As fall arrives there is a “get serious” tone, to reengage after summer break, to finish the year strong and establish a launching point for 2012. In the midst of this personal emotional engine I sense in friends, clients and leaders, just below the service there is also concern, in some a fear, in others seeds of doubt. Our economy remains in shambles, employment growth appears to be flat for the next 12 to 24 months, and our political system is broke. So where is the good news in these tough times?

There is no silver bullet but I believe there are some anchors that we can attach ourselves to emotionally and strategically to weather this storm.

 Know why you do what you do – When external forces beat on us, it frequently becomes easy to forget why we do what we do. We forget the joy and satisfaction of a “job well done”. Take a moment each day to remind yourself why you do what you do. For a few of us we have to remember that we actually LIKE the crises, the problem solving, the restructuring and rebuilding – you may be in your sweet spot and have simply allowed external opinions to rob you of your passion.

 Don’t lose sight of where you want to go – Vision is crucial, whether this is plastered all over your offices or just a picture in your head, don’t lose sight of where you want to go. The path to that place may have a few detours based on economy or people but that doesn’t mean you won’t still get there. As a leader your ability to remain steadfast on this point conveys confidence to your team. A confident team can work miracles. In the midst of the circumstances around us, you may find opportunities to jump on, profit from and even grow through.

 Make the tough decisions and move forward – Regardless of the reason, this season in many organizations is requiring some very tough decisions. Layoffs, downsizing, reorganizing, all “nasty” words yet in this season frequently inevitable. Unfortunately delaying tough decisions for the sake of friendships, emotions and even loyalty can jeopardize your whole organization. Analyze, communicate and PULL the TRIGGER. The healthier you are the faster you will rebound, be able to seize possibilities and move towards your vision and goals.

 Don’t compromise your core values – Your core values got you where you are today. They are bigger and more important than the external inputs because how you treat them will be with you the rest of your life. Use them to guide you in accomplishing the above three points. Insure that your finances are in alignment with them – are you investing/spending according to your vision and core values, this is a great season to evaluate. Make time to revisit them, refresh them in your mind and insure that your organization has not strayed, hasn’t compromised or outright abandoned them.

 During the tough times we have the potential to stand out, to move out of the crowd, to reveal who we are in a fashion that used to get lost in the marketing noise. Don’t waste these tough times whining and looking for solutions from broken systems, use these times to improve your effectiveness, to reach customers, people and opportunities you used to ignore. Use these tough times to build trust with those you serve whether volunteers, employees or customers.

Lead through it!

I just finished reading How the Mighty Fall and why some companies never give in by Jim Collins.  I highly recommend this book, especially considering the times we live in.  The contents are applicable to just about all organizations.

The premise is that there are five stages of an organization. 

Stage 1 – Hubris born of success

Stage 2 – Undisciplined pursuit of more

Stage 3 – Denial of risk and peril

Stage 4 – Grasping for salvation

Stage 5- Capitulation to irrelevance or death

As most of us gear up for the fall season, end of the year campaigns and then begin thinking about 2012 I believe this topic is a critical one to view the future through.  Have you been lulled into denial because of the negative external stimuli?  Have you either accepted the times we live in as something too big to do anything about or become content with just basic survival?

Now is the time!  The time to fortify your organizations foundation by insuring you have the right staff, you are adhering to your core values, you are honestly analyzing your numbers and insuring that you are supplying the best product possible with the means at your discretion.  If you have been delaying tough decisions, waiting for external situations to resolve themselves, you may be accepting defeat by default, sending a poor signal to your team and possibly beginning the end.

I encourage you to take the step of action, perhaps it’s reading this book, reconnecting with business colleagues, hiring a consultant or securing an executive coach to help you regain the momentum you once had and know you are capable of.

RTO Consulting may be the path to the answers you are needing!

Part 1

Getting better utilizing Strengths Finder and other self analysis resources

Many of us understand the principle that we need to continue investing in ourselves to improve our abilities to produce, to lead and become better contributors.  How we do this is the big question.  If you are flush with cash or have a large education/expense account you can utilize seminars, conferences and even high end coaches.  If you don’t fit this category what are the options?  I’d like to propose one you may be familiar with but have never exploited.

