It wasn’t big enough for the amount of stuff it had to hold, I couldn’t really move things around to clean underneath them and the whole process was needlessly difficult, almost impossible. It was a thousand times easier to just let the dust pile up unless my parents were coming to visit. It was too small to clean, stretched to capacity by what it had.

I see this paralleled a lot in the working world – we’re all so fixated on getting that next deal in, so obsessed with the idea of being “lean”, with saving money wherever we can that we simply don’t have the resources to look at our own processes. With teams stretched to capacity and beyond, how does anyone have the time to redefine process, to look at what we’re doing and see where improvements can be made, to investigate new tools that might make people’s jobs easier or more efficient? The sad answer is that most of us don’t. Our houses are too small to clean.

Of course, the answer should be that our company’s directors should be worrying about that and the operational teams should be getting on with bringing their vision to life. The problem is one of the twenty-first century, particularly in digital industries – most people with “Chief” or “Director” in their job title don’t have the first clue how the work their company sells is actually done. How is someone like that going to effect real change? In most cases, they can’t, and that thought terrifies me.

What’s The Solution?

I’m not going to sit here and tell you I have all the answers. I don’t. I don’t think anyone really does, short of suggesting we burn the whole thing down and start again.

The key issue, I suppose, is that these problems are endemic to most businesses and their associated industries. We’re all trying to stay lean, keeping our heads above water until the economy picks back up, just focusing on making that next deal happen, getting that next client, skating by until we’ve made enough headway to afford another person in our teams who will have to fit in with our current, broken processes until they’re over capacity as well.

We need to find a way to break the cycle and, as managers, team leaders, operational staff, we can’t rely on our directors or the C-suite to do it for us – in a lot of cases they don’t even know how to find the house we live in, let alone clean it. We’ve got to find that switch-point, find a way to move our stuff around, into the hallway or even the street if necessary, and clean our own houses.

Educate, Grow, Develop

I’ve alluded to a similar approach in other posts of mine – I believe that education is the key. We need to somehow find the time to educate our directors as to how things are actually done, how much time they take and why it matters that they are done that way. Perhaps if that education is in place, our processes can be streamlined, repaired if needs be, and we can get our work done in the best possible way. That’s my ideal, but unfortunately, I’m not sure I believe that would work in most companies.

No, I think it’s down to us – those of us on the ground, the teams actually doing the work, those of us that live and breathe what we do, the ones frustrated by our workloads becoming unmanageable because of broken processes, the ones who see the dust piling up but can’t clean it because there’s something in the way.

We live in a wonderful time. We have the internet, we have millions of intelligent people undertaking further studies, we have retirees that don’t want to give up work completely. What if we, as skilled individuals, managers, the people who know that the processes are broken, found a way to leverage these things to help us clean our houses?

I’m not suggesting you call your mother and ask her to dust your TV or wash your clothes, but what if you could use some other people to take the less difficult parts off your hands while you and your team focus on cleaning the things that matter?

That’s just one idea. My preferred solution – and one I’m undertaking at the moment – is to simply grow our teams. In my situation, as a manager of a department, I’m working towards growing the team to the point where I don’t have to be as involved in the day-to-day running of our client accounts and, consequently, I’ll be freed up enough to focus on reworking my processes where required, to tighten them up in places and to cut down on some of the red tape, even the red tape that I’ve ended up putting in place along the way.

Education is and – in my opinion, at least – always should be the preferred solution, but if that’s not working for you or your team, the people on the ground, I feel like we sometimes have to take matters into our own hands. There’s nothing wrong with running lean – far from it – but if you’re too lean to do the work to the best of your ability, you might need to find a way to put on some muscle.

Cleaning your house takes effort, it takes time and, just sometimes, it takes a couple of people to help you out.

What do you think? Am I wrong? Living in the clouds? I’d love to hear from you, so leave a comment or get in touch on Twitter.

Thanks for reading.

I will try to throw some curves — some “reaches” — just to keep the readers guessing. So let’s get started with the “Awesome A Attributes” shall we?

1. Androgynous

I’m starting out with a little humor. Androgynous means to possess both male and female qualities. So before you start cross-dressing or calling yourself Androgynous Pat, this is what I mean: you should cultivate sensitivity regardless of gender, ethnicity, age or any other demographic attribute. Not every employee may respond well to “rub some dirt in it” or “let’s all hold hands and sing ‘We Are the World’” attitudes. We should adapt to support our employees as much as possible. Personally, I balance my love for contact sports with participating in #FunFoodFriday and #Caturday on Facebook and Google+. I am not ashamed!

2. Avuncular

Avuncular leaders treat their team members with kindness while indulging in their individuality to the point where it contributes to a positive team dynamic. The key is to keep that avuncular attitude open to all versus developing a divisive or preferential environment.

3. Accessible

Team members need to know their leaders are accessible to them. Strong leaders keep an open door policy and invite input on several channels like email, conference calls, all-hands meetings and one-on-one meetings.

4. Appropriate

Leaders should exhibit appropriate behavior at all times. Discrimination and harassment are reprehensible. True leaders seek to live their professional and personal lives above reproach.

5. Adamant

Leaders are unyielding in their commitment to team goals and morale. When projects go through a “rough patch,” team members need to know that their leader is a strong foundation they can rely upon to weather the storm.

6. Agreeable

Leaders should be agreeable when team members present new ideas. They should also be open to critiquing from both team members and clients. Unbiased critiques can be the best drivers for professional growth.

7. Ambitious

It doesn’t take a strong leader to maintain the status quo. Strong leaders encourage new ideas as well as establish an ambitious long-range vision attainable through the accomplishment of short-term, incremental goals.

8. Astonishing

Even the alphas — the superstar employees — want to be astonished. Whether astonishing through generosity, innovation, or flexibility regarding work/life balance, leaders separate themselves from the pack. Never make it solely about compensation because then the superstars simply go to the highest bidder. Be astonishing!

9. Agile

Have you heard the expression “Best laid plans of mice and men?” Requirements change, markets fall, and personal obstacles crop up faster than you can say Murphy’s Law. Rather than becoming the manager with three letters, strong leaders do not become defensive and look to place blame. Instead, they use mental and emotional agility to adapt for the changing conditions.

10. Altruistic

Good leaders are generally successful. Great leaders achieve resounding success shared by their team. Good leaders always seem to achieve enough to pad the resume to land the next job. Great leaders show interest and nurture talent from within their team that becomes capable of sustaining success indefinitely.

11. Appreciative

This gets back to ensuring that compensation is not strictly monetary for team members. Great leaders show appreciation for valuable contributors. Providing awards and recognition in front of their peers builds strong loyalty among team members. I actually had a partner who helped an employee buy a transmission on Craigslist, and then he spent the entire weekend helping him replace that transmission. That type of sincere appreciation is hard to copy!

12. Authentic

Employees want to know you are the same person every day and in every circumstance. They want to know they can look you in the eye and see no guile or hidden agendas. They want to know that when they turn their back, you’ve “got their back.” Great leaders are “as honest as the day is long.”

I will end each of these posts with adjectives you never want associated with your name. For the “A-List,” you never want to be abhorrent, abrasive, abrupt, abusive, amorous, apathetic or arrogant!

Which Awesome A Attributes best describe you? Which attribute do you hope to attain in your own leadership journey?

Republished with permission, courtesy of 12 Most. Photo by Dave Morris from Oxford, UK (Flickr) [CC-BY-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

1)        You have a lifestyle to maintain

One of the biggest reasons why people are unwilling to become entrepreneurs is because of the rough start. No entrepreneur pays himself decently at the beginning. After working in a corporation, drawing a comfortable $4,000 a month salary, the idea of suddenly having zero pay is absurd to most.

“I have insurance payments to make.”

“I’ve a date at that fancy restaurant with my girlfriend.”

“I’ve a monthly car loan to return, there is no way I can stop drawing a salary!”

Sounds familiar? But how did you end up with such ‘liabilities’ in the first place (including a girlfriend, which occasionally is a cash liability too)? The critical point to note is that no one takes on such luxurious liabilities without first having the financial capabilities to do so. When you earn more, you tend to spend more. All these monthly cash outflows can be controlled and some are even unnecessary. If you want to start a business, you have to be willing to give up what you enjoy now. So ask yourself if you can sacrifice this current life, for a better one in the future.

If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary. -Jim Rohn.

2)        You do an average job

Let’s be totally honest now, how good do you think you are at your job? Could your boss hire someone else to do what you are doing, and the same results be replicated? Or will it be done better? You know whether you are doing an average job. Being satisfied with mediocrity, that’s where you’re going to stay. The common mindset with successful people is that they do their best in whatever task they are assigned to, be it working on that shareholder presentation or mopping the toilet floor. They understand that time is the most precious commodity, and if you execute a task below par, you’re going to have to go back and do it again eventually. Doing the bare minimum of what is required of you is why no one is calling you ‘the boss’. Worst still, if you’re not even doing your job properly, people are going to start calling you ‘unemployed’.

