Fuel for the Economy

I remember my 1966 Mustang. I sold it for $600 in 1976 before going to grad school and I'm still kicking myself over that! Everyone loved Ford in those days. But it's not easy to believe in Ford these days. The auto giant has lost over $15 billion, closed factories, shed tens of thousands of jobs, sold-off Jaguar, Land Rover and given-up the No. 2 position in sales to Toyota!

Their new Chief Marketing Officer, James Farley, formerly with Toyota, was rehearsing for his speech to dealers, stockholders and company leaders. As the lights dimmed, Mr. Farley didn't calmly announce his future plans or quote statistics. Instead, he spoke from the heart, revealing a depth of passion for Ford that turned the room dead silent. He became swept up in the emotional power of the moment. "I believe, in many ways, the future of Ford is the future of our country," he said. "The work here is simply more important than the work I was doing at Toyota." When he finished, the dealers rose for a standing ovation that left Mr. Farley momentarily stunned. After the applause died down, he savored the reaction. They were waiting for someone to believe in.

Computers, automation and mobile connectedness has had a strange impact on people today. It has caused a desensitization of emotional response. We want to quantify and analyze everything. It is draining the passion and heart from all that we do. I would like to encourage business leaders today to let their true emotions show. Cry real tears, quake with true laughter and shake with anger if you must. Don't downplay the power of REAL EMOTION. Your team is depending on your genuine emotional display to motivate them. It is the fuel for their continued belief and a precursor to talking action!

Have a great week!

-Mark Deo

How beliefs affect your Sales Team

It's 10 am on Monday morning at Hal Company.  Everyone knows it's time for the sales meeting run by Jay, the sales manager.  Jay begins by describing the company's successes over the last week.  He mentions that Martin gained commitment from a new client.  Everyone claps for Martin but he's not there.  As Jay continues to talk about the company's goals, he notices Sam disengaged, reading through what appears to be a contract.  Adam and Valishia are always upfront.  They thrive on these meetings.  Jay knows that they both rely too heavily on excitement to keep their sales up.

Jay has a problem, but it is hard to see.

Now, let's investigate the real issues.

Martin is at his desk working on a proposal.  He doesn't see the need to attend the meeting.  From his experience at a large company, he found meetings to be a complete waste of time.  In addition, he and his old compatriots would frequently joke about tactics they each used to escape meetings.  This cemented the belief that "Meetings are useless, so I won't attend." 

Jay has experienced difficulty changing this behavior.  He has pulled Martin aside on several occasions and requested that he attend the meeting.  When he doesn't, Jay permits it to slide because Martin is bringing in more sales than anyone else.

Jay notices that Sam is consistently disengaged in various settings.  In other meetings and trainings, Sam usually has something to distract him.  While sitting with clients, Sam spends more time talking than listening.  This prevents him from attaining a high level of sales.  He believes that what he has to say is more important what others have to say.  This gets in his way.

Adam and Valishia learned once-upon-a-time that sales is an excitement game.  They believe that if they stay excited, they will close more sales.  Because of this, they attend every meeting, event, internal and external training, and industry meeting.  The problem is they spend more time meeting people and very little time selling.

From the article, "How Beliefs Affect Your Resiliency" we know that beliefs can't be changed directly and aggressively.  They must be changed through coaching.  We recommend professional coaching because changing beliefs is difficult, but permanent. 

In lieu of using a professional coach, we would recommend that Jay sit down with each of them, explain how beliefs work (from the article mentioned above,) and asked questions that get to the heart of their belief.  Asking questions such as, "You didn't attend the meeting, this was the behavior.  What was the expectation behind that?"  He may say that he expected no value to come from the meeting.  Then ask him, "What belief creates this expectation?"  He may say something like, "I believe that all meetings are a waste of time."  Then ask him what would need to happen at a meeting to make it valuable for him to attend.

Once you know, ask him that if you incorporated this new concept into the meeting, if he would attend.  Then ask why he would attend.  His answer builds emotional value into the meeting.

Follow a similar format with the other individuals.

This article was written by SBA Network Consultant Cory Halbardier.

SALESPERSON:  If you are a salesperson, receive a FREE copy of our audio program Being More Productive by sending an email to me at cory@sbanetwork.org with the name and email address of your sales manager.  We will send him this article along with a special audio program titled Motivating Your Staff. 

SALES ADVANTAGE: We are starting the next session of the Dale Carnegie Sales Advantage class.  If you are a salesperson who wants to learn the structure of effective sales, or just to improve your skills, the new class starts March 17^th.  Sign up today by contacting Aaron Kent at aaron_kent@dalecarnegie.com or 562-426-8327 x210.

Have a great week!

-Cory Halbardier (cory@sbanetwork.org)

Your Employees and Your Bottom Line: Getting the Most Return From Your Workforce Investment

It's more important than ever to get maximum return from your employees. Change-management expert Morris Shechtman tells you how...and it has little to do with increasing salaries.

They say that time is money. And while that old adage still rings true, in today's business environment it might be more accurate to say that people are money, or rather, that the time and resources put into recruiting and training your employees takes money. And don't forget that there is a direct correlation between employee productivity and your organization's bottom line. So how do you get the best return possible on the investment you make in your workforce?

According to Morris Shechtman, change management expert and author of the book, Fifth Wave Leadership: The Internal Frontier, you need to focus on internal issues and develop the workforce you have. Just because the current state of the economy means that more people are looking for work doesn't mean that they are the right people for your company. Instead of viewing employees as expendable, Shechtman insists that you should be deliberately creating an environment where they can thrive.

"Employee retention is still a very big issue," says Shechtman. "It always will be, regardless of the state of the economy. After all, the key to long-term growth and productivity is a workforce that's familiar with your company and in sync with your business goals. Your workplace should excite and motivate your employees, so they'll want to stay around. And that means creating an environment that challenges people and helps them grow not just as employees, but as people," he adds.

"Most employees if given the choice between a nominal raise and a great work environment, will choose the latter. After all, so much of our lives are spent at our jobs. And making the job site an emotionally challenging and motivating environment is key to retention and productivity."

This theme - fostering what Shechtman refers to as "self-information" - is thoroughly explored in Fifth Wave Leadership. It essentially means that people want their jobs to teach them about themselves, to provide valuable information that not only makes them more marketable in today's marketplace, but that also helps them become better spouses, better friends, better people.

So how do you foster a growth-oriented workplace? Shechtman offers the following insights and tips:

Forget monetary incentives: focus on relationships.

Fat salaries and bonuses, more vacation time, and other such perks will not increase employee loyalty. All they do is create a bigger sense of entitlement. They tend to tie people to your company in the same manner that one trains a dog to stay in the yard - until that is, the company across the street offers a bigger, juicier bone. But creating a culture in which better relationships are valued gives employees a more profound and rewarding reason to come to work every day. Only through relationships can people change and grow...and personal growth is a requirement for survival in our increasingly complex world.

