Biggest Gap In The World

What is the biggest gap in the world?

It's like comparing a wave on an ocean to its mighty depth.  It is unseen, unrealized.  It is like comparing the 10% of the iceberg we see to the 90% below the water that we don't even realize is there.

What is it that allows for so much opportunity and is unseen and unrealized??

It is our potential!

William James, the father of modern psychology, stated that we are only half awake and that we use only a small portion of our abilities.  As I look back over the years I have seen thousands of individuals spread their wings, do things they didn't think they could do by expanding their comfort zone.  We all have things we are uncomfortable with whether it is managing people, delegating, selling, coaching for performance, speaking, presenting, dealing with difficult people, holding people accountable, and many other things that matter to us.  To grow again begins with admitting what the improvements are and having the courage to apply some fundamentals, and the discipline to practice them over and over again until we are effective and comfortable applying them. It helps to be under the guidance of a supporting coach who gives instant and relevant feedback; but if you are a disciplined 'do-it-yourselfer'...go for it.

At Chrysler I remember Lee Iaccoca always trying to expand his comfort zone from being a technical, smart engineer (he introduced the Mustang at Ford) to being a builder of people, a communicator.  This was not natural to him.  He became an icon.  He definitely tapped into his potential.

Warren Buffet recently said "the only diploma I have on the wall is my Dale Carnegie certificate."  It's because what he learned at Dale Carnegie gave him the ability to use his technical smarts and achieve the willing cooperation of his organization.  Being a people-focused leader did not come naturally to Warren Buffet.  It does now.  Technical and number driven people find it challenging to engage others in their ideas or knowledge, let alone get buy-in.

I also remember working with many leadership teams and their people who were instituting a change in their direction and they had to mobilize their troops to achieve it.  Here are some examples:

- Going from order- taking to being a sustaining resource for clients.

- From being a know-it-all engineer to truly partnering with clients.

- From autocratic-no involvement manufacturing structures to self directed, engaged, work teams.

- From indifference to genuine helpful service.

The transitions they went through were probably never seen as achieving more of their untapped potential; but, in reality, that's what it was.  Companies have all kinds of untapped possibilities.  It is amazing how wonderful our organizations and our lives are.  And we only tap into 10% or so of our potential.

How can we be disillusioned about how great we are today? You would think every business person is trying to wake up by examining what is needed to be better and to develop the structures, systems and/or behaviors required to grow again.

What happened in the 30's?  The depression spawned new visions and people with a hunger to make lives better and to achieve what appeared impossible at the time.  It could happen again.  Don't you just love the enthusiasm of the "want more" millennials?  They are educated, want meaning, love team challenge and above all, action.  They have been loved, hugged and told they are perfect.  Nothing is in their way.  You could say their orientation is all about possibilities.  Their attitude is great. 

Now they have to develop the savvy and skills, like any generation, in order to make their attitudes turn into results.  Are all the generations spoiled today?  Are we as good as we think we are?  Don't we think we have to change?  The millenials will probably drag all of those over 29 into possibility conversations. Then we'll drag them into reality conversations.  They are both good perspectives.  We can cower and hide because it is tough out there and be a laid- back, coasting under-achiever with no improvement goals, and reject new directions, changes and accountability. Or, we can say, "why can't we have that, be that, do that, and get busy putting in place all that's required, including higher level skills?"

It all depends on our willingness to see what we want in comparison to what it is now and determine the actions and skills that are required to make the transition. It is all up to us, whether you are 30 or 70. There is a lot more potential to realize.  Don't get bluffed out thinking it is too fast or complicated out there.  Your perspective will change as you improve yourself.

Actions:

- What is it that if it were possible, would improve your career, your team, your business?

- What behavior, attitude or skill do you need improvement in because you aren't comfortable or skilled enough?

- What learning, coaching or training are you going to engage in?

Come on everyone, accept the challenge of reaching more of your untapped potential.  Let's wake up and live - achieve and succeed!!  As my good buddy from Chicago, Don Adams says, "It is about turning potential into performance."

