I think you will enjoy too!!

It’s Not about You!

A Little Story about What Matters Most in Business
By Bob Burg and John David Mann

From the acclaimed, bestselling authors of The Go-Giver, a new parable about leadership and the power of positive persuasion.

In this inspirational parable, we meet Ben, a young manager charged with persuading five hundred employees of a struggling chair manufacturer to agree to a merger as a way out of their financial woes. Facing what seems like an impossible uphill climb, Ben seeks the advice of Claire, an old friend, who introduces him to an eccentric elderly lady known simply as Aunt Elle.

Over the course of the week leading up to the crucial vote, Aunt Elle teaches Ben about the power of influence and positive persuasion. Ben also meets with each of the manufacturer’s four top executives in an effort to sway them to his side, and instead comes away from each meeting with a different leadership lesson. But it’s not until Ben reflects on his own experiences that he learns the critical principle so many people in positions of power fail to grasp: it’s not about me, it’s about you.

Written with the same light touch that made The Go-Giver a hit, this book is sure to resonate with anyone who wants to understand genuine leadership and subtle influence.

Let me know what you think . . .

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Necessary Leadership Qualities

“When you join your organization you will find there a willing body of men who ask from you nothing more than the qualities that will command their respect, their loyalty, and their obedience. They are perfectly ready and eager to follow you as long as you can convince them that you have those qualities.  When the time comes that they are satisfied you do not possess them you might as well kiss yourself goodbye.  Your usefulness to that organization is at an end.” Major C.A. Bach

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Are Your Habits Working For you or Against You?

Habits are powerful forces in our lives . . .

First you create your habits,
and then your habits create you.

Break those habits that can break you.
Adopt those practices that will become the new habits
that will help you achieve the success you really desire.

Your habits are in reality a form of ‘personal exercise’.
The harder you work at something, the harder it is to quit.
The easier it is to do, the harder it is to change.  Your habits
will become either the best of servants or the worst of masters.

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You are what you repeatedly do.

Sow a thought, reap an act.
Sow an act, reap a habit.
Sow a habit, reap a lifestyle.
Sow a lifestyle, reap your destiny.

You really do reap what you sow in life!

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How Important is Leadership?

I thought I would take a moment out this month to share with you my thoughts regarding the importance of you and I committing ourselves to demonstrating and providing our teams with the kind of leadership they are going to need to successfully move them through these challenging times.

I had one of our participants in one of our ‘on-site’ sessions being conducted in another state ask an interesting question. He said everyone seems to have their own unique definition of what leadership is and what it’s all about, and he wanted to know what I thought.

I explained that genuine leaders possess seven very important and distinct leadership qualities:

1.     They are genuinely confident in themselves and in their ability to accomplish those things that are truly most important to them; and as the result, they are typically positive in their approach and very optimistic about their future; and they also typically make a very positive impact on the people they come in contact with at home and in the workplace.

2.     They have strong personal convictions that influence their decisions and guide their lives and, in particular, their personal, social and professional relationships.

3.     They have a genuine love for people that allows them to see both the good and the potential for growth in people.

4.     They have the ability to recruit quality people to their cause.

5.     They have the ability to challenge and motivate people to really ‘want’ to perform at their very best.

6.     They are very effective when it comes to mentoring, coaching and training people to do what they do, (passing on confidence, skills, etc.)

7.     They know when to ‘cut the cord’ and allow their people to begin to lead on their own.

It’s as we have stated on a number of occasions in our various monthly sessions; it’s all about you and I maintaining our own commitment to excellence so we are able to genuinely help those who look up to us, (and depend on us), to achieve the same degree of excellence in their own lives and careers.

One of my own personal mentors, Zig Ziglar, stated it very effectively when he said . . .

“You can get everything in life you want if you will simply
help enough other people get what they really want.”

On more occasions than I can remember, I have found that simple truth to be so true; what about you?

By the way, the photo above is an interesting head and shoulders portrait of Mr. Lincoln.  The image shows Mr. Lincoln with a stern look of determination on his face. The portrait was taken in 1863 by Alexander Gardner.  The three bloody years of Civil War had taken a toll on Lincoln and it’s obvious the degree to which he had aged since being elected. One of the most interesting books I have read on the subject of ‘leadership’ was entitled: “Lincoln on Leadership”. It’s available at Amazon.com.

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Raising Emotionally Healthier Kids

More Family Dinners = Better Kids!

Here are some very interesting and important statistics for you. A recent study from the University of Minnesota reported that teens who had regular meals with their parents had better grades and were less likely to be depressed. Harvard University reports that children are fifteen percent less likely to be overweight if they eat with their families. But wait, it get’s even more interesting.

Researchers at Emory University found that preteens whose parents tell family stories at dinner have higher self-esteem and better peer relationships. And a study at Columbia University showed that teens who have two or fewer family dinners a week are more likely to smoke, drink and hang out with sexually active friends. And they are six times more likely to use marijuana. The study also revealed that 84% of teens said they’d rather eat with their parents than alone.

Let’s cut to the chase. If you’re not having dinner regularly with your spouse and kids, you, your spouse, and most of all your kids are missing out in a big way.

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A Little Humor!

The Art of Motivation!

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Come Join Us

Once again, let me remind you that we are looking forward to seeing you in one of the leadership sessions around the country this month.  If you need anything at all, please feel free to email or you can give any of us a call as we’re all committed to your success.

We sincerely appreciate the privilege of working with you and your outstanding organization.

Oh, and by the way, remember to say your prayers . . .

“Lord, when I am wrong, make me willing to change;
and when I am right, make me easier to live with.
Strengthen me that the power of my example
will far exceed the authority of my rank.”

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Contact Information . . .

Jim Abbondante
President, Director of Training
Direct Line: (817) 304-2225

Leadership Institute
Main Number: (903) 960-5636

Student Services Number:    1-800-955-0109
(Personal and/or Executive Coaching, Misc. Needs, etc.)

E-Mail:    Leadership.Team@LeadershipInstituteUSA.com

Web-Site:    www.LeadershipInstituteUSA.com

LEADERSHIP-THE BOTTOM LINE

Monthly Leadership Session Follow-up – October!
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Interviewing, Hiring & Retaining Your Best People!

Remember that people matter – especially now – even more than ever! I’m sure you know as well as I that nothing matters more than the people we hire; and that includes the way we develop them, the way we support them and how we reward them for their commitment to the success of our organization. No matter what your industry is or what your products and services might be, it’s important to remember that you are in a ‘people-driven’ business. Those business leaders who may think that the path to success does not go through a well-selected, well-trained, well-compensated, motivated and committed team members are simply fooling themselves.

Jim Abbondante

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Monday,

October 24, 2011

Thanks again to all of our participants around the country who participated in our monthly leadership development sessions during the month of October. We had some very interesting and challenging discussions, and even experienced some important breakthroughs in some cases.

If you were in one of the sessions, you already know that we focused this month on two important topics. The first having to do with the need to be extremely clear in our thinking regarding ‘what good looks like’ with respect to the positions we are interviewing for and then having a ‘well-thought-out’ interviewing strategy designed specifically for each position we are wanting to fill. By clearly defining and knowing in specific terms what we are looking for and having a strategy in place designed to help us determine whether or not that’s who we are interviewing, we will end up hiring only the very best people for our team.

Our second session focused our attention on the other half of the equation, that being how to ‘keep’ the new people we hire and also how to keep the great people we already have. When we find ourselves going through tough times, or even in the best of times, we always want to remember that our people are our greatest asset, so we want to choose them wisely, make sure we develop them properly and then give them more reasons to stay than to leave once we have integrated them into our team. With that in mind, let’s take a few moments together to just touch on some of the most important points made in each of the two segments.

“How to Interview, Hire & Fast Start Winners!”

In our first segment we began by discussing the important part the ‘right’ people play in both the short-term and long-term success of our organization. We also reinforced the fact that ‘perspective’ is everything when it comes to interviewing and hiring the right people for our team. For example, we want to consider who we are as a company, our vision and mission statements, our values, our culture, our goals and also our overall strategic plan. As a leader and manager in my organization, I am also going to need to ask myself what my own personal vision is for the team I am developing in my own area of responsibility; and from that perspective, I can then go about the business of identifying, in specific terms, who the ‘right’ person will be for a particular position that I might be interviewing for.

We also included discussions regarding how many people, or groups of people, are actually depending on us as leaders to interview effectively and then make only the best possible hiring decision or decisions. The list included our company, the team members who will be working with the new hire, our customers, the applicant and of course, the manager who will be responsible for the integration, development and success of the new team member. Time will not permit me to go into detail regarding the vested interest each of these have in our ability to make smart hiring decisions, but suffice it to say that each person or group referenced here stands to gain or lose based on the quality of the hiring decisions we make.

Probably one of the most interesting exercises focused our attention on determining the real dollar costs associated with making a wrong hiring decision. The numbers that our various discussion teams came up with ranged from as little a few thousand dollars to as high as $750,000.00 in one case. The object of the exercise was to remind us that as leaders and managers our companies are placing a lot of confidence and trust in our ability to effectively manage the company’s money. Again, these are real people and real dollars and that means that we have a lot of responsibility riding on our shoulders when it comes to interviewing and hiring the right people for our company!

Obviously, we covered a great deal more in our first segment than we have time to review here, but let’s go ahead and summarize the overall process we need to move through when it comes to preparing for and then effectively interviewing candidates for a particular position in our company. We broke the process down into ten simple ‘chronological’ steps to make it easy to follow and easy to get good at. By the way, the interviewing model used as a part this process was developed by Dr. Paul Green, Ph.D, and is referred to as Behavioral Based Interviewing.

Here are the ten chronological steps we covered in our session:

1. Consider your vision, goals, and your company’s overall success strategy. It’s been suggested that wisdom is the ability to see the bigger picture. When it comes to making smart decisions, you always want to start with the broadest perspective possible and then work your way toward the details.     

2. Consider the structure and personality of your team. Fitting into your company’s existing culture, and there being a good fit with respect to the folks they will be working with, is always important for any number of important reasons; many of which you will find listed in your printed materials.

3. Consider the role and contribution of the position. When you consider overall work-flow and how each position on the team is dependent upon and contributes to the productivity of the other positions on the team, you will see even more factors that will need to be taken under consideration in your evaluation and decision making process.

4. Identify the attitudes, performance and technical skills needed to really succeed in the position. Among other things, these three categories need to be considered in detail and also listed on paper. You will be able to find much of this information included in the job description for the position assuming you have one. If you don’t, obviously, one needs to be created before you move any further.

5. Create the related ‘open-ended’ questions you will need. You will need at least two to three behavioral based, open-ended questions for each of the attitudes, performance and technical skills you have on your list. Remember, your goal is to focus on ‘past performance’ oriented questions as opposed to hypothetical “what would you do if . . .” type questions about the future.

