Creating Magic

As I’ve gotten back into blogging, I’ve been looking back at my favorite book reviews and realized I never wrote an actual review on my, probably all-time, favorite, Creating Magic: 10 Common Sense Leadership Strategies From a Life at Disney, by Lee Cockerell. I’ve mentioned it more than a few times but it deserves more.

Creating Magic probably took me twice as long to read, just because I did so much highlighting throughout. I have a good size personal library of leadership and customer service books and it is, by far, my most loaned out book.

This is the perfect book for any leader working in, or interested in, the service industry, and for that matter, any industry. After starting out his career as a much more hard-nosed manager, Lee has become the model of great leadership building immediate rapport with employees. He holds nothing back in this book, describing each job along his path and what he had to change about himself to become a successful leader.

One of my favorite quotes is actually the very first line of the book, “It’s not the magic that makes it work; it’s the way we work that makes it magic.” Following the 10 strategies of the book, Lee was able to become a highly-skilled, efficient, and admired leader as Executive Vice-President, Operations of Walt Disney World Resort. Those 10 Strategies are:

#1 - Remember, everyone is important

#2 - Break the mold

#3 - Make your people your brand

#4 - Create magic through training

#5 - Eliminate hassles

#6 - Learn the truth

#7 - Burn the free fuel

#8 - Stay ahead of the pack

#9 - Be careful what you say and do

#10 - Develop character.

These strategies can easily be implemented by the smallest business owner all the way to the Fortune 500 CEO. It’s the way that people are treated that makes any business, and Lee Cockerell gives you the common sense approach and inspiration to make it a reality.

Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go - Revisited

Still, one of my favorite leadership and culture books. Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go, by Beverly L. Kaye and Julie Winkle Giulioni, is a book that all leaders should have, not on the bookshelf, but on your desk as an ongoing reference. Below is my original review of this must-have book.

It only happens every few years. I’m talking about leadership books that come out that I like so much that I read it with a highlighter. I use them in staff development and lend them out to others who want to improve themselves and/or their staff.

A few years back it was Creating Magic by Lee Cockerell. Then came From Bud to Boss by Kevin Eikenberry and Guy Harris. Now – I've had the great privilege of reading a pre-launch copy of Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go: Career Conversations Employees Want by Beverly Kaye and Julie Winkle Giulioni.

Help Them Grow is the type of book that makes you think, “Hmm, why haven’t I been doing that?” It’s a straightforward roadmap on how to help your staff develop without you having to take control of the reins. Let your employees grab hold of those reins and become responsible for their own growth. Wow . . . what a concept, right? Can you see your time being freed up?

Kaye and Giulioni say that “your role is more about prompting, guiding, reflecting, exploring ideas, activating enthusiasm, and driving action”. This book shows you ways to incorporate these career conversations in your everyday work life. 

Notice that last sentence that says “everyday”. Leaders don’t have time to hold extended annual appraisals that package up everything from the entire previous year – and shouldn’t – heck, they don’t remember about what you’re talking about half the time anyway! You’re already having everyday conversations with your employees (hopefully), so just change the tone a bit. You don’t need a bunch of checklists and forms. Conversations and asking questions are the keys to development.

This book gives you actionable steps to “focusing on what the employee needs to experience, know, learn, and be able to do”. Too often, leaders think they have to have all the answers (and they avoid the topic if they don’t), when what they actually need most are the questions, permitting the employee to be a first-hand participant in their own successful development.

There’s so much more to this embracing book than I have time for here, so my suggestion to you is to go to Amazon to order yourself a copy or two – others are going to want their own.

The Hidden Leader

Monday launched the new book, The Hidden Leader, by Steve Edinger and Laurie Sain.  It definitely hits the nail on the head and should be read by anyone who searches out leaders.  Future leaders aren't always the most confident extroverts.  They're the ones taking the initiative to get the job done.  Today I'm happy to host a blog post by author Steve Edinger.  Enjoy.