Help your employees find their familiars.

What is a familiar? Simply put, it's a feeling state we return to again and again. It is an emotional pattern that holds tremendous power over our choices, our relationships and our careers. Rooted in our families and our upbringing, the familiar is a feeling that we unconsciously reproduce, sometimes to our benefit, but often to our detriment.

For instance, the eldest child of a large family might have grown up having to subrogate her needs for the needs of the younger children. Perhaps she was told she was selfish for asking for things for herself. It is no mystery that as an adult she is frustrated at work and has trouble communicating her needs to her boss. Her familiar (the feeling that she doesn't really deserve to ask for anything) is reproduced in her work environment, where she is unable to assert herself.

You can help your employees tremendously by learning about familiars and encouraging your employees to identify (and subsequently diminish) their own.

Question employees relentlessly.

A big part of creating a growth-oriented workplace is to constantly question your employees. "Did you notice what you did there?" "Why do you think you said that?" "I noticed that when your position was challenged in the meeting, you didn't defend it; why do you think you backed down?" Creating a "question culture" will help employees ferret out their familiars. It will raise performance expectations throughout the company. It will train employees to think carefully about how they do their jobs and ensure that they have sound reasons for every decision they make.

Encourage conflict and confrontation.

Yes, you read that right. The purpose of the workplace is not to make everyone happy; it is to grow people to their maximum potential. As Shechtman writes: "The enormous popularity of consensus decision-making/negotiation, participatory management, and self-directed work teams is a sign of the times that is validating our unhealthy quest for comfort above all."

Conflict and confrontation are rarely pleasant, but they are the very definition of teamwork. They are also necessary to growth relationships.

Provide honest, caring feedback.

You should constantly tell your employees how they are coming across, or how they are doing. It goes without saying that sometimes this feedback will be negative in nature. Honest feedback can be painful for both parties, but it is the backbone of a growth organization. A relationship without honest feedback is what Shechtman calls a "mutual toleration society." He maintains that unconditional acceptance "in both personal and professional relationships" is a form of abandonment, robbing the other party of the most important catalysts for growth and change. (Hence the reason the feedback is labeled "caring.")

Practice the art of self-disclosure.

Of course, feedback cuts both ways. You want your employees to provide it to you as well. One way to do so is through self-disclosure. If you want to turn a stagnant employee relationship into a growth-oriented one - or start a new relationship out on the right foot - share your feelings first. This is a big risk because you don't know how the other person will respond; you must be prepared to deal with any type of reaction you receive. But it's a risk worth taking because you can learn a lot from your employees. Self-disclose often and you teach by example the kind of relationships you expect to flourish in your company.

Form an accountability group.

Many people fear receiving or giving feedback; they don't want to show others a weakness or make someone else uncomfortable. Put them in the right setting, however, and they may be willing to provide others with clear and compelling feedback. Accountability groups are one way to foster such feedback. In these groups, people give and receive feedback, create action plans based on that feedback, and hold group members accountable for implementing their plans.

"I have found accountability groups to be amazingly effective in helping clients overcome their debilitating work and personal problems," says Shechtman, who writes at length about these groups in his book. "Done correctly, they really can lead individuals and organizations to transform themselves from the inside out."

It's worth adding that the actions detailed above are almost certain to increase your company's productivity. After all, people who are personally and professionally fulfilled are better employees. This alone is enough reason to foster a growth-oriented workplace, especially given our current economy. But the big reason has more to do with tomorrow than today.

"Creating a work environment rich with opportunities for self-discovery is an investment in the future of your company," Shechtman concludes. "It's seldom an easy journey, but it's one you must undertake if you want to attract and retain talented employees. Begin it now, and when the economy rebounds, your employees won't leave you for greener pastures. Why would they? Your company will be meeting needs far more important and compelling than a biweekly paycheck."

This article was written by Morrie Shechtman of Fifth Wave Leadership, who will be presenting on March 15th, 2007 at the C-Suite Briefing in Long Beach, CA. Click here to find out more.

What are your People Doing?

From time to time I ask other members of our network to submit an article that is valuable to entrepreneurs seeking to improve their performance. This week David Shechtman, one of our SBA Network consultants, talks about how to ensure that our staff are in alignment with our company's strategic goals. Also listen to Matt, Cory and I as we interview David Shectman this Friday at 4pm LIVE. Go to: www.markdeo.com to listen live.

Well, they're probably doing what you hired them to do or what they were trained to do. But why aren't things working?Because the world around them is changing and your business is probably following suit.

So, what does this mean? It means that your people - a critical resource that 43% of CEOs say finding and retaining is their greatest challenge¹ - aren't engaged in processes and activities that support your company's strategy.

The reality is that your company may be evolving into a completely new type of organization with a totally new set of strategic objectives. But do your people even know about it; let alone what to do about it?

Product Leadership, Operational Effectiveness, and Customer Intimacy have been identified as three main strategic objectives in today's marketplace². Each of these objectives, consequently, requires a set of developed employee competencies. For example, in a Product Leadership company, employees need to share information, group problem-solve, and think creatively while in a Customer Intimacy company employees need to build deep relationships, focus on quality, and act independently.

What's happening nowadays is that companies are moving from one strategic intent to another without developing the employee competencies to match. And worst of all, when some managers or employees try to change, their efforts are ignored or punished because the system doesn't reward it. Think about it, some companies used to be clear product leaders. They had a technology or process that set them apart from the competition. Then came globalization, and away went their competitive advantage. So, how do they now compete? By deliver a unique customer experience through customer intimacy. But do their people have the competencies developed to do this. Good question.

As you now try to sort out this potentially complex situation, ask yourself a few questions:

1. Do we as a company see fast and effective change as an important competitive advantage?

2. Do we let employees (or even managers) know what they need to do to make the business strategy successful?

3. Do we support individuals in developing new knowledge and skills?

If you answered yes to all three questions, you're poised for success. If you answered yes to two questions, you're in pretty good shape. You may want to sharpen some skills. If you answered yes to none of the questions - or you don't know - you definitely need to seek help. Adapting to change is not simply a luxury anymore, it's a survival technique.

¹ Survey conducted by the American Society for Training & Development

² The Disciplines of Market Leaders, Michael Treacy & Fred Wiersema

We'll be discussing this on our weekly radio show at 4PM Pacific Time this Friday. To tune in, simply go to our website at www.markdeo.com. We will also be taking calls from our listeners to help with any problems you may be experiencing in your business. Call in to speak with us at: 1-323-443-6878; then enter code: 226287 to get on the air!

Have a great week!

Rally Toward the Future

More than 64% of the working population is bored with their jobs!

That's not my statistic. Blame the American Institute of Management. But why? We have it pretty good in this country, despite all the bad press. Yet workers in just about every field drag themselves through their day looking forward only to the weekend. How could this be when we spend greater than two thirds of our waking hours at work? Could it be the fault of our leaders?

