Walk That Talk

In the past, I’ve known so many supervisors and managers that talk the talk but don’t walk the walk. Good leadership means that you “walk the talk”. Leading is sometimes like raising children – sometimes there’s really not much difference at all. If you’re going to say “do as I say”, you also have to “do as you say”. That goes for any situation. You, as a leader, are on stage . . . the star of the show. You’re being watched more than you realize. In some cases, some may even call it stalking.

Over the past number of years, leaders have been getting more into the “employees are important to me” frame of mind. That’s a good thing. But at the same time, if you tell your staff, “if you are ill, stay home”, you can’t take things away from them or give them bad appraisal marks if the do (unless it’s obviously being taken advantage of).

If you keep telling your staff that they’re doing a good job when they’re not – that’s your fault. You can’t take things away from them or give them bad appraisal marks.

If you give your staff a survey to find out what’s on their minds or what problems or issues they have, then never do anything with the information, youuu might be a redneck. Oops, sorry - actually they’ll lose confidence in you and your abilities to effect change.

If you reap praise on your staff, as you should, but then take all the credit when it comes to your bosses – they’ll lose confidence and acceptance in you.

Are you seeing some kind of trend here?

Leadership Rule #1 – You’re the Leader – You’re being watched – You must be the example – You must set the bar – You must do as you say.

It's All About ME

Rufus Wainwright said,“Everything I do, I feel is genius. Whether it is or it isn't.” Ahhh, arrogance.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines arrogance as: “An attitude of superiority manifested in an overbearing manner or in presumptuous claims or assumptions.”

Let me see. Does that definition fit anybody we know? Just a hunch, but I’ll bet you could apply that definition to a lot of people occupying leadership positions.

Some have been given their leadership roles too quickly and therefore pick up a degree or two (or three) of arrogance along the way. Unfortunately, the people around them end up suffering for it.

Arrogance causes natural confidence to disintegrate while the person primarily serves themselves. The real sad part is that the arrogant assumes his views and opinions are the truth. He sees no weakness in himself and may even secretly rejoice in finding flaws in others. Team cohesiveness quickly goes down the drain.

You DON'T have to put up with arrogance. Give the arrogant the benefit of the doubt - consider confronting him after he's displayed inappropriate behavior. Explain how you interpreted the behavior and let him know you're trying to help him and the team.

Many people quickly realize they were perceived negatively and work to deal with their arrogance. Even if they're not completely successful in altering themselves, they're now at least aware of it and should be able to limit the behavior to some degree.

Sure, there'll be others that won’t get it . . . at all. You did the right thing though, by making them aware of how they're perceived and you may want to bring it up to him again at a later point. But give him some specifics on what he's doing and how it's impacting the team.

Bottom line - watch it! If it's your supervisor that's the arrogant one, subtly let him know. If it's you that's the arrogant one, listen to your peers and learn to change.

It's Show Business

Whatever business you’re in . . . it’s show business. Everyone from the attraction cast to the costumed characters to the housekeepers in the hotels, Disney’s cast members know that they're part of a show designed to delight and entertain guests. Whenever they’re “onstage” (Disney-speak for any area where they might encounter guests) they have to keep their smiling, approachable, helpful demeanour. At Disney, every employee follows the same guidelines as a cast member on Main Street. Make eye contact. Smile. Never eat, drink, or smoke in guests’ presence. Disney executives will never step over a piece of trash: like any cast member, they’re expected to help keep the park clean.

Does any of this make any sense at all to you? It really should. Whatever business YOU'RE in . . . it's show business. Any time your employee's interact with or can be seen by customers, they're onstage.

Exceeding your customers' expectations means maintaining professionalism, cleanliness and friendliness beyond what's already expected, and giving “that something extra". You have to show that you'll go the extra mile to make customers (guests) happy, even if that means you open the doors 10 minutes early or close 20 minutes late. If you can satisfy your customers (guests) with their experience, they'll come back. And if that means it costs a few extra dollars, that great service will overcome all else.

