Any Suggestions on "How Not to Destroy A Team's Spirt?"

I’ve probably got a hundred of them or so, but I’ll try and narrow it down to the top 8;

1.     Demonstrate you believe in your own leadership by doing what say.  The old adage of “do what I say and not what I do” has disastrous results.

2.     Become the poster child for true communication and begin demonstrating that by learning how to listen to the entire conversation BEFORE you open your mouth to give your opinion.

3.     Ask for ideas then act on them.  Not acting on them is almost as bad as not asking for ideas or suggestions at all, thus making it all about you.

4.     Be predictable in a good way.  I just hate it when an employee tells me they know what kind of mood their boss is in by the way he enters the room and closes the door.  Ugly.

5.     Build your relationship with your employees by spending a few minutes a day learning a bit about their challenges both at home and at work.  If you are going to walk through the building with an “I’m the boss – fear me” attitude, your entire organization will suffer.

6.     Look at employees while they are talking to you.  So called leaders that are in a conversation and continually check their watch, cell phone or peruse the surrounding area with a blank stare get little to no respect.  Remember these Smart Phones are in fact Smart and your message will wait for you to finish your conversation.

7.     Another suggestion to #6 above…..Tonight when you are home watching TV and your spouse or kids speak to you, mute the TV and look and him or her so they know that their conversation is more important than the mindless shows that have little social redeeming value.  Your spouse or kids will wonder what is wrong when in fact this demonstrates everything is all right because you care.

8.     Treat people EXACTLY as you would like to be treated.  Yes that is the golden rule and I firmly believe the golden rule does not have an expiration date on it.

Regards,

George F. Mancuso, CPC

Client Growth Consultants

ClientGrowthConsultants.com

Are You A Leader?

Our organization is full of people that “think” they are leaders. 
In many cases, I suspect they have yet to wake up from their dream. 
How would you define a true leader?
(Marsha B, HR Director, Manufacturing)

A:  My immediate response was to start typing with speed for all the things a leader is not.  In my consulting practice as well as our recruiting division, we see many “leader want to-be types.”   Some are good and many not so good. So please indulge me and I’ll give you what I call a “Mancusoism” which is the way I define a leaders twelve most important qualities;

1.   

           Excellent listener

2.     Business like, yet compassionate

3.     Truly cares about the success of the people around him/her

4.     Untiring perseverance level of willingness to teach others

5.     Always gives the accolades of success to his/her team

6.     Willing to stand on point when situations don’t quite go as planned

7.     Respects the opinion of the people around him/her

8.     Encourages staff to develop ideas and plans

9.     Micro Managing is not in his/her vocabulary

10.  Knowing that the title of manager, doesn’t necessarily make you a leader

11.  Communication is an everyday practice

12.  Staff always know where they stand with him/her

There is little doubt that I will get Emails with another 12 valid points.  But when I talk about the qualities of a leader above, I truly mean that they possess most or all of what I have identified.  Most managers who THINK they are leaders but perform poorly at it, typically treat people badly and don’t communicate worth a hoot.

Regards,

George Mancuso 

Related articles

• Future Leaders Now (smartrevolution.org)

Leadership Points for You to Ponder

Here are some leadership points to ponder;
1. True leadership must be for the benefit of the followers, not the enrichment of the leaders or management!
2. Why spend all that money and time on the selection of people when the people you've got are withering away from under-use?
3. There is a time for engagement and a time for withdrawal!
4. There is a time to walk around the job!
5. There is a time to contemplate it - and a time just to laugh at it!
6. When you get right down to it, one of the most important tasks of a leader or manager is to eliminate his or her people's excuses for failure!
7. “THANKS” IS A REALLY NEGLECTED FORM OF COMPENSATION!

Regards,
George F. Mancuso, President
Client Growth Consultants

Related articles

• Is 'what is leadership' one question or two? (aboutmanagementtraining.wordpress.com)
• Where am I leading from? (everydayleader.wordpress.com)

Micro Managers Can Be The Underlying Destruction of an Organization

“Okay George I took your advice and invited my key executives and department heads to an offsite dinner meeting.  They were told to bring two sentences that described me on an unsigned piece of paper so I didn’t know who wrote what.  I assured everybody there would be no indignation or retaliation just a learning experience for me to be a better owner.  And much to my shock, I was defined as a micro-manager and narcissistic.  Once I got my composure, we talked and there is no doubt I have been a micro-manager and yes I certainly give off the appearance that it IS all about me.  So now my old friend of great wisdom, “HOW DO I FIX ME, I ask with a trembling voice?”
(Sammy M. Owner, Heavy Equipment Manufacturing, Springfield, MO)

A:  Knowing you as I do, pictured you trying to get your composure.  LOL. 

First and foremost, you must want to change for the good of YOU.  Management and ownership of any company comes with tremendous responsibilities.  You must demonstrate knowledge, judgment and technique on the business side.  And you must be filled with logic, compassion and understanding on the personal side.  But most of all you must demonstrate CONFIDENCE IN YOUR TEAM!  If there is no confidence then there is no team or worse there is no manager.

Your personal experiences may give you a false sense of security or confidence in the quest to manage your organization effectively.  Most all companies are filled with live, breathing, human beings who have brains and are willing to use them.  USE THE RESOURCES that you have within your organization because you have confidence in them.

The next concept you must grasp is a little word called, “TRUST.”  This is one of the most difficult processes to master for a micro manager.  Learn to delegate and understand that other people are in most cases, NEVER going to do it just like you.  Be willing to deal with it and become a mentor/teacher so those employees improve and continue to make your life easy.