6. Develop the structured interview process you will use. Create a track to run on with respect to the actual interview you are going to conduct with each of your candidates for the position. It needs to include your introduction, your rapport building stage, your general explanation of the position you will be interviewing them for, an explanation of what to expect during the interview, a few general open-ended questions to get them comfortable talking about themselves and then the specific behavioral based questions you are going to want to ask, in the order they will need to be asked, and then how you are going to wrap up your interview.

7. Include at the appropriate place in your interview process, the presentation you will use to present your company and the opportunity you are making available. Remember, the best people out there are probably interviewing you while you are interviewing them, and they are most probably going to be interviewing with other companies as well, and will probably get more than just one offer so, if they are someone you are really going to be interested in, how you present your company and the benefits of building a successful career with your organization will be important to their decision making process.

8. Review and become comfortable with your process. It’s been suggested that practice makes perfect. It’s always a good idea to review your interview process a few times before you begin using it, that way you will be much more comfortable during your actual interviews and you will be able to focus more completely on your applicant and less on your process.

9. Begin using your pre-designed process consistently with each of your applicants. This will be important to you for a number of reasons, two of which include the fact that it will help you get ‘better’ at conducting your interviews and it will also go a long way toward insuring that you maintain a level playing field for all of your applicants. This will lead to better hiring decisions.

10. Create ‘win-win’ opportunities by internalizing all of your strategically designed interview processes. The more you internalize your interview processes, the better you get at interviewing. This then leads to a much higher percentage of successful hires. Then everybody wins!

You can refer to your student manual for the specifics associated with each of the ten steps listed above; but essentially, what we want to remember when it comes to interviewing effectively and selecting only the best people for your team is that proper prior preparation prevents pitiful poor performance – and – practice makes perfect! Be sure and take a look at the extra input I have included for you toward the end of this month’s session follow-up about a few important things you will want to remain on the look-out for during your interviews. It’s a short article entitled “Are they really ‘right’ for your team?” I think you’ll find it helpful. Let’s move on now to our second segment.

“How to Develop and Retain
Your Very Best Employees!”

In our second segment this month, we began by reminding ourselves that good people are often times hard to find – and that they are even more important to keep. We discussed the fact that hanging on to your most valuable employees is critical to the long term health, success and ultimate growth of your organization. As a matter of fact, it’s been proven that retaining your best employees will typically lead to greater customer satisfaction, increased sales of your products and services, satisfied co-workers, effective succession planning and deeply imbedded, valuable organizational knowledge and experience, all of which secures a successful future for everyone who is a part of the organization.

One of the things we looked at in our second segment was why people typically leave their companies. We learned that the number one reason (statistically) why people leave their jobs is because of the difficult or bad relationship they have with their boss or with their immediate supervisor. The study, conducted by the Gallup organization, determined that people typically leave their ‘managers’ and not necessarily their companies. So essentially, turnover is mostly a ‘manager’ related issue; not in all cases but in more cases than you might think. We took the time to look at the top twelve reasons why people leave companies and by far, the management relationship issue was (statistically) the greatest cause. In reviewing all twelve of the main reasons, our goal was to determine which of those we could directly impact (as leaders and managers) and then challenge ourselves to come up with strategies that, when applied, would begin to lower our existing turnover rates. It made for some eye-opening and very interesting discussions to say the least!

Our second segment this month reminded me of what we covered in our September session on creating a productive work environment. It that session, we learned that one of the most important questions we need to ask ourselves everyday is “what are my people going to need from me to succeed today?” In addition, we also emphasized the fact that we as leaders and managers only succeed when our people succeed. In much the same way, we need to ask ourselves what our people are going to need from us in order to not just be productive, but to become loyal to us as their leader, and also loyal to our organization, and genuinely committed to the ultimate success of the company.

You know, when you think about it, people are just people. They’re not really that complicated. When you boil it down, what do most people really want from their jobs? Our goal as leaders in the people business is to identify and understand what those basic things are that our best people want and need, and then find ways to make sure we consistently give it to them. In the final analysis, your most important goal as a leader and manager is to give them more reasons to stay than reasons to leave!

To remain loyal to both you and your organization, here are some of the most basic things employees want and need:

1. Clearly communicate your performance expectations and set measurable performance standards. You need to make it as easy as possible for people to determine whether or not they truly are succeeding in their position. By providing your people with clearly defined expectations, you are essentially empowering them with the ability to manage themselves. I have learned over the years that most people really do want to do a good job, and it becomes a whole lot easier for them when they are clear with regard to what ‘good’ really looks like. And by the way, when people make mistakes along the way – and they will – you want to make sure that you remember to  separate the value of the person from the mistake that was made. You accomplish this by reinforcing their value to you and the organization, acknowledging their positive intentions and/or efforts and then by giving them the opportunity to analyze what took place and where their mistakes were made. Once that has been determined, you then want to give them the opportunity to come up with their own solution and how they are going to keep from making the same mistake/s in the future. You want to guide them through the process of learning from their mistakes. Being a good coach is about remembering to never ‘tell’ anyone anything you can ‘ask’ them. You need to allow people the opportunity to ‘enjoy’ the process of  learning and growing as the result of their mistakes. They will become more loyal to you and their company in the process.

2. Take time to really listen and to give and receive employee feedback. Connect with each of your people on a regular basis. Let each of them know (from your perspective) how they are doing. Let them tell you how they feel they are doing. Let them share with you any needs they might have and be open to their input regarding how you might be able to lead or manage them more effectively. And probably one of the most important things you can do for your people is to maintain, and even encourage, an ‘open door’ policy when it comes to their input regarding ways to improve on your processes and how you approach succeeding together as a team on a regular basis.

3. Recognize and reward good work in ways that are specific to the individual and their accomplishments. Everyone wants and really needs to be acknowledged on a regular basis. In our August session we learned that a genuine, heart felt ‘Thank You’ is one of the strongest motivators you can employ with your people. When it comes to thanking and acknowledging your people for a job well done, remember to express your appreciation in ways that will be meaningful to the particular employee. For example, tickets to a ball game if my favorite sports team has a big game coming up would be particularly meaningful to me and it would say you know who I am as a person and that you really care. Not only do you want to make sure your expression of appreciation is specific to the employee but that it’s also specific to the accomplishment as well.

4. Create opportunities and new challenges for valued employees. This will not only keep employees fully engaged and involved in the process of continual improvement, but it can also be seen as a source of recognition when it’s perceived as having been earned as the result of having achieved something in particular. People like to remain a part of an organization that will acknowledge their accomplishments and provide them with continual opportunities for growth.

5. Demonstrate that retaining good employees is a top priority. It needs to become common knowledge throughout your organization that you are a company that puts its ‘people’ first! Typically, what goes around comes around. When your people are of the impression that you really care about them, they will, in like manner, really care about you. You need to focus on building meaningful relationships with your people. Get into the habit of conducting ‘10 Minute Check-ins’ throughout your organization on a regular basis. “Hey John, how’s it going?” “What’s the latest in your department?” “How’s the ‘such and such’ project coming along?” “You have anything you need my help with?” You will be surprised at the difference taking this kind of interest will make when it comes to the development of the kinds of working relationships that motivate people to want to remain an important part of your organization over the long haul!

It all comes down to you remembering the kind of business you are really in – the ‘people business’! Enjoy!!
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Additional Opportunity!

We would be pleased to schedule a convenient time to meet again with you on an individual basis, or as a group, to answer any additional questions you might have about creating effective interview processes or any of the specifics we discussed in our second segment about what team members really want and need from their company. You may have a few specific applications you’d like to discuss. We would certainly welcome the opportunity to be of additional help in any way we can.

Please email or contact us at the number listed below to schedule a convenient time for us to get together – or you can reach us through our main website by clicking on ‘contact us’. There are no additional costs involved other than the costs associated with you taking no action!

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“Are they really ‘right’ for your team?”

In a discussion that took place in one of the sessions this month, there was an executive who said that he had learned through his own experience that the most important part of hiring correctly is to not hire the wrong person; and that the second most important part of hiring correctly is to hire the right person. I responded by saying that what that must mean then is that it is better to not hire anyone at all if you can’t find the right person for the job.

So the obvious next questions were “who are the right people and who are the wrong people?” To get the discussion started, I responded by saying that when you get right down to it, it’s not really that hard to tell the difference. You develop a feel for it after a while.

The right people are the ones that really, really want to go to work with you. You can tell they’re really excited about the possibility of becoming a part of your team. There’s an ‘energy’ about them; they’ve done their homework, they know about your organization and in many cases they have even done their homework with regard to the person they will be interviewing with.

In visiting with them you get a sense that they are achievers; that they are the type of person that actively looks for problems to solve and for creative ways to achieve more. These are people that are ‘winners’ by nature. This is a personality type that is very easy to spot once you know what to look for – they’re full of life; they have fire in their eyes. They’re warriors!

I’ll take the enthusiastic, fired up ‘warrior’ any day over the more experienced but otherwise meek alternative. Skills can be learned quickly on the job but if you aren’t already the kind of person who’ll just jump in there and get the job done no matter what, you’ll likely never be.

Some of the warning signs to look out for during an interview are people who care about status symbols like titles, people who resent the success of others, people who act like they’re doing you a favor by just talking to you; and people who want to negotiate salary endlessly but couldn’t care less about the long-term opportunities associated with the position.

If you hire badly, it isn’t just going to be that particular employee who’s not performing. They end up negatively influencing the entire organization. For example, if everyone is pushing hard to get a finished product out the door, but one sulking individual is passive aggressive about working late, morale drops across the board. It spreads like a cancer. I can’t really say enough about the importance of making sure your candidates are wired up correctly and that they really can bring the right set of characteristics to the game. When that is the case, your odds for success grows exponentially! (Thanks for a great discussion!)

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Application Projects!!!!

“How to Interview, Hire & Fast Start Winners!”

Turn in your manual to page 10-20.

Review the information we covered in our first segment this month regarding how to create powerful behavioral based interviews for each of the positions that you interview for. Consider the next interview you have coming up and following the guidelines listed for you on page 10-20, go ahead and begin making preparation for a successful interview process. The steps are easy to follow and will lead you into being prepared to not only conduct a successful interview, but to you being able to hire the best possible candidate for your organization.

As we stated in the session, one of our participants gave us permission to provide you with a copy of their completed application project for you to use as a template or guideline to follow. You will see it there in your student manual. It will come in handy as you begin to go to work on the development of your own interviewing process. They did an exceptional job as I know you will!

Complete the simple exercise on Page 10-20, and be prepared to turn in a photocopy of your completed project as you check in at the beginning of the November session!

“How to Develop and Retain Your Very Best Employees!”

Turn in your manual to page 10-31.