Remember Rudy Giuliani? After 9/11 he became a hero. He was Time Magazine's Man of the Year, knighted by the Queen and one of the most respected politicians of our time. But what most don't realize was that on September 10th he was anathema. New Yorker's wanted to run him out of town! At the time his approval rate was the lowest of any mayor ever to take residence at Gracie Mansion. His eye was off the New York ball since he was immersed in his run for the Senate, he was in the midst of an acrimonious divorce and his relationship with city officials was strained.

Then came September 11. On one of the most horrific days in history Rudy managed to win back the support of the city with just 8 words. What did he say? How could just one sentence transform the attitudes of twelve million people?

Not long after the second tower fell, Giuliani was asked what the final body count was. His response was astounding. Any politician might have said, "We do not have that information at this time," or "Our sources are still tabulating the results," or any number of other dispassionate replies. But what Giuliani said aligned him to the people, won back their trust and demonstrated his understanding and commitment. This is what he said: "I do not know what the final number will be, but I know it will be more than we can bear."

By uttering those words Giuliani demonstrated that he understood what every New Yorker was going through. At that moment the sentiment toward the mayor turned. At some level, maybe instinctual or visceral, Giuliani knew that his job was to connect with the emotions of the people and rally them toward a better future.

As Marcus Buckingham, author of Break All the Rules says, "Great managers discover what is unique about individuals and capitalize on it, great leaders discover what is universal and capitalize on that."

No matter how impressive a leader's experience and accomplishments if they lack empathy they will be unable to instigate change. A great leader must speak constantly of the future in a sincere and passionate way. They must paint vivid pictures of the future coming to pass. This is what will motivate the workforce. This is what will transform the drudgery of their workday into an extraordinary journey toward the achievement of worthwhile goals.

How can you connect with the "universal sentiment" of those within your organization? What can you do, say or demonstrate to make them see the FUTURE that you see? What is your plan for motivating your troops to visualize a better and brighter future? I hope that this inspires you to take action. Webster's defines leader as "a person who goes in advance, showing the way." I encourage you to show your people the way and rally them to a better future.

Care to submit an article or just have a comment? Email me at mark@markdeo.com

Money Won't Motivate Your Team!

It's more important than ever to get maximum return from your employees. Change-management expert Morris Shechtman tells you how... and it has little to do with increasing compensation.

They say that time is money. And while that old adage still rings true, in today's business environment it might be more accurate to say that people are money, or rather, that the time and resources put into recruiting and training your employees takes money. And don't forget that there is a direct correlation between employee productivity and your organization's bottom line. So how do you get the best return possible on the investment you make in your workforce?

According to Morris Shechtman, change management expert and author of the book, Fifth Wave Leadership: The Internal Frontier, you need to focus on internal issues and develop the workforce you have. Just because the current state of the economy means that more people are looking for work doesn't mean that they are the right people for your company. Instead of viewing employees as expendable, Shechtman insists that you should be deliberately creating an environment where they can thrive.

"Employee retention is still a very big issue," says Shechtman. "It always will be, regardless of the state of the economy. After all, the key to long-term growth and productivity is a workforce that's familiar with your company and in sync with your business goals. Your workplace should excite and motivate your employees, so they'll want to stay around. And that means creating an environment that challenges people and helps them grow not just as employees, but as people," he adds.

"Most employees if given the choice between a nominal raise and a great work environment, will choose the latter. After all, so much of our lives are spent at our jobs. And making the job site an emotionally challenging and motivating environment is key to retention and productivity."

This theme - fostering what Shechtman refers to as "self-information" - is thoroughly explored in Fifth Wave Leadership. It essentially means that people want their jobs to teach them about themselves, to provide valuable information that not only makes them more marketable in today's marketplace, but that also helps them become better spouses, better friends, better people.

So how do you foster a growth-oriented workplace? Click here to read Morrie's tips for getting the most out of your employees.

We're almost sold out!

Enjoy a fabulous lunch with Mark Deo and Morrie Schectman TOGETHER on March 15 at the Queen Mary in Long Beach. Morrie will be speaking about accountability and Mark will be showing you examples of how he has used viral marketing to create extradinary results for all kinds of businesses without spending a dime on advertising!

To register for the C-Suite Briefing go to: www.revolutioninandout.com

-Mark Deo

Emotional Quotient

He was considered to be "somewhat arrogant." Many felt he "over-reacted" and was too "emotional" about issues. He was often accused of being "too personally involved" in the details of his business. He took "too much ownership" for decisions, his superiors and colleagues often said. Who was he? Jack Welch, CEO of GE for twenty years and one of our century's foremost business management gurus.

Many people believe that business should be fee of emotions. Business performance often centers on strategic choices, individual and group competencies, work and business processes, technological support, information systems, and so on. There seems to be no place for emotions in all of this. Most would agree that success in business is a result of improved productivity, greater profitability, increased market share, and other hard, quantifiable disciplines. There's not much place for emotions here, either. The fact is that most leaders try to keep emotions out of business. After all, emotions running rampant make things difficult.

Why? Emotional team members can have a significant negative impact on performance. Emotional people can perform erratically, engage in arguments and refuse to work together. The result is generally a clash of egos and the loss of productivity. When speaking of management many believe that "a good manager must never show his emotions!" But is that valid? I would contend that without emotions in business any venture is doomed for failure.

The issue is not emotions in business for the sake of emotions themselves. But emotions in the business environment can and need to be managed. Emotional states can and do influence action and support productivity. Passion is the driving force behind any idea or initiative. All businesses want motivated team members. They spend time and money pumping up and motivating staff. They want to build passion, and what is passion but emotion. So on one hand company's work to create feelings (when it serves them) and on the other they attempt to suppress them. You can't have one without the other. But you can balance emotions and maintain a healthy emotional environment. In other words, you can develop a healthy E.Q. or "Emotional Quotient." Here's how:

1. "Care for people" rather than "take care of them." If we care for people we tell them NOT what they WANT to hear, but rather what they NEED to hear. If we withhold that, then we're not doing them any favors. In fact we are damaging our relationship with them and impeding their success and growth.

2. Encourage open communication and feedback. Don't allow an undercurrent of gossip to permeate the team. Get things out in the open. People who don't intend to change typically complain about the amount of feedback they receive. Those that are open to change, welcome feedback.

3. Connect with how people FEEL, rather than merely what they THINK. Focusing on how people feel about information unlocks their potential to use it in a constructive way. It opens discussions and leads to stronger relationships. Stronger relationships lead to better decisions, and better decisions lead to more profit.

4. STOP avoiding conflict. Success comes through innovation, and innovation comes through discomfort, which is a need to change or improve something. Yet if these forces of innovation are stifled, because of reluctance to deal with conflict and confrontation, your organization may become stagnant and quickly fall prey to the competition. Conflict and confrontation strengthen relationships and improves quality.