This post was originally published at www.edingergroup.com on August 1, 2014

On July 14th, 2014, I was running with the bulls in Pamplona. The running of the bulls is part of the Festival of San Fermin, which has been held annually since the middle ages, honoring the patron saint of the city. I ran on the last day of the festival with a small group of friends. On the return flight home I couldn’t help but reflect on the experience, and some parallels to my work with clients designing and implementing successful strategies. Here they are.

1. Clearly define your strategy in specific detail. We wanted to complete the run safely by:

Holding off on our start until the bulls ran by. Nobody can keep up with a bull running 22-24 mph and we wanted to run with the bulls (behind them really), not in front of the bulls.

Running as close to the left side of the street as possible. (In our observation of the run on the previous day, and video footage of past races, it seemed that because of the turn before the area of our starting position, they tended to drift to the right side.)

Sticking together in pairs. We used the buddy system to look out for each other.

Finishing the run by breaking left toward the 9 o’clock position of the bullring as soon as we entered.

Defining the outcomes with specificity is much harder than it seems, and good strategies are clarified so that they are easily understood. They are precise and specific as it relates to objectives, and how those objectives are going to be achieved. This is the most difficult part of executive work, as it requires patience, making tough decisions and judgments, as well as a lot of critical thinking. Because of that, leaders are often in a rush to just get this work done. It is much easier to read and respond to emails, attend meetings and focus on the tactical work that doesn’t require as much thought.

2. Be prepared for your strategy not to go according to plan. How many projects or initiatives in your business have turned out exactly as they were planned? My experience has been that it is rare. On the morning of the run there was a light rain, which made the streets a little more slick than usual. Instead of the bulls running together in a pack (which is the best case) they got separated as they came around one of the turns. On this day, they were running closer to the left side of the street.  Despite your best efforts and research, you will never be able to rely completely on it, and you will never have all of the facts. For example, we learned only on the morning of the race that the Miura Bulls, renowned as Spain’s largest and fastest bulls, were reserved for the final day. Imagine how that made us feel.

Even if the assumptions we make in formulating strategies are incorrect, it is critically important to go through the progression of doing so. In the process you become keenly aware of different alternatives, capabilities, and scenarios, and if necessary can adapt quickly and make adjustments in real time. As Dwight D. Eisenhower famously said, “plans are nothing; planning is everything.”

3. Getting everyone in your company to understand and behave consistently with your culture is the most important thing you can do to get your strategy implemented.  Most of the runners in Pamplona shared the same goal—to finish without being punctured, pierced, or steamrolled. While there are always a few with different goals (some want to touch or run in between them), the vast majority shared that objective. But as soon as the rocket to start the race went off, things got pretty chaotic with runners of different speeds getting in each other’s way, and often hindering one another in their own rational self-interest.

Even when people in an organization have the same overall goals for the company to succeed, individual approaches can vary greatly. This tends to reduce quality of work and productivity, as well as create conflict. To prevent this, people must understand what is expected of them in your culture, and how they fulfill your strategy. Further, they need to have exemplars to look to as role models, and appropriate rewards and consequences.

4. Take time to evaluate your performance. For the entire day following the run as we traveled from Pamplona to Madrid before heading home, we relived every moment. The emotions leading up to the run, what happened during the run, what others saw from their vantage point and so forth. We only ran once, and in your organization the run is continuous.

My most successful clients are unquestionably those who review their strategy at regular intervals, make adjustments, and keep it dynamic. It doesn’t sit on a shelf in a binder. They work hard to integrate strategic perspective into all of the work they do and for any projects or initiatives.  They ask the question “how will this help us to achieve our strategy?”

The running of the bulls is an extraordinary and unique experience. While I’ll never do it again, I found valuable insights from the run that illustrated what is critical when creating and executing a strategy. Done well, you can still succeed even when everything doesn’t go as you expected. All 8 of us completed the running of the bulls, unscathed.

