RyanWallPaper

Connect Early

This week, I was afforded the opportunity to speak to a group of leaders on the importance of creating great front line managers and great front lines. Obviously, that's a gigantic subject to fit in one talk. In an attempt to provide some simple "sticky" advice - one item I gave was to "connect early."

John Maxwell captured this best with his "law of connection" that states - "Leaders touch a heart before they ask for a hand." When I say connect early, I am referring to the need for a manager (front-line, mid-line, top-line) to connect with a new hire's heart - right out of the gate. How is this best done?

What I learned from one of our young amazing managers was to spend one-on-one time with a new hire and find out special dates in their life and create a connective schedule for them. For example - finding out if a new hire has a spouse or significant other. If so what is their name and birthday and even an anniversary date if celebrated. This manager also finds out if this person has children and if so - what are their names and birthdays. What our manager does here is give his associates the option to take those dates off. Not only does he provide the option - he encourages the option and injects his desire for his people to have strong family focus.

IF it is found out that this new associate (especially 18-20 year olds) has no spouse/signif other, no kids - he goes a different route. He will find out two dates that are important to them during the calendar year. Maybe it's a race weekend, a family reunion, a concert...whatever it may be, he gets that date and provides the option to take that time off.

While this sounds simple - it is! It most of all however it's a connect early approach. These new hires get a taste really quick that this manager cares about them and their families. Most of all, he backs up this behavior throughout their careers and all else follows those connections.

This is adaptable and scalable at any level. It makes that early connection happen and begins a productive environment.

This is not for your HR department to do for you or your managers. This is manager must.

Pen to Paper

Falling in line with my last post on getting anyone to talk to you, I want to plant a likely reminder for most of you. As the 18th century author Samuel Johnson once wrote: "people need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed."

I remind you or instruct (for those that this is new news) to never let up on sending handwritten notes. The handwritten note creates a memory and becomes a treasure to the recipient. For one, based on the fact that handwritten notes have beenlost in our email world - your note's arrival will be a surprise. It will immediately separate you from the mmajority.

I am at two conferences this week and meeting new people.One conference I got to attend and speak @ in Minneapolis will generate professional relationships. The other conference is in Atlanta in which I am one of 12,000 and will meet many professional and personal friends. Next week when I am back in my office, much of my initial mornings will have me putting pen to paper and not fingers to keys. While everyone else will be sending emails and crowding the recipients already jammed inbox, my notes will show up once the storm has settled and they'll be a sunshine vs a rain.

When someone impacts your life in a positive way this week, make a "note to self" to write them a note next week, seal it with happiness and send it on its way. The person that impacts your life might even be a server at a restaurant - send them a note. When people who you serve at work do something that adds value to you - send them a note to their house. It will get great mileage for them and your relationships will grow stronger.

See if you can write 5 notes over the next 3 weeks and post a comment  or email me when you get a "thank you for the note" from the recipient. If you post a comment on how this worked out for you, I will send the first 3 commenters a gift.

A few simple thoughts for your notes:

1) Do not try to be a literary or handwriting genius. Make it simple and legible. Tell the recipient what they specifically did that added value to you (they will repeat the behavior or task that you praise them for).

2) Put a stamp on it and mail it to them. It has to arrive in their mail - not in an inner-office box or be handed over by a friend.

3) Keep it short if you can - just a short paragraph. Make it memorable.

4) Once you pick up this habit, get your own personalized stationery.

Enjoy...

How to Talk to Anyone

One night this week, it was great to take a few-hour vacation in the comfort of our home and do a little magazine reading. Being a fan of style, design, and fashion - I sat down with the latestissue of GQ Magazine. Much of the magazine was dedicated to being a 21st century Gentleman and it had some good thoughts. One snibit that I particularly liked and want to share with you is some advice from Sid Mashburn. Sid is a successful business owner in the world of mens clothing. He's in ATL - check him out. He gives some good advice and 5 great simple tips:

Sid understands that a great deal of his own success comes from getting to know people. "The art of conversation is 'tell me about you.' It's drawing someone out so that they feel known - that's what we all seek."