Turning Points

Monday, November 22, 2010.

As I reflect back over the last 45 years, I feel that we have built a successful organization, have helped thousands upon thousands of people and companies, I have a great family, good friends and lots of toys.  A good life but, it almost didn't turn out that way.

I remember very clearly.  I was 23 years old.  I advertised the Dale Carnegie program in the Windsor Star for three weeks.  I created a plan around how to have a successful fall season for my little business which included holding a Preview meeting to showcase my services.  I thought this would get a lot of people interested but on the evening of the Preview meeting only a few people showed up.  I was crushed. All my planning, enthusiasm, and actions came to a stop.  I was done!  No hope for me in this business!

Just two days earlier a client gave me a book by Dorothea Brande called "Wake Up and Live."  It sat on the passenger seat staring at me as I drove to Leamington, Ontario to do my last speaking engagement.  Along Hwy. #3, my emotions got away from me.  I stopped the car and cried. (remember, I was 23)  My dreams, my vision, were a bust.   I looked over at the book, picked it up, and sat there and read half of the book.  It caused me to experience every emotion imaginable and made me sick to my stomach.  Never was I as close to reality as I was then.  A real punch in the gut!  Dorothea had described her life, always waiting to succeed, putting off actions; dreaming with no action attached to the dream.  She was a writer who couldn't get going.  I totally related.

I decided right then that I would rush to that last speaking engagement, get it over, finish reading the book... and then I would re-start my life.  And this time I would take action on all the things I needed to do to succeed.  What a surprise!  I guess I was an inspired speaker that day.  I talked of reality and did not know how many would identify with my story or what it took to succeed, but I didn't care.  I left it all out there after all, I was leaving this business.

The applause was thundering, a standing ovation.  Afterwards a man walked up to me who appeared to be emotional.  He handed me his card and said "Could you come over to see me?  I am the President of H.J. Heinz Company and I would like you to talk to my team."  Instead of leaving the business, I went on to fill my project, struck up a great, long term relationship with a big client, and most of all I learned to talk real about life, success and business.   I learned that most people are hurting and are only half awake.  They have either lost their way, are coasting, or haven't pushed their start button.

Thanks to Dorothea I understand the meaning of the phrase 'action is all there is.'  All of us 'mail it in' at times or try to dream our way to success, or have the focus of a ninny. And up to that day, I was a ninny.  I was naïve and impractical.  I learned that we have to decide to be the dominant force in our lives and create our success.  Our mommies and daddies have their own issues.  No boss, no organization and especially, no government will take care of us.  We need to motivate ourselves, do the things we need to (whether we like them or not) and invent the life we want.

That day on Highway #3 around Essex, Ontario, I turned my life around.

Business has never been easy.  Selling takes tremendous optimism, organization and focus.  Operations is filled with day to day problems.  And money....everyone seems to know how to take it from you.  Most circumstances are unfair.  There are bullies, politics, and bureaucrats everywhere.  Recessions come and go. SO WHAT!  You don't have to choose to be a victim of circumstance.  You can choose to create the life and business you want. The age old statement is true.  It's not what happens to you but what you do about it. 

Actions: 

Questions this week.

• How do you relate to my story?
• How about you?  What realities do you need to face?
• What are those things you have to do to create the business and life you want?
• What is your first step?

In some small way, I hope today's e-mail will inspire you to have one of those days that will be a turning point for you.

Have a great week!

How Do You Boost Performance?

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 Monday, November 15, 2010.

A couple of weeks ago a general manager asked me if my organization could support him in developing a couple of his young tigers to help him run his expanding business since he cannot handle it all on his own.   I told him of course we could do that but I needed him to answer a couple of questions to ensure it is the best use of his resources.  Here are the questions.  Maybe they will help you determine how to boost performance through the development of your people.

Are they the right people to take the business forward?  For example:

A)  Have they been involved in thinking out what the business needs to grow in these dynamic times?  Do they inquire, listen, inquire again, listen?  In other words, can they learn when given the chance? 

B) Do they apply the new thinking and attitudes they developed? 

