Are your players exceeding their targets?

Below you will find advise from Tony Robbins and Richard Branson, but first let me ask you some questions:

Are you seeing any of the following issues in your organisation?

Is growth not coming quickly enough?Are you not exceeding revenue targets?Are you not getting enough opportunities?

So do you know and understand the root causes of the above?  Do you clearly understand what makes yourself and your team tick?

If you are still reading this, then my guess is that you answered "No" at least once.  And guess what?  Join the club of thousands of other businesses and organisations that are facing the same issues right now.

The real questions is...   Are you going to do something about it?  What are you going to do about it?  Are you going to invest both time and money to solve the above?

Or is it just easier to do what you've always done?

Would it be useful for you to consider how others have dealt with this?

If I told you that others have turned around their business by investing in themselves and their people and reached their targets and beyond, how would you see that working for you?

Would you consider investing one hour of your time with me to investigate further?

Would you consider dropping me a line at roland.weber@sgpartners.com.au to set up a time that suits? 

The Melbourne Sharks exceeded their targets and reached their goals against all odds in 2004.  In business as in sports we set our goals/targets and do what is necessary to achieve them, no matter what any one tells us.

Have you heard of Leicester City?  2016 English Premier League winners 

5000 to 1 odds to win the EPL, yet they did it.  Do you think it just happened for them?
How about it?  roland.weber@sgpartners.com.au

How about Tony Robbins, heard of him?  Below are a couple of pieces of advise from the big man himself:

Add value, and help those around you.

Robbins wants you to dream big, get inspired, and live a life of wild success, but in order to get there, you have to accomplish smaller things and build up. Long-term, sustainably wealthy entrepreneurs didn't wake up in a room of cash, they set out to add value and help people.

"You can get rich by screwing someone, but if you're going to stay rich, you have to be constantly helping people," he says. When Robbins's first child was born, he was only making $38,000 a year. By the next year, he was making $1 million a year. "That jump wasn't a sudden new skill set, it was a must for me psychologically to produce that wealth," he says.

Robbins's mentor, the entrepreneur and motivational speaker Jim Rohn, gave him two lessons on how to tap your strongest talents and resources to be successful:

"Find your passion and find a way to use it to do more for others than anyone else does and add value. And proximity is power. If you want to get the job done, you have to get in the environment of the best of the best," Robbins recalls Rohn saying.

When Robbins told Rohn he needed to provide for his family, Rohn said for the goals he had, he needed to be in the proximity of the best moneymakers. Robbins wanted to acquire more wealth, so he started hanging out with investment bankers. "I did that for a couple of years, but it seemingly produced no business results. Until one day, one of those relationships grew into a deal that made me $400 million in a day, we took a company public," he says. "I could've worked my entire lifetime and not made that happen, I had to be in proximity with the best."

No one grows personally and professionally by themselves, everyone needs help. If you want to do a certain thing--make money, build a company, help feed the hungry--then you need to be around people who do that well.

"My own growth has always been about challenging myself to be around people who play the game of life at a higher level. In order to stay on the court with them, you need to lift your game, you need to grow," he says. "If you're around them and you're adding value, you'll find opportunity. Proximity is power."

Always be hungry.

As the coach for billionaire entrepreneurs Marc Benioff and Richard Branson, Robbins knows the difference between successful people and unsuccessful people. He says the single most important ingredient for success is hunger and not losing it.

"The best entrepreneurs on earth never lose that hunger--they are hungry to grow, hungry to give, hungry to contribute," Robbins says. "It's more important than intelligence. There's nothing that will stop a person who is hungry enough. A hungry person, failure doesn't stop them."

Credit to: http://www.inc.com/will-yakowicz/you-can-still-win-the-game-3-lessons-tony-robbins.html

Or http://www.tonyrobbins.com for more advise

Do you want more?  How about Richard Branson (his advise below) - heard of him?  I think the guy was in records, right?  Don't know what a record is... read up here...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LP_record

Here are three points from Richard Branson's

"My illustrated top 10 tips for success"

3. Believe in your ideas and be the best

4. Have fun and look after your team

5. Don’t give up

To read all of them, visit:  https://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/my-illustrated-top-10-tips-for-success

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/your-players-exceeding-targets-roland-weber?trk=pulse_spock-articles

7 leadership Don’ts

Henry Ford (and yes Tony Robbins and many others since then) said:

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.”

I don’t know about you, but if I do the same thing I’ve always done, I get the same results.  This is very true in every aspect of life.

Do you have certain goals in your personal life or business? If so, what will you do differently to achieve them?

I get it – you’ve always done it that way and it always worked.  So what has changed in the paradigm?  Companies are still making products, selling products or services, mining companies are still producing ore and so on.  People are still eating and drinking, and the effects of that are still the same, aren't they?