Disney cast members are taught to take the extra step - just like your own employee's should. No matter what role they play, the goal is happiness and exceptional service. No one should EVER have to hear the words "It's not my job" from ANY of your employees. Employees should always be onstage and exceptional service should always be the norm.

Go Home and Change

You never get a second chance to create a positive first impression. It’s said that it takes only 4 seconds for someone to form an opinion of you at the first meeting. That's not long. So you can actually handle situations much better just by dressing right. The better your self-image the more confident and positive you'll be about your work.

Perceptions are formed by three modes of communication:
- what we say,
- how we say it,
- what we do and how we dress.
What we do/how we dress (body language) can account for OVER ½ of our message.

If you’re in a position where you’re likely to interact with angry customers, you have a chance to use your image as one of your more effective tools. You can use your image to signal your,
- power,
- control,
- knowledge, and
- composure.

If you’re dressed inappropriately (wrinkled and dirty) or too casually (jeans/t-shirts) for your position and business, customers are more likely to push to get their way, and call for a higher authority if they don't like your response.

In other words, if you’re the supervisor, dressed inappropriately, and your new guy is standing next to you, spic and span – who do you think the customer is going to approach? Well it’s sure not you!

Any career building learning will tell you that you should always dress for your NEXT position. ALWAYS look your best – it improves service. ALWAYS look your best – it gets you noticed. ALWAYS look your best – it improves your own self-image.

Feelings . . . Nothing More Than Feelings

Emotional intelligence (kind of contradictory for some, huh) is the ability to understand and manage your own mood and emotions and the moods and emotions of other people. Leaders with a high level of emotional intelligence (EI) are more likely to understand how they're feeling and why, and they're more able to effectively manage their feelings. When leaders are experiencing stressful feelings and emotions such as fear or anxiety, emotional intelligence enables them to understand why and manage the feelings so they don't get in the way of effective decision making.

Understanding how your subordinates feel, why the feel that way, and how to manage their feelings is important in developing strong interpersonal bonds with them. Moreover, it has the potential to contribute to effective leadership in multiple ways and can help leaders make lasting contributions to society.

Recent research suggests that EI may be especially important in opening and enhancing employee creativity. Avon CEO, Andrea Jung says that, "Emotional intelligence is in our DNA here at Avon because relationships are critical at every stage of our business."

It's about time you get your emotions under wraps. Since EI has the potential to increase our understanding of how individuals behave and adapt to their work and social environment, I'd say it could very well be an important topic for you to start taking a look at.

Tell The Truth

I just read the coolest quote from Pixar President Ed Catmull. He said, "Management's job is not to prevent risk but to build the capability to recover when failures occur. It must be safe to tell the truth."

Wow. The End.

Recognize Daily

Good leaders remember to recognize and motivate employees. Great leaders do it every day. Take a look at the following methods for ensuring that praising employees becomes a part of your DAILY routine:

Make employees a part of your weekly "to do" list. Add the names of the people who report to you to your list of goals to accomplish. Then cross off names as you give them praise.

Use voice mail. Rather than using it only to assign tasks, leave employees voice mail messages praising them for a job well done. Do it from your cell phone on the way home if you need to.

Write notes at the end of the day. Keep a stack of note cards on your desk, where you can't ignore them. At the end of the day, take a couple of minutes to write thank-you notes to any of your employee's who made a difference that day.

At the beginning of the day, put 5 coins in your pocket. Throughout the day, each time you praise an employee, move a coin to your other pocket. Pretty soon it will become habit and you won't need the coins.

It doesn't always take a lot to make that leap from good to grrrreat. A bit of appreciation goes a long way.

I Won, I Won

A lot of supervisors think that what motivates them also motivates everyone else. That's simply not true. Everyone is different. You didn't hire clones. If you're going to hold a public presentation of an award for one of your staff, you may just be DE-motivating them. If they don't like public attention, they may just fall back and punt, not wanting it to happen again.