C) Are they taking formal or informal programs to improve their skills, habits and attitudes? When they engage in training, do they learn how to manage change, motivate people, and create team alignment?  Do they have a career plan?

D) What does your performance management system tell you about their ability to lead and get results?  Can they increase revenue, customer retention or productivity?

If the new leaders fit, would you schedule time to help them align the coaching and training they get from us to the business goals and strategies of the business?  For example, would you sit them down and explain, "Here is how we make money today" "Here is what our customers want."  "Here is how we match up with their wants."  "Here are the most important things we need to focus on to help our customers."  "Here is how our organization needs to be mobilized to grow."  

I told him that our business coaches always ask those being coached to go back and ask these questions of their managers but too often, their managers don't take the time or have the interest to answer them.  Because of this, learning and development doesn't directly fit the strategies and goals of the business.  This is a management issue.   Where is the mentoring and coaching commitment?  Without it all training and development turns out to be personal development and out of business context.

Research shows the best way to support top performers and boost performance is to reward them by involving them in strategic thinking involvement, engage them with timely, constant and relevant performance feedback; help them develop a career plan and build their leadership and other business skills, thinking, and attitudes to prepare them for "next level" opportunities on behalf of succession planning.  Offer them actionable development coaching, mentoring and training.

Today, more than ever, you need to align your talent management processes to your changing business objectives.  For example, when a company's business objectives change in the middle of the year due to the emergence of new market opportunities or issues, you need to adjust, align, prepare and build your people so they can help you capitalize on what needs to be done. 

Here is data from Aberdeen Research about the best-in-class companies on how they make learning initiatives work.  Best-in-class companies:

Are 48% more likely to integrate learning with both talent and business strategy
and business results.

Are 47% more likely to support learning before and after formal training.

Up to 51% of them include customers and partners in their training processes. 
(and see a 9% increase in revenue)

Still use formal learning programs (58%) and (44%) cross- functional team learning.

Have determined that the most important skills are:

• Leadership Skills (people management, business strategy etc)
• Communications skills
• People development skills (ie - coaching)
• Critical thinking, strategic thinking
• Change management - collaboration

Have a payoff of ... 93% customer retention; 77% employee engagement; 56% bench strength.

Are more likely to use social learning within their learning strategy. (37%)

Hold managers accountable for the development progress of their teams and are over twice as likely to achieve best in class results.

Have visible leadership support for learning and development efforts. (73%)

Jim Collins, author of Good to Great, explains how "great" companies paid a lot of attention to people processes where "good" companies did not.  "Good" companies paid scant attention to managing change, motivating people and creating alignment.

Summary:

People and learning processes are the answer to organizational performance, talent management and business strategy success yet what we have noticed over the last couple of years is that in our turbulent business environment everyone seems to wonder where they are going.  Strategic thinking, employee goals, development plans, training, learning and development, compensation plans, are all on hold or in chaos.  All of this creates a lack of strategic direction, misalignment, talent turnover and mediocre performance.  This is not a pretty picture, so wake up your business and increase its capacity to hit bigger goals by offering your people actionable development.

ACTIONS: 

Questions to ponder:

• Do your performance management systems result in having the right people in the right positions to face today's challenges?
  
• Are top performers leaving because their performance wasn't noticed through coaching? 
• Do people have a career development plan?  How many?
  
• Are they offered a chance to grow their leadership for next level readiness and/or succession plans through actionable development, coaching and mentoring?
  
• How many of your people demonstrate that they are completing formal or informal learning projects?
  
• Are the results achieved in learning projects aligned with company strategies and goals?

What is one action you will take this week to improve your talent, performance and learning processes?

Have a great week.

The Goal of Business

Monday, November 8, 2010.

The Goal . .

 - - is to grow your customer base, keep your clients happy and loyal and to make 'gobs' of money doing it. 

Here are two questions:

1. How do you do that today when the internet is dominating business?  Too few of us know how, let alone execute with all the expertise required.  Instead, we tend to default to improving efficiencies only with technical solutions that improve internal systems. Although efficiencies are important in driving out costs, they'd better help you with the goal in the long term.