Leadership means really understanding your employee’s needs; all your employees, even the ones you may not think would be considered your ‘keepers’. You might be surprised to learn after getting to know them that they really do have the potential to become one of the ‘best’ you have ever had on your team. It is all about really getting to know your people and then developing an understanding of what they really want and need from their job – and then being consistent when it comes to finding unique ways to provide them along the way.

In this Application Project, your goal will be to determine which team member you want to start with and then to develop a strategy that will allow you to begin to understand them better and a strategy for applying the five important steps we learned in our session while keeping in mind the fact that you really can get everything in life you want if you will simply help enough other people get what they want! (Thanks Zig Ziglar!)

Complete the simple exercise on Page 10-31, and be prepared to turn in a photocopy of your completed project as you check in at the beginning of the November session!

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Application Projects . . .

When it comes to any of our application projects, the idea is to see them as the first formal step in terms of getting the content out of the classroom and out there into the real world where it belongs and where it will do you and your people some good. Your goal is to take the information we covered, the material we discussed in our session together, and find as many opportunities as possible to apply it out there in your real world. Remember, adults learn by doing and they grow as the result of being given the opportunity to succeed on a repetitive basis. That’s the meaning behind our madness with regard to all of our application projects.

Their design is always simple; just read the directions at the top of the pages, follow the prompts, answer the questions, fill in the blanks, take the appropriate steps, then be prepared to share your results with us at the beginning of the next month’s session. You’ll do great!! You always do!!!

Call us if you need any assistance with any of your application projects.

We want to make sure you receive the maximum benefit possible from not only the application projects referenced above but from everything you’re learning as you progress through the complete leadership development process with us!!

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Great Idea!!

Why don’t you go ahead and follow through and get started on your application projects now while the content and all the concepts are still fresh in your mind?

As a matter of fact, once you get started, you’ll really enjoy thinking through the processes and succeeding! Your people will enjoy you applying the processes too!

Remember:

Please feel free to email or you can give us a call if you would like any personal assistance and/or coaching when it comes to completing your application projects this month.

You can call or email – or reach us through our website!  (See Below!)

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Coaching!

Let me remind you once again to plan to take full advantage of your opportunity for individual ‘on-site’ coaching in any of the areas that pertain to the application of the concepts, principles and processes we cover in our monthly sessions.  In addition, we are always happy to assist you in any areas pertaining to everyday ‘people’ issues.

We can assist you by phone or at your location. Just email or give us a call and we will go to work on scheduling a convenient time for us to get together.

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Next Month . . . November!

Our first segment in the November session will focus our attention on developing a much better understanding of ourselves and the people we work with on a daily basis. For example, have you ever wondered why some people seem to be easier to work with than others? Have you ever wondered why one person will remain open to constructive input while another person will seem to resist you every step of the way?  Why one person seems to brighten up a room when they walk in while another person seems to brighten up the room when they leave? If you haveever been ‘stumped’ in your attempt to answer these types of questions, you will really enjoy and appreciate next month’s first segment.

In our second segment next month, we are going to look at how to create that all important ‘buy-in’ from the members of your team when it comes to coming up with new and creative ways to solve problems and/or improve the ways things are done in your organization.  As a matter of fact, as you begin to understand both the concept and the process we will provide you in the second segment next month, you will find yourself better utilizing the most expensive and valuable resource you’ve been given to work with which is your people!

You’re going to really enjoy and genuinely benefit from both segments next month! I’ll tell you more about what to expect in the November newsletter & monthly reminder.

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One Last Thing . . .

Would you take a minute to provide us with some feedback regarding the October session by leaving a comment for us at the end of this follow-up article. You can just click on ‘leave a comment’ below. We always appreciate and enjoy hearing back from you.

Have a great month and remember . . . .

“The will to win is worth nothing unless you have the will to prepare.”

Sincerely,

Jim

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Leadership works best when people are equipped to manage themselves. When that happens, everyone on your team is working proactively. Everyone is participating in leadership. You create this type of environment through win-win agreements which stem from quality relationships built primarily on respect and trust instead of on authority alone.

— Jim Abbondante
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Contact Information . . .

Jim Abbondante
President, Director of Training
Direct Line: (817) 304-2225

Leadership Institute
Main Number: (903) 960-5636

Student Services Number:    1-800-955-0109
(Personal and/or Executive Coaching, Misc. Needs, etc.)

E-Mail:    Leadership.Team@LeadershipInstituteUSA.com

Web-Site:    www.LeadershipInstituteUSA.com

LEADERSHIP-THE BOTTOM LINE

Monthly Leadership Session Follow-up – September!

Productive Work Environment & Performance Reviews
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The Economy

People often ask me, how is managing in this present economy different from managing in what might be considered a ‘so-called’ normal economy? Actually, the main things pretty much remain the same. It’s always about financial discipline and its impact on the bottom line, but it’s also about understanding your customers and what their greatest needs are, and then positioning yourself to be their most convenient and cost-effective solution; it’s about segmenting your customers according to those needs, and then developing the kind of leadership team that knows how to best utilize your organizations resources to not only meet those needs but to also exceed your customer’s expectations.  See Leading in Tough Times

Jim Abbondante

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Monday,

September 26, 2011

As usual, thanks for your participation in our monthly leadership development sessions here and on the road during the month of September. We had a great time in each of the meetings. I really enjoyed the discussions and was very impressed with all the ideas regarding the application of the concepts that resulted from all the group participation in each of the sessions. We focused this month on two important topics. The first having to do with the need to become more aware of those little (and big) things our people need from us on a daily basis in order for them to be able to perform at their best; and the second having to do with positioning our people to become even more involved in their own performance reviews. I liken it to interacting with our people in such a way that they become empowered to take on a greater degree of responsibility for their own success.

Development of a Highly Productive Work Environment

In our first segment this month we discussed many of the obvious, and some of the not so obvious, things our people need from us on a daily basis in order to succeed. We began by reminding ourselves that no matter what our industry, we’re first and foremost in the people business; and where people are concerned, there’s always the need for effective leadership. With that in mind, we invested a few minutes on the front end of our session to remind ourselves that results-oriented leaders will typically demonstrate the effectiveness of their leadership on four very important levels. (We covered this originally in our January session.)

When it comes to providing the kind of leadership that leads to positive change and continued growth in people and their organizations, on the first level, it’s all about being credible, earning the respect of your people and achieving a position of influence; which is important because ultimately, people really need to be ‘sold’ instead of just being told. Leadership is about ‘influence’; It’s about leaders helping their people make good decisions that really will be in the best interest of everyone involved.

On the second level, leadership is about the development of the kinds of growth-oriented relationships with their people that will be conducive to mentoring and coaching, and to helping their people achieve their individual potential and the success they desire in their life and career.

On the third level, leadership is about involvement and empowerment, and about recognizing the fact that people learn by doing, and that they grow as the result of being given the opportunity to stretch and succeed on a regular basis. Delegation and giving their people the opportunity to take ownership is the management style of the results-oriented leader.

When it comes to the fourth level, the environment that the results-oriented leader creates for his or her people, the leader is keenly aware that his or her people will need any number of things from their leader on a daily basis in order for them to be able to function at their best, so as to be able to do their jobs effectively. We broke those things down into four simple categories in order to facilitate our discussion.

We discussed the fact that effective leaders will continually ask themselves “What will my people need from me today to succeed?” Outstanding leaders recognize the importance of that question because they realize that they as leaders will only succeed when their people succeed.

Here are the four categories we covered in our session together:

1. Team members need their leader to be first!

The leader needs to be prepared to set the mood, set the pace and also set the standards. Team morale, team momentum and the team’s concept of what ‘good’ looks like will always be a direct reflection of the example and the communicated expectations of their leader.

2. Team members need their leader to be fair!

That means not playing favorites, being quick to give credit where credit is due and also a willingness to assume full responsibility when the team doesn’t perform up to acceptable standards or fails in their attempt to accomplish a particular goal or agreed upon objective.

3. Team members need their leader to be firm!

It’s tough to follow a leader who is uncertain, indecisive and who has not clearly communicated the team’s goals and what’s expected on the part of each individual team member. That’s especially true when it comes to a particular team member who seems to be getting ‘off course’ in some area of their performance.

The effective leader will meet privately with that team member and will then clearly state the facts, get an agreement that a problem does exist, they will interact with the team member in such a way as to arrive at an agreed upon solution, and they will then have the team member commit to a specific course of action that will not only resolve the problem but will hopefully produce growth on the part of the team member in the process.

4. Team members need their leader to be flexible!

Team members will always function at their best when their leader is willing to assume the best of his or her people. Team members instinctively know whether or not their leader believes in them and whether or not they expect them to be successful. I have found not only in the ‘people business’ but also in raising teenagers that people will either live ‘up to’ or ‘down to’ the expectations of those authority figures in their life whose opinions make a difference to them.

Team members will also tend to function at their best when their leader is willing to maintain an open mind and a willingness to consider new ideas. And one of the things that will earn the team member’s respect and engender loyalty the quickest is when they see their leader as being willing to admit when they’re wrong. It reflects a level of self-confidence and nobility that people respect and admire in their leaders.

You know, it’s been suggested that it’s often times the ‘little things’ that will make the ‘biggest difference’ when it comes to achieving success in the people business. I think we see that demonstrated in these four categories.

By the way, you might take a few moments to turn back in your student manual to your January material and review the section on how to recognize and avoid the most common leadership pitfalls. I think you will see they apply to our discussion regarding what team members need from their leaders.

Positive Accountability – Successful Performance Reviews

In our second segment this month, we focused on accountability and how to put it to work for you, in particular when it comes to the development of your people. We discussed the fact that in most cases, people have a tendency to associate negative to accountability. We again reminded ourselves that in the people business, it’s not always what you say but its how something is presented that tends to make the big difference.

One of the keys to effective communication in the people business is to (before you open your mouth) start by considering the outcome you are going to want to achieve, and then ask yourself what the most effective approach will be. Do you remember the 7 P’s?

Accountability is, in a sense, the insurance policy that we take out on each employee to insure their success, so it’s important that their perception of it be positive. When you consider human nature, accountability is often considered to be a negative when it’s presented purely from the company’s perspective, in a direct, ‘do it or else’ style presentation. It’s considered positive when ‘what’s in it for the employee’ is taken under consideration in your approach and you allow the employee to come up with as many of their own ideas as possible. When they are allowed to make their own personal commitments for reasons they can identify with and get excited about, they are then establishing their own accountability factors, which serves to substantially increase their odds for success.

Your challenge as a leader is to move them (or lead them) through that thought process so they can make some smart decisions on their own, and then to agree on what ‘good’ will look like and discuss how you as their leader will be able to support their efforts along the way.

