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.

Flip Flops in the Office

I was talking to a friend of mine the other day about things his manager does that drives

him nuts (many).  The one issue that really struck a cord was flip flopping.

I've had a couple of managers throughout my working years that were pros at flip flopping. Whether it was making changes to a new SOP and eventually flipping right back to the way it was originally written, or telling me to do one thing and then completely going off when it's being done.  

Now don't get me wrong.  There's nothing wrong with changing your mind.  Things change. Circumstances change.  I totally expect it.  But to be a good and trusted leader, you must take the time to think things through.  Knee jerk reactions have a bad habit of coming back on you.  People start to wonder what the interpretation of the day is.  You may think it doesn't affect you, but it affects your team and the way they do their jobs and the way they think about you, whether positively or negatively.  Flip-flopping will eventually lead to people throwing up their arms and giving up and negatively impacting the culture.  Then everyone's productivity goes down.

I think a lot of it comes down to time management.  Throughout the last 20 years or so I can't even count the number of times I've heard how "busy" people are, and that's their excuse for not reacting or thinking through.  Everyone is busy, but time is an important factor in good leadership.  You have to make the time.  Leaders are role models, whether that means good ones or bad ones.  The easier you make your teams job, the easier you're going to make your job.

Help Them Grow - Revisited

From September 05, 2012 - This is the first year anniversary for Help Them Grow or Watch Them Grow, by Julie Winkle Giulioni and Beverly Kaye. STILL, a must read for all leaders.

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 cameFrom 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.

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.

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.

Where The Heck Did The Time Go?

Where the heck did the time go? Wow. How many of us have asked ourselves that one . . . many times?

The average day can be divided into six segments (with average hours):
Sleep - 8
Work - 8
Eat - 3
Personal Hygiene - 1
Commute - 2, and
Various - 2

Most people think they know how much time they spend on what they do. But unless you’re keeping track of it, mmmmm no, you really don’t. It’s like a diet. Until you start writing down EVERYTHING you eat, you don’t really have a clear picture of what you’re putting in your body – believe me, I’ve done it.

According to Merrill & Donna Douglass in their book Manage Your Time Your Work Yourself, “we have about two hours each day to do the various personal things that make life worth living. That’s not much. But it gets worse. By their own account, most people waste at least two hours every day”! Any free evening is a luxury.

The only way to get out of this rut is to sit down and figure out just what you’re spending time on and learn to manage your time better. This is called – work life balance.

The Douglass’s suggest drawing three circles divided like a pie. In one, distribute your time the way you THINK is true. In the second, indicate how you ACTUALLY distribute your time. In the last, draw an IDEAL pie. “The difference between where you are now and where you would like to be is the source for possible goals.”

Just like anything you do to be successful, you need to plan and set goals.

Read Your Email

You heard me. Read you email. "But I do", you say. I bet you do it selectively though. Do you look at the emails that impact only your immediate job? The one's that affect what you're doing at that moment?

There are other emails out there. You can usually tell the jokes and the "pass this on" one's just by the subject or even the sender. That's okay. Leave those alone. But email has become an easy, quick, universal way of getting important information out to the masses. Sometimes it's the only way.

Here's a great example of why you need to look a little closer. A friend of mine works at an organization that's recently gone through a major IS project that changed the way that EVERYONE interacts with their computers - new servers, new Windows, version jump in MS Office, etc.

In order to help employee's make this change, one person in the IS department (so they would always know to look for it) had been sending out updates with FAQs to help make the transition a little less "scary". You would think that people would at least take a glance at these communications, if not for any other reason, to see what would be affecting them.

Implementation was postponed THREE times - not because IS wasn't ready - because too many employee's had NOT been reading those emails and literally had no idea what was going on.

My point here is that the world doesn't always revolve around what you're immediately working on. No matter how busy you are (or think you are), instead of looking for specific emails from specific people, open up your "search criteria" so you can see the whole picture. There are other people in your organization trying to get their jobs done also.

Little Green Book

Thanks to a tweet from Disney Institute today, I discovered this quote from Walt Disney - “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."

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”.

Why Work Doesn't Happen At Work

If you want to understand the true feelings about office work at your organization - take a look at this video.

I came across this video, "Why Work Doesn't Happen at Work", by Jason Fried, through a post on the Disney Entrepreneur Center group on LinkedIn. I thought it sounded like it might be interesting so I clicked on it. I quickly found myself smiling and nodding my head in agreement while I watched . . . especially because here I am sitting in my "man cave" at home . . . working. *after watching, you'll know why that's humorous.

