Well I am happy to report that the leaders of this firm stated this was by far, the best leadership event they had ever had. Bullseye! Here is what took place that created the magic for this company.

First, we started off with a review of the vision. Your team needs to share a common vision of what you are trying to build. A compelling vision (easily communicated to others) is one of the most powerful tools a leader has to motivate his team and help drive them toward future success.

Like many management teams, this group came into the meeting a bit fatigued and frustrated by the pounding of outside forces and the resulting ups, downs and general uncertainty caused by the current financial challenges. Helping them to re-focus on their vision — and the things they could control — provided the perfect starting point.

Next, we had the participants (about fifty managers who don’t normally work together as they have the same jobs in different geographic areas) identify everything they needed to keep, start and stop doing in order to become the company they all wanted to belong to.
After the exercise, we focused just on the strategies the group thought the company needed to start, and narrowed the huge list of dozens of possible ideas to the most critical five strategies.

We then created a group for each of those five strategies and commissioned them with the task of creating a winning plan that when executed would move the organization forward with great momentum. We coached them through the process, constantly encouraging them to think like strategic leaders in order to create solutions that would have the greatest value to the organization.

Finally, each group made their presentation to the CEO, the VP and to Steve and myself. What they came up with was truly brilliant. Each group mapped out why the strategy was needed, what resources would be required, broke down each of the critical steps and identified potential obstacles (along with plans to overcome them).

One thing that amazed me was that every team stated that the improvements they identified would need to begin with them and the teams they led. No finger pointing. No pissing and moaning about “you people in the corporate office.” They each showed such high levels of leadership maturity by owning the solutions and by acknowledging how they and their teams would need to change and improve in order for the company to become the company they so badly wanted to create.

At the end of the day, there was such a huge change in the attitudes and energy of these leaders. They were heard, felt valued and were able to play a real role in helping the company improve. Next month, the executive team and I will go away for their semi-annual retreat and much of what we will focus on will be the strategies that came out of this conference.

Too many times, those in the C-Suite are investing countless hours working to create solutions for street level, customer-oriented challenges only to find their solutions later being rejected by those who need to carry them out. If this is you, stop this now!

Instead, tap into your talent, have them identify the organization’s challenges and then, don’t stop there — have them think like leaders, work together and own the solutions.

You will be light years ahead when it comes to executing the changes if they own the strategies.

This is also one of a leader’s greatest challenges.

High-performing teams are made up of high-performing individuals. Often times, these individuals are very aware of their performance, and have high levels of belief in their ability to accomplish their own goals. This in itself can be the root of many team challenges.

When we leaders put our own personal and professional goals ahead of the goals we have committed to accomplish corporately, it will hurt our leadership influence and our overall team performance. When those on our team are more committed to their own personal goals than they are to accomplishing the established goals of the organization, our team’s level of health and performance will be hindered.

As Executive Coaches here at Building Champions, we have the opportunity to work with many leaders and their teams through challenges like this. They want to improve their levels of execution and performance, and will often try to solve these team issues with skills and competency training. This is very rarely the solution.

Often, just two things are needed.

First, it starts with you as the leader. You must make sure your personal vision and goals align with the vision, goals and expectations of the organization you lead. If the requirements of your role are taking you off track from accomplishing your own professional or personal goals, you need to adjust.

This means you need to either adjust the vision and goals of the shareholders, board, or your boss… or you need to adjust what you see for yourself professional and personally. If you can do neither of these, then you must adjust by finding a new organization or department to lead — one that will align with what you want to accomplish.

If you don’t, you will never, I repeat, never be able to build a high-performing team that lasts and accomplishes greatness.

Second, if you have individuals on your team who have goals or a vision for their careers that doesn’t align with what is required for them to succeed within your team, you have some coaching to do.

This is best done by spending more time with them trying to truly uncover what motivates them. Once you understand what it is that drives them, you can now assess whether they still fit. If they do, you will need to help them see how, by accomplishing the greater corporate vision or goal, they themselves will be more successful and feel a much greater sense of fulfillment than they ever could by working to promote “self.”

If you find that they just don’t fit, commit to helping them find the team or opportunity elsewhere that will enable them to succeed. If we leaders allow Lone Rangers or Mavericks to remain on our teams, we will never build high-performing teams that last and accomplish greatness.