What are your current road blocks that are stopping you?  If you don’t have a problem, if you are already making all the money you can, getting all deals across the line, have a 100% win percentage, then reading this blog is probably not going to help you.  If you don’t have a problem, I can’t help you!

Don’t focus on your competitors

A new competitor – well, you’ve probably always had competitors, you can’t influence what they do, but only what you do, so stop focusing on your competitors!

Don’t ignore leadership

Does a sports team need a coach?  Do we need a PM? (And I am not talking about the person – that’s a whole different conversation).  I have written much about leadership in my other posts, so I won't go into any more detail here.

Don’t set your team up to fail

Set them up for success.  Hire the right people for the right job and provide them with the right tools.  Then make sure they are helped along the way.

Don’t ignore the individual’s strengths and weaknesses

There are many ways of evaluating people, many different psychometric tests, profiling and more.  In regards to sales teams and sales leaders, trust a proven system that is directly aligned to your business profile and goals backed with over 1 Million data sets globally.  Then utilise the results to fully understand how the person fits into your organisation (either before hiring someone or if you already have them on the team), to manage their strengths and weaknesses to get even better results.

Don’t divest in your people

It is your choice whether to invest in your team or not, isn’t it?  Set your goal.  Is your goal to get another $200k revenue from each sales person?  If so, would you invest $20k in them?  How about $5k?  Isn’t a wrong hire going to cost you significantly more than that in the first three months alone?  Isn’t a non performing sales person costing you more than that in lost deals? 

Don’t focus on closing

It is a proven fact that the majority of sales directors and managers feel that a significant weakness in their team is closing.  Unfortunately the problem generally happens much earlier, as early as the qualifying process and first meeting.  A sale should pretty much close itself if the correct sales process has been followed.  Again, an assessment of the individuals will give you an in depth look at where the current hurdles are. 

Don’t keep doing what you’ve always done

You need to be part of the solution as much as your team needs to be.  Right now you are probably part of the problem.  Understanding this and taking steps towards change will make you an even better leader.

Let us have a conversation if you currently have a problem in your leadership and/or sales group/ organisation.  If you don’t have a problem, I can’t help you.  If you do, then commiserations as unfortunately you are part of humanity just like myself and the other 7.4 Billion people on this planet.  I don’t have all the answers, but I do have access to great tools and people, and a wealth of experience with companies just like yours that all seem to have similar issues.

You can contact me via LinkedIn or by emailing me at roland.weber@sgpartners.com.au

If You Want to Be a Real Leader, Quit Being Fake

The following article is a copy of the one posted on fortune on April 29th by Steve Tobak. (http://fortune.com/2016/04/29/quit-being-fake/)

I agree with Steve that you have to be your own style ofleader.  You will have your own style that suits you best, but this does not mean that you cannot learn something from other leaders.  In a recent seminar by Tony Robbins, he clearly stated that he still engages with other world leaders to learn more.  He also once questioned Senior citizens that were exercising and very healthy in their 80's 90's and 100's just to see what they do differently. 

You can learn from anyone in any position anywhere in the world at any time!  Technology has made this even easier than ever before.

These days it seems everyone’s a serial entrepreneur, best-selling author or motivational speaker.

In a digital world full of virtual personas, authenticity is quickly becoming an endangered quality. Everyone wants to be what they’re not. That would be fine if folks would just keep their delusions to themselves. Unfortunately, they’re jumping on the “fake it ‘til you make it” hype parade en masse.
Maybe you haven’t noticed that everyone is suddenly a CEO, a serial entrepreneur, a best-selling author, a millennial millionaire, a [fill in the blank] expert, an award-winning motivational speaker or a coach who can inspire you to find happiness, greatness or your purpose in life, even though they can’t find it themselves.

Like it or not, B.S. is the new normal.

How in the world did such dysfunctional behavior become a cultural norm, practically overnight? I’m not really sure. I suppose it could have been the personal branding craze or Facebook envy that made everyone so desperate to portray themselves in a utopian light. The next thing we knew, LinkedIn profiles that once resembled resumes had turned into fanciful works of fiction.

Clearly, the architects of Web 2.0 never foresaw that social media and user-generated content would become the loudest echo chamber in the history of humankind. Reinforced by billions of blog posts, likes, updates, tweets and retweets, a trending hashtag can go viral and become a global phenomenon in a flash.
Even if this disturbing trend did start online, it certainly didn’t end there. It’s hitting the fan in leadership circles all over the offline world, as well.
It certainly doesn’t help that political leaders routinely lie through their teeth and get away with it. Why do they do it? I’m sure it hasn’t escaped any of the beltway political strategists or campaign advisors that we the people have our heads stuck so far up our smartphones we can no longer see the light of reality.

