Posts Tagged ‘leadership’

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The business myth of time management still prevails because it is much easier to provide some “time management tips,” some surface solutions than to really address the real problem of self management.

No one can manage a constant. 

Time management is an oxymoron.

Time is a constant as there will always be 60 seconds in a minute; 60 minutes in an hour; 24 hours in the day; 7 days in the week; and 365 days in a year.

Yet workshop after workshop in order to secure the quick fix, maintain this business myth and not too mention make oodles of money, the short term thinking solution focuses on the symptom of the problem and not the problem.  For if the focus was truly on the problem of better self management, these business training, self improvement training to sales training workshops would not be able to fly in and fly out in just one day.

With my practice, I provide a diagnostic tool (performance evaluation) to determine 78 key attributes that have been sorted into specific roles or categories including time management.  There are 5 key attributes or talents within this category of time management and include:

• Attention to Detail – ability to see and to pay attention to details

• Concrete Organization – understanding the immediate, concrete needs of a situation, establish an effective plan of action

• Consistency and Reliability – being conscientious in personal and professional efforts as well as consistent and reliable in life roles

• Project Scheduling – understanding the proper allocation of resources for the purpose of getting tasks (goals) completed within a defined time frame

• Realistic Personal Goal Setting- setting goals that can be achieved using available resources and operating within a projected time frame.

Effective time management is a direct result of goal setting and achievement. For without goals, who cares if you are here or there?

Notice there is nothing about a “better time management” skill because one does not exist. Time management has and will always be a self management skill based upon specific attributes, talents or capacities.

If you want to get a handle on how to better operate within a given and constant time frame, then look to solutions that address self management or self leadership.  Invest a little more dollars and time to secure sustainable results otherwise next year at this time if not sooner, you will once again be seeking another time management solution and continuing this very expensive  business myth.

In working on several articles for a joint newsletter than I publish with Laura Novakowski, the word leadership surfaced.  As someone who started an executive consulting and small business coaching practice with a leadership focus, this word is important to me.  Now with the College Success Boot Camp being planned for 2012, leadership has once again become word number two with values being word number one.

Unfortunately, the local to regional to state to national to global stages continue to demonstrate the veil of leadership. A colleague across the pond, Andy Ferguson, refers to it as a cultural of crap.  Regardless what you call it, bad leadership is far more evident than effective leadership.

My sense is this veil of effective leadership continues because of this one word – fear.  People are fearful to point the finger at bad leadership behaviors or at bad leaders. After all, when you point the finger at someone there are three fingers pointing back at you not to mention all the political correctness about being judgmental.

Another even larger fear is the fear of losing business.  If you say something about what is, is, then you may lose business.  Of course these folks have probably known you for at least 10 years and haven’t bought from you yet. However, there is always a chance and you do not want to cut off your nose to despite your face.

Yet the veil of effective leadership must be pulled down in a respectful way. Unfortunately, challenging the many veils of effective leadership is viewed as a threat to those behind the veil or supporting the veil. In many cases there is usually more than one person behind the leadership veil. Respectful discussion or dialogue in many instances is impossible because people take such comments as personal attacks as they are part of the problem.

Life could be much simpler if we could pull the veil down much like Toto did to the curtain hiding the Wizard of Oz. All it takes is a commitment to challenging the status quo, to separating the message from the messenger, to utilizing higher order thinking and cognitive skills and to staying in alignment with positive core values as demonstrated through specific behaviors.

We as individuals are responsible for our own destiny. We can either march like lemmings following the veil of effective leadership or decide to step away from the crowd and make the common sense and courageous announcement that the young lad did in the child tale of The Emperor’s New Suit or Clothes by Hans Christian Anderson:

“But he (Emperor) has nothing on at all.”

In my weekly business column for the Post-Tribune of Northwest Indiana, I wrote about Memorial Day as a salute to leadership and provided some not so common facts. If you have a moment, please read it and share your thoughts there, back here or even on Facebook.

Today is a day to thank those leaders who have fallen in service of our country as well as those who have served and are no longer with us.

For without their service,

we would not be the greatest county

in the world.

God Bless America!

The continued abandonment by Indiana Democrat legislators provides an example of what not to do as leaders. Their initial goal was to stop a piece of anti-union legislation which was achieved. Then having success, these so called leaders decided to up the ante by adding additional demands.

Many times we see this in business within the sales process.  The potential client makes one demand and the salesperson agrees to it.  Then other demands are made.  Now the salesperson is placed in a difficult situation.  Acquiesce to the new demands in hope that is the end of them and this will secure the order or to walk away from the potential sale.  Hard choices no matter what decision is made.