Learn to care. When you don’t care about your job now, you will never be able to care for employees under you in the future.

3)        You’re happy where you are

Not everybody wants the responsibility of heading a company, and that is perfectly fine. Followers make up a leader. If you are happy doing what you love, be it part of a staff faculty, then by all means continue doing it! There is nothing better in life than finding what you are happy doing every single moment. That’s how most workaholics are born, because they simply adore their jobs too much to stop. Being satisfied is a wonderful feeling, and the people who can find gratitude and content in their work are truly blessed. Working for someone, especially an awesome boss who treats you well can be a very rewarding experience. If the pay is good, you love what you do and your work environments is spectacular, then go ahead and be happy where you are.

4)        You complain every day, but don’t take action

Ah, I’m sure all of us have had that friend at gatherings, constantly complaining about their job, and when you ask why they don’t just quit, they give you a million reasons why not.  Stop complaining and take action already. If you don’t do anything about it, then suck it up because this situation was entirely your choice. Except National Service. You don’t have a choice about National Service unless you break your legs.

Let me expose a socializing secret: No one likes a whiner. If all you do is complain to every living soul you meet, even your pet goldfish is going to try and drown himself. You hate a certain scenario, then do something about it. Just continuing monotonously day to day until eventually you get fed up enough to leave is detrimental for your company as well as yourself. The work produced is horrible due to disinterest, and your superiors think you are just incapable because of it. Why waste the time doing something that absolutely bores you to death? The reason for such illogical behavior is presented below.

5)        You don’t have the balls

Studies show that fear of failure/rejection is as painful as physical pain and the fact of the matter is that you’re scared. Every human being is capable of controlling their own fates and situation, but fear holds us back to inaction. Not divine intervention, not the devil that looks strikingly like your manager, but the reflection you see in the mirror. So all you do is talk big and complain about how things would be different if you were in charge. If you strongly believe you have the capability, take charge and make the first step. You will soon realize this fear can be overcome with constant action.

When you do not dare make a change, someone else will do it, not for you but for themselves. Those who dare are the ones you eventually call ‘boss’.

Original Article at Seth Lui’s Blog

Now CEO’s are appearing everywhere, all aged from 19 to 30 and really not having the experience or track record the majority of old school leaders have. To conquer this, the new style of CEO has begun to close the gap between frontline and the office at the top.

Here are 4 ways  to close the gap:

Work for the team

As you go further up the ladder you begin to move away from the frontline duties, or at least forget about them. Generally speaking business owners or CEOs have had some sort of role in sales or have risen to fame from their illustrious sales record.

Can you cut it now? One of the aspects of working as a team is respecting each other for both role in the company and personality. With a CEO they are generally considered to be at the top of the mountain away from the action, get involved.

Become a team member’s PA for the day; answer calls, cold call an upcoming list of contacts, be an account manager for the day or simply do the coffee rounds for the team.

Nothing breaks down barriers more than seeing the companies CEO get a cold call slammed in their face. It makes the position of power less threatening and closes the pay scale divide that has plagued the business world for years.

Arrange a meal

Most pipelines have a couple of tricky accounts or prospects that just won’t commit. This account is holding up the cycle and the pipeline, the team have tried every closing technique but nothing has come from it.

This may be an opportune moment to make yourself available for a group meal with you the CEO, the account manager and the potential client. There’s something about meeting with the “untouchable” of a company that is the CEO to get the deal moving along.

People have paid good money, $610,000 for a meal with Tim Cook or $3.4 million for lunch with Warren Buffett, to pick the mind of a CEO.

This doesn’t have to be just for a tricky account, hold a competition internally and whoever wins gets to choose one account in their pipeline or current customer base. The idea is the team member can now decide if an account can be sweetened or a cycle can be fast forwarded by using the commodity that is the CEO’s time.

One to Ones

Few CEO’s can see how vital this is for the growth of business and team camaraderie. But feedback/suggestion forms or management interviews have little affect these days. Messages passed on by a messenger are diluted and generally are rarely auctioned in the long run so why would the team waste their time with suggestions?

Once a week, for 5 minutes arrange meetings with each and every team member – obviously this gets difficult when you’re the CEO of IBM or such – and make yourself completely present.

No message or email alerts just a notepad and your concern need to be at the meeting. You’ll be surprised at the ideas, concerns and emotions you’ll receive at these meetings, but it’ll be something off the team’s shoulders in the long run.

Make yourself accessible

Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t sit in an elevated glass chamber of knowledge; he sits in the bull pen with the rest of the team. What makes this great for the team is that there is no divide between powers, everyone is in it together and everyone can communicate without having to go through internal gatekeepers.

A sales team on cold calling duties already spends 80% of the day contending with gatekeepers, why would you want the same internally?

The CEO has the ultimate power of being the decision maker, so you’re going to expect a large number of emails/phone calls per day. Tim Ferriss, in his book the 4 Hour Work Week, explained it brilliantly with overcoming these hurdles:

-          Set a time that you check emails for example 12pm and 5pm and deal with accordingly.

-          Set up an auto responder that tells people exactly what it is you’re doing regarding email replies.

-          If it truly is that important, they have your number and they can call that.

-          Give the freedom to your sales team, the customer service team and everyone else to make their own decisions on their own calls. You’ll find many problems are easily solved without the need for your input – people have the fear of getting it wrong.

Sometimes CEOs and business owners get onto their high horse and forget about the frontline troops. By simply sending a generic thank you email once a year is never going to get the team going, so you need to become one of frontline troops.

Your time is your currency, so devote some of it on creating wealth internally by building relations that go beyond the Christmas party.

It’s a question we must ask ourselves as we embark on any new project. Depending on your age, experiences, financial situation, family and more – we make decisions as to what to get involved with, how much time to invest and what is important to you.

I call this your ‘Net Life Position’ or NLP which can be the basis of all decision making.

How to calculate your NLP

Your NLP will change over time and if understood can be the driver behind any significant decision you make.  To properly assess your NLP you must first understand three important things:

1. Personal Outlook (where you see yourself going)
2. Minimum Commitment Return (what do you expect in return)
3. Personal Values (what is important to you)

So by understanding these factors you can better determine how and what to invest your life towards.  Your NLP will invariably rise as you develop greater skills and experience, however it’s possible it could also decline, as with the uncertainty any big economy may present.

How to improve your NLP

Nonetheless,by being accountable for the development of your NLP you can better improve it.

Just as Richard Branson would now only consider high impact and billion dollar investments which align to his goals, you may now consider something much smaller supported by your own beliefs. But also Richard Branson started where you are now.

But how to improve this position?  And more importantly how can you expedite your own NLP?

Catalyst career moments

Have you ever experienced a catalyst moment in your career, relationship or other where you felt a shift in your expectation? It’s these moments that will offer you the most life changing shift in your NLP and ultimately your success.

You can improve your standing by investing in either of these two factors:

a) Discovering a new set of ideas and deeply understanding them (Low – Medium impact)

b) Consciously completing a well earned accomplishment (High impact)

For Michael Jordan he describes his catalyst as the ‘shot‘ as it’s known amongst basketball fans in which he nailed a basket in game 5 of the 1989 Eastern Conference against the Cleveland Cavaliers with a second to go, giving the Bulls a win after which they ultimately won the championship.

He has since been often quoted as saying that ‘on shot’ was the most significant shot he took, which elevated his personal expectation and allowed him to develop as he did – to be the greatest of all time.

Take the shot

Take time to reflect on your own idea discovery or accomplishments which have supported your development – and if you find yourself short of a few then consider this: are you giving yourself these ‘one shot’ opportunities?  Or are you letting someone else take the shot?

True wisdom cannot be learned in a lifetime,

but can be revealed in a moment,

for it has always lived within each and every one of us.

Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Leaders, do not possess mindsets that adapt to failure, easily, if at all. Things go wrong, of course, but leaders do not call these things or themselves “failures.” They may refer to them as glitches, mistakes, bungles, setbacks, or even lessons; but rarely failing.

When one such entrepreneur was asked about the hardest decision he ever had to make, he answered that he didn’t know what a hard decision was. An entrepreneur will approach decision-making with the idea that there’s a strong likelihood that he/she will be wrong. This doesn’t dissuade them – to the contrary they just do the best they can and worry about handling obstacles as they arise.

Another way of looking at it is to realize that you will make mistakes, so make them as quickly as you can in order to learn from them. A good leader doesn’t view making mistakes as negative or irrevocable, he/she feels free to press on and try something new. There is the belief that something useful has been learned, and hopefully not at a high cost.