I recently took the strengths finder survey, for the second time http://www.strengthsfinder.com/ .  This is a relatively simple tool.  Buy the book, use the access code to complete the survey and then read the results.  The challenge becomes what we do after we’ve read the results.  As I’ve had the opportunity to now work with many people it’s not the tool that impedes the growth, it’s the priority.  Too many of us get consumed with the Tyranny of the Urgent, the day to day operations.  Let’s face the fact that most of us need an external motivator to insure that we accomplish the important task of improving our skills.

Here are three tips to improve your growth, whether using the Strength Finders or another tool.

1.  Focus – keep your strengths finder report within eyeshot of your daily activities.  Set aside three to five minutes at the beginning and the end of your day to compare what you have accomplished to your top five strengths. 

2.  Accountability – select a couple of trusted people that you can share your goals with.  Share with them measurable objectives and then allow them to ask you how you are progressing towards them.

3. Unity – also could be called alignment.  Are your strengths, your work and your goals creating synergy?  Are you on the right bus, doing and having the responsibilities that bring you the greatest satisfaction?

If you have taken the strengths finder or similar surveys and they are still sitting on a shelf or in a drawer, perhaps you need a greater external motivator.  If that is the case, RTO Consulting may be the solution for you.

Next post: Increase the Speed the of integrating new teams and team members

We are in a four part series of blog posts, the Three Fundamentals of Success.  To see previous posts click here Three Fundamentals of Success – Part 1

Successful integration of unity is much more than social events, reduction of HR issues and even low turnover.  Unity must be a concept that is actualized in the behavior of leaders and members alike.  It must be consistently fought for and efforts at disunity must be aggressively addressed.

Unity disrupters to watch for:

·         Monday morning quarter backing.

·         Individuals who would rather discuss business after the meeting instead of in it.

·         The casual double meaning questions asked.

·         Blatant lack of support.

Unity does not mean “NO Conflict”, it means that points of view, opinions, are heard in the appropriate forums, that all available information is “put on the table” and when a decision is made differences are set aside and forward motion receives 100% of effort.

Actions that build unity:

·         Celebrate wins

·         Communication

·         Leaders FIGHTING for unity

·         Understanding that all are working work towards the same objectives

·         Leaders who give credit for wins to team members and assume personal responsibility for losses.

Teams that exhibit real unity are rare because of the effort required, the energy expended and personal vulnerability required.  But the results can be tremendous, the ROI impressive and the long term ramifications incredible.

If these three fundamentals are missing from your organization give me a call.  There is no time like the present to begin the healthy change process.  Please be sure to hit the LIKE button on the top of the post or Tweet this to your friends.

·         trust

·         Listen

·         Admit your weaknesses

·         Build Relationships

Some of the benefits to this type of accountability are: Bringing solutions to meetings instead of problems, confronting and solving problems in real time, discovering strengths and building on them faster, catching errors before they cascade into larger problems, healthier teams, and ownership at the lowest levels.

If this piques your interest or perhaps opens your eyes to situations that could be better in your organization maybe a “check up” is in order.  Give RTO a call.  Be sure to push the LIKE button at top of post – Thank you!

·         Choose the right focus

·         Be willing to say no to GOOD ideas.

·         Avoid distractions, Be wary of detours

·         Know your strengths

·         Measure the price of focus

 Stay tuned for the next two fundamentals to successful organizations, Accountability and Unity.  If this sparks interest, areas of need within your organization or just the need for some brainstorming please contact me either by email jimhill@rtoconsulting.net or via the comments on this blog.

Having come in contact with hundreds of organizations ranging from huge companies to tiny non profits I have concluded that there is a vast difference between fundamentals and core values.  Fundamentals are transferrable to almost all organizations.  Core values MAY be unique to an organization, while contributing to the success there may be successful companies with totally opposite core values.  This is exemplified in an INC Magazine article that highlights core values of successful companies.  One Solar Company prides itself on the value of Democracy – it has achieved success, yet there are other companies that would be considered nearly opposite of this company in their values and they too have achieved success (See INC Article – http://www.inc.com/winning-workplaces/magazine/201106/core-values-top-small-company-workplaces.html)

Here are three fundamentals that I believe are crucial to the success of any organization that involves more than two people and has a goal of growing.  They are:

Focus

Accountability

Unity

It is relatively easy to see how these would be different than core values as each one can be applied to your core values adding credibility to their application.  These words become the action words, the words that describe how you fulfill your mission and live out your core values.  I will explain the application of each of these in my next three blogs.  The context may surprise some and even be controversial yet I continue to see each of these lived out in the successful organizations I come in contact with. 