As far as awards and motivation goes, take a queue from The Walt Disney Company. They do something that more organizations should think about doing (one of many). When a new castmember (employee) is hired they're given a survey which asks them how they like, and don't like, to be rewarded and what motivates them. By doing this, their supervisor can tailor, to that particular castmember, the way they're rewarded. You need to know this information because some people just don't like to get up in front of a crowd to receive awards - but then again, some people thrive on it. Again - too much public recognition can be DEEEEE-motivating.

It's commonly believed that money is the biggest motivator for employee's. Nope. A number of research papers over the last few years have proven this wrong. Sure people like money, but they also like recognition, education, career development, and influence.

Two of the most important types of recognition programs you can have are peer and customer. It's very easy and cheap to start a peer recognition program where co-workers can nominate others for going above and beyond. A certificate and maybe a gift card is all you'd need. It goes a long way.

Customer recognition is another biggie. If you have ANY means of receiving customer feedback in which employee's or teams are named, SHARE IT with them. They can then see that what they do really matters to someone other than the boss.

Whatever you end up doing, make sure that your motivation techniques and rewards always revolve around organizational goals. Employee's often attribute their success to how they're able to contribute to the organization.

We're Never Finished

“The park means a lot to me. It’s something that will never be finished, something I can keep developing, keep ‘plussing,’ and adding to. It’s alive. It will be a live, breathing thing that will need changes . . . not only can I add things to it, but even the trees will keep growing. The thing will get more beautiful year after year. And it will get better as I find out what the public likes.” Don’t you think that’s the way every business should be run? Well, you should.

This is a quote by Walt Disney, back when Disneyland was first developed. It’s a very simple concept. Being able to continuously make changes allows the Park to grow and makes it possible to entertain more guests (visitors). They keep technology up-to-date (actually it’s on the cutting edge) allowing the rides and attractions to improve and stay exciting. It’s what people want. It’s why so many people keep returning to the Parks.

A successful business will find out what their customers want or need and develop their products and services accordingly. You don’t “build it” for yourself, you build it for your consumers. Think about it – you’re not the one buying the products or services.

Always be looking at what you’re doing, how you’re doing it, and what you could be doing differently. In Rich Hamilton’s book, Disney Magic: Business Strategy You Can Use at Work and at Home, he says to ask the following questions:
- What can you change about your business to get the work done faster, or better, or for lower cost?
- What can you do within your business to serve your customers better, to make them want more of your products or services, or to purchase from you more often?
- What can you do to make your business new for your customers, so that each time they come back they can enjoy the experience in a new way, even if it is a subtle difference?

You don’t need to make major changes to make a difference. Some customers will see the changes right away, while others will see them at a later time. No matter when they notice – or if they even consciously notice – they’ll have a much better experience with your business.

I AM the Manager

This week I’m going to share a tale with you. A tale of bad customer service by a manager – not a leader – a manager.

Recently a colleague and I went to Vero Beach to hold a couple of classes for our counterparts. We stayed over night so we brought our spouses along (separate rooms of course). The hotel we had reservations at was a nice one, not upscale but a very comfortable business and travel site. When we checked in we were given wonderful service by the woman at the desk (Betty). She was friendly, accommodating, and would do anything she could to make our stay memorable. I was thoroughly impressed.

Since my partner and I were going to be heading to class at about 6:45a.m. (ugh), we asked that we be allowed a late check-out. Betty said that we could have until 1:00p.m. – that’s all that she could authorize. Well that was much better than 11:00 so we said that would be great, and thanked her. Then one small omittance brought about our customer service snafu. Betty recorded my late check-out in the turnover book, but forgot to record my teaching partners. Oh-oh.