Let’s face it; if you’re going to live this life you’re going to make mistakes. Make use of them as learning tools and don’t make the same ones twice.

Entrepreneurs also know the value of “intuition”. While you shouldn’t act on the results of tossing a coin, there is something to be said about your “gut” feeling about the situation. Very often business people become so involved with systems and checks-and-balances that they forget about that “gut” instinct they had when they started.

While not strictly logical, intuition does draw on a combination of experience, knowledge, and analysis as well as a lot of “gut” information you may have forgotten that you have.

You become a strong leader in your business by “practicing” being a leader. It’s not a course you can take at a business college; it’s learned in the school of life as you’re doing business.

As a leader, you have to set standards and higher standards for your own behavior. You must do this because appearances are sometimes more important that facts.

Consider for a moment that as an entrepreneur with a small business you’re planning on approaching a bank for a loan. You know that you must present a well thought out and concise Business Plan, with all the projections for the use of the capital you’ll borrow and the repayment of the same. You learned that from all those seminars you attended when considering becoming an entrepreneur, but is there something that you weren’t taught in seminars? What about “presentation”?

I don’t mean the presentation of the Business Plan, we all know that must be well done and attractive. What I’m talking about is YOU! Do you maintain the appearance of leadership? Do you project a confident appearance of a successful entrepreneur? You may not have the faintest idea today how you’re going to pay for that advertising bill coming due on the 15^th, but you’re not going to give that banker that information.

Presenting yourself as a confident entrepreneur, filled with the excitement of your business idea, and a strong leader of your team (whether it’s 1 or 10 employees) is what will make you a winner and add untold weight to your Business Plan. After all, you are your business to that banker so you’d better look good and confident.

To protect that faith that your people and your customers have in your organization, always ask yourself these two questions:

1. Could this be interpreted by anyone in a way that would shake their faith in my leadership?
2. Could this be misinterpreted and held against me or the company?

Strong leaders know that leadership is a lifelong learning experience, and when they make a mistake they simply continue to move forward. The ability to bounce back is a quality that every entrepreneur I’ve ever known has in abundance.

When you blunder, get up and try again quickly. As one high-tech executive I knew put it, “Our strategy is to fail forward fast.”

Photo Credit: Enokson via Compfight cc

1. Content Creation

It’s become clear in the past months that custom content creation is critical to a marketing strategy. However, it’s no secret that it’s time-consuming to create high-quality material, and 64% of marketers cite producing enough as their biggest challenge. In an era where 96% of first-time visitors to a website aren’t ready to buy, branded content can be key to turning organic search visitors into leads.  The Content Marketing Institute has found that 44% of B2B marketers are outsourcing at least some of their content creation, and 65% of large companies are using outside contractors.

2. Social Media

A presence on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest can be capably managed without a social media manager or outside help, right? Actually, the latest research indicates the opposite. Studies show that it takes 32 hours a month to manage one platform correctly. 83% of Twitter followers and 71% of Facebook fans expect a response to social media customer service queries within 24 hours. If you can’t afford to continuously monitor your social presence, it’s likely time to call in help.

3. Lead Data and Qualifying

Having comprehensive data on your marketing leads is critical to set your sales team up for success. Gleanster Research has found that only 25% of leads are legitimate, and should progress to sales. Only 56% of B2B organizations are currently verifying their leads. Unless your organization has a successful approach for capturing prospect data and qualifying leads, your sales team could be suffering. Getting help with your sales pipeline might be one of the best ways to improve organizational efficiency and revenue flow.

4. Closed Loop Analysis

If your eyes are starting to glaze over and you’re considering skipping to the next item on this list, stop. 77% of CEOs have officially had it with “talk of brand equity,” that can’t be linked with ROI. There’s no shortage of data on prospect behavior on the internet, and the businesses who succeed are those who know how to analyze and apply big data. Closed-loop analysis tracks the behavior of prospects who become customers, to determine which marketing campaigns are actually leading to success. In the fast-changing world of technology, continual analysis is key to maintaining an edge.

5. Competitive Analysis

Your company can’t gain an edge in your niche if you exist in an informational vacuum. Even if you ignore your competition, your prospects don’t have to. A simple Google search can reveal everything they want to know about your competitors’ products and services, pricing, and value proposition. If you don’t have time to regularly assess their websites and social media to determine unique opportunities, it could be wise to hire a virtual CMO who can perform the legwork on your behalf.

Best Practices for Hiring Contractors:

For many of us, the thought of outsourcing has negative connotations, but it doesn’t have to lead to lower-quality, or a loss of control. The following best-practices are recommended for success:

• Provide as Much Information as Possible: The better your lines of communication with contractors, the more likely they’ll deliver a product that’s consistent with your vision, brand and voice.
• Hire Quality and Expertise: There’s no shortage of opportunities online to hire workers for pennies, but quality could be a gamble. Engage with marketing providers who you can train and improve over time, and have direct experience and quality references.
• Check Facts: In the beginning, it’s wise to stay engaged with your contractors to ensure their quality is up-to-par. BlinkSEO recommends hiring a fact-checker if you’re worried about accuracy and image.

If you’re struggling to produce enough custom content or apply data, asking for help could be critical to gaining an edge in a competitive market.

How do you use outside contractors? Is it successful? Please share your personal experience in comments.

Filling in the Sales Coaching Gaps…

When an organization invests in sales coaching, there still may be missed opportunities and gaps in the sales training that could lead to improved conversion rates, higher revenue, and better sales forecasting. When examining your sales coaching program, therefore, it’s worth noting some key factors, that, if neglected, could be diminishing your sales coaching return on investment (ROI).

Make sure your coaching training is specific to the task at hand.

When it comes to sales coaching, once size does not fit all. Does your sales coaching approach fit with your company culture? Your brand? How about the unique personalities that are in your organization? Simply applying an off-the-shelf, blanket approach methodology for your sales coaching team is not going to maximize the effectiveness of your sales training program. Therefore, when looking at your sales training content, don’t just hand it over to your managers and give them the green light; spend time evaluating your organization and your sales goals. Tailor your sales training content effectively based on who you are as a company and where you want to go.

Sales coaching never ends.

Coaching your sales team is a bit like filling up your car; it’s an ongoing process if you expect to keep driving. Sales team coaching validates an employees’ job performance, and needs to be continuously done with a balance of praising and correcting. Unlike dedicated sales training events and workshops, sales coaching is a constant job that requires careful attention and a strong relationship between the managing staff and the employees.

Coaching your sales team is not a performance evaluation.

Sales coaching is an ongoing process, but this doesn’t mean that your management should take the liberty to use their day-to-day sales training monitoring as an excuse to throw in performance evaluations. There is a time and place for performance evaluations, and these should be structured meetings that are meant to provide specific feedback and guidance so that your sales team can hit certain markers and goals to understand how they are performing overall. In contrast, daily sales coaching is the interaction that management has with the sales team to advise the team on best practices and offer feedback.

The coaching program requires coaching.

Your sales coaching program needs to be adapted company-wide and have infrastructure behind it to support it – it should not be done in a vacuum, in other words. Progressive organizations monitor and measure their coaching effectiveness and engage all levels of management to make sure that coaching becomes a part of the culture – not just a trend that ripples through.

Sales techniques can become outdated. Teach to the current trends.

With the pace of technological change that’s occurring, sales training methodologies that worked well in the early 2000s (when your managers may have been trained), don’t necessarily apply to today. Sales evolve, just as industries do. Is your company up-to-date on the latest trends? Does your sales team truly understand your customer and your customer’s needs? Sales coaching needs to be implemented with an awareness of the full picture – both within your company’s unique culture, and externally, to the industries your team is servicing and the types of customers you are targeting.

Investing in sales coaching and working closely with your sales team are great steps, but make sure you plug the holes and fill in those gaps fully by tailoring your sales coaching process so that you get true ROI out of your training investment.

The research and my more than thirty years working with leaders and their teams reveal that in even moderately challenging situations virtually all leaders use a mindset that undermines team results—what I call a “unilateral control” mindset. When you use a unilateral control mindset, you try to achieve your goals by controlling the situation. You try to influence others to do what you want them to do while not being influenced by others. When you’re working with people who see things differently from you, the essence of your mindset is simple: I understand the situation, you don’t; I’m right, you’re wrong; I will win.

Values of the Unilateral Control Mindset
When you operate from a unilateral control mindset you use a mix of the following values:

Win, don’t lose. Having goals is essential to being effective as an individual, team, and organization. But when you use a unilateral control mindset, you see challenging situations as a contest in which there are winners and losers. You see others’ claims or behaviors that don’t support your view as getting in your way.