Take a look (click on the blog title) and think about what Jason is saying - it's so true. The office is basically, not a conducive place to do work. Those of you in "cube farms" know exactly where I'm coming from.

Maybe there are things that you can't change, for one reason or another. But after watching this video I think you'll have a brand new understanding of how things (people) actually "work".

Enjoy.

Keep On Wandering

I sware by Tom Peters' Management By Wandering Around (MBWA). It’s really more than what the name implies. It’s not enough for leaders to just “walk around”. It’s also not “just a theory”. MBWA has been embraced, over the years, by highly successful organizations such as Hewlett-Packard, GE, PepsiCo, LucasFilm, Disney, and 3M.

As you “wander”, in order to be effective, you should be doing at least these three things:
• listening to what staff are saying,
• using the opportunity to continuously discuss the organization’s values face-to-face, and
• be prepared AND able to give people on-the-spot assistance.

At first, staff may suspect that MBWA is just an excuse for you to spy and interfere. That'll subside when they see the walk-arounds happening regularly, and they see that it actually benefits THEM. It works best when staff see that you are genuinely interested in them and their work and also see that you are there to listen and help. If things you see or hear require some type of follow-up, then make sure you take care of it.

Here are a few tips to assist in making MBWA a success:
• Publicize the fact that you are out wandering 50% of the time.
• Appear relaxed as you make your rounds. Staff will reflect your feelings and actions.
• Remain open and responsive to their questions and concerns.
• Observe and listen.
• Make sure your visits are spontaneous.
• Talk with staff about what they like – family, hobbies, vacations, or sports.
• Ask for suggestions to improve operations, service, etc.
• Try to spend equal time in all areas.
• Have meetings in others’ spaces rather than your own office all the time.
• Catch staff members doing something right and recognize them publicly.
• Convey the image of a coach – NOT an inspector.
• Encourage your staff members to show you how the “real work” of the company gets done.

The point is - make your walk-arounds count. Go out there with a purpose, and make a difference.

Meet Me Before Work

A good leader is going to provide a supportive environment for his staff. You have to encourage them to think (and act) like they belong to a team. In order to do this, you’ve got to give them the “time of day”. Provide staff adequate time for short pre-work meetings to start each day. It doesn’t have to be anything extravagant. “But we don’t have time,” you say. A mere ten minutes a day will add up to more than 40 hours of free education a year! Imagine what that much training would cost if you sent staff to seminars for that long.

Pre-work meetings provide opportunities to:
- have two-way communication daily,
- tell staff what’s important,
- thank them for their great performance,
- answer any questions,
- provide product and service knowledge,
- find out what they need to perform properly, and
- inspire them.
And on top of everything else, demonstrate faith in their ability to succeed.

A common mistake leaders make is trying to cover too many issues in a pre-work meeting. With too many points to concentrate on the group learns "everything and nothing." The key to holding successful pre-work meetings is to stay focused on one or two short objectives. If it helps, think of your pre-work meeting as a pre-work “moment”. In a world of “too many meetings”, that’ll help you stay clear of the meeting “stigma” and you’ll be able to get everyone to focus in a more relaxed manner.

You want to be able to keep your teams attention so make the meetings interactive. Have questions ready so you can bounce them off your folks so they have to respond. Don’t ask “test questions” where everyone’s going to dread getting together before their shift. It should be an enjoyable interactive communication experience.

Remember that pre-work “moments” are opportunities to teach, inspire and pump up energy levels of your teams before they "go on stage." Your enthusiasm for both teaching and having FUN learning together will drive the day. Toni Kottom, Director of Training at Perkins (yum) puts in it perspective when he says that, "Attention goes where energy flows."

I’m In Voicemail Hell

Voicemail. Oh, don’t get me started . . . too late. I just dread pushing those couple of little buttons on the phone to get my messages because I just KNOW that at least one of them is going to have me wanting to shoot myself in the temple before the caller has finished his message.

Voicemail was invented in the late ‘70s by Gordon Matthews. I’m sure he thought he was contributing something really spectacular to the business world. But I don’t think he could have imagined the abuse his little office miracle would be getting 30-some years later.

There’s a good chance that you, and everyone you know, has been in a voicemail nightmare. It’s not a place that you want to get to know. Leaving messages should be a very simple and SHORT process. They’re not meant to get everything off your chest. Be PREPARED, prior to making your call, to leave a coherent and concise message if the person doesn’t answer.