This is the mind-set that we need to approach the issue of performance reviews with; the perspective that understands that my job is not to tell someone what they had better do in order to get the raise they want, but my job is to focus on the positives and help them determine what they want to accomplish and why, and then my job is to help them succeed at it through coaching and positive reinforcement. Then as they begin to really involve themselves in the process of succeeding, their attitude, their performance and their over-all results will be such that they will most probably exceed your organization’s minimum standards and the potential raise will take care of itself.

With that in mind, we looked at a very simple but powerful approach to conducting performance appraisals that can be incorporated into what most companies are already doing when it comes to conducting their annual performance reviews.

Its focus is on really knowing your people, being committed to helping them achieve what’s really important to them and allowing them to assume a greater degree of responsibility for their own success. I think everyone really appreciated the ‘continuous’ aspect of the process. Again, we broke the process down into three simple steps to make them easy to remember and apply.

Here are the three steps:

1. Preparation!

Preparation is really the key to our success at anything we do but it’s particularly important when it comes to our being able to conduct an effective performance review. There were two main means of preparation we discussed with regard to our process; they were involving the employee and making sure that we as leaders are prepared by doing our own homework. This includes gathering all the information we will need to be able to conduct the most effective performance appraisal meeting possible. You can refer to the notes you took on pages 9-16 and 9-17 for the details, but it’s important to remember that both the employee and the leader has some homework to do in order to be ready for a successful meeting.

2. The Appraisal Meeting!

We said the first thing we wanted to do in our actual meeting with the employee is to put them at ease by choosing a seating arrangement that is less formal (less threatening) and more relaxed. We also want to remember that ‘the positive approach is always the best approach’, meaning that we want to start off our conversation by complimenting them on what they have been doing right and if possible, congratulate them on what their accomplishments have been. From there we begin asking non-threatening, open-ended questions like, “How do you feel things have been going this past year?” Your goal at that point is to listen as much as possible and continue to ask open-ended questions until you get to the part of your discussion where you are ready to agree on what their goals will need to be. You’ll want to keep in mind the perspective you’re going to want them to leave the meeting with throughout the course of your discussions with them.

3. Follow-Through!

This is probably the most beneficial part of the whole three step process. I say that because this is where we get to go out and apply all of the great things we discussed and agreed upon in our formal meeting. It’s at this stage that we have the opportunity to influence ‘on the job’ and help our employee succeed and grow.

This will include you providing your team member with regular positive feedback and ‘one-on-one’ coaching when necessary, keeping in mind all the while that your job is to set them up to begin experiencing successes in their career on a repetitive basis to facilitate their continued growth. As we said in our session, this step, when implemented properly, will lead into the first step of next year’s performance appraisal.

The Bottom Line on Performance Appraisals . . .

The greater the degree of involvement on the part of the employee, the more effective and successful the performance appraisal. Follow these three very simple steps and both you and your team members will achieve a much greater degree of success – not just during the appraisal process but all year long!!
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Additional Opportunity!

We would be pleased to schedule a convenient time to meet again with you on an individual basis, or as a group, to answer any additional questions you might have about conducting performance reviews or any of the specifics we discussed in our first segment about what team members need from their leader. You may have a few specific applications you’d like to discuss. We would certainly welcome the opportunity!!

Please email or contact us at the number listed below to schedule a convenient time for us to get together – or you can reach us through our main website by clicking on ‘contact us’. There are no additional costs involved other than the costs associated with you taking no action!

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Application Projects!!!!

Productive Work Environment

Turn in your manual to page 9-10.

Consider the material we covered in our first segment from the standpoint of your own performance; how you are perceived by your people and the impact you make on your own personal organization – then simply answer each of the four questions you see listed on page 9-10; and then be prepared to turn in a photocopy of your completed project as you check in at the beginning of the October session!

Successful Performance Appraisal

Now that you’re providing your people with what they need from you on a daily basis in order to be able to perform at their best, let’s move on to the application project you will find on page 9-23; “The Leader’s Ultimate Motivation!”

As the old cliche goes, “No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care.” It would have probably been more accurately stated if we adapted the cliche to read, “No one cares how much you know, until they know how much you really care about who they are as an individual.”

If we went out and interviewed the people who directly report to you and asked the question, “Does your manager really care about you as an individual?”  What would your people say?  Would they say, “My manager really does care about me personally and about my personal and professional success” or would they respond maybe in the negative? The answers to these questions will most likely reveal their true level of motivation and the strength of their loyalty to you as their leader. Consider the leader’s you have worked for, those you have admired the most, those you would have gone to the mat for; did they really care about you?

Complete the simple exercise on page 9-23, and be prepared to turn in a photocopy of your completed project as you check in at the beginning of the October session.

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Application Projects . . .

When it comes to any of our application projects, the idea is to see them as the first formal step in terms of getting the content out of the classroom and out there into the real world where it belongs and where it will do you and your people some good. Your goal is to take the information we covered, the material we discussed in the session together, and find as many opportunities as possible to apply it out there in your real world. Remember, adults learn by doing and they grow as the result of being given the opportunity to succeed on a repetitive basis. That’s the meaning behind our madness with regard to all of our application projects.

Their design is always simple; Just read the directions at the top of the pages, follow the prompts, answer the questions, fill in the blanks, take the appropriate steps, then be prepared to share your results with us at the beginning of the next month’s session. You’ll do great!! You always do!!!

Call us at (800) 955-0109, if you need any assistance with any of your application projects.

We want to make sure you receive the maximum benefit possible from not only the application projects referenced above but from everything you’re learning as you progress through the complete leadership development process with us!!

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Great Idea!!

Why don’t you go ahead and follow through and get started on your application projects now while the content and all the concepts are still fresh in your mind?

As a matter of fact, once you get started, you’ll really enjoy thinking through the processes and succeeding! Your people will enjoy you applying the processes too!

Remember:

Please feel free to email or you can give us a call if you would like any personal assistance and/or coaching when it comes to completing your application projects this month.

You can call or email – or reach us through our website!  (See Below!)

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Coaching!

Let me remind you once again to plan to take full advantage of your opportunity for individual ‘on-site’ coaching in any of the areas that pertain to the application of the concepts, principles and processes we cover in our monthly sessions.  In addition, we are always happy to assist you in any areas pertaining to everyday ‘people’ issues.

We can assist you by phone or at your location. Just email or give us a call and we will go to work on scheduling a convenient time for us to get together.

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Next Month . . . October!

Make sure you join us again next month as we take a fresh look at how to interview, hire and fast start winners. This segment will show you how to pull together all of the factors that need to be taken under consideration when making these kinds of decisions on behalf of your organization. We’re going to be taking a look at how much of the process should be objective and how much of it should be subjective; and also how to determine whether or not you really are being presented the true facts as you are going through the actual interview process with a candidate. You’re really going to enjoy this one! In addition . . .

You’ve heard the old saying that ‘good people are hard to find’, well, I’ll bet that you’ll also agree that the best people are sometimes the hardest to keep. Why is that? In our second segment, we’re going to take a close look at how to develop and keep your very best employees. We’ll be looking at some very interesting statistics together that you’re going to find to be a real eye-opener. If turnover at any level in your organization is an issue, you’re definitely going to want to make sure to join us for the session in October.

You’re going to genuinely benefit from both of these segments! Two very valuable segments you will not want to miss. I’ll tell you more about what to expect in the October newsletter & monthly reminder.

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One Last Thing . . .

Would you take a minute to provide us with some feedback regarding the September session by leaving a comment for us at the end of this follow-up article. You can just click on ‘comment’ below. We always appreciate and enjoy hearing back from you.

Have a great month and remember . . . .

“The will to win is worth nothing unless
you have the will to prepare.”

Continued Success!

Sincerely,

Jim

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Leadership works best when people are equipped to manage themselves. When that happens, everyone on your team is working proactively. Everyone is participating in leadership. You create this type of environment through win-win agreements which stem from quality relationships built primarily on respect and trust instead of on authority alone.

Jim Abbondante
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Contact Information . . .

Jim Abbondante
President, Director of Training
Direct Line: (817) 304-2225

Leadership Institute
Main Number: (903) 960-5636

Student Services Number:    1-800-955-0109
(Personal and/or Executive Coaching, Misc. Needs, etc.)

E-Mail:    Leadership.Team@LeadershipInstituteUSA.com

Web-Site:    www.LeadershipInstituteUSA.com

Come see us on Facebook!

THE LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE

Leadership Newsletter . . . September, 2011

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Newsletter Content:

Leaders Succeed Through Others!

The August Sessions Were Great!  Thanks!!

Start Earning More by Selling Less!

Coming up This Month . . .(Leadership Sessions)

Performance Reviews & Productive Environments

Leaders Achieve Improved Performance through Employee Growth!

We as Leaders Really Do Set The Pace!

Get in The Last Word . . . !

Tips on How to Run a Good Meeting!

Keys to Living a Successful Life!

Calculating the Cost of Turnover!

What Really Motivates Employees?

Turnover Can Be Controlled!

Leadership Test!

Quick Learning Tip!

Personal ‘On-Site’ Coaching!

How to Save a Troubled Manager!

Communicating Better at Work!

Leaders Ask Five Important Questions!

Motivating Generation X!

Motivating Generation Y!

Come Join Us!

Contact Information!

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Leaders Succeed Through Others!

Great leaders and managers remove obstacles and they make it easy for others to succeed individually and corporately.  Delegation and the empowerment of others involve the art of getting things done through and with people in a formally structured environment.  It includes the art of creating an environment in which people can perform as individuals and yet cooperate in an effort to attain the goals of the team and the organization as a whole.  It also includes the art of removing the kinds of obstacles that can potentially block such performance to make it easy for people to succeed.”

Jim Abbondante

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August Sessions Were Great!

What a great time we had last month as we presented the monthly leadership sessions at home and around the country!  We want to thank each one who attended for your enthusiastic participation as we focused on Motivation and also on how to plan for and structure a successful Meeting.

We appreciated the many positive responses we received at the conclusion of each of the sessions last month. Based on all the comments and emails we received, the main things that seemed to really hit home from the segment on Motivation was the fact that Motivation, to be really impacting and effective, has to be specific to the individual; in other words, it has to be customized and speak to who the person really is and to what’s going to be most valued by the individual, and that requires ‘relationship’.  It kind of reminds me of what we have discussed in other sessions; that if we’re going to achieve genuine success in the ‘people business’, it’s going to be the result of the quality relationships that we have developed with each one of our valued team members, and our genuine commitment to their growth and success.

The comment we received the most regarding the segment on Meetings seemed to center around the practical application of the seven P’s and the importance of keeping it ‘simple’ as we take a more structured approach to planning for and conducting a successful staff Meeting.  I have included a few additional guidelines for you to follow to insure the success of your meetings.  I will refer to them a little later in this edition of the monthly leadership newsletter.

Well, while we had a great time together last month, you’re really going to enjoy what we have in store for you this month!

We’re going to keep it going!!

But first . . .