The next day my wife had no problem, however the other party did. He was called at 12:00 and told he had to get out (in not so many words). When he went to the front desk to sort the issue out, he was greeted with rudeness. He asked to talk to a supervisor and was told by the gentleman he was speaking to that, “I AM the manager”. Long story short, nothing changed – no apology, no concession - just get out.

Because of that ONE person - and the manager at that - none of us will ever stay at that particular hotel again.

In any service organization all staff should be constantly asking themselves, “How can I make these customers’ experiences better than from other places or better than they were the last time?”

Remember that “Everything Speaks”. Everything the customer sees, hears, smells, tastes, or touches will impact their experience with you. It’s a darn shame when the only “bad taste” comes from a correctable predicament made worse by management – the very person(s) that you’d expect to make things better.

As they teach at the Disney Institute, (even though this time the guest WAS right) “Guests may not always be right, but they are always our guests.”

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.

Wah - Get Over It

We all have at least one person we work with that just crawls under our skin (and slowly eats away at our very being – did I write that out loud?). It ends up affecting the morale of your other employees who get tired of having to constantly hear and see the skirmish. What’s worse are the two employees that come to you "telling" on the other one. Don’t you just want to say “Wah!” sometimes? It takes up a lot of time to deal with them. But you have to deal with them a bit more judiciously.

You – the leader – have to take control of the situation BEFORE it gets out of hand. While conflict in any environment is inevitable, when it goes unchecked and effects the workplace environment, it’s getting to be too late to deal with it quickly. It’s always easier to resolve the disputes before they become problems.

Here are a couple of things that you can do to help the situation turn around:
1st, Bring the two employees together so you can:
• show them how their behavior is affecting their colleagues and workplace,
• advise them that anything that’s interfering with a nice pleasant workplace (that you’ve tried so hard to develop) must be resolved,
• remind them that they’re both valuable employees and that you’re confident that they can resolve their differences and be able to work together (give them the benefit of the doubt),
• get their COMMITMENT to work out their differences so they can work together, and
• ensure that they understand the seriousness of the problem and that – here’s the KEY - while they don’t have to like each other, you do expect them to learn to work together.
And don’t forget to DOCUMENT everything – just in case.

2nd, Review the options with your problem children employees:
• They can work it out on their own.
• You can meet with them to address the issues.
• You can bring in a mediator to work with them to resolve the issues.
• They can refuse to work on the issues, in which case, you will be accepting their resignations in the morning (tough love).

It’s never easy, or desirable, to have to deal with these types of issues. But a good leader is going to be ready for it. This is something that you can plan on happening at some point in time. Stash this little checklist away and be ready to pull it out at the earliest onset of a problem – don’t let it get to the full on problem stage and you’ll have a much easier time dealing with it, all the way around.

Try These Words On For Size

Knowing the right way to communicate is important because, as the good leader that you are, you coach, coordinate, counsel, evaluate, and supervise through it. It’s the chain that keeps you connected with the members of your team. It’s not really all that hard either, no matter what you may think.

Often leaders shy away from simple lists of suggestions and guidelines. They’ve seen it all, heard it all, and know it all. Yet by following a few basic suggestions we can become better leaders and enhance our communication skill tremendously.

Most managers try to get “buy-in” from their staff. Try this for a change – rather than getting buy-in from people, get them engaged by allowing “input”. Instead of spending your time trying to influence them, help them to feel more a part of the organization or process by making them feel like their opinion matters.

I recently read the following countdown to the most important words you can use as a leader but unfortunately the author is unknown.
- The six most important words: "I admit I made a mistake."
- The five most important words: "You did a good job."
- The four most important words: "What is your opinion?"
- The three most important words: "If you please."
- The two most important words: "Thank you,"
- The one most important word: "We"
- The least important word: "I"

Effective leaders recognize the importance of good – and honest – communication (like admitting fault). Communication problems can cause bottlenecks in the organization. The next time you’re tempted to blame staff for bottlenecks, stop and examine a bottle. Take a little note of where the neck is. HINT: It’s not at the bottom.