Be right. Being right is a corollary of win, don’t lose. When you value being right, you take pride in showing others that your views are—well, right. If you have ever taken satisfaction in thinking or saying to someone, “I told you so” or “I knew this would happen,” you know what it feels like to value being right.

Minimize expression of negative feelings. This means keeping unpleasant feelings—yours and everyone else’s—out of the conversation. This value follows from a belief that expressions of anger or frustration are incompetent behaviors. In short, you believe that little good can come of people airing their feelings on a topic; it only leads to tension, wounded sensibilities, and strained working relationships.

Act rational. You expect yourself and others to remain purely analytical and logical. You believe that if you simply lay out the facts, all reasonable people will agree with you. When you discover gaps in your thinking, you try to prevent others from recognizing those gaps.

Assumptions of the Unilateral Control Mindset
When you operate from a unilateral control mindset you also make the following assumptions:

I understand the situation; those who disagree don’t. Whatever information and understanding you bring to the situation are accurate and complete, and so are the conclusions you draw from them. In other words, the way you see things is the way things really are. If your team members hold different views, they just don’t get it, are confused, misinformed, or simply clueless.

I am right; those who disagree are wrong. This assumption is an extension of the first one. You assume that situations come with right and wrong answers and that your answer is, of course, the right one. People who disagree with you or see it differently are simply wrong. When you hold this assumption, you and the people with whom you are disagreeing cannot possibly all be right.

My motives are pure; those who disagree have questionable motives. You consider yourself an earnest seeker of truth, acting in the best interests of the team and organization. At the same time, you assume that those who disagree with you have questionable motives: they may be trying to increase their own power, control more resources, or even undermine your efforts.

My feelings and behaviors are justified. Because others don’t understand the situation as it really is (read: as you see it), because others are wrong, and because others may have questionable motives, you consider your feelings and behaviors justified. If you are annoyed or angry, if you need to end-run someone to accomplish a goal, or if you summarily pull someone off a project, it’s all justified. Although you might have preferred not to do these things, others’ behaviors left you no choice.

I am not contributing to the problem. You don’t consider the possibility that you’re contributing to the very problem you’re privately (and maybe publicly) complaining about. It doesn’t occur to you that your thoughts and feelings may lead you to act ineffectively. As a result, you see others as needing to change, not you.

Getting Your Team Unstuck
You may be thinking that you don’t use a unilateral control mindset, but almost everyone who uses this approach is unaware of it. When you use this approach you simply think that you’re doing the best thing for your team. And it’s not just you. If you and your team are dealing with high-stakes challenging issues and aren’t getting the results you need, your team members are probably also using a unilateral control mindset.

When you and your team use a unilateral control mindset, you get poor results: the team makes poor decisions that take longer to implement; team working relationships suffer; and team members feel stressed, dissatisfied and unmotivated.

Getting unstuck to get better results takes more than simply changing behavior. You and your team need to change your mindset. Fortunately, there is another mindset that you and your team can use—it’s called Mutual Learning.

¹ The unilateral control values were developed by Chris Argyris and Don Schön, who originally labeled them Model I. The unilateral control assumptions are adapted from the work of Robert Putnam, Diana McLain Smith, and Phil MacArthur at Action Design (1997).

Learn to identify the root cause of your team problems.

Attend the Smart Leaders, Smarter Teams™ workshop:
October 7 – October 10, 2013

1. What do we mean by leadership?

Professor Jean Hartley took everyone through the 5 Ps:

1. Person – personal characteristics and leadership style(s).
2. Position – e.g. a position of authority often creates access to resource pools, but equally there are many leaders who don’t hold positions of formal authority.
3. Process – i.e. between a set of stakeholders, and energising and organising others.
4. Performance – achievements and skills.
5. Projection – both in terms of the qualities the leader projects to others, and which others project onto the leader.

The advice was to consider all 5 Ps as opposed to focusing on just one area.

2. What type of leadership is best?

It depends on the context, and the type of problem the leader is encountering, e.g. Rittel and Webber’s:

• Tame problems – which although complicated are still resolvable because we’ve come across them before and know how to fix them. In these cases leadership is more about applying tried and tested approaches capably.
• Wicked problems – which we’ve never encountered before, and are typically interlinked with so many other factors and issues as to make them incredibly complex and multi-faceted. In these cases leadership is about asking the right questions, and knowing who the right stakeholders are to be involved, and how they should be managed.

3. What skills should a leader possess?

According to Professor Hartley:

• Strategic direction & scanning – what you need to do, and when, and the tenacity to stick to it. The leader really has to believe in it if it’s going to be a success.
• Building alignment & alliances – i.e. the leader as a “connector”, and crucially demonstrating political astuteness – a skill which people accepted was important in Hartley’s research, despite the stigma and “dark arts” reputation of organisational power and politics.
• Reading people & situations – e.g. alertness to different agendas and power pockets.
• Interpersonal skills – a mixture of hard and soft skills, and crucially listening to people and properly communicating with them, as well as understanding different situations and perspectives.
• Personal skills – self-awareness and self-control, being genuinely curious about others, and taking the time to be self-reflective and learn from mistakes and feedback.

How do people learn these skills though? According to Hartley’s research, people tend to learn most through making mistakes, and the inference was that more could be done to enhance training and development activities and programmes.

4. What’s an example of these leadership skills in practice?

The FT’s Caspar de Bono gave a particularly interesting talk which highlighted the importance of strategic direction and planning through his concept of leadership as action that is purposeful, but also creative (changing the paradigm), and courageous (i.e. you are out front, leading the way). In the FT’s case it was about listening to what customers wanted, and sticking to their business knitting while still innovating (i.e. operating broadly the same business model, but through improved digital channels and technology). The key was always to keep a clear idea of the WHAT while allowing the HOW to be more emergent, and informed by stakeholder involvement and analysis.

5. What’s the best leadership style to have?

In short: a mixture, and adapted to the particular business context in question (e.g. its size, stage of development, etc. etc.). Hay Group’s Lubna Haq identified 6 leadership styles, and asserted that the most effective leaders tend to have a minimum of 3 or more dominant / preferred ones:

1. Directive – based more on control and coercion, often more prevalent during downturns.
2. Visionary – opposite of directive and is primarily about building and selling a compelling vision.
3. Affiliative – creating harmony.
4. Participative – involving others.
5. Pace-setting – accomplishing tasks to a very high standard of excellence.
6. Coaching – focusing on the long-term professional development of others.

6. What are the key things to know about leadership?

• A leader should live the cultural values of their organisation, and be visible and approachable.
• Focus on achievements and also the long-term. Keep short-term issues in context.
• You can’t please everyone – confront issues head on and make those tough decisions if necessary.
• Think consciously about your style – is it right for the context you’re in? Is your style transformative or transactional?
• Political astuteness is important – forget about its negative press.
• Optimism is key – particularly during these current difficult economic and political times.

1. The top section is labeled: RATIONALE
2. The section beneath that one is labeled: DESIRED OUTCOME
3. The next one down is labeled: APPLICATION
4. The bottom section is labeled: STUFF TO BE DONE

Now, picture a leader or leadership team confronting a significant challenge in the business: for example the size and mix of a marketing budget. The mountain represents the issue being discussed, whether it’s a challenge, opportunity, problem, or issue. The sections represent how that issue should be dealt with.

Begin with understanding the RATIONALE for the discussion in the first place. Typically, and often unfortunately, this is done relatively quickly… “So we can get on to the action steps, the stuff that really needs to be done!” I would suggest: don’t be so quick to move down the mountain. Fully and completely exploring and understanding the Rationale can make a very big difference to the actions taken in the other sections of the mountain.

In my example, asking insightful questions will illuminate the Rationale more fully. For example: “Why do we have a marketing budget in the first place? What do we really want it to do? Do we mean, “Marketing” or “PR”? Why are we looking to diversify the mix of our spending? Why do we feel we need to spend this amount money in Marketing? Is that the correct assumption?”

From there, the discussion should naturally, and rightly, move to the next section: “What is our DESIRED OUTCOME?”

Again – don’t rush this discussion. “What’s our desired outcome? Beat the competition? Launch a new product? Grow revenue? Be better known? Survive? Expand?” The Desired Outcome is not always what it appears to be at first glance. Really exploring every aspect, both short and long term, will bring it into much sharper focus.

Then move to the next section: APPROACH. Here most leaders excel. “Approach” is simply another word for “strategy”, i.e. determining how best to deliver the Desired Outcome. However, now having a truly comprehensive understanding of the Desired Outcome will have major ramifications on the approach selected.

Finally, this leads to the STUFF TO BE DONE…the tactics. Actually doing the work that is required to get the result wanted.

Leaders often want to move down the mountain too quickly, to get to “Approach” and “Stuff to be done” as fast as possible. This is understandable, and gravity at work!

