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.

They have experienced radical growth — and their marketing initiatives drive a lot of that growth. One key take away that really stuck with me was how focused he was.

He uses this thought to drive everything that their marketing and innovation teams do:

Always do all you can to understand what your customer wants, needs and is thinking.

This is not only the key to effective marketing but is the key to successful innovation. As I write this I recall hearing the same thinking from the former CEO of Proctor and Gamble at last year’s World Business Forum. He shared stories of how he had a non-negotiable discipline of going to the homes and offices of those who used their products to find out what they wanted, needed and were thinking. This was a regular part of his job as the head of marketing and then later, the CEO.

We often fall to the “what makes us look super cool and super smart” marketing trap. We market in ways that we are proud of. “Look at the colors, look at the technology, listen to the music, you can see us and hear us everywhere!”

If you are focusing on all the fluff and buzz and missing the mark on really knowing what your customer wants, needs and is thinking, I can guarantee that your ROI will be underwhelming at best.

Yeah, we might feel good about the pretty and the shiny, but we will feel awful about our results.

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!

After an hour and a half, he left, and one of my sons came by.  He is 17, and is finishing up his senior year with some classes at our local community college.  The purpose of our one on one time was to connect and take a look at his plan for the next quarter.  It was an opportunity for me to listen to him and to connect at a deeper level.  I was able to pour into him.

The reason I wanted to share with you about my morning is to challenge you to think about how you will spend your time this year. 

Are you proactively scheduling one on one time with those you care for most?

One on one time is the absolute best way for people to connect, to experience intimacy, to build trust, to share life, to love and support one another, to challenge each other, to affirm each other and to show those around us how much they mean to us.  With our busy schedules, this can be quite challenging, but it is worth it.  I have learned — by observing those who are further down the path than I am — that those who do this tend to have the deepest and the best relationships.

Many of you are already busily filling in the vacant slots on your calendar for this month or even the entire year, and this is one discipline that will pay huge dividends.   These one on one times (or dates, as we call them in our home) should be scheduled first before other things get in the way.

Look at your Life Plan, and make sure your key accounts include the discipline of one on one time with those who are the most important in your life — your spouse, your kids, your close friends, your extended family members.  Then make room in your calendar, and invite them to meet with you.  Make this a non-negotiable discipline so that it becomes a way of life for you.

I know many of you already do this, and do even more to make the time rich and meaningful.  I could learn from you!  Others may want to make this a priority, but don’t know where to begin.  It starts with one date.

I hope this helps you and those you care for,

So, here is my response:  I want to experience pure and complete presence during this Christmas and New Years’ break.

What I want most is to celebrate this very special season by being absolutely present in each and every conversation, and in each and every moment.  I am a total mental spaz so this can be very challenging.

I know some of you can relate with me on this.  My mind is always going so fast and is filled with so many thoughts and ideas, and shutting it down to just be present can be difficult for me.  At the same time, when I am totally in the moment, it feels so good!

No matter what your plans are for the remaining days of this year, my challenge to you and to myself is to give the present of being fully present.  This means truly listening, totally engaging and adding value to those we love and those we lead.  This is an eye to eye and ear to ear challenge.

I hope this helps you to make some special memories.  I wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Until 2010,