Delivering Happiness

This week I’m breaking with “tradition” a bit in order to write a review of a new book. Like I’ve mentioned before, I received an advance copy of Tony Hsieh’s (CEO of Zappos.com) upcoming book – it’s actually released today – Delivering Happiness: A Path To Profits, Passion, and Purpose. Let me just tell you this – it’s a must read.

Many books on business jump right into the business at hand without a lot of early background. Tony takes us on a journey from his early childhood entrepreneur beginnings to the billion dollar success of Zappos.com. He tells us about his money making ideas as a child, including making buttons (which he advertised in Boys Life) and selling greeting cards. He manages to take us “mid-agers” right down Memory Lane.

We get an inside look at how Zappos grew, following Tony’s sale of LinkExchange (to Microsoft) in 1989 for $275 million dollars. Eventually all of the money would be gone as a bunch of friends tried (and succeeded) to keep afloat a company they dearly believed in. During that time, Tony would grow a relationship with a friend that may be seen accompanying him, to this day, to “breakfast, lunch, and dinner”. That friend being a little drink called Red Bull.

The ups and downs that the Zappos team went through prior to becoming a real success story would have been enough to cause most mere mortals to give up. Not so here. Zappos has a close, family-like, relationship that embraces every employee. They work together, play together, drink together, and basically have fun together.

Zappos’ main focus has always been on customers. The customer experience is literally number one on their list. I challenge you to find another company that allows returns, with free shipping - for an entire year. Do any of the internet companies you work with automatically upgrade to next day shipping? Free of charge?

Sure Tony and friends have made mistakes along the way. But they learned valuable lessons with each one of them. Most notably was that you “never outsource your core competencies”. If you want the best warehouse – run it yourself. If you want the best customer service – take the calls yourself.

Probably the best example of all of how important and transparent the customer experience is, is the Zappos Culture Book (I have one). They put together a hardbound culture book that includes comments from employees, customers, partners and even vendors. Included are the good AND bad comments. Again – how many companies do you know that would do that? Needless to say, most comments ARE good. The book is described as a short-term expense for a long term investment. Get one for free at www.zapposinsights.com/main/culture-book.

Now I could go into so many more examples and stories, like the 10 Core Values, or the leadership training available to everyone, but I don’t want to take anything away from your reading experience. If you’re interested in employee motivation, leadership development, corporate culture, or just Zappos in general, do yourself a favor and head out to your local bookstore (or go to www.amazon.com/deliveringhappiness) and pick up a copy. Then grab a Red Bull, sit back, and enjoy.

So. How Am I Doin?

This is a question that your staff shouldn’t have to ask you. If you’re “managing by wondering around” (MBWA) and giving clear concise FEEDBACK, they shouldn’t have to. But many leaders do put off giving feedback to staff even though they know that giving and getting honest feedback is essential for growth and development of successful staff and organizations. Hmmm. Maybe it’s because there are so many ways to mess it up and people just don’t know the most effective way make it right.

I know, I know. You’ve heard all the tips and common mistakes for feedback. Well, you must be an expert then. Wrong. I’m continually finding new and interesting twists. And here’s one now. In an article by Brian Ward called "How To Provide Feedback", he gives these five easy tips:

1 - Never just 'deliver feedback'. Feedback should be part of a larger process which includes coaching for superior performance. Feedback is ONE step in that process.

2 - Provide feedback to the whole person. Treat each person as a whole person, not just the part that you observe that needs attention. The person receiving feedback isn’t broken, and they don't need to be fixed. Provide praise and reinforcement when you catch them doing something right, as well as feedback when they are off track.

3 - Make feedback a conversation, not a lecture. Keep it conversational. If a conversation does not happen naturally, then back off and ask yourself and the other person a simple question "what are you feeling (or thinking) right now?"

4 - Think about their goals as well as yours. Discuss the feedback in the context of what will make the person more successful. Don't just concentrate on your goals or the company's goals. That makes the conversation too one-sided. If the person has no goals, then . . . that's what you need to address first.

