Normally, I post things on leadership but today, I am posting on life. I happen to live in Kokomo which received news about being on the fasting dying city. Which quite surprisingly was news to us. Well the reporting really raised the hair on my neck. How dare they say this city is dying. The last time I checked. This City of Firsts was filled with innovative, intelligent, brilliant people who –guess what we are still breathing. The article America’s Fastest-Dying Towns does not tell the rest of the story, the story of human spirit. As the Leader Builder, and the champion for the City of Kokomo, I tell you there is a lot of life. And although business and success may look different– We are not down or out, just UNDERESTIMATED. For once I wish the media would choose to listen to Think and Grow Rich and use their power for good and not evil.
Until next time,
Stephanie
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What have you done for your team — your customers and team members lately to let them know you appreciate them.
If the answer is ” Let me see”. Create an action to “Appreciate with an Action”
Until next time,
Stephanie
The old “employment contract” is gone, and employees aren’t
guaranteed lifetime employment anymore. They are responsible for
managing their careers. As a leader, it is a good business
strategy to help them. Helping your staff in unconventional ways
builds trust and loyalty and makes for wiser, more efficient team
members. Here are some strategies to help you cultivate trust and
loyalty.
-Have a “Reading Meeting”. Assign each of your staff a different
industry-related trade publication. Once a week, get your team
together and ask employees to relate any interesting stories,
trends, or products they discovered in their reading.
-Provide in-house seminars. Staff members can benefit from
learning how a business is run: basic accounting skills, financial
forecasting, budgeting, and so on. Use the experts in your company
as resources to conduct the seminars.
-Be a “mentor headhunter”. You can’t mentor everyone; but you can
help your staff find mentors either within the company or through
other networks. Use your influence and standing to reach out to
other business leaders.
Take action, remember, you get what you focus on. When you focus
on cultivating trust and loyalty you will reap the rewards.
Until next time,
Stephanie
Tools for Emerging Leaders: www.TheLeaderBuilderRecommends.com
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Focusing on the customer without connecting your people to profit
is doing business on borrowed time. The experience you provide your
team equips them with emotional leverage to inspire loyal
customers.
- Engagement affects attitude
- Team attitudes affect customer attitudes
- Customer attitudes affect financial performance
- All businesses are in the people business
People want to know what you believe and what makes them valuable
to the cause. Get the absolutes off the wall and help them live
it. Tell team members:
When you do __________
you contribute __________ to the bottom line
and that supports our core belief ____________.
Employees don’t leave companies; they leave relationships and
uncertainty. Anchor your team in the certainty of knowing and
believing. Grounded in clarity, the team can deal with difficult
customer situations or changes in the organizational direction. Get
the absolutes off the wall and into their hearts.
Until Next Time,
Stephanie
P.S. Expand your leadership brand
www.TheLeaderBuilderRecommends.com
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It’s Friday afternoon… Your major client has an issue and is
demanding it be resolved by the close of business. Or you have a
major promotion or event in two days and the attendee information
is in chaos. You pull together the team. What will be the team
response? What is the process?
Many teams fail to get desired results because they don’t have
documented processes. You can determine the strength of a process
when you look at the time and stress it takes to get to resolution
in a ‘crisis’ using your process.
Successful teams and sucessful people have efficient processes.
Just because a process is not optimized does not mean it’s not
a process. For example, how are your staff meetings conducted? Do
you have an agenda or “free for all”?
How do you follow-up with clients? How do you communicate product
benefits to your clients? Your sales success hinges on how well you
have mastered the process of matching benefits to needs and
communicating them to your client.
High performance teams have processes at work in three key areas:
decision-making, client communication and problem solving.
To your success and abundance,
Stephanie
P.S. Tools for the Leader in You
Click here to Quick Start Brand You
Click here to Quick Start Your Keep In Touch Strategy
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As an emerging leader, what you leave behind can either make or break you. Believing that a brand is just for a business or your favorite products is a myth that can cost you thousands of dollars in sales or countless missed opportunities or both. Dr. Jay Conger Professor of Leadership Studies, Claremont McKenna College, discusses your brand as an important aspect of great leadership.
“We’re swimming in advice about how to be good leaders. Bookstores hold remarkable portraits of Donald Trump, Martha Stewart, Jack Welch and others. They all have advice for us. But how many people can “play” Donald Trump? It’s hard to imitate these characters. And if you try, it is usually a disaster. The last person who tried to imitate Jack Welsh was Jacques Nasser at Ford, which is one reason why Ford ended up on the brink of disaster. It’s better to be yourself; beware of who you wish to become.”
“You sit in a powerful spotlight that can be used to energize people, align the actions of the people who work for you, and promote change.”
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Short and Sweet — The thing is no matter how hard you work at it, there will be complaints from clients.
How you handle the complaint or concern determines your depth as a business and as a leader.
One straightforward approach is to really listen to the issue and restate their concerns to them. For example: ‘Am I understanding you were not happy with this part of our service?’
Then of course, you want to find a way to rectify by offering compensation according to your policy. It may be a gift certificate, or a card sent as a follow-up that says ” thank you! Please give us another try on us!
So what if your service doesn’t involve give backs. Your responsibility as leader is to find a way to avoid excuses and re-engage the client.
Until next time, Stephanie
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Short and Sweet — The thing is no matter how hard you work at it, there will be complaints from clients.
How you handle the complaint or concern determines your depth as a business and as a leader.
One straightforward approach is to really listen to the issue and restate their concerns to them. For example: ‘Am I understanding you were not happy with this part of our service?’
Then of course, you want to find a way to rectify by offering compensation according to your policy. It may be a gift certificate, or a card sent as a follow-up that says ” thank you! Please give us another try on us!
So what if your service doesn’t involve give backs. Your responsibility as leader is to find a way to avoid excuses and re-engage the client.
Until next time, Stephanie
I Win vs. We Win
What’s Keeping Your Team from Getting the Results You Want?
In some organizations, the individual department goals prevent
teams from focusing on the team mission. What happens when there
are departmental goals that you are dealing with everyday and then
there is the TEAM thing? The group gets together for team meetings
but their individual co-existing and often conflicting departmental goals prevent them
from making decisions in the best interest of the team. Each member
of the group is working on a different agenda.
Individual goals and metrics are important. The team has to be
familiar with other goals of the organization and determine how
they are going to meet the needs of the team, organization and
company.
As the Synergistic Leader, you get to look and leverage. Look at the all the pieces and leverage for the best results.
Until next time, Stephanie
P.S. In the book, Ready,Set, Engage there is an entire chapter that talks about designing a team to get the results you want. Click here to get a copy of Ready, Set, Engage
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A flock of geese and the leader.
Each member is responsible for getting itself to where the flock is
going. Encourage accountability.
Every member knows the direction of the flock. Share the vision.
Every member is willing to assume leadership when the flock needs
it. Plan for succession.
Followers honk at leaders to encourage them. Open up your
leadership style to accept encouragement.
When a goose is wounded, two geese follow it and protect it until
it recovers or dies. Let empathy balance out excellence.
The members know that flying in a “V” gets the best results.
Reorganize for optimal results.
Until next time,
Stephanie