5. Make it OK to talk about emotion within the organization. Expressing emotion helps diffuse potential problems. Feelings will seek an outlet one way or another: Either through a direct, productive articulation, or an indirect, destructive behavior that undermines relationships, teamwork and goal achievement. Knowing up front how people feel about issues clarifies direction and focus, and gives individuals the chance to be heard, thereby freeing up energy to grow and develop.

6. Encourage people to be passionate about what they believe. The opposite of passion is mediocrity. Those organizations that succumb to mediocrity will cease to exist in the new economy. Passion incites positive change and positive change is the foundation for business growth. When people are able to share their passion and express disagreement in an open forum, quality is improved. I encourage every business leader to create an environment in which emotions and passion will surface.

Emotions are seldom arbitrary or inconsequential. So we should both recognize emotions and allow them to be experienced. I am not saying that a manager can fully control people's emotions. Nor am I arguing that all negative emotions are necessarily bad. On the contrary, if we were not able to feel unsatisfied, we would not learn, nor could we develop or make progress. Conversely, if we CAN feel satisfied, it is because we have experienced dissatisfaction. Emotions will always be an important part of working and living together. Strong leadership can change the emotional conditions that limit what is possible in a business.

While I.Q. (Intelligence Quotient) may need to be considered for some roles, E.Q. (Emotional Quotient), on the other hand, is far more important in winning support, motivating performance and achieving excellence. In essence, it is our "Emotional Quotient" that may have the largest influence over making the impossible, possible.

Dream Big

Today there's a lot of discussion about vision, mission and goals. In fact I see many companies investing loads of time, money and effort in coming up with their "mission statement." Usually this is a few inspiring sentences that are placed on plaques to hang on the wall or printed on the back of business cards or put on the company web site. Yet I've got to say with few exceptions this often amounts to a big waste of time!

The fact is few of these mission statements accomplish what they were intended to do. That is "motivate employees to perform at a higher level." Ironically, however, after a month or so not even the CEO, let alone the employees can even remember one word of the mission statement.

So does this mean establishing a mission for your company is a useless task?

Not necessarily. Yet in order to understand how to make mission planning a valuable tool we must first understand WHAT a "mission" is. In short a mission is a course of action that a company decides to pursue. It is the road they will travel in order to ensure they arrive at their ultimate destination. It is their plan for achieving their vision. A mission is not something we say, it is something we do.

Leaders of companies often make the mistake of developing their mission in the wrong way. They try to figure out what their mission is before they decide WHERE it is they want to go. Imagine trying to do this when going on a trip. Can you really plan HOW you're going to get somewhere if you don't know WHERE it is you want to end up?

Remember the Cheshire cat in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland? Alice came to a fork in the road and asked the cat for his help.

"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?" asked Alice.

"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat.

"I don't much care where," said Alice.

"Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the Cat.

Isn't the same true for us? As leaders we see our employees going in different directions or we're just not able to maintain that consistent level of performance that others are achieving. Could it be because we are just a little unsure of precisely WHERE it is we want to get?

Developing a mission is quite impossible until we establish a vision. A destination. We must be able to see it, feel it, smell it and taste it.

This can NOT be accomplished by the employees or a consulting firm. While the vision should be shared by many, it MUST be totally owned by and burning in the heart of the leader of the company. Unless the CEO or UBC as I call them (Ultimate Big Cheese) is totally driven by their vision it will be meaningless in the arms of their employees.

On the positive side however, I have noticed one thing that all great leaders seem to have in common. That is the ability to dream big dreams and create a powerful vision of the future. They seem to have the ability to imagine an ideal future well in advance of creating it.

Your vision is an imaginary creation of the ideal life you would like to live, in every respect. You create it as an expression of the values you hold most dear. Brian Tracy says, "From the very day that you develop a clear vision for whom you are and where you are going in life, you begin to become a superior person, and soon you begin to accomplish superior results."

Here's some advice on how you can develop vision for your company that will help to drive a sense of mission, improve performance and

1. Let your mind float freely - One of the great secrets of success is to "dream big dreams." It is to let your mind float freely into the future and imagine that you have no limitations on what you can be, have or do. Imagine for the moment that you have all of the resources that you would ever need to achieve the highest goals to which you could ever aspire. Imagine you have all the time, money, people, contacts and intelligence that you could ask for to become everything that you could ever become. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "I have a dream," and what followed was a vision that changed a nation. That famous speech is a dramatic example of the power that can be generated by a person who communicates a compelling vision of the future.

2. Create your ideal future - Make a dream list. Let yourself fantasize. What would you like to do? Where would you like to go? What would you like to accomplish? And most of all, what kind of a person would you like to become? Since you attract into your life people and situations that are in harmony with the person you really are, what kind of attributes and qualities would you like to develop in yourself so that you can life the very best life you can imagine, surrounded by the kind of people you would most enjoy? John F. Kennedy did not live to see the achievement of his vision for NASA, but he set it in motion when he said, "By the end of the decade, we will put a man on the moon." That night, when the moon came out, we could all look out the window and imagine. And when it came time to appropriate the enormous funds necessary to accomplish this vision, Congress did not hesitate. Why? Because this vision spoke powerfully to values Americans held dear: America as a pioneer and America as world leader.

3. Create a "shared vision" - I like to recommend a practical exercise to develop your organizational vision. By following this plan you may be better assured that the vision statement that is developed is a shared vision. Plan an uninterrupted time to work on the vision with your most key team members. At this meeting, take an hour to explore your vision. Agree on a rough time frame, say five to ten years. Ask people to think about the following questions: How do you want your community to be different? What role do you want your organization to play in your community? What will success look like? Then ask each group to come up with a metaphor for your organization, and to draw a picture of success: "Our organization is like: a mariachi band - all playing the same music together, or like a train - pulling important cargo and laying the track as we go, or "The value of metaphors is that people get to stretch their minds and experiment with different ways of thinking about what success means to them." Finally, have everyone share their pictures of success with each other. One person should facilitate the discussion and help the group discuss what they mean and what they hope for. Look for areas of agreement, as well as different ideas that emerge. The goal is to find language and imagery that your organization's members can relate to as their vision for success.

4. Caution: Do not try to write a vision statement with a group. (Groups are great for many things, but writing is not one of them!). Ask one or two people to try drafting a vision statement based on the group's discussion, bring it back to the group, and revise it until you have something that your members can agree on and that your leaders share with enthusiasm.

Only when you have a clear vision of the future that everyone is excited about can you begin working on the mission or path that you will take. Following this will be the goals or steps along the way. A clear vision will allow you as a leader to propel your company forward. It will make daily decision making far easier for every member of the organization. It will allow the organization to move initiatives forward with greater speed and agility. It will motivate a higher level of performance and commitment among your team.

So don't be afraid to DREAM BIG because no big thing was ever accomplished without some small person dreaming it first!

Do You Mean:?

The young mother was waiting anxiously for her 12 year-old son to come home from school.

As the boy burst into the front door and leaped up the stairs, taking them two at a time, he gave his mother only the most cursory glance.