How prophetic were the words of Hillary Clinton, when she asked rhetorically, “What difference at this point does it make?” Indeed. She was referring to the terrorist attack on our Benghazi embassy in 2012, but her words highlight our growing ambivalence to truth. We’re simply too distracted to care.

Not to pick on the politicians, but you’ve got to admit, when it comes to authenticity, you simply can’t find easier targets. Perhaps a business leader like Harvard business professor and former Medtronic CEO Bill George would make a more challenging, if not intriguing, example.
After a long and successful executive career, George wrote the book Authentic Leadership in 2004.

He followed that up with True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership, and turned it into a franchise. For a guy who calls authenticity “the gold standard for leaders,” I personally find George to be neither authentic nor a leader these days. Rather, he consistently spews feel-good leadership fluff that panders to the popular groupthink du jour.

While promoting yet another – I think it was the fifth – True North book last year, I saw an interview where he rattled off a dizzying array of business jargon, leadership fads, and populist sound bites that made my head spin. I don’t know how, but in the space of a few minutes, he somehow managed to praise emotional intelligence and EQ, non-hierarchical leadership, empowerment, collaboration, sustainable culture, innovation, diversity, 360-degree reviews, millennials, Steve Jobs (Act 2, not Act 1), Jeff Bezos, Jeff Immelt, Apple, Google and Facebook.

To top it off, he singled out Donald Trump as an inauthentic phony. Far be it from me to defend the Donald; he seems to do a pretty good job of standing up for himself. But here’s the thing. You can say a lot of things about the man, but he’s no phony. What you see is what you get. He is the real deal. That much I know.

Authentic leaders have the courage to speak their minds, even when their views are unpopular. They tell folks the truth, even when it’s not what they want to hear. They’re honest about who they are and don’t pretend to be who they’re not. They fight the status quo, even though it would be so easy to just follow the crowd.

Look, you can’t all be leaders in the organizational sense, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have certain leadership qualities. You can, and you should, carve your own path even when it cuts against the grain of cultural norms. You can, and you should, have the courage to be your genuine self.

   

Your Leadership = Your Growth

"Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader success is all about growing others." Jack Welch.

Enjoy and be provoked.

Question for you, one that I ask many CEO/MD and GMs - What is stopping your organisation from growing? What are the excuses your people are giving you.

• The economy is slow - they have no money
• Our wharehouse, logistics, service, finance, marketing, sales people are letting us down
• We are too expensive - the customer needs more discounts
• Our product/service is not right, old, wrong for the client
• We don't have the money to do that

And on and on it goes - I bet you could add a few. So what next, how do we push through these excuses and more forward?

The toughest activity for a leader is accountability and motivating - both take time, effort and focus. What would your role be like if your people were even more responsible for their actions and driven to succeed as a team?

As a leader of the business your role is to have everyone aligned to the purpose, goals, strategy, mission, objectives and culture of the organisation.

The difference between success and failure is YOU. Look around at some of the businesses that fail, there are patterns, well documented time and time again.

Success in any organisation is about how YOU influence others - those that are employed by you and those that you need to choose your organisation to perform a function of some description. How effective you are at influencing is directly correlated to how successful you are and inversely how stressed/frustrated/angry you become.

TIP: So next time someone inside your organisation provides an excuse use this question - "How would you know if that wasn't true?"

This may seem like a pretty benign question and yet there is some deep psychology within the wording and combination of the words.

Let me explain. Firstly "How would YOU know" - this puts the focus back on them. This requires them to challenge their current beliefs. "if that wasn't true", this requires them to go into the future to figure out what they would have to do to know that it wasn't true - hence coming up with the solution that was hidden before and because of their belief.

Once you ask them they will act like a deer in headlights. They will go around in circles, possibly saying "I don't understand the question?" Ask it again, do not change the wording. Keep asking. They will say " I don't know the answer" You reply "and if you did know - How would you know if that wasn't true?"

There is so much power in this question.

You see it's all about making your life easier, less stressful and more enjoyable as a leader in your organisation. It's about having tools and strategies that influence others to see your way of thinking and implementing what needs to be done to get even better outcomes - time and time again.

What would your life be like if people wanted to follow you?

Inversely, what is life like NOW pushing against the stream time and time again and going backwards?

I experience so many leaders feeling beaten, struggling to moving their organisation forward, growing and having people aligned. 

Today more than ever, the leader's role requires them to grasp the rapid rate of change in the business world and to build an organisation that’s capable of continually adapting.

Your VOICE is your tool of leadership. Have you been maximising it to influence people? Have you ever trained on how to be even more effective with your language, your tone, your meaning, the power of your voice.

This is why we have created the SG Partners Influential Leadership Workshop in May, Brisbane. One company is sending 3 senior leaders!