When leaving messages, have mercy on your listeners and do the following:
1. Speak slooowwwly and clearrrly and leave your phone number at the beginning AND the end of your message. Please save us from having to listen to the whole message twice in order to get your number.
2. Limit your comments to one or two quick subjects.
3. If you find yourself rambling, for the sake of my sanity (and your reputation), stop yourself and re-record the message.
4. If you need some type of action, simply state what you need. Voicemails that simply say, “call me” are just plain irritating . . . and may possibly be ignored. Give a short sentence or two about WHY you want me to call you.

And while we’re on the subject (soapbox) of phones, you know that little speaker button on your phone? FORGET you have one. If I wanted to call you AND everyone in your cube farm, I would have made a conference call.

When used properly, voicemail can improve communications dramatically. It can be a great asset. Just think about what it would be like if YOU were getting your message.

The Best Is Yet To Come

So. You’re getting into that middle aged (or over) area and you haven’t fulfilled your “destiny” yet, huh? So what? Maybe it’s not time for your destiny. If God would fulfill all of our destiny’s early in life, what would we have to look forward to or work towards? The best may be yet to come.

Famed business guru Peter Drucker wrote 39 books. Wow. Took a long time to do that, right? By the time Drucker turned 65 he had only written about one-third of his books. For you non-math majors out there, that means he wrote about 26 books after turning 65. Now you can say WOW.

Zelda Rubinstein was 48 before she had her first acting role, a minor part in “Under the Rainbow”. She’s most known for her "debut" in the “Poltergeist” film series starting the following year (“Now clear your minds. It knows what scares you. It has from the very beginning. Don't give it any help, it knows too much already”).

Colonel Harland Sanders didn’t begin his Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise until he was 65. He used $105 from his first Social Security check to fund visits to potential franchisees.

Baseball pitcher Randy Johnson was celebrated for having one of the most dominant fastballs in the game. He made his Major League debut at 25, but didn't reach superstar status until he was 30. In sports years (kinda like dog years) that’s a pretty advanced age.

Ever heard of seven-time Grammy Award winner Al Jarreau? He released his critically acclaimed debut album, We Got By, at age 35.

So what are you going to do? Give up? Take a back seat? I don’t think so. Hold on to your dreams and aspirations. Keep moving forward and keep LEARNING. The best is yet to come!

Linked To LinkedIn

In case you haven’t gotten out much lately, LinkedIn, the social network for professionals, has been taking on greater importance on how people conduct business, learn, and network.

Information you include, or exclude, in your profile could affect your overall identity on the Internet as well as future job opportunities. The downfall of a poorly constructed LinkedIn profile, or utilizing bad etiquette, can alienate your connections or even turn away potential employers or customers interested in hiring you. You can’t afford that these days, so listen up.

A couple of important pieces of information to look closely at are your LinkedIn Summary and Biography.

Many magazine and website articles don't get read without a good headline. This is where a good Summary comes in. You need to be very concise and engaging in your Summary. If the Summary doesn't draw people in, all the great accomplishments you've had over the years may be looked right over. Then you’re just wasting your time.

The Summary is where you want to express your personal brand. Show us who you are, what you do, and why you’re unique.

A problem a lot of people have is not being quite so honest on their resume - tsk, tsk, tsk. I mean, who do you know that’s going to see it, right? LinkedIn encourages honesty in your resume since your profile may be viewed by any of your colleagues and customers – and bosses. So keep your experiences on the up and up.

While you want to include your past accomplishments, emphasize your strengths and highlights while providing background on your job responsibilities. You’ll need to shorten it up in order to be suitable for a few different areas of your industry. This isn’t the place for full on resume. Keep that for the recruiters.

In addition to a good Summary and Bio, here a couple of other quick tips to help you stand out.
- Most LinkedIn profiles URLs (web address, for you non-techs) will have a slash and then your name (/andyuskavitch). Some names (other than mine) can be common. You can change your URL to whatever you want – just make sure it’s professional and recognizable – no /studmuffin.
- Remember that you don't matter on the Web if Google can’t see you. Make sure your LinkedIn profile is public and includes keywords that people might search for.

Don’t just set up a profile and let it go. Use LinkedIn. Search to see who else you know. Post something AT LEAST a few times a week and get involved with some groups. You’ll be surprised how much you can learn and who you can meet.