"I'm getting my glove and going to the park to play ball."

"Not until we talk," his mom cautioned.

"Aww, about what mom?"

"How was school today?"

"Okay."

"What did you learn?"

"Nothing."

"What did you talk about?"

"Nothing."

"Do you have any homework?"

"No...Can I go Mom?"

"Okay, just be back in time for supper"

After her boy left the mom felt poorly about her inability to engage her son in a meaningful dialog about school. While she was truly interested in his schoolwork and felt she was asking the right questions, she wasn't getting the answers that she hoped for. Yet, if he didn't have any homework, there didn't seem to be a problem in letting him go out and play. Still there was a nagging feeling that something was unsaid or unfinished.

How many managers have had that same feeling when talking to an employee or team member about the status of a project? How many salespeople have felt that way after talking with a client? Often times in business we seek to have a meaningful conversation with a customer or employee and get "stonewalled." Is this because they are unwilling to put the time into communicating with us? Is it because they are uncommitted? How can we deal with this? How can we build enough value in our communication that people WANT to listen and engage in conversation with us? In order to understand this we need to look at the way we think when listening to others speak.

Thinking is inspired by questions. Einstein himself said, "It is important that we never stop asking questions." Consider this: the average child asks 125 questions per day. The average adult asks six! But after a short time children learn to stop asking questions. Mom and Dad just don't want to answer them anymore and the same thing happens in school. Teachers talk AT kids more often than with them.

Yet questions are the primary way that we learn. The great thinker and philosopher, Socrates taught his students by asking questions. He made them think in order to come up with the right answers. We now call this method of communication the Socratic Method.

Good questions take time and if asked incorrectly they can be an irritant and shut down communication rather than open it. In the dialog above the mother was getting nowhere with her questions. Yet imagine if she could have changed her questions to prompt a more meaningful response. She could have asked:

"Do you mean:..?"

Followed by:

"Tell me more."

For example when her son said school was okay she could have said: "Do you mean it was okay meaning you're glad it's over or okay you're looking forward to going back tomorrow?" This would open the lines of communication and give mom the ability to draw out her son's thoughts and feelings about school.

In business we can use the same principle to elicit a more detailed response. For example if employees tell us that the project is going okay then we can say: "Do you mean that it's almost finished or that you are on schedule? Tell me more about that."

This works well with customers also. If a customer or client says: "we are not ready to move forward yet," you can say, "I understand. Do you mean that something is preventing you from doing so or that there will be a better time to do so? Thank you for sharing. That's interesting, tell me more about that." Again this opens the lines of communication and gets us the valuable information that we need in order to customize the right solution for the customer.

This technique forces the person to take a stand on one of two options and give us more information. So the next time you get stonewalled either by a customer or team member try this technique. I have found it can work wonders on getting even the most tight-lipped people to open-up.

Build A Winning Team

Recently, I was listening to the Tom Leykis show. I am a fan of Tom Leykis. He always has stimulating, shall we say, discussions that really get you thinking. And that's what I like about the show. He was talking about the question, "Why should employees be loyal to their companies?" And, "Why should you be loyal to a company that makes you give them 2 week's notice if you're quitting, yet if they want get rid of you - your butts on the street tomorrow? Why should you be loyal to a company that you work for 10, 15, or 20 years, and then they just decided to down size one day, and you're holding the bag. Why should you do your job better than the next person, when all they're going to do is give you more work?"

Now I can really relate to this and maybe you can too. Let's face it, a lot of us are in business for ourselves today because that's the kind of thing we got sick of. We wanted to our own thing. Because we had a better idea. Like Ford. We wanted to do it "Our Way." Like Frank Sinatra.

But I began to think about the other side. Have you ever hired somebody, with all the good intentions in the world and then found out that they weren't loyal to you at all? They were consistently late. They didn't care about your business or your customers. All they cared about was their paycheck. They just took a day off, because, they felt like it.

Or maybe you put a tremendous amount of time into training this person on your business, and they ended up stealing your clients? Many customer's have come to me, as their consultant and ask me how to deal with a specific employee issue. They say, "Mark, I don't know what I'm going to do with this person. I can't get through to them. They're constantly making mistakes, their slow as molasses, they have no sense of priority, their poor attitude is dragging the entire office down."

So I ask them, why don't you fire them? They say, "Are you kidding, if I fire them, they're going to take me to court and I know I'll lose. Because it's happened before. So I just live with it. But it's costing me money, it's costing me customers and it's driving me crazy!"

Listen folks, you can't live with it anymore. We small business people can't afford to make very many mistakes. We make a mistake and the big guys will chew us up and spit us out - lickety split. And you're going to find yourself working for the MAN again. So "How Do You Build and Maintain a Winning Team."

If you have an employee problem, are looking for ways to get your staff to be more productive, or wondering how you can get your employees to get stuff done BEFORE you tell them to, then you will be interested in what I have to say.

With the help of several member consultants of Virtual Consulting Net.com, we have prepared a "How To - White Paper" on developing and maintaining a winning team. It has been designed specifically for small business managers and provides specific step-by-step instructions for building a strong, loyal team. The good news is that it is now available FREE just for the asking. That's right FREE!

It provides detailed answers to the following questions:

Recruitment

• What are the main factors in selecting the right person for the job?

• Isn't it a crap shoot? How do you know if someone will work out?
• What can you do to find out about a candidates character?
• I often hear people say, "Uhhhg newspapers, I get such poor quality there."
• Where do you look to find the right person?
• How do you get the right person for the right job?
• What are your legal rights?

Retention

• What can we do to keep good people?
• How can we hold them accountable to get their job done properly and timely?
• What if they don't? What kind of things can we do to motivate people to be more timely, accurate and team oriented?
• How can I make my goals, THEIR goals?
• How do I get them to care about my company and customers?
• What if the positive things don't work?

Legal Issues

• How do we let people go without risking a lawsuit?
• Do's and don'ts when recruiting.
• When and how should I conduct exit and entrance interviews?
• How to ensure that your employees do NOT have legal recourse.

AND MUCH MORE. The program also includes the necessary forms for interviews, performance tracking, meeting logs and more. It also provides the names, telephone numbers and web sites for many employee related resources, including governmental agencies, FREE help lines, and small business consultants.

Just so to www.smallbusinesshour.com and ask for the "Build a Winning Team" White Paper and we will rush it right on out to you.

A Matter of Honor

I recently read an article that talked about a high-school biology class where nearly 25% of the students were caught cheating. Apparently they had plagiarized entire sections of their semester-long reports from various Internet web sites. The teacher had isolated the offenders and had given them a failing grade. The parents of these students protested that the failing grade was "too harsh" a penalty for their cheating children. Unbelievably, the school board agreed!