When I interview prospective clients for the consulting side of business, it’s important that I know what I’m dealing with so I ALWAYS ask this dynamite question:  Just think of the knowledge I ascertain from the possible answers.  What would employees say about you?

“At this company which statement is more correct?”

A.     I have to earn your trust?  OR

B.     I have to earn your distrust?

Most narcissistic people I have met want all the glory.  Their writings and verbal discussions are so filled with the words, “I and ME” that it becomes nauseating.  But let somebody on the team make a mistake and it suddenly becomes all about “that” person and what is worse, the narcissistic wants everybody to know that the mistake wasn’t his/her fault.

You must learn to hold your tongue.  Get the people who attended the dinner to give you a secret signal when they hear you get on one of your “hey look at me moods.”  Think of the words you say and ask yourself, “How would I react if my boss just said that to me?”  You can teach old dog new tricks and you must start retraining yourself to give the accolades to the team and take the heat when heat comes on behalf of the team.

There is no magic, just discipline of self.  If you don’t want to improve, I can say with some certainly you will never achieve measurable improvement.  

I have a former client (business owner) that recently was involved in vehicle accident and life flight to an ICU unit at a trauma hospital.  There are no patient phones in the room, but I’d bet all the teeth in my mouth and the 38 strands of hair left on my head that he used his cell phone to contact his office multiple time a day.  I’ve thought to myself, what if he would have died in that accident?  Where would the company be at this very instant?  Would the 100 +/- employees carried on?  Have they carried on?  I’d also bet they have carried on and hopefully it will be an eye awakening event for him that it’s not all about him.

Remember that your thoughts of today are programming your tomorrow.  If you woke up this morning and said to you, “this is going to be a terrible day” it probably will be.  So why not wake up each day and tell yourself, “I’m going to be a better person today” and you will be.  Again I say to you, YOUR THOUGHTS OF TODAY ARE PROGRAMMING YOUR TOMORROW!  Use that thought process wisely and you will reap the rewards.

Regards,

George Mancuso, President

Client Growth Consultants, Inc.

Related articles

• Who's Micro Managing Who? (dearbornheights.wordpress.com)
• How to stop micro-managing your employees (holykaw.alltop.com)

P.S.  Please allow me to recommend you joining the Referral Key if you are serious about getting more business.  www.ReferalKey.com 

WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMITMENT AND URGENCY!

 WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF COMMITMENT AND URGENCY!

Whether you are in a sales scenario, dealing with a peer or subordinate, customer or vendor, you must include Commitment and Urgency in the equation.

The dictionary defines commitment as: “The state of being bound emotionally or intellectually to a course of action or to another person or persons.”

My personal definition or what I call a “Mancusoism” is:  “An agreement to do something….anything… or nothing at all.”

So many times in my consulting assignments I’ve had managers tell me that their employees aren’t performing to his/her expectations.  But when I question the process of dealing effectively with other people, most of the time the “commitment” is extensively missing from within the blueprint of a successful path of respectable achievement.

They will say:  “I’ve told them many times what I want done” or “I’ve shown them many times on how to do it” but they just don’t seem to get it.  And I ask, “….Did you confirm that they GOT IT?”  Did you verbally get them to say, “I GOT IT AND I CAN/WILL GET THIS DONE?”    I’ve advocated in many of my weekly newsletters that you must get employees to take ownership of the process, the result of their actions and their words in general.  A commitment is an agreement herein to “do it” or “get it done” or “follow up” or say, “I can’t, won’t or just don’t understand!”  You as the manager/leader need to know, feel and believe the commitment or lack thereof!

This is no different in the sales process.  You must get a commitment from the client.  The commitment might be a date certain to come back and continue or it might be a commitment to never come back again.  But there must be an agreement to do something.  And by the way, this commitment concept works both ways.  Don’t just be one who gives the orders but one who demonstrates professionalism by giving your commitment to get theirs.

Now let’s move onto value of Urgency.

Dictionary:  “The Quality or condition of being urgent, pressing importance.”

Mancusoism:  “Setting the listeners hair on fire!” 

If your team, employee or prospective clients’ “hair is on fire” and he/she should be looking for a way to eliminate the pain. If you happen to be the fire extinguisher sales person and the sales person next to you sells gasoline, which one will he/she choose?  Which one would you choose if your “hair was on fire”?  Logic, common sense and urgency demands the pain reliever and not fuel for the fire.

Ask the questions in a proper order; Ask the right questions that provide you with the details of the customers need to relieve the pain (fire); Become one with the buyer; Clarify the understanding of the pain; THEN you will be able to effectively explain the VALUE of YOUR pain reliever (fire extinguisher) and affect the outcome of the sale or project.

This works exactly the same in dealing with employees.  It amazes me how “busy” a manager can get that he/she forgets to include the employee in the process.  Once you become “one” with the employee, your manager job becomes easier.  You become the leader the employees want and look up to and respect.  Remember, just because you are a manager, does not guarantee you are a leader.  Leadership is an earned level of achievement when dealing with people at any level and that includes sales, customer service, managing a process, division or a company.   People follow leaders because they WANT to.

I always look forward to hearing from the people who receive this newsletter every week, because I too learn how to help put the fires out.  If you have any comments, questions or suggestions for upcoming newsletter, I welcome any and all. 

And finally I’d like to say thank you to all of you who have forwarded my weekly brief newsletters on to colleagues, friends and family with a suggestion they to sign up for our weekly discussions.  I continue to be available for public speaking events and growth consultant engagements for qualified companies.

Regards,

George F. Mancuso, President

Client Growth Consultants

Grinnell, Iowa

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