What an honor it is to have the opportunity to work with leaders like you who are committed to achieving a greater degree of excellence in their life and career, and to making a genuine difference in the lives of their team members. What goes around really does come around.

I’ve seen it time and time again!

Remember . . .

“The ‘best’ leader will always bring out the very ‘best’ in those he or she has stewardship over.”

By the way . . .

The Application Projects that were completed and turned in last month reflected a lot of introspective thought on everyone’s part.  You did a great job!

Remember, the Application Projects are designed to be the first step that’s taken toward getting the principles, concepts and processes out of the training room and into the real world where they really can make a difference.

Let me remind you again that if you have need of any assistance when it comes to taking that all important first step, all you have to do is email, or you can give us a call, and we will be happy to work with you on an individual basis to help you succeed with what you are learning in the sessions.  It’s free!

As always . . . we remain committed to your success!

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Start Earning More By Selling Less!!

SALES-THE BOTTOM LINE

This very powerful, results-oriented workshop is designed to equip you with the ability to compete much more effectively in today’s extremely competitive selling environment. It combines the best of the basics with the proven strategies and techniques of many of the most highly paid sales executives in their industries today. It’s presented by two former top producers with the Zig Ziglar Corporation and Tom Hopkins International who have gone on to build very successful multi-million dollar businesses by consistently applying the proven processes you will learn in this cutting edge two day sales acceleration workshop (Jim Abbondante & Dave Curry).

The focus of this hard-hitting interactive workshop is on the direct application of the content to the actual selling environments of the participants. Class sizes are limited to only 15 to 20 participants to ensure that everyone receives the direct attention needed to be able to walk away with a personal strategy designed to position them to realize an immediate substantial increase in their sales. Our commitment is to see our graduates perform in the top 5% of their industry!

Call today for more information! 800.955.0109

Click here for an on-line brochure! Sales-TheBottomLine Brochure (2 Day)

Click here for on-line participant testimonials! S-TBL Testamonials Two Day

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Coming up this month . . . (Leadership Sessions)

We are really looking forward to seeing you in one of our many ‘on-site’ LEADERSHIP-THE BOTTOM LINE leadership sessions this month.

We have prepared two very interesting, enjoyable and practical segments for you this month that will focus our attention on two very important leadership functions . . . ‘Conducting Successful Performance Reviews’ and ‘How to Structure the Most Productive Environment Possible’ for your team.

(Each one of our ‘on-site’ groups will be going through the same sessions at each of their individual locations.)

Improved Performance through On-Going Employee Growth!

In the first of our two segments this month, we’re going to take a close look at what is often times viewed as one of the most negative and mundane responsibilities of the typical manager . . . conducting those Annual Performance Reviews.

It’s really amazing how many employees associate negative with the annual Performance Review when in fact, it should be looked forward to as being one of the most positive and beneficial meetings of the year  the part of both the manager and the employee.

What takes place in the annual Performance Review should become the foundation upon which the team member is able to build a very successful year with the organization.

But unfortunately . . .

One of the great secrets of corporate life is that managers, (those charged with doing the reviewing and with judging the performance of others), usually find the process as nerve-wracking and as unsatisfying as the employees do.

Have you ever wondered why?

Consider – what are some of the main reasons for conducting a successful annual review?  Aren’t we looking for ways to improve performance, increase productivity and accomplish more through our team members with less effort and in less time?

In addition, aren’t we looking for ways to create a greater degree of commitment on the part of the team member to the company’s success, and a greater degree of loyalty on the part of the team member to the company and to their leader in particular?

How do you actually accomplish that in the context of an annual Performance Review?  Well, believe it or not, all that and much more can be achieved when your perspective is right, you’re prepared and you approach it correctly.

As you begin to understand, develop and master the art of conducting a successful Performance Review, here are just a few of the many benefits you will enjoy:

Better Attitudes

Increased Cooperation

Improved Working Relationships

Increased Loyalty and Team Spirit

Faster and Better Quality Production

Transform your Team Members into Leaders

Develop a Reputation as a Great Place to Work

Weed out Destructive Employees

Retain your Best People

Increase Profitability

Decrease Stress

What are the secrets to accomplishing this – and more?

That’s exactly what our goal will be as we focus on the critically important task of conducting successful Performance Reviews in our first segment this month.

We’re going to take a look at what a successful Performance Review really is and isn’t, what its ultimate purpose is, what the actual mechanics are, how to create positive involvement on the part of the employee, and how to utilize the Performance Review to accomplish a greater degree of growth both in and through the members of your team.

Not only are you going to enjoy this month’s segment on how to prepare for and conduct a successful Performance Review, but you are really going to appreciate the very practical tools you’re going to be given in the process.

As you begin to apply the principles and the steps you will be given in the session, both you and your team members will begin to really look forward to and enjoy the Performance Reviews you conduct in your organization.

Leaders Really Do Set The Pace!

In our second segment this month we are going to be taking look at a very important part of our everyday work life, and that’s Creating a Productive Work Environment.

If you have attended any of our monthly leadership sessions then you have heard us reinforce on a number of occasions the fact that any organization will always be a direct reflection of the leadership it’s provided and of the ‘leader’ in particular.

As leaders, we do set the pace in so many important ways.  For example, consider the following famous statement: “I’ve been to the mountaintop and I’ve seen the other side.”  Those words of Dr. Martin Luther King ignited the passion of the entire civil rights movement.  His passion, belief and attitude of expectancy caused thousands to follow him, no matter what the cost.

What was there about his leadership that made such an impacting impression on his followers?

First, he had a positive view of the future.  People want to be able to view their future optimistically and to be a part of something that is positive and fulfilling. Dr. King believed that his dream of equality and justice would one day be realized.

Second, he believed that ‘right’ would win out.  Dr. King stood for something important and noble.  Even as the fires of hatred and oppression burned, Dr. King believed that an ultimate good would arise from their ashes.  People want and need to be able to feel that their contribution counts and that it will make a lasting difference.

Third, he believed that his noble message would be accepted. In spite of immediate rejection, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. envisioned a day when his message of peace and harmony would be preached, taught, and practiced. He simply expected it to happen and so he was prepared to take all the steps necessary to see it come to pass.  People need to be able to depend on their leaders to ’follow-through’ on their commitment to the future.

The task of a real and genuine leader is to show people the future. To present the possibilities in such a way that people can relate and identify with the success of the vision and in such a way that they want to become a part of making it become a reality.

Visionary leaders in all walks of life have been to the mountaintop. They have seen the other side and they are committed to taking their teams there.

In business, it’s equally important that we set a good example and that we earn the respect and loyalty of our employees.  It’s also vitally important that we communicate our vision in such a way that our people want to be a part of it and play an important role in the realization of it.

They need us to communicate our expectations in such a way that they feel empowered to succeed and they also need to know that we expect them to succeed, and they need to know that they really are making a difference.

In our second segment this month, we’re going to take a close look at the most important steps a leader can take to create the kind of environment for his or her people that will be the most conducive to consistent productivity, growth and success.

You will need to come prepared to learn a lot more about succeeding through people and to have a lot of fun with us in the process.

Remember . . .

Leaders are genuinely enthusiastic about the future!

“Great leaders are never satisfied with current levels of performance. They are relentlessly driven by their belief in the possibilities, and by their belief in the potential achievements of their people individually and as an organization.”

See you in the session!

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Get in the last word . . . Apologize!

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Tips on How to Run a Good Meeting!

As a follow-up to our segment last month, here are some additional tips for you on how to run a successful staff meeting:

1. Don’t compete with group members. Give their ideas precedence over yours.

2. Listen to everyone.  Paraphrase, but don’t judge.

3. Don’t put anyone on the defensive.  Always assume that everyone’s ideas have value.

4. Control the dominant people without alienating them. Respond in a positive way using leading questions to move everyone back on to the subject.

5. Realize that your interest and alertness are contagious. You set the pace when it comes to the focus and energy of the meeting.

6. Keep all the participants informed about where you are in the discussion and what’s expected of them.  Keep notes on a flip chart or on a marker board that everyone can see in order to remain focused and involved.

7. When a problem is raised, check with the person who owns the problem to find out if an idea is worth pursuing or if an already proposed solution is satisfactory.

8. Give others a turn at running the meeting.  Those who learn to lead learn how to participate more effectively.

And again . . .

Remember that proper prior planning (and preparation) prevents pitiful poor performance when it comes to conducting effective staff meetings!

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Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach that person to use the Internet and they won’t bother you for weeks.

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Keys to Living a Successful Life!

Here are a few things I have picked up along the way from those I have looked up to, respected and admired that have served me quite well over the years.  I do hope they will prove to be an encouragement to you as well.

Be proud of who you are.

Learn what makes you happy.

Do things for other people each day.

Love and respect yourself and others.

Climb mountains that seem impossible.

Set goals and work hard to achieve them.

Learn to win and lose with grace and dignity.

Love and treat your whole family with respect.

Ask advice from teachers and other successful people.

Always remember that you only fail when you fail to try.

Don’t be afraid of failure, it can be a good thing if you learn something.

Don’t try to be better than others, simple choose to be the best you can be.

Consider . . .

Going far beyond the call of duty, doing more than others expect, this is truly what demonstrating a commitment to personal excellence is all about.

And it comes from striving to improve and grow, maintaining the highest possible standards, looking after the smallest detail, and going the extra mile.

Demonstrating a genuine commitment to personal excellence means doing your very best and then just a little more in everything and in every way.

It’s remembering that every part of your life is a reflection of who you really are, what you really stand for and what you really want in your life.

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“The person who fails to stand for something will ultimately fall for anything.”

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Calculating The Cost of Turnover!

You’ve certainly heard the old saying, “Good people are hard to find.” Well, how about . . “Good people are expensive to lose.”  How much does ‘turnover’ cost the average organization? Consider the following formula for calculating what turnover could be costing your company.

To estimate the cost of turnover in your company, use the following formula:

Select a department or specific job function that has a lot of turnover. Write the number of people who have left the job or department during the past 12 months below on Line 4.

The average cost of turnover is 25 percent of an employee’s annual salary (Line 1) plus the cost of the benefits (Line 2).  Typical benefits amount to about 30 percent of wages.  The total cost per employee (Line 3) is the total of Line 1 and Line 2.

1. Annual Wage:____________________ X 25 = __________________

2. Annual Wage:____________________ X .30 = __________________ X .25 = _____________

3. Total Turnover Cost per employee (add Lines 1 and 2): ______________________________

4. Total number of employees who left: ____________________________

5. Total cost of turnover (multiply Lines 3 and 4): ___________________

Here’s an example:

1. Annual Wage: $35,000 x .25 = $8,750.00

2. Annual Wage: $35,000 x .30 = $10,500.00 x .25 = $2,625.00

3. Total turnover cost per employee: $8,750.00 + $2,625.00 = $11,375.00

4. Total number of employees who left: 10

5. Total cost of turnover: $11,375.00 x 10 = $113,750.00

Question:

When is the best time to solve this type of problem in your organization?
Before – during or after it occurs? How about all three!