1) "Where are you from?" is still the best icebreaker. "It's a question that always gets the person talking about home, their roots. And that tells you a lot of who they are."

2) Extend a hand. "You'd be amazed at how many people don't introduce themselves first."

3) Keep things upbeat. "No one wants to be around someone who is not cheerful. I always say, 'Light attracts Light.' "

4) No Cusswords (thank you sid!). "They intimidate some people."

5) Your good-bye is as important as your hello. "Someone comes to visit me at my house, I walk them to their car, stand, and wait to make sure it cranks over for them. I wave good-bye. People remember those touches. It should be the same when you finish your conversation."

Interview written by Michael Hainey.

These 5 tips and Sid's simple advice are applicable today for you. Number 5 is my favorite and you should do this with customers who come to visit you. Not only will all of these bring "person value" to you - it will make your more emotionally attractive to your associates, boss - anyone. If anyone disagrees with you, just ---- umm shake their hand.

Blog-cation

Thanks to all of you who regularly subscribe and visit the blog. One might think I was on a blog-cation (vacation away from blogging). That however is not the case. Selfishly, I have missed it more than you and I hope to get back to it as of now. My reason for being absent is one I am sure you can relate to.

I have been busi. Nah, that is actually not a typo. I have been busi with business and it's been quite exhilarating. Over the last few weeks I have gotten to work on some great things with even greater people and the time and energy consumption has been high and mighty. Working long fun days and long nights (with my great bride's help) has been and will be necessary during this season.

Why busi and not busy? When we are busy we tend to do the "circle run" and our tiring efforts do not lead to much impact on the priorities that matter most. When we are busi, our tiring efforts are extremely relevant and have a great ripple effect to our people, our customers and our total brand (personally and professionally).

I learned it years ago, but I am more focused on being busi and creating an environment where people are busi. If we are busi fueling the business and not busy fueling busyness, everyone we touch will be thankful - except for the people that just want to be busy muddling.

How busi is your team today and what must to be done to move from "y" to "i" ?

I'm Going RED

Sara Grace and I are doing our best to practice and even improve upon our "Green" living. Do we do this because it has become pop culture (thankfully)? No, we do it because we believe in being better stewards of the environment we have been given. It for one is healthier and apropriate. I do many little things here and there @ work to make our company greener. I encourage us all to remain "green" focused and look for ways to not abuse the environment or ourselves. While we are certainly pro-green, I am going RED and you should to.

Why RED you ask? Not to sound morbid or doctoral, but it's the blood color of all human beings regardless of where they come from or what color their skin may be and that is where I plan to invest my life and my gifts - To enhance the existence of human beings and the organizations in which they get to work. I believe that if we touch hearts before we ask for hands - we will have more IQ! That is not Intellectual Quotient - It is Inspirational Quotient! When we can inspire someone from the inside out, it is then that we can get them to see any color in the prism and surely inspire a "greener" focus.

We need to make RED the new green. Humans were created with the most care, are given the most grace and afforded the most forgiveness. Scripture tells me that you were fearfully and wonderfully made, everything else was just made on a specific day. My stock is going into RED and the human potential that bleeds what we all enjoy -better lives, better businesses, better leaders, better nations.

Before you get wrapped up in a "green campaign" (albeit noble) - make sure your "RED" is getting the most Leadership Oxygen possible. You simply cannot truly go green without being brilliantly RED to start with.

Join me, spread this and let's make RED!

GIVE your speech

While still on the idea of a speech, I want to share something else with you that I have thankfully learned at a whipper snapper age. In his book Give Your Speech- Change the World, Nick Morgan gives us a great historical account of speech giving dating back to the period of Greek Orators. In that stream of his book he talks about the paramount importance of literally giving your speech. He exposes the simple truth that our speeches are for our audience, not for us. When he talks about GIVING your speech, he tells us that we are GIVING our passion to our audience. If you have a message and someone has decided they want to hear it - your goal is to GIVE them something they can put into action and hopefully change the world.