Scott Edinger is co-author of the new book The Hidden Leader. As founder of Edinger Consulting Group, Scott has worked with leaders in nearly every industry sector, helping them formulate and implement growth strategies, increase revenue and profit, develop leadership capacity, drive employee engagement, and attract and retain talent.

I Love a Spicy Meatball

Yes, I love a spicy meatball . . . and wings, and dips, and pizza.  But they sometimes rub 

me the wrong way, if you get my drift.  Spicy is good.  Too spicy is bad.

Kind of like people.  You've heard the saying, "If you're the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room".  Don't be the equalizer.  You've got to add some spice to the room.  But you can't just do it randomly.  Just like spicy foods, if someone on the team is too spicy, you're going to have problems.

A good spicy team member is going to communicate, share openly and willingly, question ideas/decisions, and be honest and straight forward.  But to keep from becoming too spicy, he/she's also going to actively treat others with respect and be supportive.

You don't want all yes wo/men on your teams.  You'll never improve to the degree that you need to keep up.  Spicy people are a key.  You need people to keep things active and to keep everyone's minds flowing and thinking.  The first idea isn't always the best.  In fact, it usually isn't.  You need quality discussion.

Walt Disney once said that, "Ideas come from curiosity".  When setting up teams, take care to really look at everyone you're considering.  You need people that exhibit curiosity.  Spice it up a bit and get a good mix.  A good mix equals good results.

Leaders Open Doors - And Provide Opportunity

Still one of my favorite quotes, author Bill Treasurer says, "If your door is always open, how on earth would you effectively get any work done ...?" This is something I've tried to figure out for years, seeing many doors open and little being accomplished.

This is the second time in a year that I’ve read Leaders Open Doors, by Bill Treasurer . . . this being the new second edition.

Treasurer, Founder and Chief Engagement Officer at Giant Leap Consulting, provides us a whole new definition to "open door policy" - one that takes action to open doors for others - one that creates opportunities for others, and yourself. He mixes humor, personal stories, and a profound insight into a book that's very easy to read, understand, and put into practice.

This second edition contains an Epilogue with some engaging examples of gratitude that people have had recalling how past leaders that had opened doors for them. It’s sure to get you thinking about who has opened your doors . . . and who has not.

Leaders are role models and set the tone of the organization. Opening doors for people shows that you care for them and want them to succeed as much as yourself. This book will help you reform your culture by helping you to become a positive and powerful influencer. This is a book for sharing.  Share it, along with your new found attitude, with other leaders and you'll soon have employees that thrive and grow . . . and stay.

. . . and keep in mind - All royalities from this book are donated to children's charities!

Storyboard That Idea!

The storyboarding process actually started with Leonardo da Vinci but was revitalized and developed at the Walt Disney Studios in 1929 with the creation of Steamboat Willie. Since that time it has grown in popularity in movie and animation studios and has also moved into mainstream business.

Walt Disney World itself was planned exclusively via storyboarding in about 10 days. Walt Disney and Mike Vance saw that storyboarding could be adapted effectively for business planning in a mode they termed “displayed thinking.” Displayed thinking can be used for group problem-solving and strategic planning, such as in:

·         Decision Making

·         Strategic Planning

·         Decision Execution

·         Building Consensus and Buy-in

·         Processing Large Amounts of Information

·         Making the Plan Visible While it is Executed

There are 13 basic steps to the typical storyboarding process. You can just as easily go through this yourself for an individual project as you can with a group for a larger project. This is outlined well by the Iowa State University Extension:

1. State the Problem.

Be specific and concise.

2. Brainstorm and Post all Ideas.

Each idea is written in large letters on a separate card or piece of paper.

3. Share Ideas.

Participants talk about what they have written on the cards.

4. Review Each Card for Meaning.

Ask for clarification.