Make sure you join us for the leadership session in October when we take a look at the various options that are available to us as leaders to minimize the cost of employee turnover in our organizations.

In the mean time, consider the following . . .

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What Really Motivates Employees?

I was on a flight recently from DFW to Los Angeles catching up on some important reading and while reviewing the findings of a recent survey, I learned that eighty-one percent of top-performing employees, (as identified by their employers), said that maintaining a good personal reputation is what motivates them to achieve peak performance.

The recent survey involved 600 of the country’s largest employers. Given our discussions in the various leadership sessions conducted around the country last month, I was pleased to learn that only 15 percent said that their expectation of financial reward had a very significant influence on the quality of their performance.

When you really think about it, in today’s market, competitive pay is the price of admission for employers who want to attract the very best people to their organization – however, it is not a key differentiator.

The research project showed that intangible factors such as personal satisfaction and recognition of contributions are much more effective in driving high performance.

The survey found the following responses for what typically motivates top employees:

*Desire to maintain good work reputation: 81%

*Importance of the work: 76%

*Appreciation of others: 66%

*Interesting work: 51%

*Personal desire to please supervisor: 20%

*Expectation of financial reward: 15%

It’s important to keep in mind that top-performing employees are typically well paid, so I’m not saying, (nor was the survey saying), that pay doesn’t matter. I think the message to employers is not to underrate the importance of ‘non-financial’ rewards in influencing consistent quality behavior.”

A leader’s success is largely determined by their ability to motivate others.

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There is much more in us than we know.  If we can only be made to see it, then perhaps, for the rest of our lives, we will be unwilling to settle for less.

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Turn-over Can Be Controlled!

No matter how big or small a company is, employee turnover eats into profits. Replacement costs range from $7,000 to $10,000 per employee, and more for higher-level positions.  These estimates include the loss in company productivity, expenses incurred in replacing a lost employee, (recruitment costs, training, unemployment taxes, and time needed to interview and to select a replacement).

And, others in the organization must pick up the slack of the vacancy and deal with the disruption to the normal work flow.

Guess what?  Not all turn-over is bad!

New hires contribute fresh viewpoints and approaches that can energize an organization.  Marginal employees who leave provide an opportunity to replace them with better-skilled people. Turnover can’t be eliminated entirely, but it should and can be controlled.

The first step is to determine why employees typically leave your company. Statistics should be gathered and broken down (minimally) by department, the type of positions, and length of service.  For the smaller organization, large amounts of data may not be available, but a review of your former employees’ files may tell the story.

The most effective way to gather this information is through exit interviews conducted by a non-threatening manager or human resource professional. Periodic anonymous employee surveys will provide information needed to correct problems before any mass exodus takes place.

Turnover should be identified as either voluntary (resignations) or involuntary (terminations).  Each category may reflect its own trends and point to different solutions. Below are some of the most common reasons for resignations:

1.    Lack of Challenge or Advancement Opportunities.

Review your internal job posting system; expand breadth and depth of current jobs; provide skills development for future promotions or lateral moves.  Consider training as an investment in the future.

2.    Dissatisfaction with Pay

Determine your organization’s philosophy.  Are you the pay leader or do you pay market wages, or do you pay below market with other incentives used to fill in the gap.  Obtain industry pay data and compare.

Communicate fringe benefits if they are used to fill in the gap between actual and market pay. Pay bonuses in good years to fill in the gap if you’re concerned about the long-term cost of higher wages.

3.    Personal Problems (family conflict, poor health, etc)

Review your leave policy; consider alternative work schedules, flextime, telecommuting, etc., at least on a temporary basis if necessary. Be creative.

4.    Dissatisfaction with Supervision

Evaluate the supervisor’s management style. Provide training to improve skills; hold the supervisor accountable.  Does he/she create a hostile environment? Is there pervasive favoritism?  Involve them in our monthly leadership development series, (starting this month!).

5.    Not Satisfied with Working Conditions

For example: rigid work schedules, lack of responsibility/autonomy, repetitive tasks, etc. Conduct employee meetings to obtain in-depth information.  Re-design jobs or even the organizational chart if this is a pervasive complaint.  There may be no solution for jobs with low-skill levels and short learning curves.

6.    Conflict with Co-workers

Conduct employee surveys to get to the root of the problem.  Train supervisors in managing people/teams and hold them accountable. Depending on the pervasiveness of the problem, maybe consider hiring a mediator to defuse any hostility that exists. Review your culture. Is your organization possibly a breeding ground for political game playing?  If so, address it quickly.

7.    Job is Not What Was Promised

Provide realistic job overviews and communicate clearly your expectations during the initial job interview. Intervene early in any cases where dissatisfaction is expressed.

8.    Lack of Appreciation

This continues to be the top complaint, and probably the easiest to correct.  Make a habit of celebrating successes and be sure to say “thank you” often.  Money is not always enough, even if your pay scale is above market.  Personal significance is a real motivator.

9.    Being ‘In’ On Things

Communicate! Communicate! Communicate!  Employees want to know about the company, how it’s doing, and how they affect the organization’s success. Employees want to take pride in being an important part of a successful venture.  Let them know!

The combination of careful hiring and meeting the most reasonable needs of your employees will reward you with a competent and loyal staff and a surprisingly low turnover rate.  Be sure and join us during the month of October for more on interviewing and retaining your top producers.

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Leadership Test!

To find out if you’re a true leader, see if you possess these qualities:

Leaders start projects by asking ”What has to be done?” instead of by asking ”What do I need or want?”

Leaders next ask “What do I have to do to make a real contribution?” The answer best suits the leader’s strengths and the needs of the project.

Leaders continually ask “What are my organization’s purposes and objectives?” – and – “What qualifies as acceptable performance and adds to the bottom line?”

Leaders don’t want clones of themselves as employees.  They never ask . . “Do I like or dislike this employee?” . . But they won’t tolerate poor performance. Their commitment is to the development of each valuable member of their team.

Leaders aren’t threatened by others who have recognizable strengths that they lack.

The quality of the leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves and encourage in others.

My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether or not you are content with your failure. Abraham Lincoln

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Quick Learning Tip!

Real learning occurs at pivotal points in a person’s career. If you want to bring in a coach for one of your employees or serve as a coach yourself, don’t do it when he or she’s coasting comfortably.

Instead, do it right after he or she has experienced a success or failure; for example: losing a key account or winning a promotion.

Reason . . .

It’s during these intensely emotional times that real learning happens.

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Personal On-Site Coaching!

You are missing out if you are not taking full advantage of the opportunity for individual ‘on-site’ coaching as you progress through the twelve month leadership development process with us.

Let me remind you again that we are available to meet with you individually, at your location, on an ‘as-needed’ basis, between each one of your monthly sessions, to assist you with the completion of your application projects or to assist you in any areas that might pertain to your responsibilities as a leader and manager in your organization.

All you need to do is contact us via email or by phone and we’ll be happy to schedule a convenient time to get together with you at your location.  Personal coaching always yields impressive results.

Remember . . .

Every aspect or component of the leadership series has been designed to work together in such a way as to enable you to achieve the maximum benefit possible from your participation in the twelve month process.

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How to Save a Troubled Manager!

If you have a manager or supervisor who is considered a valuable member of the team who is troubled or struggling with a particular problem, consider hiring an executive coach to help them get beyond their challenge/s and back on the road to success. This type of outside intervention is particularly valuable for managers who:

1. Are technically talented but have poor interpersonal skills;

2. Don’t communicate well with their people and/or have difficulty ‘empowering’ them;

3. Have 75% of what it takes to get to the next level and can attain the missing 25% with some outside ‘one-on-one’ coaching; (or)

4. Someone who you want to put on the fast-track to the next level.

For example – a senior manager has a significant deficit – he’s sometimes arrogant, he’s often overbearing – and the president, CEO or other senior company leader has delivered an ultimatum such as:

“We can’t tolerate that kind of behavior, it’s too disruptive and de-motivating. You’re going to have to get help, (we’ll pay for it), or you are going to have to move on. The choice is yours.”

Executive coaching, which has become very popular with those companies who are committed to investing in their people, pays off. It’s proven to be the shortest and most cost-effective approach to creating a ‘triple win’.

As your good manager shows significant improvement, things get better for the manager, his or her team members and for the company over-all.

For additional ideas, feel free to visit our website:

http://www.leadershipinstituteusa.com/Personal_Success_Coaching.shtml

There are two quick ways to disaster: taking nobody’s advice and taking everybody’s advice.  It’s critical that you take advantage of the right advice.

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Communicating Better at Work!

In a lot of the workshops and coaching sessions I am involved in, employees often show concern about the quality and quantity of the communication that takes place in their working environment.

Some claim that management gives only lip service to open communication but does little to really communicate with them.  Still others contend their organizations believe that posting notices on bulletin boards and sending out memos will provide adequate communication. Still others say they receive vague instructions that are difficult to follow.

Ineffective communication often results in poor cooperation and also in poor coordination, lower productivity, undercurrents of tension, gossip and rumors, all of which leads to increased turnover and absenteeism.

My experience has shown that there are many ways that managers can improve internal communication.

Here are some things for you to consider if you want to influence better communication:

1. Understand that communication is a two-way street.

It involves giving information and getting feedback from employees. It isn’t finished when information is given.  There must be quality two-way communication that says we are working together.

2. Put more emphasis on face-to-face communication with employees.

Don’t rely mainly on bulletin boards, memos, emails and other written communication. We must remember that organizational success is the result of good working relationships being nurtured and developed at all levels in the organization, and also a sense of involvement.

3. Ask yourself, each time you give an instruction, if the message is clear.

Most vagueness is caused by failing to be specific.  Example: Don’t just tell an employee to “show more interest” in his or her work.  If an employee spends too much time chatting with others, be specific about it and involve them in a productive discussion regarding the benefits of becoming more involved in their work.

4. View information as ‘service to’ employees and not ‘power over’ them.

Listen to employees; show respect for them when they speak. They’ll feel like part of the team and will tend to be more dedicated and much more productive. One effective way is to ask more questions to show your interest and to have them clarify the points they are wanting to make. Let them know that the information you are providing is intended to equip them to succeed.

5. Don’t just talk ‘open-door’ policy.

Practice it by walking around and talking to employees. Allow people to disagree and to come up with new ideas.  By being open to input and stimulating the creative process on their part, they will feel more involved, take greater ownership and will produce higher quality work.

6. Conduct regular ’one-on-one’ meetings.

Schedule regular personal meetings with each one of your employees. Ask each employee to tell you how you can help them do a better job. Then how they can help you do a better job. Work together to win.