The article went on to point out that a Rutgers University study found that more than 75% of students cheat. The Internet has made plagiarism quite easy. There are many web sites where students can get ready-made reports for all kinds of topics. Schools also have access to software that allows them to catch plagiarists just as easily. But apparently they often choose NOT to use it. Why? Because they feel that policing plagiarism might hurt a cheater's self esteem. In fact, many student groups have attacked the use of anti-plagiarism software as a potential violation of student rights!

My question is… What will happen to these students when they have to compete in the real world? In the real world if you plagiarize, you suffer the consequences. That could mean litigation, retraction and most certainly professional embarrassment.

Ok, I know what you're thinking… What does all this have to do with business improvement?
Everything.

If we really care for people, then we tell them what they need to hear. If we are too concerned about offending them or hurting them then we are in part responsible for their failures. Think of how much those high school students will be hurt in the future simply because parents, teachers and administrators were unwilling to bruise their fragile egos.

Let's face it many, if not most supervisors are at the very least uncomfortable holding their employees accountable. I am not saying that we should create an environment where perfection is the goal. I rather encourage peak performance rather that perfect performance. But it is critical for business owners, manager and supervisors to distinguish between a "mistake of the heart" or a "mistake of the head." A "mistake of the heart" is a situation where an employee intentionally did something that was known to be wrong and tried to get away with it. A "mistake of the head" is when an employee is working hard to do the right thing but, for some reason, it does not work out that way. With mistakes of the head, we should be very lenient. With mistakes of the heart we should be quite strict.

One way to ensure that we are creating an environment where mistakes of the mind are tolerated and mistakes of the heart are not is to make your expectations crystal clear to your staff. Over the years I have noticed that communicating expectations is paramount in achieving peak performance. The following are areas in which leaders should develop clear expectations for team members:

1. Culture - Communicate your company's culture clearly by modeling the kind of behavior that you want to see. If you are looking for more honesty and integrity then model honesty and integrity. Like it or not, they will do as you do, NOT as you say. This starts at the top. If you are a business owner, don't expect your managers to accomplish this if you can't.

2. Rewards - When people do well we should congratulate them publicly. This should be done with great fanfare but in a genuine, sincere way. There's nothing worse than phony flummery or flattery. Give sincere appreciation.

3. Chastisement - When we need to provide chastisement or correction it should always be done privately away from any other staff member. We should be forthright in expressing our disappointment with the staff member's poor behavior NOT anger with them as a person.

4. Correction - When correcting make sure that you communicate the methods and procedures expected. This should include deadlines with non-negotiable dates as opposed to dates that can slip as well as priorities. What's to be done first, second and so on.

5. Performance - Paint a picture of the outcome for your staff. Show them a vision of a "good" job versus a "bad" job. Make sure they understand the degree of effort that you expect them to each contribute to the successful solution.

6. Measurement - Establish a system to measure performance in small increments as well as a format for consistent communication. This forum will give you the ability to ask the right kind of questions to determine whether they are "on-track." At this point you can provide feedback and make suggestions on course correction.

7. Resources - Make sure that they understand the resources that are available to them. This could include staff, facilities, technology, equipment, outside consultants and so on. Encourage them to use the resources to their best advantage but in a cost effective way in order to achieve their goals.

As leaders it's our job to foster integrity, honesty and honor. Team members look to us for confidence, guidance, direction and innovation. To whom much is given, much is required. As leaders we must hold ourselves to a higher standard than anyone else in our organization. Does this mean that we need to be perfect in order to achieve peak performance? Not at all. But is does mean that when we are wrong that we, as Dale Carnegie advises us, "admit it quickly and emphatically."

Remember your team members are not just a resource, they are PEOPLE. As I have said many times, we live in an age of relationships. How can you create relationships that go beyond just getting the job done? And how can we do so with integrity and honor?

Lemonade From Lemons

Coming back from a nice day at the beach recently my wife spotted a lemonade stand by the side of the road. The stand was operated by two young children around 10 or 11 years old. We were a little thirsty so we decided to stop and get a drink. As we pulled up to the stand we could see the excitement in the kid's eyes. They scampered to and fro to prepare the cups of lemonade for two more customers. "Ice or no ice," the miniature salesperson asked me. I gave the child a buck, which included our standard 50% tip.

They carefully poured two glasses of icy drink and lovingly placed a slice of lemon in each of our cups. These kids were thrilled to be able to act as little entrepreneurs. I looked over at the father of one of the children. He obviously was the chaperone for the day. Even he was animated and full of life. He smiled, welcomed us and even thanked us for stopping by. As we left, two more cars were pulling-up and the kids were frantically fixing another pitcher. Our drinks were finished by the time we got to our car but the pleasant warm feeling was with us for the rest of the day.

I couldn't help but think: "If only ADULT entrepreneurs could be as enthusiastic about their business as these kids were about a little lemonade stand." That's when it hit me. WOW! That's it! The reason Kathy and I always stop at these lemonade stands isn't because of the cold drink or the cheap price or even the blessing we might bring to the children. It's because of the way it makes us feel.

Those kids love being lemonade merchants and it shows. They are passionate about making people happy. They feel great about what they are doing and consequently we feel great at being part of their adventure. We are attracted to them because of their sincerity, passion and integrity. It's not about the product, service or the money.

Today people are facing difficult circumstances. They are struggling to make payroll. They are seeking to replace lost business. Almost a year later, many are still dealing with the aftermath of September 11th. Most of us are working diligently on delivering a better product or providing improved service or even trying to do both at a cheaper price. Many are looking at ways to increase profit so they can survive and grow. I say this is only a very small part of the solution.

Chances are your competitors are offering a product or service that is very similar to yours if not indistinguishable in every way. It may even be cheaper than yours. If this is so, then how can we get an edge over the competition? By becoming focused on making customers FEEL good about being involved with our product or service.

We live in the most extraordinary economic period in history. As a result we must take extraordinary measures to ensure our success. This means learning how to attract people to us. Business is about relationships. Whether we're looking to attract business partners, customers, or talent, we must understand that people look closer at WHO we are rather than WHAT we do. This is as true for multinational companies as it is for single practitioners. Why has every business associated with Enron divested themselves of that relationship? Surely not because of poor product performance or substandard service or even low profit potential. The fact is that Enron's product, service and profit potential has been excellent. Yet based on "who they are," no business partner in their right mind would align themselves with Enron at this point in time.

I'm not talking about taking the high moral ground or being a lily-white ethical leader in your industry. I think that discussion been blunted over the last few months by just about every political, economic or social pundit of our day. My point is that we need to create passion in our business as much as we look for ways to improve profit. Here are some "passion creating" ideas that I know will attract the right kind of customers and partners to your business:

1. Be crystal clear about the vision for your business. I get physically ill when I come into a company and the CEO hands me their mission statement. Remember that your DESTINATION is far more important than your mission. It is the end result that motivates and excites people.

2. Seek business relationships that add value to the customer interaction. These are likely to include what I like to call "relationship enhancements." These are variables that are more important to customers than they are to the bottom-line. They could also be relationships that provide access to valuable technologies or complimentary (not competitive) product offerings.

