Now this may come as a surprise, but one of the things that I am most grateful for is a deeper awareness of just how little I know. If I leave it at this, many of you might be somewhat concerned. After all, you invest time in this blog looking for insights — not the ramblings of someone who knows nothing.

But this awareness of how little I know has been really freeing and exciting. The truth of the matter is that I am most likely more than halfway through this journey called life, and I still feel like so much of it is an experiment.

There are some things that I am quite confident in, but much of what I encounter day by day and moment by moment has a certain degree of risk or uncertainty to it. I don’t know for certain if what I say or do will lead to the outcome I hope for. I don’t know for certain if this decision or that decision will lead to fruitful results.

Here are some examples:

• Should we hire this coach?
• Take on more space?
• Write another book?
• Move this person in the company to this role?
• Advise my daughter this way?
• Share this thought with my son?
• Make this decision for my family?
• Invest in this project or opportunity?

In years past, I think I believed that I knew more than I actually do. And some of you might be saying, “Finally Harkavy, you are starting to get it, thank God!”  But this new awareness of how much I still need to learn has caused me to observe leaders a bit differently.

Here are three big observations that might help you as well.

1. Many of the greatest leaders are the hungriest learners. Examples: Morris at 73 years old, very successful and taking copious notes in one of our recent workshops. Dom, a very seasoned CEO who just retired, and his deep life questions over our first glass of wine. One of my old mentors, Clem, with his constant questions about any and all topics. Questions, learning, listening — all three of them. They are never too proud, never concerned with how little they might know on a topic, always asking, always interested, always learning, always growing, and never posing. They are what I call Life-Long Learners.

2. Many of the greatest leaders move slowly. This has not been me! I have been called Taz in past years and for good reason. The faster I move, the more I get done. Well maybe for a while, but the faster I move, the more I miss. If I move too fast, I don’t give myself the chance to reflect and assess. How am I doing as a husband, father, friend, servant and leader? If I move too fast, I miss the opportunity to allow others to lead, serve and grow — and this stunts the organization’s growth.

Great leaders not only move slower, but they talk slower as well. If I am rushing my conversations, I miss the opportunities to really connect with those around me. I miss the opportunities to hear not only what is being said, but what is behind what is being said (or not said). And as a leader, the clarity of my communication is vital. This is true not only at work but at home as well. My pace of speech can either serve to calm and bring clarity and comfort or it can serve to create angst, confusion and even panic.

3. Many of the greatest leaders are disciplined thinkers. They see thinking time — or as we at Building Champions call it, ON time — as one of their most important disciplines. Not only do they have this thinking time scheduled daily, but they have regular larger blocks of time scheduled for just thinking.

A few of us coaches take what we call “Sabbath days.” I hate when I go for long periods without them because I am running too hard. When I do get them, settling into that quiet place to pray, reflect, assess, question, seek and learn — getting to that quiet state of mind — can be hard work. But I always walk away refreshed and a better leader because of it.

As many of you know, I am striving to live my life on the foundation of God’s Word. For me, it comes down to this: I must draw closer to Him so that I can better serve Him by using the gifts He has given to me to serve and love those around me. That happens when I make the time to slow down, to be still, to reflect, assess, question, challenge, seek, learn and connect.

As we approach the holiday season — which can pull us in many directions — I encourage you to carve some time out to reflect and assess where you are at. Slow down. Be intentional.

Taking time to invest in yourself may be the greatest gift you can give yourself and those you serve this year.

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Our company, Building Champions, has five convictions that act as filters for our decisions and clarify what our teammates belong to. One of those convictions is as follows: “We are lifelong learners. We can only give away what we possess.”

I think most of you would agree that at the end of the day — or at the end of your life — you want to have led a life of contribution. You want to have made a significant difference in the lives of those around you at home, at work, and in your community.

My encouragement to you is to get off the fast-moving treadmill once in a while. Make sure that you are continually challenging yourself to learn and grow in the areas of your life that are most important to you. This is where having a Life Plan can really make a difference.

Be proactive and create a development plan that is so specific with how and when you will grow that your actions are schedulable. Don’t just hope that you will lead a life and business of value. Instead, be one of the very few who are clear on this conviction of lifelong learning, so that you can give away more as the result of possessing more.

At this year’s Experience, our theme is Contribution. We all have more to give, and if you are serious about developing yourself so that you can contribute more, consider joining us in September.

Here’s to living and leading proactively and intentionally, and to ultimately making a greater difference!

During the real performance, you will witness the results of what most will never see — the countless hours of training, reviewing game or play tapes, the disciplined working of the body and self-disciplined eating and sleeping.

And then, look at some of our countries best: our service men and women. Look at the countless hours they invest in training, preparing, rehearsing, and engaging in mock battles. They plan for and rehearse unlike any others.

We had the benefit of having a Navy Seal trainer join us for one of our Building Champions Master’s Coach events a few months back. I was blown away as I listened to how intense their training and practice is. But of course it needs to be so intense; they are dealing with life and death situations every day when they are deployed.

My question to you is this: How much time do you invest weekly into practicing, rehearsing and learning?

For most of us, our results are greatly impacted by each of the little 15 to 60-minute conversations that we have with our teammates, our clients, our vendors and our prospects. Are you like most who run from one meeting to the next with very little intentional planning and rehearsing time? Are you meeting with key clients and prospects without having mastered the basics? Are you attending board meetings without having fully prepared for the questions that will come your way?

I know what most of you are thinking: “How do I fit in more time to practice, to prepare, to rehearse? I am already maxed as it is.”

Here’s a suggestion: Work hard to identify the things that are making their way on to your daily calendar that others could do — often with more excellence than you can. Understand the top 3 or so things that only you can do in order to add the most value to your company. And then, fight with all of your might to get rid of the other 10 things that dilute your focus and diminish your performance.

Be intentional about the time you free up, and practice, practice, practice until you know you are ready to compete at a championship level.

Is it life and death for you, your company, or even your family?

Maybe.

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.

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!

During my interview with a client who is the CEO of a UK based petroleum additives organization, the topic of team came up.  He said that he believes we fall short as leaders when we see our teams as an “asset.”  He explained that people do not want to feel owned, or to have their value summarized on a corporate balance sheet. 

His belief is that our team is more than an asset.  They are our competitive advantage.

I agree with him that a leader’s strategies and actions are different when they see those they lead as their competitive advantage rather than an asset.  When we believe our team is our competitive advantage, our culture becomes much more focused on development and learning.  Those that have this mindset allocate more dollars to coaching, workshops, and professional education. 

I think there is an even bigger difference that exists within this type of a culture.  When a leader believes that his team is the organization’s competitive advantage, he will encourage much more collaboration around strategy and innovation than will the asset minded leader.  The advantage-minded leader knows that the success of tomorrow rest in the minds of his team today, and he is more intentional and skilled at tapping into them for ideas and solutions.

This was yet another great lesson for me, not only in preparation for that opening presentation, but as a Coach and CEO.  Since that conversation in the first half of 09, I have been thinking about our team at Building Champions a bit differently. 

This improved thinking is causing my disciplines to change as well.  I have always believed that my team is responsible for everything good that happens for us as a company.  Seeing them as more than an asset — as our competitive advantage — is a definite improvement in my thinking.

How do you see the team you lead?