7. Prepare & distribute internal publications frequently.

Implement a company newsletter in your organization.  Emphasize current issues that employees care about; don’t substitute quarterly “prettier” publications for substantive, up-to-date ones. Assign a committee to find out what employees want to see in the company newsletter and allow different team members to submit articles on those topics in each issue.

8. Concentrate on building credibility with employees.

Managers who lack credibility and fail to create a climate of trust and openness aren’t believed – no matter how hard they try to communicate.

Remember that your role is to be credible in your demonstration of what good looks like and to be perceived as your team member’s most valuable resource.

Why not give some of these ideas a try; You’ll be surprised at the responses you will get. Be sure and let us know how it goes!

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A single conversation with a wise man is definitely worth more than ten years of study.

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Leaders Ask Five Important Questions!

One of the leader’s most valuable assets is clarity of thought and the ability to recognize and focus the team’s energies on the organization’s most important priorities.  Get in the habit of asking yourself these few questions on a regular basis:

1.    What are we doing?

2.    What should we be doing?

3.    What should we be doing next?

4.    What should we not be doing?

5.    Why?

Remember . . .

Priority thinking is all about majoring on the ‘majors’ instead of majoring on the minors.

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“Happiness is not an end product in itself.  It is a by-product of working, playing, loving and doing a whole lot of living.”

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Motivating Generation X!

Have you ever wondered what motivates younger workers?

More than 40 million American workers are in their twenties or early thirties.  To stereotype these workers is dangerous, but managers need to understand what motivates younger employees.

Here are four ways managers can get through to Generation X employees for the purpose of motivating and helping them to work hard and succeed:

1. Help them “train for another job.”

It sounds ridiculous, but younger employees realize that the old employment contract is no more. They know they won’t stay with one company for their entire career.  So, ironically, the way to keep them is to help them acquire skills that will make them more marketable later on. The more they can learn, the more they will want to stick around.  They will want to stay longer if you can create opportunities to advance within your own organization.

2.    Give them responsibility for projects.

Younger workers have more of an independent spirit than Baby Boomers or older workers.  Rather than mistake this quality for a liability – e.g., a refusal to stick to procedures, treat it as an asset.  Give them clearly defined goals, and the freedom to achieve them in their own way. Empowerment and the opportunity to take real ownership is a real motivating factor for this group of employees.

3.    Offer constant informal feedback rather than just formal annual performance reviews.

Younger workers expect a lot of feedback from managers. Formal, sporadic performance reviews are not timely enough to keep up with the rapid pace younger employees work best at. Involvement on the part of their manager/leader is what they really want and need.

4.    Offer them access to many different kinds of information.

Younger workers grew up in the computer age, and are quite adept at using different data and technology to bring together seemingly unrelated elements in order to solve a problem. Managers who hoard information are stifling one of the greatest resources these younger workers bring to the game.

The key to succeeding with this generation as with any other generation is to really know and understand who they really are, their perspective, their wants, needs and desires, and then find a way to accommodate those in the context of creating an environment that leads to mutual success.

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Motivating Generation Y!

Just as you’re getting used to dealing with Generation X, along comes the next demographic group.  Generation Y, as some call it, is composed of those born after 1977.

What are they looking for from their employers?

Here’s how Generation Y college students answered one survey when asked what they wanted in their first jobs:

1. A fun work environment

2. Growth opportunities

3. Competitive salary

4. A wide range of projects to work on

5. Good benefits, including health care, profit sharing, and 401 (k)

6. Opportunities to learn and develop new skills, paid for by the company

7. Travel opportunities

8. Flexible work schedules

It’s important that we understanding and learn how to recruit Generation Y workers and how to make them want to stay and perform at their best while they are with us.

Welcome to the ‘people business’ in the 21st century!

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Are You Stressed Out?

The photo shown below has 2 almost identical dolphins in it.

It was recently used in a case study on stress levels with patients at St. Mary’s Hospital.

Look at both dolphins jumping out of the water. The dolphins are identical.  A closely monitored, scientific study revealed that in spite of the fact that the dolphins are identical, a person under stress will find differences in the two dolphins.

If there are many differences found between the dolphins, it means that the person is experiencing a significant amount of stress.  Look at the photograph. If you find more than one or two differences you may want to consider taking a vacation.

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Come join us in the September Leadership Development Session!

Once again, let me remind you that we are looking forward to seeing you again in one of the ’on-site’ leadership sessions that are being conducted at various client locations around the country. If you need any additional information or any additional assistance of any kind, please feel free to email or you can give any one of us a call at any of the numbers listed below.

Make it a great month!

Contact Information . . .

Jim Abbondante
President, Director of Training
Direct Line: (817) 304-2225

Leadership Institute
Main Number: (817) 405-0012

Student Services Number:    1-800-955-0109
(Personal and/or Executive Coaching, Misc. Needs, etc.)

E-Mail:    Leadership.Team@LeadershipInstituteUSA.com

Web-Site:    www.LeadershipInstituteUSA.com

This very powerful, results-oriented workshop is designed to equip you with the ability to compete much more effectively in today’s extremely competitive selling environment. It combines the best of the basics with the proven strategies and techniques of many of the most highly paid sales executives in their industries today. It’s presented by two former top producers with the Zig Ziglar Corporation and Tom Hopkins International who have gone on to build very successful multi-million dollar businesses by consistently applying the proven processes you will learn in this cutting edge two day sales acceleration workshop.

The focus of this hard-hitting interactive workshop is on the direct application of the content to the actual selling environments of the participants. Class sizes are limited to only 15 to 20 participants to ensure that everyone receives the direct attention needed to be able to walk away with a personal strategy designed to position them to realize an immediate substantial increase in their sales. Our commitment is to see our graduates perform in the top 5% of their industry!

Call today for more information! 800.955.0109

Click here for an on-line brochure! Sales-TheBottomLine Brochure (2 Day)

Click here for on-line participant testimonials! S-TBL Testamonials Two Day

LEADERSHIP-THE BOTTOM LINE

Monthly Leadership Session Follow-up – August!

Effective Motivation & Productive Meetings!

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“The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not a bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be confident, but not arrogant; have a good sense of humor, but without folly.”

“Who you are will speak much louder than what you say!”

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Monday,

August 22, 2011

WOW . . .

Where has this year gone!

Thanks for your participation in our monthly leadership development sessions during the month of August. These were two very important segments this month in that they focused on two areas that are very important if your goal as a leader and manager is to have happy and productive team members who are ’consistent’ in their performance and ‘committed’ to the long-term success of your organization.

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Motivation

As you will remember, in our first segment we discussed the subject of ‘motivation’; what it is, and also how to approach it in the most results- oriented way or ways possible. I think probably the most important point made in the session was the fact that ultimately, you can’t truly motivate anyone.

The best you as a leader can hope to accomplish is to create an ‘environment’ that inspires one to ‘want’ to perform up to the best of their ability. We decided that it is all about you providing both tangible and intangible, short and long-term incentives, (or potential benefits), that, from your team member’s perspective, will seem to make the required effort worthwhile. They have to be able to identify with the potential for a ‘win – win’ outcome and feel good about themselves in the process of succeeding.

What ‘incentives or benefits’ are we referring to?

You probably remember us discussing the fact that there is a different ‘set’ or combination of incentives and benefits (motivating factors) for each member of your team. Different people are motivated by different things. Example: What ‘mix’ or combination of things motivates you? How do you think that might differ from what probably motivates me?

We probably share some of the same motivating factors but we also probably have many that are more specific to who we are individually that we ‘don’t’ have in common. If that’s the case, then why do we have the tendency to want to motivate everyone the same way? It’s because on the surface it seems to be the easiest way. But in the long run, it’s not! It really turns out to be the least effective approach – ultimately, the hardest and most difficult way to keep one genuinely motivated.

How do you determine what specific ‘mix’ of motivating factors will be right for each individual member of your team? You’re right! You ask them!! You can do that ‘directly’ or it can also be accomplished indirectly over time as you develop your relationship with them, and as you get to know who they are and what’s important to them, over time. Remember, as you’re determining what a person’s motivating factors are – you will also want to pay attention not only to their ‘whats’ but also to their ‘whys’ because it’s in the ‘whys’ that the real source of motivation and inspiration is hiding.

Let’s remember that we’re first and foremost in the ‘People Business’; and to excel in the people business, we need to develop a basic understanding of ‘human nature’ and how to apply the ‘fundamentals’ of human nature to the uniqueness of who someone is as an individual. For example, one of the fundamental truths we discussed in our time together this month was the fact that . . .

“You can get everything in life you want if you’ll simply
help enough other people get what they really want.”

It’s sometimes referred to as the ‘law of reciprocity’ and represents the essence of motivation.  (It typically works best from the inside – out!) We must remember as leaders that their success ultimately becomes our success. Our job is to help them grow and achieve their potential personally and professionally and to help them accomplish those things that are most important to them in their life and career. That’s the real shortcut to meeting or exceeding our organization’s goals and objectives through our people.

What do you as a manager typically want?

Attendance;

Positive Attitudes;

Quality Performance;

Consistent Levels of Production;

Demonstrated commitments to you and the company, and to what will be in the best interests of your clients.

What do most people (employees) typically want?

To feel good about themselves;

To feel significant and appreciated;

To feel like they’re a valued part of the team;

To feel like they’re contributing to something that really does make a difference;

To feel the personal satisfaction that comes from being able to ‘take pride’ in the progress they’re making or in what they’ve accomplished; To take ‘ownership’ of it.

To feel the sense of fulfillment that comes with being able to enjoy the fruits of their labor, whether it takes the form of recognition, expressed appreciation, being ‘in the know’ and/or being able to influence important decisions, the opportunity to maybe take on some additional training and/or leadership responsibility, or some form of career growth or monetary reward; (It’s usually some combination of all of the above.)

What’s the secret?

It’s all about your ability to create “win-win-win” relationships!

What do you want?

What does your company want?

What do your team members want?

There’s no way of knowing until you begin to care enough about your people to begin building ’quality’ relationships with each of them so you can begin to learn how ‘they’ would define each of those things on a personal basis.

Your challenge, your opportunity, is to get to know your team members well enough to determine what things they place the most value on – what ‘mix’ of motivating factors are right for them – and ‘why’, and then to determine how to go about ‘creating an environment’ that will then make it possible for them to get or to experience those things as they begin to succeed at meeting the expectations that you’ve both agreed upon for them.

Let’s face it, in the final analysis, it’s all about . . .

“What’s in it for me that I can get excited about?”

Your goal is to understand what you want – and why; what your company wants – and why; and then also what each of your people want – and why; and then to determine how best to approach creating quality ‘win-win’ relationships between everyone who has a vested interest in your company’s success, in the success of each of your individual team members and in your own success as well.