3. Rally your people around the guiding principals of your business. Focus not so much on teaching your people "what" to do but rather "why" you do it that way and how it has strengthened business relationships in the past.

4. Expect more from your people. Hold them to a higher standard. No organization can survive and grow without a system of accountability. As business leaders we are accountable to customers. Our team members must also be accountable to specific duties, responsibilities and levels of performance.

5. Impose your values on others. This goes against the grain. Most would say we DON'T have the right to impose our values on others. The fact is that all we really have is our values. Any job can be taught but can we really teach reliability, honesty, enthusiasm, integrity and so on? Does that mean we should only expect that from certain team members? I say we should hire people based on value consistency and fire them for value inconsistency.

6. Be open with information. Successful people are information hounds. They are always hungering to know more. I believe the more your customers and partners know the more you will be able to incite passion and differentiation.

7. Differentiate not just your product selection, service delivery or profit potential but the emotional quotient in business relationships. Get to the heart of how people feel about your business, product or service. We can't MAKE people feel a certain way we can INFLUENCE the way they feel based on our actions.

What are you doing to attract more customers to your business? I hope it's more than just providing an excellent product, spectacular service or a great value. For these are no longer enough. They can be easily replicated by your competition. Improving relationships is the key element in attracting customers and partners today. You may feel that this easier said than done.
There are however techniques that can be employed to help to build and strengthen relationships.

Team Innovation

Today, businesses large and small like to say they are "team oriented" (whatever that means). I guess it means they work in teams. Big deal. Does that improve their performance? Does that mean that the quality of their product or service is better than the competition? Does that allow them to complete a project more timely, profitably or effectively? Is teamwork really a better way to go about solving problems than say the "hermit" approach? What about Thomas Edison or Leonardo DaVinci or Alexander Graham Bell?

If you've ever worked on a team you know there is one thing that can not be avoided: CONFLICT. At some point someone is going to disagree with somebody else and then, look out! Getting to a simple solution can take hours or days while these two "team-members" fight over minutia. Sound familiar?

Let's face it, often times, teams can hit roadblocks that can sabotage their success. There are a number of things that can be done to ensure good teamwork:

Conflict is Good

As team leaders we must not allow ourselves to think that we solely carry the burden of resolving conflict. I see so may managers, owners and team leaders rush to squish the most subtle sign of conflict within their team. Without conflict we can not reach the best solution. This also places us in a patronizing, parental position that encourages your team members to abdicate personal responsibility for resolving conflict. It keeps them from developing the skills to necessary to grow, mature and hold each other accountable. Allow the team to detect conflict and manage only those that escalate.

Guidelines for Managing Conflict

As leaders we need to model guidelines that set the tone for resolving conflict. In this way we will be educating our team members to take responsibility. These should include:

• No personal attacks
• No heated outbursts
• No backbiting
• No hostile assumptions

Establishing Expectations

Over the years I have noticed that communicating expectations to the team is paramount in achieving exceptional team performance. The following are areas that team leaders should develop clear expectations for members:

1. Work methods - Make sure your team knows the methods and procedures you expect them to follow when completing the job. If they do not they may frustrate themselves by taking the "long route" and end up disillusioned.

2. Deadlines - Make sure that the team fully understands the time frame for completion. This should include non-negotiable dates as opposed to to dates that can slip.

3. Responsibilities - Ensure that every team member understands their role in the team process. This should be communicated one-on-one with each team member prior to establishing the team. Also ensure that the team members responsibilities are consistent with the teams responsibilities.

4. Priorities - It is critical that team members know the proper priorities. What's to be done first, second and so on.

5. Performance - Paint a picture of the outcome for the team. Show them a vision of a "good" job vs. a "bad" job. Make sure they understand the degree of effort that you expect them to each contribute to the successful solution.

6. Measurement - Establish a system to measure performance in small increments.

7. Communication - Establish a format for consistent communication with the team. This forum will give you the ability to ask the right kind of questions to determine whether the team is "on-track." At this pint you can provide feedback to the team and make suggestions on course correction.

8. Resources - Make sure that your team members understand the resources that are available to them. This could include staff, facilities, technology, equipment, outside consultants and so on. Encourage them to use the resources to their best advantage but in a cost effective way in order to achieve their goals.

As leaders it's our job to foster innovation. Team members look to us for confidence, guidance, direction and innovation. What can you do to set the stage for creative thinking in the teams that you lead? How can you get your team to discover the best solutions in the most cost effective manner. Remember teams are not just resources, they are people. As I have said many times, we line in an age of relationships. How can you create relationships that go beyond just getting the job done. How can you create relationships that can produce the kind of Edison, Bell and DaVinci innovation.

Office Politics

Someone asked me the other day: "Mark what do think is the biggest challenge for small businesses today?"

I didn't have to think about this very long. I know they were expecting me to say something about: the affects of the economy or the stock market or the impact of technology or the lack of funding or resources or even the breakneck speed which we are expected to operate at.

But the reality is that these are relatively minor forces when compared with the most powerful force of all:

Office Politics!

If you could walk with my consultants and I, in and out of businesses we each see everyday you would see the obvious yet devastating result of office politics. I believe it is by far the biggest obstacle to change and growth for companies today. Not that this is new. Office politics has been with us for decades. But the changing financial, political and social landscape makes it more insidious than ever and literally threatens the survival of many small businesses and even larger organizations.

Why? Because of the exorbitant cost associated with office politics.

The cost of office politics is a kind of activity-based cost. It includes time lost, waste of resources, low staff morale and ineffective delegation. Some of these costs are tangible but not accountable. Often time this kind of loss is ignored or neglected. Since many political activities are cross-departmental, office politics can render an organization completely dysfunctional in a very short period of time. While it is usually unwise to let office politics freely develop, unfortunately many companies cannot tackle such a political problem and let it erode their productivity and profitability and sometimes even endanger their survival.

Office politics is about the application, distribution and negotiation of power and resources in an organization. This power includes authority (formal power) and influence (informal power). Politics is basically the application of that power. The desire for power is determined by one's personality. Leaders can affect this principal in every organization. Strong, ethical leadership regulates the application of informal power (i.e. influence) to avoid the overuse and abuse of authority. Abuse of authority will lead to a chain of negative effects such as low staff morale, conflict, bias, bad image, poor communication, dishonesty and social conflict.

When ethical leadership exists, office politics will abate. This is because ethical leadership is essentially self-management and self-control as an example for subordinates to follow. It is the strongest influence for change in any relationship. As I've said before, leaders act the way they want their team members to act. Cultural actions cannot be ordered or commanded. Most political office issues are symptoms of weakness at the senior management and organization level.

While every organization is different, most have some type of definable culture. Some call this the organization design. It is essentially referring to the general distribution and structure of authority, responsibilities and resources in the organization. Poor organizational design is a common cause of office politics because ineffective organizational structure allows too much room for the negotiation for authority and resources.

