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Remove the Grump From Your Greeting

Do you deal with or work with people that give you their mood state as soon as they pick up your incoming call? Oh it's nice when they greet you with glee, but that is not the one I am talking about. I am talking about the grump voice. Some may call it the biz bug, biz mode, whatever... No matter what you call it, it is not good. Matter of fact, it brings on the funky bunch.

Here's why. Most of the time you (the caller) have absolutely nothing to do with whatever is bothering the other person (your recipient), yet they pour out their funk on you with a grump greeting. This simple act changes the climate of the conversation before it even gets going. When you cannot see the person you are talking to, your verbal tone represents your facial expression. Go do a grumpy hello in the mirror and see how handsome you look....not so much. Would you do this to people walking in your office or passing you in the hallway?

I have had a share of bad days and will have more in my life, but I need not take it out on someone calling me -- regardless of the situation. If you and I are facing a moment of gnarly frustration and your phone rings, here is what we can do to save ourselves and protect our personal branding:

If it's a customer = yeah like you would be grumpy to a customer. That one should be easy. If you are really struggling with this customer, you can still smile when you answer and listen to them. You stand a better chance taking the high road - you might get the deal or even get it back for that matter.

If it is a colleague= call them back if you have to. You do have voice mail. let your voice-mail do the talking. You are always in a better mood on your voice mail (yeah you know you did that recording over and over to sound good). If you must answer, flick your grump like to the wind while realizing they are not the cause of your frustration.

If it is a family member or a loved one = Be loving in your greeting and don't hesitate to let them know you are in a funk today. They might be the one that can pick you up. If they are the very one causing your pain...wait til you are face to face or more calm to do the talking.

When in doubt, do not answer! Calm down and call them back. When they answer, you can simply say - "Sorry I could not get your call, I needed to be in a better place to chat." You just did them and yourself a favor.

If you have a problem with this - simply adhering to this advice will greatly improve your emotional value. If you know someone that needs to read this, have them subscribe to this blog.

Make Memorials in the Now

Coming off the heels of a must-recognize holiday I am reminded of a sermon from my friend Pastor Todd Mullins. About two years ago, Todd gave a great memorial day message and he talked about the importance of making memorials for things that happen today and tomorrow. Often times we choose to memorialize those who have passed on or some "thing" that no longer exists among us.

What about when you create a great memory with your spouse or as ATT wireless says, you have "your moment" in business. We should make memorials to those hallmark moments in our lives, place them in a box. As Todd calls it, a memorial box. Recommendation for this box is to re-visit it once a year and think back on the experience that was worthy of such memory.

Whether you have a box with many memorials or a simple reminder around your house i.e. a photo - take a few minutes to re-live that moment. Why was it so important to you, what was it that you learned? Have you improved your life or your outlook on life as a result of that moment/experience. When you do this, you mentally go back to that moment and psychologically you will return to a portion of that positive mood state. At times your memorial may take you back to a sad moment, but in my cases those sad moments are in existence as presence of previous goodness. It never hurts to re-live those feelings as well.

We could all use a refresher on what got us here and what will remain to our service as we try and get there.

While this is more of a "life" enhancement post - you can certainly apply this to your business. Maybe you need to go back to thinking about those early days when you had nothing but a great idea and a massive vision. You will be surprised how much that can help you current future.

Happy Memorial Moments!

Don't Let Mold Grow on Your Learning

The incredible Andrew Carnegie stated in his autobiography :

"Whenever one learns to do anything he has never to wait long for an opportunity of putting his knowledge to use." 

I agree with this truth, but I wonder how many others do not allow themselves to embrace this? As leaders in life and business, growth of ourselves is a necessity if we wish to improve our businesses and our own personal brand. As the best leaders and aspiring leaders have embraced this need for growth, I have come to see a percentage that does not take their learning beyond the embrace. I have known people to be focused on personal growth yet timid to exercise their increased knowledge. This mindset is a liability to their success. I would provide the simple relation to a person who works out feverishly only to sit on their muscles - only getting bigger for themselves and not the subsequent activity of improving others.

In leadership, our growth cannot be single-minded. That is not growth for leadership, it is growth for MEdership. We should be conditioned to place our knowledge into action for the betterment of others, albeit family, friends or employees.

I am sure you will find that as you gain knowledge, you will soon see an open window to fill with value. Fill it! If you do not, someone else may fill that window of opportunity with stale knowledge that does not lead to the best outcome. I am not saying that your knowledge is always going to be the best, but it stands no chance if you do not share it.

If you are a young leader, please think on this and take it to heart. If a seasoned leader, please share this with young leaders. I have been the guy who sat on my learnings because I told myself I was too young. This mindset hindered me. Once I turned it around and began trusting what I am learning, my value add increased and all things improved as a result. As you learn new things, take time to think on the subject matter. Create a mock-scenario that you can use as your test board. Talk to your friends, family and wise counsel about it. If they buy into it -- it is likely ready to fly.

