When a leader loses perspective for too long, it can be terminal.

So what should one do who finds themselves tired, fearful, and confused? Here are 5 suggestions for those of you who might be trapped in this very uncomfortable place right now.

1. Take some time OFF. This may feel like the last thing you can afford to do, but it could be exactly what you need right now. Don’t take a trip — take a vacation.  Unplug and rest. Take some time to sleep, read, exercise, eat right, and connect with those who encourage you. The purpose of this OFF time is to rejuvenate you, not to further drain you.

2. Protect your sacred spaces. iPhones, Blackberries and TVs are incredibly useful tools in our lives, but we must establish boundaries. If we are sitting in bed late at night or first thing in the morning checking Facebook, watching the news, and responding to email, we are living in reactive mode 24/7. We won’t get the rest we need, and we will wake up feeling further behind. Instead, make your late evenings and early mornings a reflective, restful time. Use this time for the things that refresh you. Protect your bedroom as a sacred space, and keep certain times of the day as sacred.

3. Feed the machine. Our bodies will break down over time if not properly cared for. Make your health an A-1 priority. Make healthy meals, daily exercise, plenty of sleep and lots of water a habitual part of each and every day. Don’t take your body for granted, or the machine will break down just when you need it most.

4. Spend time with your cheerleaders. Make sure you find time in your week to spend with people who love you, believe in you, and who truly want to see you at your best. Hopefully this takes place already in your home, with your close friends, and with certain team members. Be mindful of who you invest your time with, and if needed schedule extra time with those who encourage you most.

5. Consult the map daily. Look at the plans and books that guide your direction every morning. Keep your Life Plan, Business Vision, and Business Plan in front of you. If you lose sight of the big picture, the tired, mundane, confused and even fear-filled days will surely follow.

I am confident that one or more of these tactics will help you to get your perspective back. May you be fortified for the battles of your life.

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1. I Love a Good Vacation in the Morning
2. Things Will Not Fall Apart
3. Questioners and Truth Tellers

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Anyone who is responsible for getting results through others needs to be able to effectively practice both Leadership and Management. Unfortunately, many managers use these terms interchangeably.

Management is the act of overseeing and influencing people, assets, and processes to achieve predetermined results. You are a Manager based on the authority assigned to your position.

Leadership is the act of engaging the heads and hearts of people in ways that inspire them to give their best in order to achieve a common goal – a goal that, quite often, only the Leader can clearly see. Anyone — from the front desk to the corner office — can be a Leader.

To put it another way, Management is more of a “head” thing, whereas Leadership is more of a “heart” thing. Both are critically important!

The challenge I see many managers struggling with today is that they are not leading those on their teams. They are not tapping into their teammates’ full potential and, as a result, they are not accomplishing what is possible.

They are managing their people as if they were fixed assets or equipment, and they are losing the hearts of their most appreciable asset.

Leadership starts with Vision. If you do not have your business vision clearly written, and if you are not repeating it and repeating it and repeating it, then chances are you are managing from the head. Your team also needs you to lead from the heart.

Extraordinary companies, cultures, products, and services are born from both strong management and heartfelt leadership.

Manage and Lead!

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Today I am paying the price. I have been knee deep in email for the last three hours.

One of the email messages I just reviewed was from my wonderful teammate, Kit Johnson, who runs HR and Accounting for us at Building Champions. She sent me a report I had requested with our team’s unused vacation hours. I asked for this because I want to make sure I am encouraging my teammates to take full advantage of their vacation time.

I have coached too many leaders who told me they have not taken a full week of vacation in years — as if it were a good thing. It’s not! We do ourselves and our companies a disservice when we fail to take time to rest, explore, play and rejuvenate.

So here are my encouragements for you today.

If you are a leader and are not taking any time away, you are not bringing your best to your company nor are you setting a good example for those you lead. Take a vacation. I promise if you do, you will come back to your work with more energy, passion, and creativity.

Don’t buy the lie that things will fall apart without you. What I have observed is quite the opposite. Your team will step up and grow when you are not there. You may even be surprised at their talent and resourcefulness.