We are in the season of massive political speeches of which I enjoy watching. With each party's convention a thing of the last two weeks, I could not help but think of Nick Morgan's advice as I engaged the speech buzz. Each party usually has an "up and coming" member slated to give a speech and inspire the citizens of said party. When you listen to the media, they talk much about how this and that person has their chance to be the "next big thing" in their party much like Barack Obama did in 2004 @ the DNC. He very much arrived on the radar screen with a great speech. I have an urk with this mentality. It is built up to be a speech that is all about the person and not the audience or the country for this matter.

Their talk is for their country and their party and that is where they should focus. The wording needs to be "for you" and "for us." Certainly these people have a chance to shine (not talking about the nominees) before the world, but they need to be all about their audience. If they have a powerful message to GIVE, that is just what they should do. Give it to their audience and not to themselves. If they are excellent communicators with an action oriented message - they will fare just fine in the future.

Whether you are speaking to a national audience or a nucleus of people at work - you are GIVING a talk, not receiving it. Do just that - Give your message and passion to your audience and move them to action.

For the best on audience centered presentations - check out Nick Morgan's Blog.

Preparation P2

When giving a speech surely you know to be prepared, better yet immaculately prepared. If the only reason to give a speech is to change the world, why would you not be prepared? I confess that I have not been as prepared as I should have when giving a talk. I was encouraged and empathetic last year when I watched one of America's most popular biz speakersgive a speech that he was not prepared for. I could not believe it nor could several thousand others in the audience. He pulled it off as no other could, but nonetheless it was a mess. Why was I encouraged? I guess if you play golf, it's like watching a tour player hit one in the woods - everybody is human and is never perfect.

However, we cannot be the best if we are not the best prepared. I have been blessed in my life with the good fortune to observe some amazing communicators and even receive coaching from the very best. Some of the most valuable coaching/criticism I have received pertains to preparation. Here is a solid sampling of what has really helped me prepare:

1) Have fun while preparing. You "get to" give your talk. Do not worry about getting up in front of people. You have the chance to improve the lives of those people. So, realize what you "get to" do and envision your words touching someones life in a way they will never forget or landing that big deal you are after. Put those words in an order that you know will move someone or something to action.

2) Prepare in the right place. What type of environment stimulates your thoughts and inspires you. Is it a certain type of music, a busy starbucks, a pin-drop quiet room? Prepare in the right environment that works for you - NOT the environment that works best for others. YOU are the one giving the speech.

3) Catch your mind on the fly. How many times do you get an idea while working out, driving, conversing, reading, praying? Capture these ideas wherever you can. I have left myself voice mails, sent myself emails, etc. I have a journal that I use only for potential speaking material. Any of my random ideas ultimately get transferred to that book. Capture capture...read an old post on this = (Defeat the thief of your thoughts)

4) Design your talk before you start writing it down sentence by sentence or point by point. A big white-board or storyboards work well. Just start tossing words up there and ideas - as many as you can. You can organize and eliminate appropriately later. Let your mind go wild while never losing site of your waiting audience. You will find platinum in your thoughts that might lead to your very best line. For an incredible resource on designing speeches, power points, etc you will want to purchase Presentation Zen! by Garr Reynolds.

5) The very best advice I have been given numerous times is going to be the one you are most likely to skip. Please don't. REHEARSE REHEARSE REHEARSE. It is super beneficial to run through your talk in front of others. Even if it is your family or a few close friends, giving your talk out loud will improve your final product incredibly. Your confidence will increase greatly. No, it will not delete your nerves, but it will bring them down a notch. At least do it once and more if you can. Even if you cannot get more than one full rehearsal do this: think about the part of your speech that you are most uncomfortable with, at least two hours before your talk, give that part of your speech into a voice recorder and play it back while getting ready. You will win by hearing yourself and you will improve your final delivery. This is the exact advice that was given to me following a talk that I got a wee bit jumbled on.

Following these simple steps will improve your next delivery whether it be to thousands or your two team members.

Preparation

Preparation seems to be a popular word right now if you live on the southeast or gulf coast. I must say that I miss being in South Florida slapping up hurricane shutters, tying down boats and helping the neighbors with any preparations they may have. However, it appears that our new home in NC is going to get some storm love this weekend. Waiting until the last minute to do hurricane prep can bring on quite a level of stress and worry that was preventable through preparation.