This unique workshop is about providing YOU and YOUR PEOPLE tools and strategies to have people do what you want them to do, not because they HAVE to because they WANT too. This is the difference between short term change and sustainable change - it's about influencing them at a mindset level.Click here for more information or see below:

SG Partners Influential Leadership Workshop - May 18/19th Brisbane.

Why doesn’t my team work together, share information – why do I have silo’s, still?

How much time do I waste re hashing the same thing everyday with my people – why can’t they get it and implement the objectives?

Why is it so hard? Why can’t they do what is expected of them? If only they would do their job my life would be a lot easier!

Not another meeting/waste of time, why can’t these be more productive?

At our Leadership workshop you will learn tools and strategies to:

• Align people with your values and mission
• Transform teams by understanding limitations and shift to resourceful thinking patterns
• Get clarity and alignment with your strategy
• Enable people to perform at their peak performance
• Create meaningful outcome that motivate & inspire others
• and much much more

Who is this FOR: CEO’s, MD’s, Owners, General Managers, Senior Leaders, HR Leaders, Sales Leaders - When you are ready to learn tools and strategies to:

• Supercharging your team so they functions holistically and towards a shared strategy. 
• Lead others so they naturally follow. 
• Communicate with clarity and sell your ideas with more confidence. 
• Influence others utilising their own inherent values. 
• Being more congruent with your mission.

Which of these challenges are you faced with at present:

• Managing Employee Dissatisfaction.
• Handling Confrontation.
• Challenging, Supporting and Empowering Others.
• Control stress and wayward emotion.
• Faster and better aligned decisions.
• Lead through times of uncertainty.
• Gain trust, alignment and loyalty from others.
• Model best practice in your organisation and replicate in others.
• Improve personal alignment and happiness

So what are you waiting for Click HERE to access the workshop flyer.

Want to learn more about how we improve your company's position, your success, you revenue, margins and marketshare, contact me roland.weber@sgpartners.com.au

Original Post by Michael Lang (SG Partners)

Strategy, Sales, Sustainability & Leadership

Do strategic platforms take into account marketing and sales as well as long term customer engagement and success? 

For me this is a core question, but the more you dig into the detail, the more complicated it becomes.  In this post I will briefly address key issues, concepts and current challenges.  I am trying to provoke your thoughts, and ask you to answer many of these questions, as I do not have all the answers, just my own perspective and viewpoints.

Whilst most strategies agree in principal on what they are trying to achieve, implementation and execution become an issue.  People get lost in the framework, but forget about the core principal of why they are in business, and what has brought them success thus far.

Let’s face it, marketing and sales must have done something right to create the success over the years, or was it purely luck?  In a strong economy when things come easy, any sales person can succeed.  They virtually become order takers.  Marketing will produce great glossy art to make everyone feel happy.  However, as we see today, in tougher market conditions the true champions are starting to shine through.  It is the individuals who have built strong networks, have the trust of their customers, can offer advise beyond what is required, are seen as experts, and are persistent and not scared to pick up the phone or visit a client.  All this supported by a good organisation, with quality products and a focus on adding value to and for their customer will provide success in the future. It’s that simple; right? Is that true?

But are our leaders forgetting about these core people that have brought the results in the past?  Are they just focused on numbers, and not on fostering the relationships with their customers and supporting them through the tougher times?  You tell me.

I believe some organisations are getting this right now, others are failing miserably.  The results are not going to be seen this or next year, the real outcomes are five or more years down the road.  So which leaders have this vision and support of the board / shareholders to ensure the long term success?  Anyone you know?

In our current market conditions, too many executives (especially in public companies) are worried about pleasing the shareholders in the short term.  Decisions are being made that make them look good right now, but the impacts of their decisions will be felt way beyond their reign, by that time they have taken another senior role to try and emulate their recent success.

So why are these executives making these decisions?  Is it purely self-preservation and pleasing the investors, or do they actually believe that they are working in the best interest of the organisation, the employees and greater community?

I addressed the challenges of short term and long term strategy in a previous post and will not re-address them here, but many of the issues raised there, translate into this post.

Maybe taking a closer look at some strategy maps will help.  Take a closer look to what always sits on top – maximise profitability and create shareholder value.  How come customer value and your own people are down the bottom?  Yes, you can argue you need them down the bottom to create the solid foundation to achieve what is on top (like a brick wall you want to make sure all brocks are properly in place), but are we forgetting about this core as the processes are implemented?

I have had a look at many strategy maps and have included some here as pictures (Kaplan, Mobil, Rockwater, Blue Ocean, etc).  They all focus on the same areas; some go into more detail, some are vague.  But what does it all mean?  Anyone can come up with a map.  The challenge is on how do you relate this to your organisation, your people, and how do you execute the strategy?