In fact, for optimum results, leaders must fight gravity. Stay in the clouds of the mountain’s top two segments longer. Long enough, in fact, that you’re confident there’s nothing more to be gained by exploring those segments. Admittedly the cloudy portion of the mountain can get, well, cloudy, with intense discussion; but, they do ultimately clear, and then, and only then, should we allow gravity to pull us lower.

The challenge is on the one hand to know when to let gravity work, and on the other, how long to fight it to ensure truly world class results.

But one thing is clear, we must fight it long enough to ensure all the efforts we will ultimately exert at the bottom of the mountain are the right efforts, produce the best possible result, and actually deliver what was really wanted at the outset.

Looking for more from Eagle’s Flight? Why not download your FREE copy of Accelerating Performance: Learn to get results from everyone on the team!

Don’t Overthink Leadership

Lots of people lead without ever giving it a thought. Some of these are naturally gifted leaders, people who seem to have been born knowing how to lead the way others know how to play a piano or paint. Others may be terrible leaders but they don’t worry about it. In a scene from Raising Arizona, unpainted furniture magnate Nathan Arizona Sr. is talking with police after one of his young children has been kidnapped. Asked about the possibility of a disgruntled employee, he replies, “Hell, they’re all disgruntled. I ain’t running no damn daisy farm.”

But most of us who engage in leadership devote effort and energy to leading successfully. We think, we reflect, we read, we discuss, we consider, we weigh. Even if we’re action-oriented, we usually balance that action with analysis.

That tendency to analyze and think has spawned a thriving industry in leadership. Books, training packages, academic programs, consultants, magazines, websites, and blogs all address our need to think about leadership, to understand what we’re doing. But how much of it speaks to what leaders really need to know?

I happen to know a thing or two about the complexification of leadership. My graduate thesis addressed – take a deep breath – the efficacy of the initiation of psychological structure through the use of directive leadership styles as a negative correlate of role ambiguity and positive correlate of employee satisfaction in workplaces that have undergone a recent reduction in force. In the years since, I’ve made my living as a leadership writer, trainer, consultant, and coach.

Having come through all that education and experience, here’s what I’ve concluded: We leadership experts have made it harder for people to be leaders. Leadership doesn’t require SAT vocabulary words, fancy quadrant models, and research citations from obscure journals. Those things may speak to some people, but they leave a lot of potentially great leaders behind.

Maybe it’s time to get back to the basic idea of what leaders really are: Creators of opportunity for others, people who open doors. The most basic responsibility of a leader is to leave people better off than you found them. You do that by continually opening doors for the people you lead.

If we can hold ourselves successfully up to that simple, all-encompassing standard, we can feel good about our leadership role. If we can’t, no amount of analysis will help us.

For example, Holmes claimed to be able to identify 243 types of tobacco ash and I, in a matter of seconds, found a monograph on the subject in the Journal of the National Medical Association.

Despite the instant availability of information, I would opine that Holmes’s talent would be as much in demand today as it was in 1887. You see, Holmes’ fame lay not in his encyclopedic knowledge but rather because of his skills in deduction. If he were merely a repository of unconnected facts, he would have been “Rainman.” That type of talent comes in handy when you want to win bar bets, but that’s about it.

Deductive reasoning, though, is the new table stakes for business leaders. I just read an article on the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) for admission to graduate school, noting that one of the essay portions in this academic rite of passage is due to be replaced with a section on integrated reasoning. The rationale: “Today’s businesses and organizations demand managers who can make sound decisions, discern patterns, and combine verbal and quantitative reasoning to solve problems. The Integrated Reasoning section will measure these skills,” according to the article.

Integrated reasoning. Deductive reasoning. It’s the same thing, an erudite way of saying that business leaders today are up to their eyeballs in data, and the ability to combine information from disparate sources and draw meaningful conclusions is paramount.

According to Ashok Sarathy, VP of the GMAT program at the Graduate Management Admission Council, “It seems that it wasn’t too long ago that executives would rely on experience and instinct to make decisions. Now, they don’t make a move unless it’s backed up by reams of data and stacks of market intelligence.”

Focus, my fellow marketers, because this is crucial insight as we strive to appeal to those business leaders. First, we must keep in mind that our prospects are up to their eyeballs in data so we have to cut through the clutter and direct them to salient information―something my friend and colleague Ryan O’Neil calls “motorcycle marketing.”

Secondly, we must keep in mind that our prospects undoubtedly will be gathering information from a multitude of sources, making it nearly impossible to control the message. So, our communications must be focused. And by that I mean no room for error.

Just imagine that the estimable Mr. Holmes is on the receiving end of our marketing efforts. If we have even one erroneous “fact” in a webinar or whitepaper, it’s safe to assume that it’ll be noticed and our audience will be incredulous and dismissive.

On the other hand, it’s also a good bet that information presented in a straightforward, thorough and thoughtful manner will be appreciated and given more credence.

Elementary.

First posted on BtoBlog

Recently I joined the training team, taking on small responsibilities for now, and will eventually add on more training to help new hires. It gives me a sense of pride when people can gain something from listening in on my calls or listening to a particular anecdote of a situation that went really well. Being able to offer advice and ideas that helps someone become comfortable in this role makes this a great environment for learning and growing. I am happy to be part of an organization that has an open-door policy, not only for directors and managers, but all BDRs, no matter how long someone has been part of the company. I feel very comfortable walking over to any of my peers and directors to ask their opinion on a situation, knowing that everyone has gone through something similar and can offer advice on how to handle it.

You learn something new every day working in an inside sales environment. Different situations arise with new projects, clients, and prospects. There is always a chance to learn something, and I find that no matter how long you’ve been here, you can teach something to your peers as well as learn something. You just have to be open and willing to listen.

The first time I was asked to have someone shadow my calls, I was nervous that I would not be a good mentor/teacher for the hour or so that I was training, but soon realized that every call is an opportunity to help someone else learn, whether it’s an opportunity passed over, a voice mail, or a conversation with an administrator. It is always helpful to listen to someone who has been on a project for awhile to see how they handle VPs versus managers, and how they make their way through administrators and secretaries to find the most appropriate prospect. Even after being at AG Salesworks for almost one year, I know I have a lot more to learn, and a lot more to offer.

How do you and your senior BDRs help train new hires?

“It’s very hard to be a great CEO,” says Paul Winum, senior partner and global practice leader at RHR International, the executive consulting firm. “Because the job is extremely difficult and complex there are various attributes and dimensions to being great.”

While customers and shareholders are important groups, a CEO has to please – if the employees don’t respect their leader the business will ultimately suffer. But what does it take to be popular among employees and how can HR professionals help foster this? According to career experts, there are five key attributes to keep in mind:

1. Effective Leadership. Personality matters, but even ahead of that a high ranking CEO is one that is an effective leader and is successful at growing the business. After all, no matter how great a CEO is, if the business is hemorrhaging cash and it’s not clear if it will be around for much longer, that CEO is not going to gain the respect of his or her employees. “If they do not make the decisions that will effectively lead the company to be successful, they are not going to be around for very long,” says Winum. “First and foremost people admire and want to work for CEOs that lead winning companies.”

Of the 50 highest rated CEOs on Glassdoor’s recent report, five of them are from companies that are prospering. For instance Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg ranked number one with a 99% approval rating, while SAP co-CEOs Bill McDermott and Jim Hagemann were a close second with a 99% rating. Rounding out the top five were Dominic Barton, CEO of McKinsey & Company who garnered a 97% approval rating, Jim Turley, the CEO of Ernst & Young who got a 96% approval rating and John E. Schlifske, CEO of Northwestern Mutual who also came in with a 96% approval rating.

2. Entrepreneurial Spirit. Even if the CEO has been in his or her job for years or is at the helm of a stodgy company, having an entrepreneurial spirit is one characteristic that a great CEO has. “They have to have that burning desire to create and build something,” says Amanda Augustine, the job search expert for TheLadders.“They have to have passion and belief behind what they are doing. I don’t know anyone that can become a CEO if they don’t believe in the mission.” Nothing builds more loyalty in a company than a leader that came from nothing but was able to crawl his or her way up to the top position. For instance, Xerox former Chief Executive Anne Mulcahy was loved by employees and she started out as a salesperson.

3. Invests in Company Culture. Every company’s culture is different, but the one attribute all high ranking CEOs share is a true belief and support of whatever the company culture may be. According to Winum, employees are drawn to companies that have CEOS who understand how important the work culture is and invests in it. “Employees want to work at places where they can grow their skills and flourish in ways other than picking up a pay check,” he says.