5 - Finish on a positive note. Okay, so some feedback sessions may not finish that way. But you have to ask yourself why that's so . . . is it because you've let the issues compound, and perhaps it’s gone too far? Either way, offer support to the person as a way to stay in the picture. Never let them struggle alone . . . stay close to them and coach, coach, coach!

If you’re not doing these things then who is? Probably no one, I’d imagine. You OWE it to your staff, yourself, and your organization to make good feedback part of your continuous development regime.

. . . Till Her Daddy Takes The T-Bird Away

I’m of course talking about Fun, Fun, Fun. Work CAN be fun. Yes it can. Yes it can. Trust me. More and more businesses are turning to fun as a part of their business model. And they’re very successful businesses. A couple of good examples: Google, Zappo’s, eBay. I know you’ve heard of them.

Now Google, Zappo’s, and eBay are very large organizations. Money? Oh yes, they also have a lot of money. But you don’t need to have a lot of cash though, to have fun. The real problem comes from being taken out of the comfort zone. People just aren’t used to having fun at work. Taking on a fun initiative is just plain difficult – it’s CHANGE. But by taking action and making fun a priority, businesses have been able to excel in areas where challenges and problems had been the everyday norm (does that sound at all familiar?). Having fun may not be “the one” tactic that turns your business around, but it’s one that may make the biggest difference.

Employees value fun as a means of becoming more successful at work. According to a survey conducted by Interim Services, nearly 75% of employees believed that promoting fun would make their jobs more attractive and reduce turnover. Use fun to improve customer service, sales, marketing, and human resources. And don’t forget leadership.

Keep in mind that everyone’s idea of fun may be different. You can’t just make up one activity and expect everyone to love it. It’s not fun unless they can be included in it – to have the opportunity to be included. People need a reason to stay these days. According to a USA Today study, people change jobs an average of nine times before they’re 32 years old. NINE times. Having fun is a pretty good reason to stay.

As a leader, you’re at the front line of your “Magic Kingdom”. All you really need to do to get started is lighten up and learn to laugh at yourself and with others. Notice that key word – WITH – not AT. As in any other situation, LEAD BY EXAMPLE. Create a sincere atmosphere of fun around YOU and your employee’s will soon follow.

It's Your Call

Decisions. In Lee Iacocca’s autobiography, he says, “If I had to sum up in one word what makes a good manager, I’d say decisiveness. You can use the fanciest computers to gather numbers, but in the end you have to set a timetable and act. And I don’t mean rashly. I’m sometimes described as a flamboyant leader and hipshooter, a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants operator. But if that were true, I could never have been successful in business.”

This quote from Lee Iacocca illustrates how you’ll never get anything accomplished unless you’re prepared to make decisions. When you reach the top, the workers below you will only be as effective as YOUR decisions.

A decision can go one way or another – either POSITIVELY or NEGATIVELY. INdecision, though, can only be negative. Now that you have that nice office with the window, it doesn’t mean that you sit around reading the sports section all day just letting things happen. Get off your duff. The more decisions you make, the better your judgment and decisions will become. Not sure how to make the best decisions? Here a few tips:

- Never make decisions based on emotion or to prove a point. That will bring you more problems then you had in the first place, and ones that tend to escalate.

- Make sure you have a good grasp of the subject. Write it down and list the pros and cons. Don’t take too long to make decisions. Writing things down will help move it along.

- Get input from people whose opinions you trust. Use your network – if you don’t have one, build one – now.

- Once you make your decision, make sure it’s executed swiftly and fully.

You’ve been making decisions your whole life. Now’s the time to put together everything you’ve learned. Be confident, carry it, and show it. You owe it to your team and yourself.