Focus areas commonly are:

• Your workforce, how to train them and engage them
• Internal Processes to achieve the above
• Creating customer value
• Focus on products and services
• Growth, growth and more growth

As mentioned earlier, these maps are frameworks.  Often very complicated, but they all want to achieve the same outcomes.  It is like asking the question of what is the world’s longest formula.  The reality is that we can create more and more complex (but still correct) equations without bound.  So we get the same results by overcomplicating simple issues.  Essentially any equality can be made longer by adding identities.  Isn’t that what we are doing?  Isn’t that what I have done in this post?  I have taken a whole lot of questions, and provided many answers and more questions, that in the core all lead to the same results.  I could have probably done this in five short bullet points, and I’m certain that there are many people out there, much smarter than me, who could provide us with these :)

So, to summarise I will try to at least address how we can avoid some pitfalls in my opinion.
If we are considering a total strategy revamp, the transition phase is where we will come up with most challenges, and this is often where the biggest failures occur.

The failures may start in the design of the strategy, but are often failures in the process. Kaplan and Norton (The Strategy Focused Organization) address these failures with a direct link to balanced scorecards.  However the two first points mentioned are “lack of senior management commitment” and “too few individuals involved”.  These two arguments will resonate with many of you.  Strategy is often set a high level, without consultation of the people who make the organisation tick.  Since these individuals are not involved in setting the strategy, they do not own it, and as such will struggle to buy into it.  People get extreme satisfaction of being involved in a process and having their idea heard, and some of them implemented.  By owning the project, the individual will work for the project and with the team towards success; the individual can be measured and held accountable, creating a win, win situation.  Easier said than done, right?  Well, why don’t you give it a go, and let me know how it worked out for you.

Diesel Refuelling Safety Bulletin

Diesel Re-Fuelling Safety Bulletin from Roland Weber

• Here is the Transcript of the above document:
• Addressing the potential for mobile equipment (trucks, dozers, shovels, drill rigs, excavators, etc.) to spill fuel, leak fuel, and catch fire, as well as the risk of occupational hazards associated with re-fuelling. 
• Summary of Hazard 
• Since the 1980’s fast filling for heavy and large equipment has become the standard in the industry. Fast filling can deliver filling speeds of well above 1,000 litres per minute. Fast filling significantly increased efficiencies and productivity while also aiming at reducing fuel spills due to a clean-break system, it has also had some adverse effects. 
• Pressurising Fuel Tanks 
• In some cases, operators have from the beginning of the refuelling process tied the gun down, to disable automatic shut-off. Manufacturers design their fuel tanks to be pressurised at 4-8PSI. Fast Fill systems are designed to shut off at 13-14PSI tank pressure. The cyclic overpressurisation of tanks leads to tank failures through ballooning (over pressurisation and deformation) and rupture. While tanks are designed to last for 15+ years, the cycle of tank fatigue is accelerated and will often start at as little as three years into operation. 
• Increased Volumes of Spills 
• The dry-break system was designed to reduce spills from fuel contained in the fuel line of a traditional splash fill system once filling completed. When the tank is full and the couplings are removed, Diesel will be contained within the fuelling system. Common practice when re-fuelling is that the operator will re-activate the fuel filling gun (after initial automatic shut off) to ‘top off’ the tank. This creates two more issues: 
• The tank pressure now will be equal to the pressure delivered by the fuelling pump, which can be up to and beyond 80PSI 
• The operator holds down then gun until fuel spills from the breather at the top of the tank. 
• At 600 litres per minute, this equates to 10 litres every second, which would be the maximum expected reaction and shut-off time for the system In some cases, operators have from the beginning of the re-fuelling process tied the gun down, to disable automatic shut-off. If the operator is not near the gun, the amount of fuel spilled will be considerably more.
• Diesel Baths 
• As the Diesel is now disbursed through the breathing vent, it can create to what is referred to as a “Diesel bath” for the operator re-filling the equipment. At this volume, there is a high risk of Diesel entering the operator’s eyes. Best case scenario the worker will be off for the rest of his/her shift, however if Diesel has entered the eyes, this will most likely mean about three days in hospital. While diesel baths are not known to be common, they have occurred and are considered severe, high risk injury. Best case scenario the worker will be off for the rest of his/her shift.
• Spillages While Operating 
• Now that the tank is filled to the top, and as the heavy machinery moves back into production, Diesel will spill through the fuel vent creating further issues; 
• Risk of Fire 
• Environmental Pollution 
• Economic loss 
• The risk of fire due to Diesel spilling and coming in contact with engines, radiators or tyres is real and has over the years occurred many times. While spills at the filling stations are often catered for by bunding arrangements, this is not the case once the equipment is on the move. This part of the pollution often goes unnoticed. 
• Contributory Factors 
• The risk of fire due to Diesel spilling and coming in contact with engines, radiators or tyres is real and has over the years occurred many times. 
• Mobile Equipment is often used on uneven ground 
• Operators are not trained properly 
• The applicable Australian standards do not take alternative solutions into account 
• Knowledge about the risk of pressurising tanks is limited 
• Fear of fines mean that minor spills are not reported 
• Recommendations 
• A more rigorous approach when training operators 
• Mechanical Non-Pressurised Refuelling Systems to be fitted to all existing mobile equipment as best practise 
• OEM’s and suppliers to integrate Non-Pressurised Refuelling Systems to be fitted to all mobile equipment as standard 
• Fuel Vents to have fuel surge protection Fuel Vents to have roll-over protection 
• A change in Australian Standards to acknowledge nonpressurised solutions should be the norm 
• A pro-active maintenance program to establish tank issues early 
• An audit of risks with current mobile equipment pertaining to fuel spill and tank damage