Some leaders are insecure about their team’s success without them — they’re afraid they will prove themselves to be dispensable. In reality, it is a credit to you as a leader when your team is strong enough to function without you for a week or two.

The best thing you can do for your company is to leave it every once in a while. Schedule some time away, and encourage your teammates to take their vacations as well.

You will all be refreshed and perform better when you return.

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I believe that most leaders have a desire to see that the experience they help to create in their organizations causes people to grow. They want their team members to be better equipped and more skilled as a result of their time in the organization, which will lead them to make a greater difference in their future ventures.

What I am unsure of is how many of us actually do this well.

While we search for just the right candidate for the position we are hiring for, I will be involved with our round two and three interviews. I will be examining how they will fit into our culture, how skilled they are, how they communicate, and how they see themselves adding to our culture. I want to understand what they will bring to the table that will make us better than we are today.

As a leader, I accept responsibility for ensuring that our teammates are in a position to grow and improve over time.

I must ensure that the managers within our team have the disciplines and plans in place to train and teach those they serve. Each of our teammates must also be engaged in seeking out ways that cause the rest of us to grow and improve – both as a team and as individuals. This kind of growth starts from the top down, but in the right environment, it also moves the other direction.

The magic happens when all of us, in our individual roles in each of our departments, are proactively thinking about ways to help others in the organization to grow and improve. The result is stronger individuals, increased team unity, and better value to our customers.

In this kind of culture, your team members can’t help but leave better than when they arrived. It is up to you and me to make sure we are adding value today. If we do this well, they may stick around for a good and long time!

Hire great people. Then help them to be even better.

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The problem often begins when a leader is so strong or charismatic that he influences the rest of the team to think just like he does. To further complicate things, if this leader is in charge of all hiring decisions, he probably hires people who are just like him. They think like him, speak like him, and sometimes even look like him!

In this environment, “group thinking” looks like this: the leader poses a question, the leader suggests a course of action, and everyone nods in agreement. The final decision is based on one single, unchallenged idea.

Personally, I have always benefited from having people on my team who think differently than I do!

These team members share my passion for our vision, but they have a perspective on life and business that is unlike my own. They may be more risk adverse. They are often much smarter. They bring their own brand of wisdom and personal experience to the process. They are skilled at thinking through the details and requirements of my entrepreneurial spasms.

Most importantly, they have the confidence and courage to challenge my ideas and assumptions.

There are countless advantages that come from having people like this on the team. We are better at thinking things through from multiple angles. We spend more time on planning, resulting in better execution and results. Sometimes, we kill my big ideas before they kill us.

I am not exaggerating. Having courageous truth tellers and questioners on my team has been a life saver for Building Champions.

If you lack these people on your team or in your life, you have to invite them in. Be hungry for differing opinions. Then, when you get the type of feedback that challenges your position, do NOT shut them down or play defense. Listen intently, and stretch yourself to fully understand what they see.

You and your team will be the better for it!

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Sure, there may be room for improvement in those around us. There may even be opportunities to help others grow. But first, we must take responsibility for how WE are thinking and behaving, instead of lamenting over the actions of others.

If I want a better marriage, I have to be a better husband first. If I want my relationship with my kids to get better, I have to be a better father first. If I want a better team or a better company, I have to be a better leader first.

As I type this, I am sitting in an airport after spending the last two days with an awesome group of people who make up the executive team of a national mortgage banking company. I have had the privilege of leading their last two executive retreats, and their team has seen wonderful growth and results.

Today, we went through an exercise that was really valuable for them. They have a long term goal to increase their company’s annual sales by more than 300%. Each of them took time to assess what would need to change in order to lead a company that was doing just 50% more than their current volume.

I asked them each to think about where they would personally need to grow the most. I had them assess their own knowledge, skills, disciplines, systems, team, relationships and thinking to identify where they would have the biggest points of risk or pain.

They spent a significant amount of time alone journaling their thoughts, and then shared their results with each other. Their teammates then spoke into them by affirming, questioning, challenging and adding to what they came up with. It was a time of great transparency and growth.