5. Sorting By Content.

In silence, participants begin sorting and grouping the items of similar content.

6. “Header Cards” Added.

Participants are given several “header cards” that are larger (and a different color) than the idea cards previously used.

7. Total Group Discusses the Groupings.

There may be a need to break some of the topics into smaller sub-topics.

8. “Symptoms” vs. “Causes.”

The focus should be on the root causes of the problem, not causes.

9. Vote for Consensus.

The group identifies the top three or four ideas.

10. Restate Header Cards Using A Verb.

Replace a noun with a verb.

11. Subtier Actions.

If subtier actions are necessary, post them under the header cards.

12. Assign Completion Date.

Assign a completion date to each item.

13. Post Dates and Name of Person Responsible.

Post dates and the name of the person responsible for each action item.

“Tell” instructions and half of them will be forgotten – tell a story and it will remembered.

Value Stream Mapping

In a nutshell, value stream mapping is a lean-management method for analyzing the current state and designing a future state for the series of events that take a product or service from its beginning through to the customer.  Now I'm not typically too big on theories, statistics, mapping, etc.  But when I read Value Stream Mapping: How to Visualize Work and Align Leadership for Organizational Transformation, I had to rethink a bit as I started to compare it to storyboarding - which I DO like.

Karen Martin and Mike Osterling have taken the confusion out of value stream mapping (VSM) and show how to utilize it in an easy and effective way.  They show us that VSM can not only be used with manufacturing, but also in logistics, supply chain, service oriented industries, healthcare, software development, product development, and even administrative and office processes.  Have you ever thought of using VSM as an effective means to orient new hires?  It can also "provide a clear line of sight to the external customer from every function and work area involved in the value stream".  How can that possibly not be good?

Hey, here's a novel idea from Karen and Mike - go the Gemba.  I love that term/idea.  Gemba, as they describe it, is a Japanese word for "the real place, where the work is actually done".  A critical step in VSM is physically walking the value stream.  I believe that's where most organizations fail right off the bat.  You must be willing to walk the talk.

You don't need to be a big statistics geek to understand what Karen and Mike are talking about here.  The book is well written and easily understood which will help you to quickly understand the basics of VSM all the way through the execution steps.  The historical problem with VSM is that people just don't understand it.  Well after reading this book, that will no longer be a valid excuse.

Lead Positive

Kathy Cramer’s recent book release of Lead Positive: What Highly Effective Leaders

See, Say, and Do, had me from hello.  I don’t often spend too much time reading introductions prior to getting right into the book, but this time I found myself captivated.  Just from those first few pages I could have put the book down and been happy – but I was intrigued.

Within the first short page, she sets the tone with a quote that I’m going to find myself using (with acknowledgement of course) often, “When you Lead Positive, you offer a competing vision of the future by reframing problems into possibilities and appealing to a higher sense of purpose”.

The concepts of this book are so simple to understand and to put into play.  You’ll want to read it with a highlighter so you can go back to review and share.

Positive leaders aren’t as plentiful as one would think.  Many talk the talk but don’t quite walk the walk.  Using Kathy’s ideas will help you walk the talk.  Using asset-based thinking (I’ll leave that for you to read about), you will learn to use the Lead Positive framework of,

·         See – ‘zeroing in on what is working, strong, and possible’

·         Say – ‘speaking to the mind, heart, and spirit’

·         Do – ‘starting a positive ripple effect’.

Using the self-assessments throughout the book will help you and encourage you to better your own positive outlook and leadership ability so it can be passed on to and through others.  It’s a great playbook to use with leadership training or for refocusing your own leadership talents.

Keep One In Your Pocket

“We developed so many talents as we went along that I lay awake at night

figuring out how to use them. That's how we become so diversified. It was natural branching out." - Walt Disney
How many times have you had a great idea in the middle of the night or while sitting relaxing at the pool, beach, or back porch and told yourself, “I’ll write it down later”. How many times has “later” never come? I wish I had a nickel (or a dollar, to account for inflation) for every time I said that but forgotten the idea 15 minutes later.