The organization chart in the business leader's mind is far more important than the official one. Ricky W.O. Lau, author of Politics in Business calls it the "hidden organization chart." Often times this means that the leader has bias and personal favor to individual members but does not act openly and his delegation is based on the hidden organizational chart rather than the official one. This is a common yet unfair and very detrimental management practice.

While delegation is the distribution of specific work, responsibilities and authority, in an effective organization, delegation must be based on the organizational structure. Otherwise, there would be structural overlap, confusion, conflict and politics. Conflict usually involves different interests of different people (especially in different departments). Conflict may be minimized if the focus is on the whole organization rather than individual department or individuals. Some management styles may easily lead to office politics because the focus is on the performance of individuals and departments rather than the organization as a whole.

Certainly interdepartmental conflict cannot be completely eliminated. Nor should we attempt to do so. It is important to remember that disagreement is not equivalent to conflict. People may disagree or criticize others if:

1. They view the matter from another viewpoint
2. They have misunderstood other's meaning
3. They want improvement
4. They want to challenge others' position or power.

Out of the above four motives of disagreement, only the last one is the result of conflict and is a political motive. However, when a manager is too politically sensitive, he may mistakenly treat the first three motives as political motives, and interpret the conflict as an intention to challenge his position or power.

Desire of power may be a strong motive to perform, but it may also lead to a negative and destructive result. An effective manager should apply his influential power rather than authority because abuse and overuse of authority can lead to poor relations, distrust, misunderstanding and disorganization.

Are office politics an issue in your business? If any of these symptoms are present in your business, its time to think about making some core changes to your business culture. At the Small Business Advisory Network we like to say that we influence decisions, improve performance and inspire change. That's what our consulting, workshops, web site, weekly articles and The Small Business Hour Radio Show are all about.

Standard of Care

For several years many small business owners have asked me the same questions:

"How can I grow my business without significant capital investment?"

"What can I do to stabilize the trends in my business?"

"How can I out-market my competition in the midst of price erosion?"

"How can I maintain a consistent level of revenue to ensure a consistent level of profit?"

"Why are my people loyal one day and turncoat the next?"

"What can I do to motivate my staff to invest more time and effort in effectively selling or delivering my product or service?"

"How can I eliminate excuses and inspire commitment?"

Because these are the most frequently asked questions, I have invested considerable time and effort in seeking out the EXPERTS and learning their methods in dealing with these challenges.

I have made it my mission to vigorously study the masters in management, sales and marketing. The philosophy that I espouse is an amalgamation of what I have learned DIRECTLY from the leaders in business, such as: Tom Peters, Jack Welsh, Stephen Covey, Peter Drucker, Zig Ziglar, Tom Hopkins, Jay Abraham, Tony Robins, Morris Shechtman and many others. I have found that while these business gurus have different approaches, they all seem to agree on six absolutes of successful business management in the 21st Century:

1. We are entering an age of uncertainty, expanding knowledge and unrelenting change.
For these reasons, what worked in the past will no longer work in the future. Even the most successful companies must commit to continuous improvement. Uncomfortable introspection must become a habit - -a willingness to eliminate dysfunctional behaviors, and a determination to model a culture that can tolerate unpredictability, uncertainty and vulnerability. Old methods must be torn down and new paradigms constructed.

2. "WHO we are" is far more important than WHAT we do.
The increase in knowledge and change has created an "Intra-personal Revolution." Individual performance and quality of life will reach new heights by focusing on the internal frontier within each person. A good product or service is no longer adequate. We must leverage relationships and personal values to gain cooperation and market share. Leaders must first change BEFORE they can expect their team-members to change.

3. Business leadership will be rendered impotent without deep commitment to a pre-defined, consistent value set.
This focus allows organizations to clarify and act on core values, which will ultimately serve to create a tangible and unified culture. Corporate mission or vision statements will be useless without clearly articulated and non-negotiable boundaries that are enforced and protected. Values without boundaries are merely platitudes. There also must be value consistency between decisions. Strong leaders never have two sets of values to choose from. It is more important to make "value-consistent decisions" than it is to make the "politically correct" decisions.

4. Accountability must precede profitability.
Accountability does not exist outside of a relationship. People must be accountable to "someone." No one can be accountable to himself or herself. This will produce conflict and confrontation but that is not bad. On the contrary conflict avoidance must be eliminated. In fact confrontation is the highest expression of love. Leaders must move from "taking care OF their people" to "caring FOR their people." In this new culture to demand less from our employees is as unfair to them as it is to our customers and ourselves. There will be no consistent profitability without accountability.

5. Peak performance must replace adequacy.
Mediocrity, which has become the standard of performance, must become intolerable. Successful leaders should set expectations high enough so they are just barely within reach. They should demand greater effort, invest more time "inspecting" performance and be willing to confront damaging behaviors and attitudes. This will inspire individual growth. Companies cannot grow unless the people in them grow first.

6. Companies must become "learning organizations."
Leaders and their employees who develop the capacity for self-analysis and adaptive learning will have a remarkable competitive advantage. They will win the battle for mind-share and market-share. This includes quantitative as well as analysis both for internal as well as external elements of the business. When the people within the organization resist learning in place of simply performing job functions, stagnation begins.

I have seen what can happen when these six absolutes are satisfied…. Businesses become stable, client loyalty improves, revenue and profits grow, employee turnover drops, new initiatives can be launched quickly and effectively, market differentiation occurs, employees give not out of obedience but out of discretionary effort and there is cooperative, harmonious teamwork. People go BEYOND what is expected of them.

This is not a dream. It can be a reality. I have seen it with my own eyes. It is important to understand that this is NOT exclusive to my consulting practice. I know several consultants, like myself, who employ similar tactics with similar positive results. You see, in business, as in medicine there is a new standard of care. It is a standard that focuses on preventative maintenance and improving health rather than merely treating symptoms and constantly fixing aches and pains.

But as in medicine, the patient must believe they need to become healthier in order to accept treatment. You may be making money, but this is not the only measure of health. Ask yourself these questions:

• Are your sales erratic - up one or two months then down for the next few months
• Are profits unstable or is there a lack of natural growth in the business?
• Is there a high employee turnover rate?
• Is there political infighting, blame shifting or a lack of accountability among your employees?
• Is there an absence of discipline or self-centered attitudes?
• Have dysfunctional behaviors like dishonesty, insubordination or emotional outbursts occurred in the workplace during the last six months?

If any of these symptoms are present in your business, its time to think about making some core changes to your business culture. These changes begin with the ability to cope with the unrelenting daily change in our economy. They are an outgrowth of our ability to change ourselves first BEFORE expecting others to change. They are interwoven with our commitment to a pre-defined, consistent value set. And they are an example of our ability to hold others accountable for peak performance rather than just mediocrity.

At the SBA Network we like to say that we influence decisions, improve performance and inspire change. Let us know how we might be able to assist you to inspire change in your organization.