2. How do you break into new markets and offer great value that matches the market's motives, give adequate service and engage the market with fun, exciting fresh approaches?  Are you counting on waking up with fresh thinking every day or could you engage a team to develop and implement new strategies? 

Most of the managers we have been coaching for the last 30 or 40 years are not involved or empowered to do the thinking it takes to figure out all the above.  They either work for a big company that owns a lot of their market, competes by hiring very bright people who aren't allowed to bet a blade of grass let alone the farm.  Or, they are in a small to medium size company that is niching its way to success or having trouble figuring anything out because they think survival is the game.  Now, this is an over-generalized view, but it sure seems that it is this way to me.

You can hire the next new MBA to help you figure things out, and/or you can apply some leadership to go with your management formulas for success.   For over 50 years we have been asking managers to distinguish the difference between leadership and management in our Leadership for Managers coaching and training programs.  These managers are not in universities learning theory.  They are faced with an internet dominated market, competition issues, people issues, departments competing for resources and companies who don't involve them much in innovative strategic solutions. 

We, in the early stages of our work, usually get all the right, theoretical or academic answers but these answers don't always hit home because most managers only see what's in their way, and one of the barriers they face is usually their boss, or the owner who typically don't lead by example.

Genuine leadership growth can come when one of your smart people, focused on making the company grow, passionate about the business, gets out of the way and lets people think, invent and get organized to do what is required in the marketplace.  Henry Ford used to become frustrated because when he hired a pair of hands he had to take the whole person.  What would his blood pressure be like today with the well educated, "want more" generations in our companies??

Peter Drucker, the father of management theory and practice, claimed since the 70's management and leadership are equally important.  There is no other leadership group but managers.  As a manager unless you are going to do everything yourself you are going to have to accept that you don't know everything and cannot control everything, You need to lead,  listen and involve others, allow them to think, invent, and coach for improved performance.  Visionary leaders who are market centric need to manage as well.  They need to plan, organize direct policies, watch what is measurable, and get systems working together for the strategic direction of the business.

People can be good managers but fail to see what is really going on outside their spreadsheets and can't take a business forward.  Some leaders can be great at seeing what's going on in the market and driven by vision, but have a hard time getting things done through others and struggle growing the business.  In today's world, very few of us can afford to do one or the other.  What I have found is that there is an abundance of management-oriented people and fewer leader types.

All of us can grow in leadership and management.  No excuses.  Nothing works all the time, all processes eventually stop working.  Many things we try fail so it is even more important to be skilled, trained, and disciplined at good management and leadership skills so we can adapt and pick up the team and ourselves when required.  Where we see a need is that few management teams become strategic leaders, let alone organization or people leaders.  It is possible that management teams can be guided in figuring out what next best opportunities are out there and how they can connect and engage their people in figuring out and executing what needs to be done to make the opportunities real.  Leadership and effective management to find and keep customers is needed now.

Another element is coaching for performance.  It's almost impossible to grow without managers directly improving the performance of people.  Too few managers get connected at this level.

ACTIONS

to ponder this week:

1. Are you connected to where the business is going?  Do you even know where it is going?  If not and you aren't a C-Level executive or owner, find out.  How are you planning to make money - to find customers and keep them?   

2.  As management, are you getting out of the way and allowing people to think through what has to be done?  Are you allowing them to innovate, improve the business strategically or operationally?  If you aren't, set up a meeting.  Give the business outcomes desired and ask them to figure out what has to be done.

3. What is your plan to coach for performance improvement?

Incidentally, last week a terrific group of business people who are Monday Morning Mentor subscribers got together for a few hours at our office. We focused on ways to wake up our businesses for more growth, our team to innovation and our own leadership.  We engage in good dialogue and commitment.  We unanimously decided to meet monthly to keep the dialogue and commitment going so we can learn and grow. 

If you want to bring this model in-house, or if you want to engage with us, let me know.

 (kdcrone@dalecarnegie.ca 905-826-7300)

Have a great week.