Ideas, and thoughts on how to develop them, begin streaming when we’re relaxed - when we don’t have the stresses of phone calls, meetings, and people popping into our offices. And, because we’re not prepared, we lose many ideas. We have to be equipped for these instant concepts at all times.

That takes me back to my Navy days. I ALWAYS carried around one of those little green, government-issue memorandum books in my back pocket - constantly at the ready to record my thoughts or work schedule of the day. It was a great asset (and great application for CYA).

These days, that little green book has been replaced by a smart-phone. It can record thoughts just as easily and they can be converted directly to memos or emails.

Make sure you have the available means to record your instant thoughts and the next time you can’t sleep, at least be productive and pull out that “little green book”.

Leading Valiantly in Healthcare

Healthcare leaders are typically a different type of breed from say, manufacturing, financial, or retail leaders.  There is more often than not, a much bigger sense of intrinsic motivation.  But even that begins to take a back seat sometimes.

If you are new to healthcare – it is never too early to start charting your course.  If you are a seasoned leader - you still have room to learn and refresh.  This is where the new book, Leading Valiantly in Healthcare: Four Steps to Sustainable Success, by Catherine Robinson-Walker is going to make a difference.

With so many – and continual - changes in healthcare regulations and technologies, it is easy these days to be caught up in the “bottom line” mode.  Robinson-Walker’s book gives you the tools and references to spark that passion and courage that is so desired by today’s staff, patients, and customers.  She pulls from her years of experiences and interviews to show you how to “adjust our leadership strategies based on new circumstances, additional information, and new learning” in order to lead with valor.

Robinson-Walker’s six leadership seductions and cycle of leadership valor combine to help you to pause and look at the various challenges you may find yourself in and to increase your self-awareness - thus making better quality decisions.  In part, leading with valor means responding to challenges thoughtfully, individually, and fully.  In leadership – especially in healthcare - there are no one-size-fits-all decisions.  It really requires an open heart and mind.

This book will help you to become a more confident and courageous leader, fostering integrity, self-control, and character.  If you are motivated to sharpen your skills and open to trying new approaches (stepping out of your comfort zone), this book is the guide that you will want to read, practice, and learn from.  It just may make the difference that you have been looking for.

Hacking Leadership - Book Review

“The best way to approach personal and professional development is to

always stay in the learning zone.”  This is one of my favorite quotes from MikeMyatt’s new book, Hacking Leadership: the 11 Gaps Every Business Needs to Close and The Secrets to Closing Them Quickly.

As the title eludes, Mike talks us through the 11 gaps in leadership that you need to close – hack – in order for you to succeed and to bring your organization to the forefront of its field.

Continuous learning, or specifically a lack of, has been a leadership pet peeve of mine for years.  Mikes book actually exposes many more.  For instance, the Purpose Gap – the need for passion and following in the footsteps of past great leaders.  The Culture Gap – courage to create a culture of leadership, checking the arrogance, and not playing the diversity card.  The Talent Gap –developing trust and loyalty and effectively reducing turnover.

All 11 gaps in leadership challenge you to stop and take a serious look at yourself.  It’s practical, insightful, and pretty simple if you take it seriously, as you should.  You’re going to want to have a highlighter and a notepad handy as you read because you’ll find numerous concepts that you’ll want to develop yourself, and share with other leaders.

If you’re in any leadership position – or aspiring to be in one – Mike Myatt’s book is a great place to start your advancement.

Mike Myatt is a leadership advisor to Fortune 500 CEOs and their Boards of Directors. Widely regarded as America’s Top CEO Coach, recognized by Thinkers50 as one of the preeminent leadership thinkers globally, he is the author of Leadership Matters…The CEO Survival Manual, a Forbes leadership columnist, and is the Chief Executive Officer at N2growth. His new book, Hacking Leadership (Wiley) is in bookstores everywhere.