This is inside work. It requires reflection and honest self assessment. It requires skilled coaching and real caring for those on our teams, regardless of their goals. It is some of the hardest work we leaders have to do, but if we do it right it can be truly some of the most rewarding.

Save some training dollars and instead, invest the time into the above. You will have a much higher probability of experiencing the greatest levels of team health and performance if you do.

Most great successes in business and life have been accomplished by teams, not individuals.

For those of you who travel often for business, you have your travel habits, depending on your mood or workload. Sometimes you sit down, open the briefcase, put on the head phones, and get your work done. And then there are the times when getting to know your flight buddy can be the best part of your business trip.

Sitting next to me on this flight was Linus Rhode, Head Coach of the Oregon State Beavers women’s soccer team.

Linus and I did the frequent flyer get-to-know-your-neighbor thing. We discussed everything from our careers to our families and passions.

Getting to sit next to a very successful collegiate coach was an opportunity not to be missed. Linus is known as a turnaround coach.  In four years he has taken the Beavers’ struggling program to what is today, one of the best teams in their conference.

I just had to ask him, “What makes for a successful team?”

“Belief, it starts with you as the coach. You have to believe your team can win and, more importantly, all players on your team must know that you believe in them. Players have to know that you, as commander in chief, have a belief in them that they can get the job done. If they trust that you believe in them, they will be willing to extend their comfort levels to accomplish greater results. Then, they take ownership of the outcomes. Your job as the coach, then, is to guide them lightly and keep them in their lanes. You work to keep them focused on their roles and ultimately, the team goal.”

I think this is absolutely true for us business leaders.

I have seen too many leaders hold back in this area and in so doing, they hinder their teammates’ levels of performance. We would do well to assess our own levels of belief, and how good we are at sharing our belief in those we lead.

Believe big and share it often!

Thanks Coach Rhode,

Unable to view the video? Click here.

(Before I continue, I must share that I think fear or shame cause many to struggle in this area.)

The first camp is filled with those who feel stress and sometimes self-protective anger when they need to tell a colleague he or she is not performing as expected. Often the cause for the anger is that they are fearful of hurting someone they care for or believe they need to keep peace with.

This fear can then turn into frustration and even anger — and when it does come out, the result can be more damaging to the teammate than was their deficit. The shame can come in when the leader knows that he is partially responsible for the teammate’s poor performance because he was unclear with his expectations or did not train his teammate to succeed.

The second camp is filled with leaders who feel the fear — but instead of addressing the deficit, they just ignore it as if it were not there. This can really hurt all involved.

The teammate never has the chance to grow and often finds his future career path to be stunted. The organization is hurt by not having the most skilled individual doing the tasks which impacts everything from culture to profits. And the leader’s influence is hurt because, chances are, everybody on the team knows the leader lacks the courage to demand excellence.

When this happens, it is only a matter of time before most on the team lose passion and the drive to really excel. They think, “Why should I bust my butt and have to carry my fellow slackers’ load?” It’s pretty easy to see this downhill ride.

So if you find yourself in either of the above camps, let me help you to see that there is a third camp for you! It is filled with those who have such clarity around who they see their teams and organizations becoming, and are relentless with sharing it, encouraging it, and sharpening those who make it happen. They are so passionate about bringing out the best in those they lead that they cannot help but to consistently sharpen their teammates.

But they don’t do it with all of the weird and dysfunctional emotions found in camps one and two. They see sharpening teammates as one of their greatest ways of showing they care and that they believe in their teammates. They will say what most won’t in a way that causes their teammates to want to excel.

We do ourselves, our teammates, and our organizations well to have such a compelling vision. With it, we can’t help but coach in ways that bring out the best in our people.

I share this message with you today because I am observing too many leaders operating from their heels — in reactive mode — instead of proactively on the balls of their feet.

Here are three things that must make your calendar in the year ahead:

Thinking

As leaders, we must have time built into our schedules for reflecting, assessing, creating, and planning. We must believe that thinking is a high-payoff discipline that can change the trajectory of our organization.  We must also have the discipline of thinking with others. This means brainstorming, challenging, collaborating, and planning together.