Those who elect to allow their learning to stagnate, use care when handling. One day when you go to grab it, you might have to brush off the mold and watch out for the stink.

 

Pick Your Stance and Stand

I have been guilty of getting excited about something, preaching it and standing on it for ... well not as long as I should. Does this resonate with you? If not, congratulations!

I work with a guy who many years ago picked his stance as a manager and has been standing on it ever since. Jerry Bradley has a passion for keeping his team safe on the job. He understands that Leadership is a Stewardship of Human Life. Jerry does many things well as a manager, but most of all Safety is his postage stamp! He makes safety sticky and has sent it all over the place.

Jerry was responsible for a facility for many years that is carrying an 8+ year accident free record. Mind you, this is an amazing accomplishment in a place that often has wet floors, every day use of heavy equipment and scary small workspace and it happens to be of frigid temps on the inside all day.

I have known people to manage what I would consider a country club in comparison and their safety record cannot compare.

Why - first of all he has a passion for his people. They are people first and associates second. He shows them this and lives it. His creation of the right mood state inspires positivity and all studies will show you that positive attitudes are less susceptible to accidents in life.

However, Jerry take a stands on his safety stance and does not waver from it. In reading some leadership connection reports from him I noticed that anytime he talked about the safety focus he started his paragraph with the following: "Safety First and Always."

You might think this looks like "the same old thing I see on banners at every construction site, warehouse, etc." The difference here is that Jerry's belief is not a slogan on the wall, but a value in his leadership soul that really does get communicated first and always. His results are quantified and people are protected because of this stance.

If you have a stance that is worthy of standing on...do not waver if it lines up with the growth and protection of the human/business potential. Be like Jerry Bradley and make your postage stamp sticky. Err on the side of saying it too much. What gets on one persons nerves might just save them from the next mishap.

Creativity/Planning Midweek - Activate Late Week

I have spent the last two days working with a favorite friend/colleague. Our objective was to develop the frame work and content outline for a set of Leadership Development Sessions. This entailed the initial creative thinking process all the way through to necessary deadlines for various elements of the process. Obviously there are many deadlines that have to be met between now and the time of rehearsal and analysis. This is normal, but today I learned something valuable about the way we did this work.

Because we did this work during the middle of the week (Tuesday and Wednesday), I already have pockets of time set aside for Thursday and Friday to get cracking on the work. On Thursday and Friday my inspiration will still be fresh and inspired. My content writing and design work will be better because of this.

Had we completed these sessions on Friday afternoon.... we would have still felt inspired about our ideas and action, but our minds would have started the weekend shortly after we were done. We all know that Monday morning is not the best time for creative work either. Monday would have surely taken another chunk out of the inspiration. By doing the creative work and planning mid-week, our ideas will not stand a chance to get watered down by a weekend of necessary down-time or Monday mayhem.

Next time you or your team need to have a planning session that is going to require creativity and subsequent action; do it mid-week and your talent will fly much smoother...also allowing for a freeing weekend.

Are You A Fan or A Believer?

As I was slipping through another airport this week I began to think of the difference between a Fan and a Believer. Is there a difference or are they both the same thing? I say they are different.

Sara Grace and I are quite avid college basketball fans. Actually, let me rephrase that. We are average college basketball fans, yet Wildly Avid North Carolina Tarheel Basketball Fans. Well, I thought I was a fan. I am a Believer!! For example, recently Sara Grace and I assembled some friends to watch our tarheels in the Men's Final Four. Our team was down by a staggering 28 points in the first half. We were all shocked to say the least, I was freaked. However, I never stopped believing in a historical comeback. I stated that if we could trim the lead to a 9 point deficit, it would be like a tie game and we would win. I had belief. If you watched the game you know we rolled an awesome comeback, cutting the lead to 4. We lost the game, got bummed out and our emotions eventually trailed to belief for next year.

A fan has the tendency to throw a fit, damn the team, curse the coach and just be a huge wart to be around. The fan spreads negativity when losing and is annoyingly cocky when winning. They are operating in disbelief, not disillusion. I would rather be disillusioned yet still believe in the best.

I found that I a much more effective in the game of life, sport and business as a Believer. Being just a fan is not enough. Especially if you consider yourself a Leader. Your people and your organization desperately need believers - those who have an innate belief about the benefits of the future. When discouragement and hard times set in, their belief serves them and sets the mood state of the department, division or entire company. This "Believer Mood State" drives productivity, inspires people and overcomes more hurdles.

Fans cruise on and do well in good times, yet when the stink hits the fan, they point fingers, pull back and pollute the scene.

Are you a fan or a believer? How about your team? When looking for leaders, seek out the believers not the fans.