The Heart of Leadership

Mark Miller has done it again.  His new book, out this week, The Heart of Leadership:

Becoming a Leader People Want to Follow, is one you won't want to put down.  VERY seldom do I read a book from cover to cover in one sitting.  But this one, I did.

Similar to his last book, The Secret of Teams, it's written as a fable.  This fable follows a young man, passed up for promotion, on a journey to find the meaning of "leadership character".  While noting throughout his journey that a lack of skills isn't what holds most leaders back, it's a lack of leadership character, Mark shows us that "leadership" is really within reach of more people than we think.

While most leadership books we read are about just getting ahead, he speaks more of servent leadership and using one's heart to forge the way.  Your skills account for only about 10% of who you are as a leader . . . the other 90% comes from your character - your heart.  Most leaders barely tap into developing their leadership character.

Any up and coming leader (or seasoned) will absolutely benefit from Mark's book.  SO, I'm going to start you off by sending the first three people who shoot me an email (auskavitch@gmail.com) with "The Heart of Leadership" in the subject, your very own copy of the book.  Read it, share it, read it again.  (don't forget to send your address - I don't spam)

Take Charge of Your Talent

A win-win book on talent development – taking charge of your own talent development while, at

the same time, still supporting others.

Too often, as leaders, we’re focused on the development of others more than we are ourselves.  Well, it’s time to lasso in some of that energy to focus on us.  In their new book, Take Charge of Your Talent, Don Maruska and Jay Perry show us just how to do that.

All of us, whether the CEO or the kid that just started out of high school, has untapped skills and creative talent.  We all just need some help in pulling it out.  Take Charge of Your Talent provides a game plan to find the, ever present, opportunities that we may not see.

The steps and ideas included in this book are so easily profound that you can immediately begin to harvest the talent you have dormant.  For instance, by taking a look at yourself with the Take Charge Checklist, a tool that will propel you immediately into the process of improvement.

It doesn’t matter where you sit on the ladder, or even if you're on the ladder yet . . . you have untapped talent.  I would recommend this book for everyone, no matter what business you’re in . . . even if you’re just coming up.  You’ll learn that you can do things that you never had thought of.

Just a Little Conversation

It just amazes me sometimes about the lack of communication in organizations.  I've been hearing and reading more and more lately about the receding lines of this most basic leadership function.

What does it take to communicate to your folks?  An eight page newsletter?  Town hall meetings?  Video's from the CEO?  NO!

All leaders should read, "Help Them Grow, Or Watch Them Go", by Julie Winkle Giulioni and Beverly Kaye.  All it takes is short, casual conversations.  No meetings.  10 minutes here, 10 minutes there.

Face it.  You're already having conversations throughout the day.  So this isn't taking any time away.  It's just redirecting it to something more powerful.  You don't need a resource guide, to-do lists, or checklists.  Just simple open conversation.

Mentoring is a Partnership

Explain “mentoring” to me . . . uh-huh, that’s what I thought.  Most leaders have a vague understanding of what mentoring is, and few know just how it’s done.

 

In today's world of employee's moving from organization to organization, mentoring has become a top priority in keeping and developing their talent. If you want to help your employees grow - while holding on to them longer, you have to mentor. Enter the revised and expanded edition of, Managers as Mentors: Building Partnerships for Learning, by Chip Bell and Marshall Goldsmith - an easy to understand handbook for creating great relationships and talent.

 

All the information is here to create a self-directed learner, from planning, to rapport, discovery, and ensuring the transfer of learning.  Mixed in with the 27 chapters are fitting case studies to help pull everything together.  One of the things that I liked most of all was, The Mentor’s Toolkit, at the end.  A short series of assessments, FAQs, and stories to help you promote and support continuous improvement.