4. Confident Yet Down-to-Earth Personality. Some of the best CEOs are ones that don’t put themselves on a pedestal, opting instead to be confident yet accessible. They are typically smart, forceful and confident, but at the same time humble and good listeners, says Russell Reynolds founder, chairman and chief executive of RSR Partners, the executive search firm. “A CEO should be generous and organized,” says Reynolds. “They should have an attitude of serving, not ‘dominating’ by force.” According to Reynolds, a CEO loved by employees is usually highly ethical, discrete, funny and a visionary. “Having a strategic plan out to five years is essential so people know where you are going,” he says.

5. Visible Both Inside & Outside the Company. Prestige is a motivator when people are choosing a job and if the CEO of the company is well known that can be a reason to join a firm or stay at one. “Employees like to read about their CEO and see their CEO talked about in the news and on TV,” says Winum. “It builds a sense of pride if they are identified with someone who is sought after by an external audience.”

Not only should the CEO be visible outside the confines of the office, but according to Winum he or she should also have a presence inside. That doesn’t mean the CEO has to spend hours each week getting to know all the employees, but he or she can boost morale by doing the occasional walk through at the office, applauding employees with handwritten notes or having a town hall meeting every quarter or so. “The really great CEOs that develop stickiness for the workforce have some degree of personal visibility and accessibility,” says Winum. “People like to feel like they know who their CEO is.”

Author:

Donna Fuscaldo is a freelance journalist hailing out of Long Island, New York. Donna writes for numerous online publications including FoxBusiness.com, Bankrate.com, AARP.com, Insurance.com and Houselogic.com. As a personal finance reporter for years, Donna provides invaluable advice on everything from saving money to landing that dream job. She also writes a weekly column for FoxBusiness.com focused on technology for small businesses. Previously, Donna was an equities reporter for Dow Jones Newswires and a special contributor to the Wall Street Journal. Through the Glassdoor Blog, Donna will provide tips on how to find a job and more importantly keep it.

Periodically, our director would use these meetings as a forum to berate the entire sales staff for poor performance. While our boss was really only talking to a few individuals, he would make comments like the following to the whole department:

You could be out there selling life insurance or printers, but you have the privilege of working for an NBA team. If you don’t want to be here, we could easily find someone else who would kill to have your job.

While this statement was 100% true, it was a disastrous way to address an entire department, and it was also totally ineffective for two main reasons. First of all, this strategy usually impacted the wrong people. The low performers on the sales staff would usually not even be paying attention. If they were, they probably didn’t care or realize the boss was talking to them in particular.

On the other hand, the people who were usually most impacted by this morale-killing message were the high performers. They (myself included) would be annoyed that the boss was wasting their time with irrelevant threats. In addition, some of the high performers would be fearful that their jobs were somehow at risk. After one of these meetings, one of the people I managed at the time (who was also one of the hardest-working people in the entire company) came in to my office and actually started to cry. He was afraid that he was about to get fired!

The other reason why this “motivational” approach is ineffective is that you will never motivate your employees over the long-term through guilt or fear. “Scare tactics” may work in the short-term, but is that really the type of work environment you want to cultivate?

If you want to motivate your employees over the long-term, never address individual performance in a group setting, and do not use fear or guilt as a tactic.

Author:

Pete Leibman is the Author of “I Got My Dream Job and So Can You” (published by The American Management Association). His work has been featured on Fox, CBS, and CNN, and he has been invited to speak at some of the world’s best colleges including Stanford University and Johns Hopkins University.

The following answers are provided by the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, the YEC recently launched #StartupLab, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses via live video chats, an expert content library and email lessons.

1. Smile

People are often so nervous or intimidated that they forget to smile. Remember that you love your company, you are excited by your field and you especially love sharing your passion! Smiling when the host introduces you or thanks you is a must. Not only does it make you relax, but viewers will find you more appealing. Just look natural — no one wants to see a resurrection of the Joker.

- Kim Kaupe, ‘ZinePak

2. Slow Down

The majority of people speak too quickly, even when they are not on TV. When broadcast, it comes across even more. Speak slowly, use pauses for effect and fully pronounce every word in order to make sure your message gets conveyed effectively. Your audience will also perceive you as being more confident.

- Richard Lorenzen, Fifth Avenue Brands

3. Speak Concisely

Nothing is worse than filler words like “uh,” “um,” and “well.” You get the point. Cutting out these extra mumbles will help keep your answers focused and relevant.

- Anson Sowby, Rocket XL

4. Be Yourself

People connect with people, so be your real self. You’re better off showing that you’re vulnerable than coming off as fake. You should also be confident. You are the domain expert. Remember that no one knows more about your product — or whatever you are appearing to speak about — than you, or else they would have invited someone else to appear.

- Lauren Friese, TalentEgg

5. Play the Professor

We always taught our clients to be professorial when they did media interviews. You are there to educate the audience on something new that they are interested in. Like teaching a student, make sure to break it down in a simple way they can understand so they leave with a feeling that they learned something. Just because it makes sense to you doesn’t mean someone else gets it.

- Trace Cohen, Launch.it

6. Practice With an Audience

The best way to combat nervousness is to be prepared. Write a script for yourself; practice what you’re saying and how you say it. Play out how the appearance will go and practice that flow. Practice in front of others. When you arrive for your TV appearance, you will have prepared remarks as a foundation for improvising. You can go with the flow and insert your prepared answers where they fit.

- Kyle Clayton, Jackrabbit Janitorial

7. Be Cautious

Know that the person asking the questions is not your friend. He is in the business of attracting viewers or readers — so the more outrageous, the better. He is looking for a “sound bite.” You want to provide something memorable, but be careful with your answers. Make sure the “sound bite” you leave him with is one that makes you and your company shine.

- Eric Holtzclaw, Laddering Works

8. Work With a Coach

Even experienced speakers work with coaches before big appearances. If you’re talking on TV for the first time, consult with an expert who can help tweak your style to fit the TV format better. As an added benefit, this approach forces you to practice and get feedback. These are both good habits for a speaker to acquire.

- Thursday Bram, Hyper Modern Consulting

9. Focus on One Takeaway

Being on TV is nerve-wracking — more so when you have a lot to say! Try to focus on one simple takeaway that you want to get across. As long as you nail that one point crisply, everything else will be fine.

- Aaron Schwartz, Modify Watches

10. Speak in Sound Bites

TV is a medium that favors short sound bites. Providing commentary that is short and snappy will help you stay within the allotted time of the appearance and will help the audience grasp your expert advice easily.

- Doreen Bloch, Poshly Inc.

11. Relax

To calm your nerves beforehand, remember it’s simply a recorded conversation. You do hundreds of one-on-one talks a year. So don’t freak out about it like you might with your first big speech — a totally unnatural construct for most. Relax, and the cameras will be off before you know it.

- Neil Thanedar, LabDoor

12. Get the Questions First

If you can’t get the questions first for whatever reason, still use your prepared 10- to 15-second statements. When you are asked a question, you don’t want to answer directly because you have something else to say. Rather, acknowledge it and then smoothly transition into what your next point was supposed to be, per your prepared statements. This is better than speaking off the cuff.

- Michael Costigan, Michael Costigan, LLC

Here are a few points to consider to help you earn their trust easily:

• Promote open communication – when you encourage your employees to communicate with you, you not only build trust in your relationship but also help your projects get completed faster.
• Stand by your words – when you promise something to your employees – such as free lunch or dinner when your sales people get enough successful appointments – then by all means deliver on that promise. Nothing destroys productivity and enthusiasm than crushed hopes.
• Give trust in return – showing your employees that you trust them with important responsibilities such as fixing the problems of a big client or managing the telemarketing team to find needed sales leads, will make them strive to excel on that task and prove to you  that you are not wrong by choosing them.
• Spend time just being part of the team – instead of always walking around the office with the air of a strict boss, spend time just chatting with your employees and getting to know them as people. Having lunch or dinner with them occasionally will help build trust and camaraderie, while still maintaining your position as the leader.
• Don’t belittle employees – when they commit errors, and they eventually will, take them into the office and correct them there. Don’t embarrass them in front of their coworkers. By doing this, your employees will see that you value their integrity, and will give you their trust just as you trust they will do better next time.
• Act your position – while it is beneficial that you spend time with your employees as friends, never forget that you are still the boss. Remember to watch your words and actions whenever you deal with your employees.

Earning employee trust can be easy enough, but if for some reason you end up losing it, it will be difficult to regain. It’s the same with your sales leads, which is why you should treat your employees in much the same manner that you treat your sales leads.

This post originally appeared at Callbox Sales and Marketing

In this episode of Marketing Made Simple TV (click the button on lower right to enlarge your view), executive and CEO coach @PattyAzzarello sits down with host Jeff Ogden and discusses secrets revealed in her new book, Rise: 3 Practical Steps for Advancing Your Career, Standing Out As a Leader AND Liking Your Life.

