Connections - the Key to Success in Business and in Life

We just wrapped up a meeting with the Leading for Loyalty Team where we were discussing one of our most popular assessment tools – Connections. We are working on the launch of our online store and got to discussing the benefits various programs bring to our clients.

Without fail, clients who use Connections comment on the valuable insight that the assessment gives them into what drives behavior in the workplace. By understanding our own behaviors and approaches to communication, we are able to adapt our style to increase our persuasion, influence, and relationships in work and in life.

As a coach and trainer, I have worked with many clients through the assessment and always find it to be an effective tool for shedding light on the way we interact and work together.

We just completed development of the self-study workbook which accompanies the interpretation guide and takes you step-by-step through the coaching process – without the cost of individualized coaching sessions. This is convenient for individuals who want to gain insight and improve their approach, but prefer to go through the assessment at their own pace.

For those in coaching practices, the comprehensive interpretation guide and self-study workbook can be used as a coaching guide that you can work through with the client as you provide coaching and development to the individual.

Contact us today to learn more about the Connections personal style assessment and self study guide.

Staying Motivated at Work This Summer

I was recently interviewed for an article for Homemakers Magazine on what advice I’d give to people for staying motivated at work over the summer months. From our conversation, Tammy Sutherland came up with ten tips to boost your motivation. Take a look at the article here.

Creating Value – Reinforcing Employee Contribution

I was meeting with a client yesterday and we got to talking about how you get employees to take initiative and ownership over their work. I can’t tell you how often I have this discussion with leaders, managers, and supervisors. While most leaders have people who demonstrate commitment and initiative, many also have team members who don’t seem to step up to the plate in the same way. Here was my advice to my client…

Make sure employees understand how their job connects to the bigger picture of what the company is trying to achieve – but make it about more than creating profit. Of course profitability is important, but “making more money for the company” is often not enough to inspire the troops.

Marcus Buckingham’s work on employee engagement identifies connecting employees to the importance of the company’s mission or purpose as a key factor of employee engagement. Understanding how I contribute to creating a product or service that helps people can be far more compelling than just making money for my employer.

Of course, this begins with supervisors understanding the why of what the company is doing. Of course profit and cost efficiency are required for every organization to be successful, but in themselves, they fail to inspire people.

Leaders can reinforce this sense of value by connecting work expectations to the why. For example, explaining to a manufacturing employee how their process ensures that the product is safe to operate can inspire them to take care in doing their work.

Another opportunity arises when providing recognition. Instead of “atta boy/girl” or “great job”, being specific with an employee about how their achievement impacts the customer can create a meaningful connection to the value the employee is achieving.

What do you do to create a sense of value with your employees?

A Powerful Lesson in Leadership

The untimely passing of journalist Tim Russert last week reinforced a powerful leadership lesson for me. Russert was the host of “Meet the Press”, NBC’s Washington Bureau Chief, and one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world.

In watching the media coverage of his death, I was struck by a common thread among his colleagues being interviewed about Russert. Without exception, each one of these professionals recounted multiple examples of how Tim Russert had encouraged them and expressed confidence in their abilities.

CNN Anchor Rick Sanchez spoke of his early career when other experienced journalists were clear with him about his weaknesses and areas for development. He said that Tim Russert was always positive and encouraging with him. Sanchez gave a powerful testimony to the impact that Tim Russert’s words had on his career and life.

I didn’t know much about Russert, but I learned a lot from listening to what people were saying about him after his death. Was encouraging others a natural part of Tim Russert’s personality, or did he make a conscious choice to do so? It may be too late to find out, but the lesson to all of us is that the action of expressing confidence in others is the sign of a true leader.

Of course Tim Russert will be remembered and respected for his contribution to the world of journalism, but his legacy may well be marked by the way he planted seeds of confidence and leadership in those who would follow him into the profession.

As leaders, our words have power – I challenge you to think about how you are encouraging those that you lead and demonstrating confidence in their abilities.

Business Success – By the Book

I find it interesting how similar requests come across my desk at the same time. After a number of months, Jaime, who develops our website, asked me to update the recommended readings list for the site. Although I am constantly reading books in my field of expertise, I don’t always take the time to review them.

On the same day, my business coach asked his clients to identify their favorite business books and explain why. In the end analysis, it all boils down to two key books for me:

Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill
I have read and studied Think and Grow Rich twice in my life. I first read it back in my early twenties when a friend put it in my hands and told me that it was a roadmap to success. I then re-read TAGR about 5 years into my business and really focused on incorporating the principles into my work life. In particular, Hill’s idea of establishing “Master Mind” relationships with like-minded people led to the significant growth and success of The Training Source.

The E-myth Revisted, by Michael Gerber
This is a business classic. Gerber outlines the difference between working for yourself and building a business model that will stand the test of time. We have adopted the E-myth model for our business and continually work on building consistent systems to handle recurring business processes. In this way, we have been able to manage our business growth effectively.

I encourage you to pick up one or both of these books today and add your comments here to let me know your thoughts!

Welcome to the Leading for Loyalty Blog!

Because I’ve made a career of helping organizations create great work environments, I regularly find myself engaged in discussions about what can be done to increase employee motivation, engagement, and retention.

Time and again, I find leaders and employers struggling to find solutions to the same underlying issues. These issues can show up in many different ways, but the solutions are often strikingly similar. It is because of this that we decided to start this blog.

With this blog, we are creating an opportunity to share best practices, strategies, and links to articles and valuable resources. We hope you will also be willing to share your own thoughts and experiences by commenting on the posts we share.

The goal? To create a community of information and support for those who wish to create work environments where employees and leaders thrive!