Bombs Awaaaay

I was Googling around the Internet the other day and came across a leadership style that I’d never heard of – but it’s catchy. Being from Florida, it’s quite appropriate - “Seagull Management”. This is an expression used to describe a style of management where the person “flies in, poops on you, and then flies away again”. Gotta love it. It was actually referred to in Ken Blanchard's 1999 book 'Leadership and the One Minute Manager'.

When these folks are around, they typically give criticism and direction, often with no real understanding of what the job actually requires. Then, before you can object or try to clarify what they’re really looking for, they have an “important meeting” to get to – swoop, there they go. “Wow. Yuk. What just hit me?”

This type of management is by no means a positive one. When they’re around, these people talk continuously and actively discourage anyone else from saying anything. That includes avoiding eye contact and incessantly talking over people. Staff may typically feel under-valued and quite generally abused.

The Seagull Manager likes to think of themselves as important but they know they don’t know that much and fear being exposed by staff asking questions. So they immediately grab the reigns and don’t stop until they can duck out.

Seagull Management is something you need to AVOID . It may seem like an easy way to do things – swoop and leave - but it’ll alienate and demotivate your staff very quickly. The people above you will eventually find out what’s going on and your advancement will come to quick and painful death. So keep up good, meaningful relationships with your staff. Give them the time they deserve, respect, and communicate regularly AND with INTEGRITY.

Another Interview? You Do It.

“Jeez, I have to hold another interview today. I’ve got more important things to do.” To take a quote from tennis great John McEnroe, “You can’t be serious!” Maybe that’s why you have such a big turnover. The key to successful hiring is to take it seriously and not to pawn it off on someone else.

Your preparation for an interview is just as important as the preparation of the job-seeker. There are a number of things that you can do in order to make interviewing less painless and more successful.
Review resumes the morning of the interview. Don’t sit in front of the candidate reviewing his/her resume. That’s just tacky and shows a lack of commitment.
Be sure you know the job description. You have to ensure that the candidate knows exactly what he’s in for. You can’t leave things out or describe things beyond the scope. The candidate is making a decision on you as much as you are on him.
Think about and write out your questions ahead of time. Don’t sit in the interview going, “um, what else can I ask?” Hey Boy Scout, “be prepared”. Show the candidate that you're serious in hiring just the right person.
Have a place for the interview set up ahead of time. Don’t wait till the last minute looking for a room. Again, it looks as if you’re not too serious, and you’re showing the candidate that you’re unorganized. In addition to finding a place, make sure that it’s in comfortable surroundings. Not somewhere where you have to pull up folding chairs – ouch.
Avoid the power trip. Now’s not the time to show them that “I’m the boss!” Forget the trick questions and sitting in the bigger chair. Provide the opportunity for them to be open and candid.

Even though some small talk is appropriate for helping the candidate relax, the interview questions are one of your best tools for determining the right fit. PREPARE and LISTEN. Limit your talking time.

Asking the right questions and using the tips outlined above will put you in a position for making a better educated decision – a decision (and employee) you’ll be able to work with.

WHY, WHY, WHY??

THE root cause of a problem is seldom the first idea that you come up with. So you end up struggling with what types of problem-solving techniques to use (there are MANY). The 5 Whys is a simple technique that helps you get to the root of the problem quickly. It simply involves looking at any problem and asking, "Why?" The answer to the first "why" will prompt another "why", and the answer to the second "why" will prompt another, and so on. This is pretty much where the name 5 Whys comes from. Duh. Pretty simplistic.

Like I said, it’s easy. Start at the problem and work backwards to find the root cause, continually asking, "Why?" Repeat it over and over until the root cause of the problem becomes apparent. It’s kind of like trying to explain something to a kid – “You have to go to bed.” “Why?” “Because it’s time.” “Why?” Yadda-yadda-yadda. You get the picture.

Here’s an example:
1. Why is our client ready to drop us? Because we didn’t deliver our product when we said we would.
2. Why didn't we deliver our product when we said we would? The job took much longer than we thought it would.
3. Why did the job take so much longer? Because we underestimated the complexity of the job.
4. Why did we underestimate the complexity of the job? Because we made a quick estimate of the time needed to complete it, and didn’t list all the steps needed to get it done.
5. Why did we make such a quick estimate? Because we were running behind on other projects and didn’t clearly review our time estimation and procedures.

From there you can make plans to ensure that no matter how behind you’re running you have a process in place to properly plan and review time estimations and procedures.

The 5 Whys is an easy and quick tool for uncovering the root of a problem. Because it’s so elementary, it can be adapted quickly and applied to most any problem, AND by most ANYONE. Keep in mind though, that if it doesn't get you a decent answer, there are many other problem-solving techniques you can choose from. The 5 Whys just happens to be my personal favorite.