How do you do that?

You have to plan your work and then work your plan!

The process is simple but effective!

Turn in your manual to pages 8-19 and 8-20.

In our session we looked at motivation from a number of different perspectives. Our application projects, two for this first segment, will focus our attention on only two of the important perspectives that we considered in our session.

Setting the employee up to succeed in their position is critical when it comes to how motivated they remain on a daily basis. While these ‘fundamentals’ may seem to be pretty basic, ‘assuming’ in any of these areas may lead directly to poor performance and a resulting lack of motivation.

Remember . . the way a person views their job will directly impact their motivation and their performance! Let’s start with Page 8-19:

1. Make the job or task clear and doable!

Confidence!

How well do they really understand their job? Do they really possess the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed or do they need additional training or maybe a little more coaching from you or from a more experienced employee?

What is their level of confidence?

Are they approaching the job with apprehension or do they really expect to succeed in the position?

2. Make the job or task genuinely meaningful!

Significance!

Let’s face it, if what I do counts, if it makes a difference, then I make a difference. In what ways can you bring significance to their contribution. How can you help them see that what they do is important?

How many people both inside and outside the organization are depending on them to do a good job, and why? And in what ways will all of those folks benefit as the result of the employee making their valuable contribution?

Try asking them . . . “Mary, do you know how important your job really is to so many people, and why?”   “Let me explain!”

3. Make the job a vehicle for additional growth!

Challenge & Optimism!

Not only do people need to feel confident as stated under number one above but they need to feel optimistic about their future. Taking on new challenges and preparing for possible career advancement keeps one focused and motivated to become even better at what they do.

In what ways are you making sure they see their jobs as representing opportunities for ‘additional growth’; either in terms of what they are learning or in terms of new skills that are being developed, or in terms of what the future holds for them in your company?

4. Empower them to perform up to the best of their ability!

Pride of Ownership!

Empowerment is all about making it possible for people to invest as much of who they are as people as they possibly can into what they do on a daily basis and how they approach succeeding in their position.

In what ways can you allow people to take ownership of their own jobs? By you allowing for personal creativity, resourcefulness and for as much personalization as you can, you will make it possible for people to take a greater degree of genuine pride in what they do on a daily basis which will also increase their motivation.

5. Recognize and reward in ways specific to the individual!

Great Payoff!

You’ll remember that this is all about expressing your appreciation in ways that are customized to the person so as to increase the impact of the ‘payoff’.

How many creative ways can you think of to say ‘thanks’ and to reward each one of your people? If you know I like baseball, maybe choice tickets to the next big game will make a special impact on me.

Let’s step out of the box and take the road less traveled on behalf of each one of our people in this area and see what results you get. You will be pleasantly surprised!!

Keep it going . . .

Now that you’ve helped your team member begin to see their job from the ‘right’ perspective, now it’s time to begin the process of making sure they remain motivated on a consistent basis!

Let’s move on to the application project you will find on Page 8-20: ‘Continuous Motivation’!

You’ll remember that this part of our segment on motivation focused our attention on a simple but powerful method for having our people equate the right performance, good performance with positive reward which takes on any number of different forms.

1. What are the employee’s unique primary motivating factors?

Who are they?

What do they like or enjoy?

What provides sense of fulfillment?

Keep in mind that different people are motivated by different things and for motivation to be effective, the motivating factors must represent things that they personally will derive benefit from having or experiencing.

2. What performance do you want to reinforce?

What do you want them to get good at?

What specific performance do you want them to associate the positive motivational outcomes with?

What specific things do you really need your team members to do well in order for you to achieve your team’s goals through them? Be ‘specific’ with your identification of what those things are they are going to need to do well.

Those are the exact things that you will be motivating them to do better, and/or more of, using the motivating factors that they have directly or indirectly told you are most valuable to them.

3. What are you going to want to catch them doing right?

What specific aspects of their job performance needs improvement?

What specific aspects of their performance are you going to want to positively reinforce, and why? You will in most cases get a whole lot more of what you catch them doing ‘right’.

If there are ten steps in a given process and they are struggling with steps 3 and 7, then those may be the ones you will want to focus on.

Instead of you influencing them to identify with what they may be doing wrong as the result of that being the only thing you point out, why not get them in the habit of identifying with doing things right by you pointing out and reinforcing those things.

4. How quickly are you going to reward them when you do catch them doing something right?

Pay attention . . Reward quickly!

Remember that the recognition and/or reward for a job well done needs to be communicated as soon after the positive performance as possible when it’s impact will be the greatest!

5. Describe what you liked and/or appreciated about the particular performance that you are recognizing.

Bigger bang for the buck!

People certainly enjoy hearing that they did a good job in a general sense but when you’re specific in your praise in as much as you are being ‘specific’ about what you really liked about the performance, it seems to really validate the praise and it increases its impact on the employee!

6. Praise, recognize and reward in ways specific to the individual and the performance involved.

You’re important . . this is specifically for you!

Again, when the reward has been designed specifically with them in mind, when the reward is customized specifically for them, the ‘lasting impact’ of the praise and/or reward is multiplied many times over thereby producing even more positive outcomes!

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Additional Opportunity!

We would be pleased to schedule a convenient time to meet again with you on an individual basis, or as a group, to answer any additional questions you might have about motivation and what it takes to bring the best out in your best people. You may have a few ‘special cases’ you’d like to discuss. We would welcome the opportunity!!

Please email or contact us at the number listed below to schedule a convenient time for us to get together. There are no additional costs involved other than the costs associated with you taking no action!

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Meetings

Our second segment this past month had us focusing on planning for and conducting successful meetings. We covered in some detail what a good meeting looks like, its feel, its purpose and tips for maintaining control of your meetings and also making and/or keeping them interesting and productive.

While I am going to suggest that you go back and review the printed materials and your notes from our discussions for most of what was covered, the bottom line when it comes to conducting successful meetings comes down to two phrases that we refer to quite often in many of our monthly sessions:

Proper Prior Preparation Prevents Pitiful Poor Performance!

Plan Your Work – and – Work Your Plan!

Probably the most practical ‘tool’ reviewed in the segment is what was covered on Page 8-29. This page was designed to provide you with a simple track to run on when it comes to thinking through that next meeting you are going to need to be prepared for. Simply follow the prompts – prepare for and then enjoy a productive and successful meeting. Here are the prompts:

Preparation: Conducting Effective Meetings

1. Personal Planning!

Is it necessary?

What’s the purpose?

What are the meeting objectives?

What are the primary meeting topics?

Who will attend the meeting and why?

Date, Time & Location of the meeting?

2. Informing Participants!

Manner of meeting notification?

Method of confirming attendance?

State why the meeting is being held.

State who is participating and also why.

State what is being discussed in the meeting.

State what desired outcome you will want from the discussion/s.

State what information they personally will need for the meeting.

3. Preparing the Agenda!

What topics are applicable to the meeting objectives?

What is the most logical sequence of the discussion topics?

How much time will need to be allocated for each discussion topic?

Make sure the time allotted for each topic discussion is stated on your agenda.

4. Structuring the Discussion/s!

Identify the topic.

Why it’s on the agenda.

Review the present facts and/or circumstances.

State what needs to be established, resolved or decided.

Ask for input from participants in an organized manner (around the table, by department, etc. Remember those in senior positions contribute last.)

Entertain different perspectives and/or proposals (considering advantages and disadvantages of each offering.)

Determine agreed upon courses of action (record decisions in the meeting log).

Adhere to agenda order and the stated time guidelines.

5. Summarizing and Concluding the Meeting!

Summarize all decisions.

Record all actions to be taken.

Include names, dates, support, etc.

Schedule specific follow up to take place.

Commitment regarding participation in next meeting.

The most important thing to remember when scheduling meetings in your organization is that . . .

“Effective meetings don’t just happen by accident,
they happen by design.”

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Application Projects . . .

The application project for our second segment is on Page 8-34.

The idea is to take the information we covered – discussed in the session together and find as many opportunities as possible to apply it out there in your real world. Remember, adults learn by doing and they grow as the result of being given the opportunity to succeed on a repetitive basis. That’s the meaning behind our madness with regard to all of our application projects.

There design is always simple; Just read the directions at the top of the pages, follow the prompts, answer the questions, fill in the blanks, take the appropriate steps, then be prepared to share your results with us at the beginning of the next month’s session. You’ll do great!!

Call us if you need any assistance with any of your application projects.

We want to make sure you receive the maximum benefit possible from not only the application projects referenced above but from everything you’re learning as you progress through the complete process with us!!

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Great Idea!!

Why don’t you go ahead and follow through and get started on your application projects now while the content and all the concepts are still fresh in your mind?

As a matter of fact, once you get started, you’ll really enjoy thinking through the processes and succeeding! Your people will enjoy you applying the processes too!

Remember:

Please feel free to email or you can give us a call if you would like any personal assistance and/or coaching when it comes to completing your application projects this month.

You can call or email!  (See Below!)

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Coaching!

Let me remind you once again to plan to take full advantage of your opportunity for individual ‘on-site’ coaching in any of the areas that pertain to the application of the concepts, principles and processes we cover in our monthly sessions.  In addition, we are always happy to assist you in any areas pertaining to everyday ‘people’ issues.

We can assist you by phone or at your location. Just email or give us a call and we will go to work on scheduling a convenient time for us to get together.

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Next Month . . . September!

Make sure you join us again next month as we take a fresh look at how to conduct effective performance reviews – the kinds of reviews that really do make a difference and as the result, motivate positive and lasting ‘ change’ on the part of team members.

We are also going to take a look at how you as a leader and manager need to go about structuring – creating – the kind of environment that is most conducive to employees remaining positive and committed to quality performance.

You’re going to genuinely benefit from these segments!

Two very valuable segments you will not want to miss. I’ll tell you more about what to expect in the September email newsletter & monthly reminder.

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One Last Thing . . .

Would you take a minute to provide us with some feedback regarding this month’s session (August). Simply scroll up to the top of this page and click on ‘Leave a Comment’. We always appreciate and enjoy hearing back from you.

Have a great month and remember . . . .

“The will to win is worth nothing unless you have the will to prepare.”

Sincerely,

Jim

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Leadership works best when people are equipped to manage themselves.

When that happens, everyone on your team is working proactively. Everyone is participating in leadership. You create this type of environment through win-win agreements which stem from quality relationships built primarily on respect and trust instead of on authority alone.

— Jim Abbondante

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Contact Information . . .

Jim Abbondante

President, Director of Training

Direct Line: (817) 304-2225

Leadership Institute

Main Number: (903) 960-5636

Student Services Number:    1-800-955-0109

(Personal and/or Executive Coaching, Misc. Needs, etc.)

E-Mail:    Leadership.Team@LeadershipInstituteUSA.com

Web-Site:    www.LeadershipInstituteUSA.com