One of our guests yesterday represents one of the nation’s largest banking institutions. He shared that the leadership in his organization has been too busy this past year to reflect and assess strategy. Be careful leaders: if this is not a non-negotiable discipline at all times, we will soon find ourselves far off course. You don’t have time not to think.

Communicating

We must constantly communicate our current reality, vision, progress, and care. Don’t believe the lie that you cannot share your current status on a project if you are behind on it. While you may not have closure or all the information yet, you can communicate what is being done and that progress is being made.

Our teammates want to hear from us. They want to know that they are valued and that they are making a difference. The non-negotiable discipline of regular corporate and individual communication can be a huge difference-maker. Remember, people don’t leave companies, they leave leaders.

Developing

We must be intentional with how we develop the future leaders for our business. This is far too important to be limited to impromptu conversations in the hallway or an annual performance review. Years fly by, and our organization’s future rests on our ability to grow our leadership.

I challenge you to write down three to six leaders who could better serve the organization with some further development. Then, map out how you will intentionally coach or train them in the year ahead.

I am confident that you and your company will benefit if you make these three disciplines truly non negotiable this year.

What many have yet to really define is how this new way of information gathering and decision making ought to change how we manage and lead.

All of the big and little decisions that are made by our teammates every day ultimately impact our organization’s results. The days of all decisions being made in the corner office are over. Our customers today expect exceptional service for a great value….and they want it right now.

It’s too easy for a prospective client to make another click, or for a disgruntled customer to tarnish our brand with an unflattering Facebook post. The people on our front lines must be equipped to make the right decisions in the heat of the moment.

Intentional coaching is one of the most effective ways to ensure that you are building a culture of wise decision makers. Next week, I will have the opportunity to speak in New York to 60 of SAP’s most valued customers about this very topic.

Here are a few very basic and effective best practices to help you grow as coaching leaders.

• Coaching Leaders share the vision consistently, in group gatherings and in one on one coaching sessions. All on the team must know what they are striving for. They have to see the bigger picture in order to make the right little decisions. If they get stuck in just what they see from their cubicle, faulty decision making and communication will ensue.

• Coaching Leaders conduct regularly scheduled one on one coaching sessions with all direct reports, and they encourage them to do the same with their direct reports. Monthly sessions that last from 30 to 60 minutes work well for most, provided the engagements are truly coaching sessions and not just check-ins or casual conversations.

• Coaching Leaders place a high value on being effective communicators. They are excellent at Active Listening, they ask probing questions, and they help their teammates drive conversations to improved thinking and clear action planning.

• Coaching Leaders end their coaching sessions with no ambiguity. They know how to help their teammate grow in the weeks ahead and, more importantly, their teammates walk away from the session with clarity on what they need to do in order to grow and develop.

• Coaching Leaders have a system that enables them to be prepared for their one on ones and to follow up on key action plans. This can be a hard copy file, an Excel spreadsheet, or customized software. Choose what will work best for you.

• Coaching Leaders resist being the Answer Man and instead insist that teammates come to them with solutions. Too many leaders lack the patience and the foresight to allow their teammates to find the right solution to their challenge. If we want a culture of wise decision makers, we must hold back and allow the team to grow through the process of problem solving.

• Coaching Leaders observe and give feedback. Most of our teammates want to know if they are doing well and meeting expectations. They want to excel in their roles and be the best they can be. They crave observation and direction. The old saying “inspect what you expect” is a must.

My challenge to you right now is to improve in just one of the above areas. I firmly believe that our companies’ futures will ride on the quality of decisions made each and every day by those who deal with our customers.

Coach them and build a culture of exceptional decision makers.

I would love your thoughts and additions on this subject,

As part of the process of getting this designation, I have spent time being observed while coaching Master Certified Coaches from the International Coaching Federation. These are people whom I have never met or even talked to prior to the sessions. These have been pretty challenging, and I must confess that I completely botched last week’s session.

The conversation went something like this…

Coachee: “I need to improve my work life balance.”