Read This Time

I am the first to say that I need to pay closer attention to global affairs and civic affairs. My quick newspaper sessions or Google News help me, but I am sure I could learn more. As you know I do however enjoy learning about influential people and what makes them such --- with desire to follow their example or stay away from it.

In my travels to Vegas this week, I grabbed the new Time Magazine. It's the annual "100 most influential" people issue. You must grab it while it's out or even check it out on Time's Website. My recommendation is strong because you get 100 snapshots of the human beings who are shaping the world (for good and bad). With your busy life, Time gives you the perfect quick read companion to stimulate your mind, teach us a few things and put people like me more in touch with the affairs of the world.

One of my favorites is the one in which Starbucks Chief Howard Schultz writes about Pepsico Powerhouse Indra Nooyi. There's 99 more - some you will perhaps skip, but others you will drink up.

Have a few of your key friends, family or colleagues read it. Get together @ a Friday meeting or at the dinner table. Have each person give you their 3 favorites and let them explain why. Not only will this be stimulating, but you will get a deeper glimpse of what interests your people.

Gain Efficiency - Give Life

My friend Micah Davis recently inspired this post that will challenge me and surely others. Micah is a very gifted young leader, thinker and entrepreneur. Micah is currently the co-founder of Roov.com. Roov is a radical new website that serves a purpose to connect like value people. As Micah told me when I first learned of Roov, "we want to get people online to get them offline." For example, I roov and you roov and we connect via the website, find out all the others with common roovs and then we all get together and go for a sip @ sbux to discuss how we can improve the world or even jump out of an airplane together (with a parachute). NO, this is not another Facebook. It is very much different, has more human value and is Faith Based so the content of connections is more life enhancing. Sounds pretty sweet does it not?

Roov is a startup that is off to a hot race for success. The technology they use is superb, the team they have in place is a premium and investors are very much stoked. With all these realities, what do you get? BUSYNESS conducive to a startup where every next minute is more important than the last and there are not enough hours in the week or in a lifetime to get all things done. This has been the life of the Roov team for many months on end --- Until recently!

Micah made a leadership decision to cap the workweek and cap themselves. He was watching the team and himself go away from their greater purpose and the trust in their faith. "We were living for Roov, not for God!" Boom..that is a moment that drove a decision. "We say we are trusting our faith, but our actions did not reveal that." This came from his own intuition and soul tug, but that very decision created a superb culture tone very early on. They moved to work 45 hours/week versus double to more.

The challenge and call of action is to gain efficiency. This leaders decision took courage and the discipline to stay the course will take equal discipline. The decision is giving life back to the team and they will be much better, roov will be much better and the end-user will be better served.

Is there any pocket of time you can give back to your people? If Micah can do it during this very successful start-up - I am sure we all can. Start small and eventually do more if you can. These are the decisions that set a cultural tone that benefits your business and your family.

Go to Roov.com and stay tuned for it to launch in your area. You will be amazed when you get your Roov on! You Rock Micah and your people think so - they are already talking about it.

Understand More

This week I was listening to a lesson by John C. Maxwell where he talked about some of the classic success books. One of the books he profiled was The Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie. John's lesson had the following to say along with the quote that inspired this post:

Carnegie was a student of human nature and knew that effectively channeling a work force's energies was the mark of a true leader. He noted: "I did not understand steam machinery, but I tried to understand that much more complicated mechanism - man."

This was an encouragement to me as someone who is so convinced that organizational power is found in the understanding of the people, what they excel in, why the act the way they act, etc. I too struggle with the highly technical facets of many a job, but have gained a greater understanding of the complexities of people. That element of education is benefiting my leadership far greater than "how to twist the next nob."

Carnegie was a smashing success well before any of our times and had an intuition that served his mind and heart. I hope that many of you have a similar intuition when it comes to understanding the whole person and not just what their job description paints them to be. In today's time, there is a myriad of testing that can help us better understand someone. You know the most of them, Myers Briggs, Personalysis, etc.

One such tool I recommend for you if you manage people is the DISC Profile. Not just a bundle pack you buy off the internet. A friend of mine works for an excellent coaching company called Building Champions and they have a DISC product that will assess your people very accurately. You will learn what your people are naturally gifted for and if they are having to adapt into someone else to succeed against the unfit job. You will learn how they best prefer to be communicated with, how they worst respond. You will learn what they value, how they manage, how they prefer to be managed, etc. The DISC could even be a good tool for parents to utilize with their children --- Especially if the kids are seeking career advice.

Get my drift, it is really good. I recommend you do it on yourself first so you can see how accurate it really is. If you like it, do it for people on your team and send management job candidates through it and even people up for promotions or transfers within your business.

Never cease your own soul journey to understand people like Carnegie did, but be pleased that a DISC tool is available to help you.

To order a DISC. Go to Building Champions. Ask for my friend Joel Butkus and tell him you were referred by me and the blog. Joel can give you the rundown and he rocks!