Company Culture - PaperCut

I have posted many individual posts talking about culture, leadership and office politics.  Since I have been looking for the perfect role for me over the last three months, I came across an ad by PaperCut today.  Although I had encountered their software before, I had never actually investigated the company.  I urge you to have a good look around their web site.  Here's a link to their blogs...  www.papercut.com/blog/2013/05/

I love the way they run their office, a flat management structure, and anyone that knows me, the coffee part of course.  It shows that even in our sometimes "stuck up" world, you don't have to be dressed in $2,000.00 suits to achieve results, it's all about aligning goals and having a great team culture, where individuals are empowered to achieve, because that's why they were hired in the first place.

Now, I hope Chris and Matt don't read this post before meeting with me, as they may see it as brown-nosing, but then again, they may not.  In any case, I know if I do get  chance to meet them, I won't be wearing a suit.  I should probably ride my bike there and walk in with bike shorts (no, don't worry - I'll spare you that vision).

As I said, please have a look at their site, and as always, don't be scared to send me comments at roland@matador.net.au or through LinkedIn.

Their site:  www.papercut.com

The Most Successful Leaders Do 15 Things Automatically, Every Day

The following article from Forbes highlights many areas  I have previously discussed.  But does it really only relate to leaders?  At the end of the day we are all leaders in one way or another.  Every person can adopt these in their every day routine to make them a more efficient and better employee or even person.  Sometimes you cannot communicate expectations to others, but you should be clear in your mind what your goals are, and what you want to achieve.  

You don't have to challenge other people to think, but challenge yourself.  Look around you and learn from others.  See what works and what doesn't.  We don't always succeed, but was makes us stronger is when we fail.  We can see why and how, and work even harder to ensure success in the future.  Stay positive!  By doing so you will unlock infinite possibilities for yourself and put people around you at ease, to either help you, do business with you, or even admire you.

Try it, and let me know your thoughts.  The best way to contact me is through LinkedIn (link to your right).

• -A
• +A

By Glenn Llopis | Forbes – Sun, Apr 14, 2013 4:52 PM EDT

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  The Most Successful Leaders Do 15 Things Automatically, Every Day

Leadership is learned behavior that becomes unconscious and automatic over time.  For example, leaders can make several important decisions about an issue in the time it takes others to understand the question.   Many people wonder how leaders know how to make the best decisions, often under immense pressure.  The process of making these decisions comes from an accumulation of experiences and encounters with a multitude of difference circumstances, personality types and unforeseen failures.   More so, the decision making process is an acute understanding of being familiar with the cause and effect of behavioral and circumstantial patterns;  knowing the intelligence and interconnection points of the variables involved in these patterns allows a leader to confidently make decisions and project the probability of their desired outcomes.   The most successful leaders are instinctual decision makers.  Having done it so many times throughout their careers, they become immune to the pressure associated with decision making and extremely intuitive about the process of making the most strategic and best decisions. This is why most senior executives will tell you they depend strongly upon their “gut-feel” when making difficult decisions at a moment’s notice.

Beyond decision making, successful leadership across all areas becomes learned and instinctual over a period of time. Successful leaders have learned the mastery of anticipating business patterns, finding opportunities in pressure situations, serving the people they lead and overcoming hardships.   No wonder the best CEOs are paid so much money.   In 2011, salaries for the 200 top-paid CEOs rose 5 percent to a median $14.5 million per year, according to a study by compensation-data company Equilar for The New York Times.

If you are looking to advance your career into a leadership capacity and / or already assume leadership responsibilities – here are 15 things you must do automatically, every day, to be a successful leader in the workplace:

1.  Make Others Feel Safe to Speak-Up

Many times leaders intimidate their colleagues with their title and power when they walk into a room.   Successful leaders deflect attention away from themselves and encourage others to voice their opinions.  They are experts at making others feel safe to speak-up and confidently share their perspectives and points of view.   They use their executive presence to create an approachable environment.

