Dear Friends, You’ve got your vision for where you want to be – and how you are going to get there and by-when – written down in a plan (right???), you are doing what the plan says, and your team is 100% with you. So are you having any fun yet?
There are also many benefits from having more fun in your life. Engaging in fun activities promotes self-esteem, teamwork, physical and creative skills, friendships, and leadership skills. Health professionals tell us that having fun helps eliminate negative stress and physically active fun events can help prevent heart disease. And what about having fun while you work? As leaders, your loved ones and business teams look to YOU to set the standard! If they see you running yourself to death, not eating right, not exercising, not taking care of YOU, and not having FUN, your team is likely to take on the same “life is hard” mantra. And that my friends won’t help them, you, or your business! So, remember, there is no fun prison! Go on… smile. Have some fun!! What are you waiting for? Best Regards,
Say What You
Mean and At the other table, things weren’t going quite so smoothly. A little boy of about the same age asked his mom if he could get out of his chair and walk around. She said, “No. You have to sit down in a restaurant and be quiet.” The boy responded by whining and wiggling. His father piped in with, “Sit still or you won’t get dessert!” The whining continued and got louder. Other restaurant patrons were noticing the ruckus. Finally, the mother said, “Ok. You can take a walk, but don’t go far!” The boy was out of his seat and dashing around the restaurant in no time. Clearly, the first family had developed a communication style that worked for them; they set boundaries and stuck to them. The second family clearly had not. The first child knew that when his parents said what they said they meant it, while the second child knew his parents often didn’t really mean what they said. The resulting chaos reminded me of the importance of full and complete communication (straight talk) in our professional/business lives too. Have you ever worked with someone who says one thing one day and another the next? It can be frustrating. This isn’t to say that decisions should never be changed. New facts can surface that weren’t previously available, making it a wise thing to change a decision. The problem is when someone changes his or her mind for seemingly no reason at all. When a team member or client communicates with vague words, you can bet their actions will be uncertain and unproductive. Their vagueness allows them wiggle room—often to skirt their responsibilities. Listen for these “weasel words”—soon, later, usually, frequently—those kinds of words that are open-ended in their meaning, mean something different to everyone, and allow the speaker to “weasel out” of responsibilities. Full and complete communication will lead to business decisions and actions that can and will be accomplished. On the other hand, if you don’t communicate with specific intentions and consistency, like the parents who were not committed to the boundaries they had set in response to their child, you too, will produce either a chaotic result or no results at all in your business. Part of straight communication is being willing to be responsible for the consequences. If you tell your team that a certain consequence will result if they don’t make their goal, then you must be prepared to follow through. If not, you undermine your authority and lose their trust. Slow down and pay attention. Do you often say things “off
the cuff” when you are busy? Think about what you want
to say, and what actions you intend to cause. Don’t
pepper your speech with weasel words, and don’t accept
them from your team. Straight talk—saying what you
mean and meaning what you say—can lead straight to
success. Take stock today…How are you and your team
doing? Powerful Leadership without Making Others Wrong Being too lax inside of an accountability agreement creates the room for nothing, or at least very little, to get done; you get no Specific Measurable Results! Being overbearing, demanding, and full of “make wrongs” sends your team, those you count on to move your company forward, into overwhelm; it shuts them down and leaves no open door of possibility! So as a leader, who do you have to be in order to hold people accountable without falling to either side? You have to be an invisible leader of sorts. Listening to what isn’t being said; ie: “reading” between the lines of what is being said to you. And when a team member is off task, be the question, and steer them back on course without making them feel made wrong. It is about being powerful and effective in your job as a leader without being overbearing and intimidating. And it isn’t always easy! Most often when a commitment isn’t lived up to, it isn’t because the person responsible didn’t have good intentions. They just let their “stuff” get in the way and went about their business, intent on doing it all… eventually. So if that is the case, how do you as a leader get team members past their “stuff” and on to achieving the results they committed to, without making them wrong? You must:
Effective leaders hold their teams accountable in a powerful and productive way, and they do so by walking the fine edge between being too soft and too harsh. They walk softly and in such a way that those they contribute to may not even know the difference that has been made. Making a difference is what this is really about. As a powerful and effective leader, you’ll make a difference
in how your team performs and how they handle the circumstances
of life… you’ll help them see the importance
of being their word everywhere and the power of committing
to specific measurable results. In the end, their productivity
and effectiveness on your behalf will improve and maybe,
just maybe, you’ll make a positive difference in how
they interact with their spouse, their children, their neighbors,
or their best friends. You’ll make a difference and
although they may not understand it right away, your team
will someday thank you for the difference you made. Want to subscribe? Click here to send us your email address. We'll notify you when the newsletter is published each month! |
April 2010 In This Issue: Say What You Mean and Mean What You Say Powerful Leadership without Making Others Wrong Audio CD Sets
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Fun… do you even remember what fun is? There are lots
of different ideas about what fun is. There is: 
While having dinner in a restaurant the other evening,
my wife and I witnessed a sharp contrast in the family communication
and dynamics between the families sitting at the two tables
next to us. At one table, a boy about four years old was
eating with his parents. At one point, he asked his mom if
he could have dessert. She responded, “No, you may
not.” The child looked disappointed, but continued
eating his dinner. 
Holding
people accountable for doing what they say they are going
to do isn’t as easy as it sounds. Holding people accountable
requires you to walk a very narrow edge. On either side of
that edge is a place that is too consoling and safe (it is
too lax) and on the other side of the edge is a place that
is overbearing, demanding, and full of “make-wrongs”.
Wow… Neither one of those sides sounds like the greatest
place to go when holding people accountable!
The
Balanced Life