 

As Bell and Goldsmith say in the book, “Mentors practice their skills with a combination of never-ending compassion, crystal-clear communication, and a sincere joy in the role of being a helper along a journey toward mastering”.  And how do you get there?  Read and use this book as a guideline and you’ll be well on your way.

The Secret of Teams

What a busy few weeks of book reading. I received a re-launch book to read on the secret of teams. I thought, "hmmmm, what could possibly be new". Well, wasn't I surprised?

Mark Miller's (VP Organizational Effectiveness, Chick-fil-A) book, The Secret of Teams, surprised the heck out of me. It's written as a parable (which I'm not usually a fan of), which makes it easier to comprehend then most other books on teams. And the common sense ideas made me think, "hmm (again), why haven't I ever looked at it like that?"

Mark has an up and coming executive (Debbie Brewster) take a look at 3 very different types of teams, totally out of her business domain. What Debbie finds is that there are common threads to success and also common types of factors to look at, no matter the team or organization. Mark says that "the keys to building great teams are universal". There is no REAL secret here. You just have to stop and smell the roses in order to realize what those keys are for you.

The biggest step for anyone trying to create a successful team is changing the  "entrenched ways of thinking and acting". Along with this is - developing your staff, your team members. Teams don't fail because the want to, they fail because they don't know what it takes to succeed.

Doing things the 'way we've always done it' has been one of my biggest pet peaves over the years. Miller's book gives you the ideas and the tools to get away from the old 'tried and true'. Chances are you've tried, but it hasn't worked, and no one wants to put the effort out to try again.

My suggestion . . . my recommendation . . . is to buy The Secret of Teams for yourself and your leadership team. It may well be the best investment that some of you will ever make.

The Outstanding Organization

These last couple of weeks I’ve had the pleasure of reading, The Outstanding Organization, by Karen Martin.  I’ll tell you what - every organization that’s trying to improve or going through anything like a merger or restructuring should be reading this book.

There have been NUMEROUS books written on performance improvement by numerous “experts”, but they’re all, in some way, very similar . . . lots of theories.

In, The Outstanding Organization, Karen Martin, in five chapters, explains the straight to the point, duh factor of how to succeed.  She says that chaos is the main underlying issue in failed improvement.  “Chaos sabotages your ability to provide value to your customers, satisfy shareholders, . . .”  “Left unchecked, chaos destroys everything that’s good about an organization.”  Too many times, organizations start to plan without looking enough at what’s already happening and jump into the fire too quickly.

Chapter One begins right where the book should - the fundamentals.  I’ve had a couple of friends who have “flipped” houses.  What do you think the first thing is that they look at when checking out new properties?  The foundation.  Without a good foundation in business, you’re going to hold onto chaos and be unable to develop any kind of consistency.

From there Martin goes into creating clarity - truth seeking and truth telling.  Without it causes a psychological drain on everyone involved.

I loved the section on the problem of lack of focus.  She calls this “organizational attention-deficit-disorder.”  There must be focus and a sense of discipline instilled in the organization in order to get over the hurdles.

And lastly is employee engagement.  People talk and talk and talk about it, but as Karen says, it’s “the single largest contributor to an organization’s success”.

This book is based on Martin’s extensive research and experience with a number of organizations.  She taught these organizations not to accept the chaos as a norm but to fall back to the fundamentals and open the curtains to improvement.

If you’re looking for some no-nonsense ways to get your organization on, or back on track, you need, The Outstanding Organization.


Author, speaker, and consultant, Karen Martin, provides practical strategies and tools for building an Outstanding Organization. The Outstanding Organization: Generate Business Results by Eliminating Chaos and Building the Foundation for Everyday Excellence is available at bookstores nationwide and on Amazon.

Let Em Shine

Your staffs are an integral part of the success of your organization’s performance. This, you should know already. But how do they get to that point? How are they able to realize just how important they are?