If you are intrigued, would like to discuss how RTO could assist your organization or learn more please contact me either by email jimhill@rtoconsulting.net or via the comments on this blog.

For Part 2 click here: Part 2

What is one of the greatest disrupters of great teams?  INSECURITY!  You probably immediatly think of an individual who is very insecure.  Perhaps they try to cover it with arrogance, or they attempt to hide it through rude behaviour or the opposite, being extremely shy.  One of the greatest ways to overcome insucurity is learning more about yourself – this may seem obvious but self confidence can be generated through self knowledge:

“When we know ourselves, we have a greater security – greater security allows more vulnerability – this equals a greater trust!”

GREATER TRUST = Better Teams

A resource that I highly recommend is Strength Finders 2. 0 and Strengths Based Leadership.  Thiese resources provide more than just knowledge, they provide assessment and tools.  Discover how you can help yourself, your team or both.

Here are some interesting quotes on communication.  Which is your favorite?

“The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said.” - Peter Drucker

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” - George Bernard Shaw

“Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people.” - William Butler Yeats

“Speak when you are angry — and you’ll make the best speech you’ll ever regret.” – Laurence Peters

“In the last analysis, what we are communicates far more eloquently than anything we say or do.” - Stephen Covey

“The most important things are the hardest to say, because words diminish them.” - Stephen King

“Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after.” - Anne Morrow Lindbergh

“The two words information and communication are often used interchangeably, but they signify quite different things. Information is giving out; communication is getting through.” - Sydney Harris

“Science may never come up with a better office communication system than the coffee break.” - Earl Wilson

“Communication is everyone’s panacea for everything.” - Tom Peters

“Two monologues do not make a dialogue.” - Jeff Daly

“Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something.” - Plato

“Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion moves you, say what you’ve got to say, and say it hot.” - D.H. Lawrence

“When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.” - Ernest Hemingway

“You cannot truly listen to anyone and do anything else at the same time.” - Scott Peck

“The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.” - Mark Twain

“That which we are capable of feeling, we are capable of saying.” - Cervantes

“Give me the gift of a listening heart.” - King Solomon

Borrowed from:

http://www.ideachampions.com/weblogs/archives/2010/12/the_single_bigg.shtml

One of the frequent topics of conversation I’ve discovered with leaders is how people respond to tough conversations.  These tough conversations may be conflict resolution, holding a person accountable, releasing someone from employment (ok, firing them), or a myriad of other tough topics.  One of the greatest lessons I’ve learned is how to improve the after conversation process.  Tough conversations should have AT LEAST two parts: the meeting and the follow up.

How to have the best possible meeting:

·         Be prepared – know the topic, know the facts and know WHAT you don’t know.

·         Have the right attitude – be cautious not to have a meeting too soon after a negative situation, on the other hand don’t wait too long.  This can be said for positive meetings too.  The key point is to make sure you are in the right state of mind.

·         Understand what the High Road is that you must take – sometimes circumstances and information within a meeting may tempt you to change your plans, react out of emotion, and or do something that you’ll probably regret later.

Almost all meetings should have a follow up!  The follow up should be in writing (meetng recap).

Follow up from a meeting:

·         Briefly and succinctly repeat the purpose of the meeting.

·         Describe any new information that was shared.

·         Convey the action items, time frames and people responsible for each action.

·         Write any amounts of money decided upon.

·         Convey the tone of the meeting as best you can – this includes appreciation, recognition and value of the individual.

It is very important to understand that during a tough conversation the recipient frequently only hears snippets of the conversation once the topic is addressed.  This means that without a written recap they will only remember the parts that connected to their emotional state at the time.  If a meeting started with a correction and ended with three positive points of encouragement, frequently the person only remembers the correction.  This can turn what was meant as a positive meeting into a negative, it can also corrupt future conversations as the person continues to view conversations through the lens of only the correction.

Put the effort into the meeting, the recap

and reap the rewards!