EXTRA NOTE: I'm currently reading an advance copy of Tony Hsieh's (CEO of Zappos.com), book, "Delivering Happiness". It's a great book detailing his early childhood entrepreneurism up to current time. It will inspire your own success, better customer service and focusing on your company culture. If you'd like a chance to win an advance copy, comment back to me the name of the company that Tony sold to Microsoft. If you'd like to find out more about Tony's upcoming book release (June 7) go to http://www.deliveringhappinessbook.com/.

Apologize And Learn Your Lesson

Have you ever made a mistake and not known what to do to make things right? You say you don’t make mistakes? Let me tell ya – you make more mistakes than you think you do. Mistakes HAPPEN, whether you want to admit it or not. A mistake can be the result of misinformation, confusion or just a simple accident. Once discovered though, a mistake can shake trust and cause people to question your abilities. Making amends following a mistake is one of the most important things you can do. It helps you move beyond the confrontation and prevent the same mistake from happening again.

The first thing you need to do is ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY. Admitting that you made a mistake and letting others know you're to blame makes people more receptive of your apology. APOLOGIZE to the people you offended. Be genuine and forthright. Without going into great detail, explain the reason you made the mistake and reassure the person(s) it won't happen again.

Try your darndest to MAKE THINGS RIGHT if you can. Take any opportunity to reverse the effects of your mistake. Unless you own a DeLorean with a “flux capacitor”, you cannot erase the mistake you made, but striving to improve the situation is crucial to making amends.

You may actually have to BACK OFF a bit because some people feel wounded when they’re the victim of someone’s mistake. Trying to push for acceptance of your apology may leave them feeling resentful. Give them time to recover and re-establish trust with you.

After proving through your actions that you have LEARNED YOUR LESSON, try to regain a sense of normalcy in your relationships (hopefully "normalcy" is good). The other person's demeanor and body language will indicate when you've made satisfactorily amends. MOVE FORWARD and put the incident behind you.

Remember to let the other person(s) set the tone for your interactions until things get better. In trying to put it all behind you quickly, you may become overbearing. That’s the last thing you’ll want. TIME heals all.

EXTRA NOTE: I'm currently reading an advance copy of Tony Hsieh's (CEO of Zappos.com), book, "Delivering Happiness" (it's reeaaly good so far). If you'd like a chance to win an advance copy, tell me what was the name of the company that Tony sold to Microsoft. If you'd like to find out more about Tony's upcoming book release (June 7) go to http://www.deliveringhappinessbook.com/.

Watch The Snake Oil

Hey, you’ve been reading leadership books. Great! Before you try out something new, remember – you have to lead according to your own style. Books and articles are wonderful but they’re a base from where you need to begin. If you want to implement the styles that you read about, do it in the most successful manner.

If you come across an exciting new idea that you read about in a book, you’ve got to read and learn more about it first. You can’t read one book and be ready to go. Read a number of books or articles by different authors. You need to have a good grasp of what it’s all about BEFORE you start. One author may make it sound great – different authors may not.

Remember that management “fads” or "trends" are TOOLS. They’re going to work in some situations, but not others. Taylor it to your own needs and beliefs. Be sure you know WHY you’ve picked these tools and HOW you’re going to use them. If you don’t know how you’re going to measure your success, then don't do it.

For gosh sakes, when you do implement your new style, be sure that you stay with it. Don’t get into the "flavor of the month" mode. With each new technique will come a new failure, and increased disparagement from your team. If you keep ringing the bell, sooner or later the dog won’t come (Pavlov).

Part of being a successful leader is being consistent. Get new ideas . . . discover new tools . . . but don’t try to be something you’re not. If the tools WORK for you, then great. Go for it. Don’t try to force it just because you like the ideas of this new style. Keep in mind that authors write books to make money. They make these things sound as good as possible. Go with the things that sound like they’ll be the best fit - for YOU.

Special Note: I'm privileged to be reviewing an advance copy of Zappos.com CEO, Tony Hsieh's new book, "Delivering Happiness". Stay tuned for my take. The book will actually hit the stores June 7.