How well do we prepare for our biz lives? Do we wait for a work storm to loom before we focus on preparation. Often times we do not wait til the storms are looming, we wait until they are all over us and our absence to prepare becomes a repair. When we are in a state of repair, our work is saddled with counterproductive stress and an unhealthy urgency to make things right.

Of course we all deal with the unexpected and necessary repair beckons our attention. Most of the time however, focused preparation can keep us just ahead of the curve or even the next big thing.

Two bits of thought advice that have aided me and many others I know:

Got a meeting coming up?

1) Have a meeting before the meeting. My friend Chad Eudy is keen on this. If Chad has responsibilities for an afternoon meeting, sometime prior he is going to have a meeting before the meeting with key people to make sure they are all best prepared.

Disorganized with your workload?

2) Take time at the close of business on Friday or Sunday evening and spend 30-60mins doing your best to plan each day of your upcoming week. Keep in mind that you need to leave time margin for interruptions. A successful executive once shared his pre-week planning and in his discussion he mentioned that only 10% of working professionals actually plan for their week. At the time, I knew his Monday's were less chaotic than mine. I have made progress in that area with a ways to go, but this method of preparation is fruitful. 

Next post will be on preparation as well - pertaining to giving a speech.

Make Them "Ful"

One of my favorite thinkers and futurists is Erwin McManus. Erwin is a pastor in Los Angeles with a freaky good ability to take simple thoughts and communicate them with wow! I am reading his new book, Wide Awake and the following blurb resonates with my belief on what we should be doing with our human capital:

The word resource is not one of those instantaneously compelling words. Actually it is a really boring word. It just means stuff, supply, things, materials.

But the word resourceful is a very exciting word. When you look at the word resourceful, it means ingenious, creative, imaginative, quick-witted.When you stop at resource, you're at best a human container of gifts and talents and intellect, passions and abilities, but you do nothing with that resource, essentially you are boring. When you become resourceFUL and start really pulling out the stuff God has placed inside of you and start drawing on that creativity, intellect, talent, and experience that God stored within you and start becoming resourceful, then you become extraordinary..."

As I rushed through this and allowed my own inspirations to move, I began to think in terms of the human resources of a business. We are at a stage in organizational design where a sweeping change is required. Too many have relegated their Human Resources to just that -- bodies! I bet most people think of an HR "department" when they think of "Human Resources" and not the actual humans doing the push-ups throughout the business every day.

Corporations must go from monitoring and supporting their Human Resources to creating Resourceful Humans. If we just have our people punch in - do a job - and punch out, then we have made them a resource, and merely a resource that will decay unless developed.

Your organization is "FUL" of people with unique gifts and talents that can likely generate great things for your business. I could unpack this whole idea over several pages...keeping it to just one post is too confining.

For now, just really let this settle with you. Are you viewing your people as resources or are you developing them to be "FUL?"

Take a Leadership Vacation

In my last post, I mentioned Catalyst. I am asking you to check it out and really consider attending this event. I can promise you this: It is the best leadership event for young and older that the country has to offer. I am stoked to be attending my 6th consecutive Catalyst.

Many of us have experiences in our lives where our calling and purpose becomes vividly clear to us. Mine happened @ Catalyst in 2003. I can factually say it changed my life and continues to challenge me, my faith walk and my business leadership.

If you are involved in Church Ministry, Non-Profit or the amazing Marketplace...this is a leadership vacation for you. Get your company behind it and your likely to not even have to use vacation days. Even if you must take personal time, please consider.

For business leaders, Catalyst 2008 has the best business speaker line-up yet. Come hear Jim Collins, Tim Sanders, Seth Godin, Dave Ramsey and Andy Stanley(speaker link) along with other ministry leaders. When you need help with your ticket order call my friend Mr. Catalyst Chad Johnson (a positive experience in itself). You can reach him @ 678.225.3505.

If you are single, you may even get as lucky as I did. I met my captivatingly gorgeous wife Sara Grace @ Catalyst!!!

If you see us there in October, say hello!

watch this promo video:

Join us for Catalyst 2008! from Catalyst on Vimeo.