Daniel: “So, what do you think could be causing some of the challenges you are having with managing your calendar? What I am looking for are some specific examples of causes that you might be experiencing.” (Without giving the poor gal an opportunity to respond, I stacked another question on her.) “What are the top three things that come to mind when thinking of your time management challenges?”

Coachee had to be thinking: “Shut up man and take a breath! You must think I am an idiot, and that your questions are so incredibly profound! And you clearly love the sound of your own voice!”

Of course, that is far from what I thought or intended.

The Master Coach who was observing me laid it out pretty plainly: I was stacking questions.

What this means is that I would ask a question, and before giving my coachee an opportunity to answer, I would ask it another way to make absolute sure that she understood it. The truth of the matter was that I was unsure of where I was going in the coaching session, and I was lacking confidence in my interaction.

So, why do I share such dirt on myself?

I observed this in myself while it was happening. I have also observed it in others when they are presenting to a group, conducting performance reviews, or leading meetings and conference calls.

This often happens when we are unprepared for engagement, and are feeling nervous as a result of our lack of preparation. In the face of so much questioning, the very people we are trying to connect with will often shut down or become defensive — which is the opposite reaction we are hoping to draw out.

Here is the action plan for me and hopefully for anyone else out there who may stack once in a while: know your stuff inside and out! And then, be comfortable allowing the other party in the conversation to have the quiet space to respond or to ask a clarifying question.

Does this help any of you? What I mean is, do any of you find this to be beneficial? Will it help you as a manager or coaching leader?

Let’s stop stacking,

This is where coaching can truly make a difference.

But how do you get started? What does coaching look like? Here are a few steps you can implement if you’d like to begin a coaching relationship with your team:

1. Identify the 3 to 10 people that you want to invest in further. Invite each of these people to meet with you for 45 minutes every month, above and beyond any regular meetings you have already in place. Call these meetings “coaching sessions.”

2. In each session, ask questions about how they are progressing with their annual plans and the goals that they have established. Check in on the action plans they committed to during previous coaching sessions. Finally, ask how you can help them to succeed with their plans in the month ahead.

3. Write down what you hear. Record their plans and goals so that you can refer back to this information in future coaching sessions. End each session with written action plans that include specific due dates.

4. Follow up and encourage them, both during and outside of your sessions. Set a reminder for yourself in Outlook the day before they are going to give a big presentation or celebrate a special milestone. Acknowledge and encourage with a phone call or email.

Is this an incomplete process? Sure! But even this simple strategy is effective when implemented by a leader who is passionate about seeing those she leads succeed.

You don’t need an elaborate system or masterful communication skills to be a good coach. You do need to schedule the coaching sessions, ask the right questions, and then follow up.

Be on time and be present. Make their agenda your agenda, and watch as you see their hearts grow and their actions improve.

Simple to understand, and challenging to execute.

Here is to making an even greater difference!

The event kicked off last night, with about 3600 of their team members in attendance. It was a powerful opening, with music by Israel Houghton and a great message by Bill Hybels. Bill is the Sr. Pastor of Willow Creek Church in Chicago, and he founded the Leadership Summit which impacts thousands of leaders every year from around the world.

What struck me last night was the theme. I’m not sure whether Israel and Bill had synched up prior to that night, but their message was clear.

Each of us can be used to forever impact the life of one person.

Bill’s message was much broader, but this one point really hit home for me. Israel sang many songs, but the song that really resonated with me was entitled “The Power of One.”

By selflessly investing in one person who has a real need, we can change the trajectory of their life. That person can be a family member, a team member, a customer, a neighbor, or a stranger. They might have a physical need, a financial need, a relational need, or a spiritual need.

We have the ability to stop the busyness of our lives and to come alongside them for their good. So many times we are just too busy to see the need. But if we slow down and look around, we will see opportunities to be true difference makers. We can give of ourselves for the benefit of others.

Now, I know many of you are already doing this, and doing it in abundance. You are making a difference, and lives are already being changed. Keep it up.

As for the rest of us, my question is “Who?”

Who in your life today needs what you have to give? Do they need the phone call, the lunch, the note, the check, the hug, the listening ear? Look for them. They are all around you.

What we have been teaching our kids is true: it really is better to give than to receive. You may be just one person, but you have within you the ability to share something that could forever change someone’s life.

The Power of One,