2.  Make Decisions

Successful leaders are expert decision makers.    They either facilitate the dialogue to empower their colleagues to reach a strategic conclusion or they do it themselves.  They focus on “making things happen” at all times – decision making activities that sustain progress.   Successful leaders have mastered the art of politicking and thus don’t waste their time on issues that disrupt momentum.  They know how to make 30 decisions in 30 minutes.

3.  Communicate Expectations

Successful leaders are great communicators, and this is especially true when it comes to “performance expectations.”   In doing so, they remind their colleagues of the organization’s core values and mission statement – ensuring that their vision is properly translated and actionable objectives are properly executed.

I had a boss that managed the team by reminding us of the expectations that she had of the group.   She made it easy for the team to stay focused and on track.  The protocol she implemented – by clearly communicating expectations – increased performance and helped to identify those on the team that could not keep up with the standards she expected from us.

4.  Challenge People to Think

The most successful leaders understand their colleagues’ mindsets, capabilities and areas for improvement.  They use this knowledge/insight to challenge their teams to think and stretch them to reach for more.   These types of leaders excel in keeping their people on their toes, never allowing them to get comfortable and enabling them with the tools to grow.

If you are not thinking, you’re not learning new things.  If you’re not learning, you’re not growing – and over time becoming irrelevant in your work.

5.  Be Accountable to Others

Successful leaders allow their colleagues to manage them.  This doesn’t mean they are allowing others to control them – but rather becoming accountable to assure they are being proactive to their colleagues needs.

Beyond just mentoring and sponsoring selected employees, being accountable to others is a sign that your leader is focused more on your success than just their own.

6.  Lead by Example

Leading by example sounds easy, but few leaders are consistent with this one.   Successful leaders practice what they preach and are mindful of their actions. They know everyone is watching them and therefore are incredibly intuitive about detecting those who are observing their every move, waiting to detect a performance shortfall.

7.  Measure & Reward Performance

Great leaders always have a strong “pulse” on business performance and those people who are the performance champions. Not only do they review the numbers and measure performance ROI, they are active in acknowledging hard work and efforts (no matter the result).    Successful leaders never take consistent performers for granted and are mindful of rewarding them.  

8.  Provide Continuous Feedback

Employees want their leaders to know that they are paying attention to them and they appreciate any insights along the way.  Successful leaders always provide feedback and they welcome reciprocal feedback by creating trustworthy relationships with their colleagues..   They understand the power of perspective and have learned the importance of feedback early on in their career as it has served them to enable workplace advancement.

9.  Properly Allocate and Deploy Talent

Successful leaders know their talent pool and how to use it.  They are experts at activating the capabilities of their colleagues and knowing when to deploy their unique skill sets given the circumstances at hand. 

10.  Ask Questions, Seek Counsel

Successful leaders ask questions and seek counsel all the time.  From the outside, they appear to know-it-all – yet on the inside, they have a deep thirst for knowledge and constantly are on the look-out to learn new things because of their commitment to making themselves better through the wisdom of others.

11.  Problem Solve; Avoid Procrastination

Successful leaders tackle issues head-on and know how to discover the heart of the matter at hand.    They don’t procrastinate and thus become incredibly proficient at problem solving; they learn from and don’t avoid uncomfortable circumstances (they welcome them).

Getting ahead in life is about doing the things that most people don’t like doing.

12.  Positive Energy & Attitude

Successful leaders create a positive and inspiring workplace culture.  They know how to set the tone and bring an attitude that motivates their colleagues to take action.   As such, they are likeable, respected and strong willed.  They don’t allow failures to disrupt momentum.

13.  Be a Great Teacher

Many employees in the workplace will tell you that their leaders have stopped being teachers.   Successful leaders never stop teaching because they are so self-motivated to learn themselves.  They use teaching to keep their colleagues well-informed and knowledgeable through statistics, trends, and other newsworthy items.

Successful leaders take the time to mentor their colleagues and make the investment to sponsor those who have proven they are able and eager to advance.

14.  Invest in Relationships

Successful leaders don’t focus on protecting their domain – instead they expand it by investing in mutually beneficial relationships. Successful leaders associate themselves with “lifters and other leaders” – the types of people that can broaden their sphere of influence.  Not only for their own advancement, but that of others.

Leaders share the harvest of their success to help build momentum for those around them.

15.  Genuinely Enjoy Responsibilities

Successful leaders love being leaders – not for the sake of power but for the meaningful and purposeful impact they can create.   When you have reached a senior level of leadership – it’s about your ability to serve others and this can’t be accomplished unless you genuinely enjoy what you do.

In the end, successful leaders are able to sustain their success because these 15 things ultimately allow them to increase the value of their organization’s brand – while at the same time minimize the operating risk profile.   They serve as the enablers of talent, culture and results.