Please note that Patty was also the keynote speaker at the Marketo Marketing Summit.

Patty Azzarello

You will learn in this show:

1. Why working harder is a mistake.
2. The critical need to develop good mentors
3. Why the job description is a snapshot in time and not your real guide

Patty is an executive with over 25 years of leadership experience. She’s also the founder of Azzarello Group, which works with CEOs and leadership teams to help them improve.

Marketing Made Simple TV is a production of the sales lead generation company Find New Customers and is hosted by Jeff Ogden. It is directed by Craig Yaris of Social Ribbit and edited by Kevin Ogden. The show is supported by the show sponsors and syndication sites.

Still, no matter what I say, how certain I am that it’s true, how smart I seem to appear, or how much my words actually mean to others, I am and will always consider myself a fraud. And I’m okay with that.

You see, we are all frauds.

I’m not talking about the kind of fraud who steals money of course. I’m talking about that gap between how we want to appear to others in business and how we see ourselves. I mean, really: Don’t  you still view yourself as a teenager playing dress-up and pretending to be business big shots? Have you passed the bar with flying colors and still, in quiet moments, wonder how anyone can believe you’re their lawyer? How many U.S. presidents have turned a corner in the oval office and, just for a moment, wondered who put them in charge and how crazy those people must have been? In my mind, seeing oneself as a fraud is what makes a good businessperson great.

Knowing that you are not perfect and can improve—and seeing that potential and human frailty in others—can bond you to your employees and clients better. Hopefully, they can have the same insight as you. By allowing yourself to be viewed as imperfect, maybe a little flaky (but not too flaky) or awkward sometimes results in the opposite response that kind of openness might have played out in high school, when everyone was insecure and trying to be invisible. Most people who get up in years recognize that someone’s humanity, not their slickness, is where the honesty resides. Up until the age of 38 (when it miraculously became controllable), I suffered through a mild version of Tourette’s Syndrome. I was never known to scream obscenities or anything quite so pronounced, mostly, I just twitched. I was terribly self-conscious. Had to get in a few fights in high school just to mute a few kids who couldn’t help but make fun of me.

Nonetheless, I looked upon it as more of an annoyance I needed to conquer than anything else. I still dated, had friends, succeeded in the working world despite it, got married, had two beautiful kids and came to terms with the fact that I am imperfect, can’t fix it, and will have to work with it. I’ve seen others like me across the table at meetings with the same affliction. While any of us who’ve had it can tell you a bout of it has little to do with our confidence or lack thereof, it does seem to the outsider that we are not as calm, cool or collected as we may actually be. More than anyone else, we have a tougher time hiding from the world that we are not our facades.

But, you see, perceiving yourself as a fraud is liberating.  You no longer have to put on a front and present yourself as a rigid, perfectly creased businessperson, particularly if you are from an ad agency. Your personality is what is of value there because open people help feed creativity in an agency.

And besides, the more you know that everyone else in the room also views themselves as frauds, the more comfortable you can be selling them on ideas you’re passionate about rather than questioning whether your outἀt or your posture is going to lose the account for you.

1. Update the space

There are many theories that suggest cubicle-style work and flourescent lights are not the greatest for productivity (or mental health). Looking at the space where the workers of the company will be spending the majority of their time is important. The typical ratio of cubicle-to-communal space is 7:3. Think of switching this ratio in the space, and increasing natural light whenever possible. The workers will be more productive and happier not be stuck in a box.

2. Update the system

Keep in mind that if workers are floating around the office in cafe-style environment, they’re going to need a better wireless system and a bigger cloud to do it on. Don’t hesitate to invest money on getting the technological side of the business up to snuff.

3. Cut the paper

Whatever the business is, all businesses need customers. And customers these days are busy, have a million things to do all the time, and they are really into this whole “digital” thing. Make it as easy as possible for customers to do business. And save some trees in one fell swoop.

4. Don’t be limited

The CEO of a company may live in Seattle, have an employee in Texas, and have the employee point-of-contact be someone in the Philippines. This is because of the awesome power of the internet. Today’s CEOs need to not limit themselves to a physical office – even if it is 70% communal space and 30% desks. Also, don’t limit training to four walls – look at ecommerce courses or Skype conferencing with other professionals in your field. Similar to the ability to hire someone from anywhere, business leaders and entrepreneurs can also train with experts all around the world

5. Hire people who are smart

Specifically, there needs to be employees smarter than the CEO. I’m not kidding. CEOs are leaders – they run the business. But they need innovators, creators. And CEOs need to take the advice of these people they hire that are smarter than them. That is what makes a great CEO – the ability to recognize that no single human brain can solve all problems.

Mastering the art of deal making is no easy task, but a necessary skill for transforming an everyday company into a business empire. Sure, prominent dealmakers have made many mistakes to get to where they are today, but in Donald Trump’s own words, “What separates the winners from the losers is how a person reacts to each new twist of fate.”

Many in the M&A industry look to industry leaders like this for inspiration in their own professional careers. Firmex is a virtual data room provider that works closely with investment banking professionals. They brought together a list of some of the greatest M&A quotes of all time, to celebrate the true art of deal making.

 View the full Slideshare presentation by Firmex here.

In the past I have been honored to give the commencement address at some lauded institutions that I’m not sure would have granted me admission as a student. Of course I did my best to celebrate the occasion and impart some inspirational encouragement to the uninitiated and unsuspecting. But something rather remarkable happen recently that got me wondering about the advice I give – my daughter graduated from university. Given my surname it’s safe to assume that I am able to access my inner Dutch Uncle on demand whether it’s appropriate for the affair or not. Thus I thought I would take this opportunity to impart some real world suggestions to my own brood as well as those of you who are graduating:

1. Less Dreaming; More Doing: So you have big dreams. So does everyone else on this planet. Just watch your favorite reality television program and witness what enthusiasm without considerable practice or natural talent gets you. As your grandparents might say, “If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.” By the way, while you are daring to dream right now there is a student fueled by ambition in some developing country learning English and taking that entry level position that you don’t want. Better get to work now if you hope to really make your dreams to come true.
2. Opportunity is More Important than Money: Take a good look at your folks. Maybe your Mom always wished she could have been a painter or your Dad wanted to ride a motorcycle across Australia – or was it the other way around? Years on the unfulfilled aspirations of youth linger. Sure outrageous fortune intervenes. It always does. But when you are young the table stakes are minimal. With each passing season you will become more responsible to those entrusted in your care and the price of these memorable opportunities will be well beyond your limit. Build up your experience reserves and draw on them later when it’s time to make some money.
3. Lose Your Friends Who are Losers: Your drinking buddy will develop a drinking problem. Your sorority sister will ride the relationship roller coaster the rest of her life. If you are a reasonably resourceful and responsible person they will latch on to you like a drowning demon and will do their best to pull you to the bottom with them. What makes a good friend never changes but the circumstances do. Yes, be the very best friend you can but understand that you can’t help those who won’t help themselves. Sometimes you just have to let go.
4. Live Where the Cool People Don’t: Do the numbers. The popular press would have you believe that there is only a small scattering of cool cities with hot jobs. If you are only one of a hundred new graduates migrating to these places your buzz will simply become part of the white noise – just another pair of designer shoes and a fancy haircut on the bus looking for fame and fortune that probably will never arrive. Improve your odds. Move to some place that actually needs your creativity, energy and sense of destiny. Chances are you may even develop some choice skills that make an impact right away. You might even come to like the place. Oh yeah, and the rent is considerably cheaper.
5. Get a Dog so at Least Someone Always Loves You: Yes your folks love you – most of the time. And your boyfriend loves you too – for now. But there will be days when your life sucks – the itinerant job, the maddening boss or the belligerent client. But dogs love you the way you wish everyone loved you – all the way – all the time. They heal your booboo and warm your toes and make the sunshine on a cloudy day. Of course you should only get a dog if you can take good care of it for the duration of its life. Who wants a treater? Cats are nice too if you are up for a little more sophisticated relationship.
6. There Are No Self Made Men… or Women: Sure your Dad talks about how he worked in the factory all summer to make tuition when he went to school. The truth is that he was lucky to get a good union job that paid enough to go to college back when it was actually affordable. More so, somebody that he knew from the neighborhood or church or the baseball team gave him the inside track to that job. That’s how it was done back in the day. We are all indebted to someone who gave us our first real chance and all we can do is repay it forward to the next generation. Those who believe themselves to be self made are overshadowed by their own ingratitude. Be sure to appreciate those who help you along – and remember to tip your waitress.
7. Everyone Reads their Own Horoscope First: Nobody cares about you as much as you do. Your friends and colleagues will talk about the great us but from the limited perspective of their particular me. What this means is that you may be passed over for promotions or invitations or other happenings precisely because they aren’t thinking about you first. So try reading their stars instead. What do they want? How can you help? What’s in it for them? Understand how others are navigating by starlight and you have a better chance of successfully reaching your own destination.
8. Luck is Way Better than Talent: Ask someone you really admire how they got their first big break and they will ramble on about wondrous luck or a blessing bestowed or how they were in the right place at the right time. This doesn’t mean that they didn’t crack the books or work hard or live well but rather that they were prepared when fate did indeed intervene. The point is you have to be ever vigilant in looking for your opportunity or it will surely pass you by. Embrace it – its kismet – give it a comfortable seat so it will stick around.
9. Love Isn’t the Answer, Like Is: John Lennon was wrong. It happens. Watch the old couple holding hands in the park. Listen to them talk. They still enjoy being around each other. They share interests and history and friendship and perhaps even intimacy. They are compatible – “capable of existing or living together in harmony.” OK, maybe it’s just a different kind of love – the version that can’t be sent by your cell phone. But while the red hot embers of passion bring you together when you are young it is in liking your mate that keeps you together.
10. What You Put In Is What You Get Out: Shortcuts usually lead to bad neighborhoods, traffic jams and dead end streets. Go to medical school for only a year and you will probably do more harm than good to patients in need. Flip houses and the day will come when they flip you. Get married on the third date and you are undoubtedly in for some unpleasant surprises. Regrettably, we are becoming a nation of short-cutters – get rich quick, true love via speed dating and the four hour work week. If you like what you do you will seek out ways to do more of it – not less. Take your time. Life is short enough. Enjoy the journey.