Risky Business

To steal a quote from a classic 80’s movie, “Sometimes you just hafta say WTF”, (Risky Business).

In their drive to be successful (or to stay on the payroll) leaders, especially new ones, often begin to be driven by a fear of failure which actually ends up overshadowing their desire to succeed. This puts them into risky areas that can't be sustained for long periods. People begin to look at their past successes creating undo pressure on themselves. Questions start swirling in their mind as to whether they’ll be able to sustain the great performance they’ve been used to. About the worst thing you can do is start thinking, “how am I going to top that?” The more you do this, the worse it gets. Leadership speaker Mark Sanborn says that, “The longer a leader is successful, the higher his or her perceived cost of failure.” You can’t let fear drive down your success.

When leaders are driven by the fear of failure, they become unable to take reasonable risks. They tend to stick with the time proven, “we’ve always done it that way” (I hate that statement), accomplishments. Ideas – great ideas – that come about (or could come about) never get developed. Remember, we’re talking reasonable risks here. Good leadership never takes reckless chances that could end up risking things that have already been achieved, but you also can't sit back and do nothing.

Take a good look at yourself and your accomplishments. What have they been? How did you come up with them? When were they? What have you been doing since? You may be in a rut and don’t know it.

So take a queue from an old 80’s classic movie – or a shoe advertisement – and just do it!

No One's Perfect

If you’re trying to be the perfect, complete leader – STOP. You’ll just wear yourself down. No one is perfect. No one’s got it all. You can still be a great leader though without knowing all the answers. That’s why you have a team of managers and supervisors.

In an article by John C. Maxwell in Success magazine, he says, “incomplete leaders differ from incompetent leaders in that they understand what they’re good at and what they’re not good at. And they have good judgment about how they can work with others to build on their strengths and offset their limitations”. No one’s perfect.

Use your resources. That includes people. Everyone who works for (with) you has some type of area of expertise. Part of your job, as the leader, consists of finding out what those areas are. They have the answers to your questions. There’s no need in reinventing the wheel. It already exists.

You and your entire team work off of the same mission and vision. Do you know what they say? Does your staff? The mission and vision puts you all on the same path to success. Use them in conjunction with your teams knowledge and you’ll be headed toward the top. Remember my brainstorming blog (Sep 29, 2009)? This is the perfect opportunity to put the two together. Get everyone involved. The more answers and ideas you have, the more decisions can be made and the more new products, services, and success you'll have.

You don't always have to have every answer. No one's perfect. But you can still be grrrrreat. (sorry, had to)

No "Blamestorming" Allowed

When was the last time you held a brainstorming session . . . a REAL brainstorming. Most people who hold group brainstorming do it wrong. “Huh”, you say? “All it is is throwing out ideas and weeding them out.” That’s pretty much true. However, most people go at it the wrong way. It's not the appropriate time for blame or criticism.

All comments on participant's ideas should be held until the end! Brainstorming is allowing participants to put out their ideas with no pressure to hold them back. Here’s what a good group session should look like:

• The facilitator presents the problem and gives further explanation if needed.
• The facilitator sets a time limit and asks the group for their ideas.
• All participants present their ideas, and the person documenting records them.
• Participants may elaborate on their ideas to ensure clarity.
• When time is up, the facilitator organizes the ideas based on the topic goal.
• Categorize ideas.
• Review the whole list to ensure that everyone understands the ideas.
• Remove duplicate ideas and obviously unfeasible solutions.
• THEN discuss.

If you want a more effective group brainstorming session – don’t make the boss the facilitator. In fact, don’t even let him in the room. That’s a sure way of intimidating your more timid participants.

The biggest reason group discussions don’t work is because participants feel too much pressure or are intimidated. Research at the University of Texas (Arlington) and Texas A&M University have found that traditional brainstorming is not as effective as other techniques because of social pressure – the fear of looking foolish among peers and superiors, or even being afraid of saying something that will offend someone.

The next time you want to brainstorm, try the individual approach. Most of the research performed shows us that people working by themselves will come up with more ideas than when they’re in a group. They just don’t have that group pressure. Individually, they can be more relaxed and take a little more time to think or maybe get ideas elsewhere, like books or the Internet.

Brainstorming IS a very effective technique of producing new ideas and solutions, IF you perform it properly. So next time you think of brainstorming, take a few minutes to plan it out.