So what about you?

Do you have aggressive goals and plans for your business or for your life in the years ahead? If so, where do YOU need to grow and improve in order to accomplish what you have set before you?

Don’t sit back and wait for others to take the lead.

Me first!

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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!

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When you feel unsure about next quarter, next week, or even tomorrow, fear can take over. It’s easy to lose sight of your larger plan when you feel like you’re scrambling. I’ve found, time and time again, that the best remedy for fear and uncertainly is a healthy dose of vision.

Whether you know it or not, your team is probably feeling the same uncertainty. Will my husband lose his job? How much of a loss will we take if we sell the house now? Can we still afford that vacation if I bring in less commissions?

The urgency of today pulls our eyes downward, and it’s more important than ever that we see there is something better ahead that’s worth fighting for. We all need to know that we’re a part of something bigger.

The 3-B Vision is the best tool I’ve found when coaching my clients on vision. Essentially, this tool helps you answer three questions:

1. To what will my team members BELONG?
2. If they invest their time and effort in this organization, who will they BECOME?
3. Together, what are we going to BUILD?

If you’ve created a vision already, it’s time to dust it off. Walking through this tool can help you see it with new eyes. If you’ve never created a vision before, then 3-B Vision is a great way to get started. I invite you to email us at info@buildingchampions.com to request a copy.

Make the time to lift your eyes up above the uncertainty of today. I know you will be refreshed by seeing the promise of what you belong to, who you can become, and what you are to build.

May this help you to see things more clearly,

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These were the words of a CEO at a lunch meeting I attended last year.  This CEO was addressing the head of her sales force.  It was a casual comment, but one that caused me some concern.

I wondered what could have produced such a strong negative reaction from this CEO.  Was she thinking of past interactions with salespeople who were way short of professional?  Could it be that her introverted behavioral style makes her fearful of seeming pushy or manipulative?

Regardless of her reasons, I believe my concern is well-founded.  There are too many professionals and leaders who have an unhealthy perspective of what sales is.

Here is my definition of sales:  the act of helping someone to assess whether your products or services can assist them with their needs, wants, challenges, or opportunities.   When it is done professionally and with the right motives, sales is all about helping people.

Everybody in my company understands that they are in sales.  This includes our receptionist, who delivers the first impression to a prospective customer.  It includes our accounting team, who may have to work through a payment situation with a client who is weighing the value of their coaching experience.  It also includes me.  I sell our vision and our services every day, both to my team and the world we serve.  We are all about helping people to see how our services might assist them.

I believe that every CEO must be masterful at selling.  We sell our services or products to our customers, our vendors, the media, and our boards.  We also must sell our vision to our team.  Selling is about helping people around us to see how our products or services — or the pursuit of our vision — can help them in business and in life.

Sell well.  There is an endless supply of needs, wants, challenges, and opportunities out there!

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Over the years, I spent time with his leadership team and the thousand plus others that he led.  Frequently they would comment on how they loved working with him because, while they may not always like what he had to say, they always knew where they stood.

This leader had all sorts of sayings that went perfectly with his personality.  One of my favorites was “ I am leaning in on this one.”  This meant that he was diving head first into the problem.  He knew that business and life are filled with problems and challenges, which are just waiting to be solved and learned from.

He helped me to see that candor combined with compassion is fuel for a healthy culture.  He is not a leader that ignores the challenges with a hope that over time they will go away.  Instead, he leans in, knowing that he must have the courage to press toward a solution.

This week I am nearly finished with a book by Dr. Henry Cloud called Integrity: The Courage to Meet the Demands of Reality.  In this must-read book, Dr. Cloud talks about leaning in.  He says that great leaders with high levels of integrity don’t ignore the elephant in the room.  They have the courage to lean into the problems that most people shy away from.

Leadership takes courage.  Our teammates, our customers, our spouses, our children and our communities are looking for people with the character and the courage to be the leaders many fear to be.

Take a look in the mirror.  Have you been willing to lean in and work to find the better solution?  Or have you been sitting back hoping that the issue will go away or someone else will take care of the problem?

Lean In!

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