Congratulations to all the new graduates who have successfully accomplished this most impressive of endeavors.

Story of the 3 Letters

A young manager is going through a job transition with an outgoing manager. The outgoing manager cryptically imparts his wisdom in the form of 3 letters. The instructions are simple: The first time “stuff hits the fan”, open the first letter. Open the second letter for the second incident, and open the third letter for the third incident.

The young manager gets a great start on his new job, but then reality sets in – and problems come up. As the pressure starts to mount, the manager remembers the three letters. He goes back to his desk and opens the first letter – which reads…

Blame Your Predecessor!

This sounds like a great idea to the young manager. Heck, the old manager isn’t even around to defend himself! Company management buys the excuse, and the young manager is back to smooth sailing…for awhile. But business has a way of getting complicated, problems arise, and the young manager finds himself in hot water again. In desperation, he goes back to his desk and opens the second letter – which reads…

Blame Your Employees!

The young manager is reluctant to do this, but this is his neck we are talking about here! Either the employees take the fall or he does, so he tells management that he doesn’t have the right resources. Management buys his story, and he cleans house and hires new employees. This reorganization buys him a lot of time because he has brand new employees to ramp up. But the young manager never addressed the root causes for a lot of his problems, and “stuff hits the fan” again. The manager goes to the desk for his salvation and opens the third and final letter – which reads…

Prepare 3 Letters!

The moral of this story is that you eventually run out of scapegoats! If you always look to blame others, or blame extenuating circumstances, you eventually run out of targets for your finger-pointing.

Who is YOUR Scapegoat?

Denver had two likely scapegoat candidates within the last year:

• The Denver Broncos rolled through the 2012 regular season, and they captured the #1 seed in the AFC playoffs. They then lost to the underdog Baltimore Ravens, in Denver, because of their fear of failure. Fans demanded that Coach John Fox be fired because his ultra-conservative play-calling contributed to the playoff loss.

• The Denver Nuggets had a special basketball season in 2012/2013, and they won the most games in franchise history. They secured the #3 seed, and home-court advantage, only to lose the playoff series to an incredibly hot-shooting Golden State Warriors team. I avoided listening to sports radio for a week because I knew what the average fan would be saying. Sure enough, they are still talking about how they want George Karl fired,and they will beat that drum through a long offseason.

In both of these cases, the teams lost in the playoffs – not individuals! To date, cooler heads prevail in both organizations, and both coaches deservedly retain their jobs.

Who is YOUR scapegoat? We’ve all had them. Perhaps we blame our parents, our spouse, our kids, our boss, our friends and neighbors. At some point in our lives, situations go off track, and we look around to find out who or what is to blame. Maybe you had the worst possible scenario: YOU became the scapegoat for someone else. It’s a terrible feeling, right? In some cases, it can be hard to recover both reputation and confidence.

Let’s hear your stories, your case studies, and perhaps your success stories as you either (1) chose to remain team-minded vs pointing a finger, or (2) recovered after someone set you up to take the fall.

Meanwhile, enjoy the story-telling below.

I love the concept behind Stan Phelps’ 9 INCH Marketing; the name refers to the average distance between the brain and the heart of your customers and your employees. 

As Stan says: it’s the longest and hardest 9″ in marketing. At its core, the concept is all about winning the hearts and minds of your customers and your employees. In CX Journey speak, it’s a long, slow journey for such a short distance.

Stan published his first book, What’s Your Purple Goldfish, early last year to help with the customer mind-heart journey; about a month ago, he published What’s Your Green Goldfish to help with that mind-to-heart employee journey. I would recommend getting your hands on both books!

Today, I want to focus on What’s Your Green Goldfish. I was excited to read the book because I was really starting to think that there are just too few companies focusing on the employee experience. This book gave me hope. Trust me – there are many more companies out there that have their work cut out for them in this area, but these 1,001 examples of how companies take care of their employees are refreshing!

The Green Goldfish book is filled with a lot of great ideas and approaches to understanding employee engagement, but I like that Stan carries the 9 INCH theme through this book. He outlines the 9″ between the head and the heart of the employee and gives examples for every inch along the journey. As I read about each of the nine inches, I couldn’t help but think of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Check these out and see if you agree. (Note: Stan sent me a preview copy of the book; the final version may have different names or different orders to the 9 inches than what I’ve outlined below.)

Stan calls the first three inches “The Basics,” defined as creating a stable environment.

First Inch: Onboarding/Food and Beverage
Make a solid first impression with your employees. Get onboarding right and get your new hires started off on the right foot. Stan says that less than 25% of companies have a formal onboarding process.

Second Inch: Shelter and Wellness
Your workspace, your physical environment, where you work – these are all important to moving to the second inch of the journey. In addition, supporting healthy living and healthy behavior results in healthy, happy, productive employees.

Third Inch: Time Away and the Modern Family
Having time off is key, but in the States, we have the fewest number of days off work every year. Typically, full-time employees get two weeks, plus maybe 10 holidays throughout the year. Here’s the problem: many of us don’t even take what we get. As David Murphy of North Face said: “Vacation days are like aspirin; they only work if you take them.”

The other component of the third inch is the needs of the modern family; this doesn’t just refer to same-sex couples but also to spending time with family, caring for elderly parents or ill family members. Companies who support all of these scenarios are well ahead of the pack.

Stan refers to these next three inches as “Belonging,” defined as enabling high-functioning teams and recognizing their efforts.

Fourth Inch: Retirement and Flexibility
Flexible work arrangements improve satisfaction and productivity. I can speak to that. I work from home, and I always say that I get more done in six hours at home than in 10 hours in the office. I love working from home.

As for retirement, both matching and contributing along with retirement planning services help to prepare employees for the “after life.”

Fifth Inch: Team Building and Transparency
Being part of a team and feeling connected to those you work with, all working to achieve a common goal, is critical to employee engagement. Working in an open, transparent environment toward that goal is even better.

Sixth Inch: Attaboys and Attagirls
Without a doubt, recognition for your work gives you that sense of accomplishment and belonging. We feel like we’ve added value, while at the same time, it boosts our own sense of worth.

Stan calls the last three inches “Building,” which he describes as empowering employees to learn, give back, and take control of their destinies.

Seventh Inch: Training and Development
Wouldn’t you be excited about working for a company that helps you (or wants you to) grow as an individual and as an employee? That includes both in-house and external training, as well as tuition reimbursement. Both companies and employees benefit from this leg of the journey, where companies truly invest in their employees.

Eighth Inch: Giving Back and Paying It Forward
Making it easy for employees to give back, pay it forward, and offer up their time to serve those in need certainly shows that the company cares about humanity, in general.

Ninth Inch: Empowering Dreams and Goals
Stan describes this final inch of the journey as enabling employees to do their best. Help them find their way, support them with training and resources, and then step aside so they can do what they need to do.

Love this quote from the book by Google’s Chief People Officer Laszlo Bock when ask why Google sets the gold standard for taking care of customers:

“It turns out that the reason we’re doing these things for employees is not because it’s important to the business, but simply because it’s the right thing to do. And from a company standpoint, that makes it better to care than not to care.”