You, as a leader, must communicate to your staff how you expect them to behave – clearly and concisely – and then let them do it. Does that mean becoming a dictator? Of course not. Think of your business like a play and your job is to be the director.

A director helps the actors rehearse their lines and actions so that they know just what to do on opening night so the play runs as smoothly as possible. A dictator would suppress the actors’ talent, where the director pulls them in and lets them shine.

To this, Walt Disney once said, “I think if there’s any part I’ve played . . . the vital part is coordinating these talents, and encouraging these talents, and carrying them down a certain line. It’s like pulling together a big orchestra. They’re all individually very talented. I have an organization of people who are really specialists. You can’t match them anywhere in the world for what they can do. But they all need to be pulled together, and that’s my job.”

I’ve had managers, as I’m sure you have, which held the reins so tightly that it sucked the energy out of me. Creativity suffers. Production suffers. Enjoyment in general is non-existent. People must have some leeway to be themselves, not a clone of a dictators’ need to be in control.

Do you let your staff shine? How can you pull them together? What type of success are you hindering by keeping the reins taut?

Help Them Grow

It only happens every few years. I’m talking about leadership books that come out that I like so much that I read it with a highlighter. I use them in staff development and lend them out to others who want to improve themselves and/or their staff.

A few years back it was Creating Magic by Lee Cockerell. Then came From Bud to Boss by Kevin Eikenberry and Guy Harris. Now – I've had the great privilege of reading a pre-launch copy of Help Them Grow or Watch Them Go: Career Conversations Employees Want by Beverly Kaye and Julie Winkle Giulioni.

Help Them Grow is the type of book that makes you think, “Hmm, why haven’t I been doing that?” It’s a straightforward roadmap on how to help your staff develop without you having to take control of the reins. Let your employees grab hold of those reins and become responsible for their own growth. Wow . . . what a concept, right? Can you see your time being freed up?

Kaye and Giulioni say that “your role is more about prompting, guiding, reflecting, exploring ideas, activating enthusiasm, and driving action”. This book shows you ways to incorporate these career conversations in your everyday work life.

Notice that last sentence that says “everyday”. Leaders don’t have time to hold extended annual appraisals that package up everything from the entire previous year – and shouldn’t – heck, they don’t remember about what you’re talking about half the time anyway! You’re already having everyday conversations with your employees (hopefully), so just change the tone a bit. You don’t need a bunch of checklists and forms. Conversations and asking questions are the keys to development.

This book gives you actionable steps to “focusing on what the employee needs to experience, know, learn, and be able to do”. Too often, leaders think they have to have all the answers (and they avoid the topic if they don’t), when what they actually need most are the questions, permitting the employee to be a first hand participant in their own successful development.

There’s so much more to this embracing book than I have time for here, so my suggestion to you is to go to Amazon on September 18 (release date) to order yourself a copy or two – others are going to want their own.

Teach Customer Service First

First off, this isn't a young folks bashing post.  But it is a lack of thought training bash.

We've all been there.  We walk into a store with questions or to the check-out and see young workers.  Do I stop that clerk or go to that register - or do I go to the more "seasoned" worker?

Young workers aren't usually real skilled at customer service.  They don't have the experience or the thought processes of the more seasoned worker.  However, they do the same job, see the same customers, deal with the same situations.  It is leaderships responsibility to ensure that these young folks have the proper training PRIOR to stepping foot on the floor by themselves.

I visited a major pet store chain this weekend.  When I got to the register my $3.99 item rang up as $6.99.  The cashier's response?  "Oh, it was probably in the wrong place."  No, price check, or "I'll take a look".  It was 'probably' in the wrong place.

Good customer service is not about guessing and leaving it at that.  It's about knowledge and finding out answers.  These are two easy things that CAN be taught to new staff.  If you don't know about a product ask someone else.  If you don't know the answer, find out.

"I don't know, but I can find out" will save MANY customers for your organization.  Try it out.