What Most Schools Don't Teach

I keep talking about leadership, education, business improvement, simplifying processes and more.  I have however never related my own thinking to coding/programming.  Although I fist experienced programming with "Basic" in the 80's, followed by Pascal, C, and some weird language called Modula 2 at the university of Waikato, for me this was always just fun.  

Looking at this video, it made me think how true the comments made by these leaders of our time are.  At the end of the day it is about processes and breaking down problems.  Here are some of the comments from the video, but I highly recommend watching it, and if you have kids, getting them involved early.  It is like learning an instrument, and something you never forget.  It teaches you good basics, principles and being organised and structured in an approach.

"It's about humanity & helping people"

"It's about the process of breaking down problems"

"To get the best people we make the office as awesome as possible"

The comparison and overlaps with coding and sports, business and all around us are I believe very valid.  Enjoy!

This video starrs Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, will.i.am, Chris Bosh, Jack Dorsey, Tony Hsieh, Drew Houston, Gabe Newell, Ruchi Sanghvi, Elena Silenok, Vanessa Hurst, and Hadi Partovi. Directed by Lesley Chilcott.

Do you work for a 3BL company?

The triple bottom line (abbreviated as TBL or 3BL, and also known as people, planet, profit or "the three pillars") captures an expanded spectrum of values and criteria for measuring organisational (and societal) success: economic, ecological, and social.

Company Culture

Through Principles learned from some of the “best companies to work for” and “most successful companies” we help you focus on the cultural clusters in your company that can help you grow, implement new strategies and become more productive.   We help you with the introduction of tailored solutions to change non-practical cultural believes, and get buy in from the front line through to senior management.  We stay involved throughout the whole process, enabling the best possible outcomes.

Change Management

Change can often be difficult and met by resistance.  We help you fully understand change, what is required, help you map out the path, and support you through it, just like in a successful partnership.

Employee Engagement

The key here is to not only have your employees engaged, but for them to manage up and create innovation from within.  Employee engagement will also reduce absenteeism and staff retention.

Staff Motivation

Most people have something that drives and motivates them, and in most cases it’s not the same.  Establishing whether people are extrinsically or intrinsically motivated, and finding out why they are at work, will aid in creating a better workplace where employees look forward to showing up.

Team Leadership

Starting with leaders understanding themselves through “self-evaluation”, understanding the EQ’s SQ’s (emotional and social quotient) etc., understanding the difference between leadership and management, and how to get the best from your staff are only some of the factors we focus on.  Our program cannot be successful unless we have total support from the senior leadership team down, as well as from the front line up.  Lean culture and lean leadership are two key components in the journey of become a great leader.

Systems & Processes (Lean Six Sigma)

Lean Six Sigma is todays buzz word, but in essence all we are talking about are principles found in Lean and Six Sigma.  There are many other tools, but at the end we investigate if a process that is in place is really the best means to an end.  We may find that there are a few steps to many, which make it inefficient.  We may look at the supply chain and find areas to save time, money, reduce inventory, etc.  This will create savings due to the removal of wasteful practices.

Productivity and Efficiency Increases

Through a combination of all of the above we are able to help you target specific areas in your business that will most benefit in the short term, as well as a focus on the big picture and long term sustainability of the business. 

Environment and Sustainability

With carbon taxes, global warming, utilities and transport costs all affecting our bottom line, we can take a closer look at the triple bottom line (3BL).  People and profit will be targeted through the areas above, and planet will be included early on to ensure any change incorporates environmental responsibility and sustainability, without any major cost impacts on the business.

Our approach 

in assisting your business is based on an initial business audit, a 360 degree review, a systems and processes audit, people audit and much more.  Below are some of the key target areas and some very basic explanations on what we do.  We could discuss each and every one of these points over many pages, but we’d rather meet you and find out what most concerns you in your business.  What are you or your employees losing sleep over?  Once we fully understand where it hurts, we can target these areas, and through root cause analysis drill down into the whole value chain of your business (from suppliers to end customers), to ensure a measured approach in line with your business strategy.

Last, but not least, we have the added advantage of not only being a specialist consultancy firm, but through our RTO (Registered Training Organisation) arm, we can structure our programs to include your whole organisations training requirements.  Whether it is accredited and nationally recognised training, skills cluster training, or purely non accredited specific skills in areas like sales, procurement or finance (to name a few) to address any areas above and make you an even more successful business.  If you are in Australia, New Zealand or Great Britain that furthermore means that we can access to a number of government initiatives to support some of the programs on offer financially.

If you have read through all the above, my guess is that you have nodded at least a couple of times.  Are you ready however to drop me a line or give me a call to set up a meeting over a coffee to start the conversation on how we can add value to your business?