What is happening within the political spectrum is reflected on a daily basis by those engaged in the sales process.  Negotiations begin because in some cases sales people fail to adhere to the 3 sales buying rules and fail to put a lid on the 5 sales objections. Additionally, there is always the ever present issue of targeting your most ideal customer profile.

However the one consistent moving target is values or what are considered to be non-negotiable positive behaviors.  When leaders (think buyers) change their game plan after indicating this is the “deal breaker,” then this speaks to the lack of positive core values.  Then what happens the other side (think sellers) begins to doubt the integrity of their potential customers.

Moving targets in sales are very difficult to hit and take far more energy and resources that many in business have. This is why it is critical to identify your potential customers especially the psychographics.  Understanding the why of the buying decision helps to determine if this potential customer is a good fit.

Yes there are a lot of lessons to be learned from today’s political spectrum.  The sad thing is bottom line that the taxpayers (customers) will end up paying a lot more for what they expect and actually receive from government.

The recent walk outs by elected officials in Wisconsin and Indiana coupled with the ongoing corruption of politicians such as the recently elected and now indicted Secretary of State for Indiana demonstrates that leadership along with ethics (positive core values) has truly gone amok.  Private industry is not exempt from this leadership gone amok as well given the ongoing news about corrupted executives.

Courtesy of Bing Images

What really annoys me is that these individuals (politicians) are modeling some of the worst leadership skills  not to mention zip ethics I have ever witnessed especially since they swore an oath to uphold their states’ constitutions.  Their behaviors are  even more contemptible than senior executives who take advantage of their positions because leaders in private industry do not swear an oath to uphold the rule of law.

We are all aware of the childhood experiences where a spoiled child took his or her toys home because no one would play his or her way.  Later in life, we experienced those adults who said one thing and then did the exact opposite.  I remember sitting in 7th grade science class with a teacher telling about the dangers of smoking and he had a pack of cigarettes in his shirt pocket. Thank heavens by that time I had already developed some high order thinking skills and realized smoking was not a behavior that I wanted to embrace.

As I have stated many times “Leadership is securing the desired results using clearly articulated positive core values.” Sure, those politicians who vacated their elected oath of office are getting their desired results, but their behaviors do not demonstrate positive core values or expected ethics.

Personally, I am 100% disgusted with the behaviors of all of these elected officials. They are modeling behaviors that are not ethically driven. These behaviors are not to be admired and truly are not in any way shape or form leadership skills.  Running away has never been viewed as a leadership skill with the exception of actual military conflicts where sometimes a retreat is necessary.

This leadership gone amok has cascaded down into the general public who are exercising their constitutional right of freedom of speech.  That right does not give them the right to deface public buildings or cause harm to others.  The recent demonstration at the State Capital building in Madison Wisconsin has left the taxpayers with a multi-million dollar tab to clean up the marble to this historic building and the general facilities. What is even more outrageous many of those who participated were not even from the state of Wisconsin.  So once again the taxpayers foot the bill when budgets are beyond tight.

When these alleged, pseudo leaders deny reality such as what is happening within the state budgets or their businesses, they are not being leaders but rather ego and power driven individuals who are more concerned about their own futures instead of those they represent be them elected officials or business executives.

The good news is there are still far more ethical leaders than non-ethical ones. Unfortunately, many of these are so busy working both IN and ON their businesses or in their elected positions , they are rarely seen or heard.  Maybe this is why I decided to devote the last business column of the month for the Post-Tribune local leaders.

As the current president has been quoted:  “Elections have consequences.” Suck it up, return to work, and if you lose, you can come back to win another day especially if your elected constituents determine they like your results better during the next election.

And please do not refer to yourself as leaders or your behaviors as modeling leadership skills because you are just spoiled little kids who are unwilling to accept the consequences of your past behaviors and more importantly you are ignoring the will of the people who elected those other representatives who are doing what they were elected to do.

Leadership, leadership sales training coaching to leadership development are words and phrases heard and spoken in all aspects of any organization. For without key people taking actions that lead to the desired results the organization falters and does not:

• Increase sales
• Lead to new innovation and growth
• Reduce costs
• Create a culture of high performance

Yet what is missing in this discussion is this basic and probably presumed characteristic – self-leadership – that being the ability to leader yourself first before you can lead anyone else. Maybe part of the reason is to focus on this sounds too much like meritocracy or  too much like American individualism.

Self leaders are those individuals who take the bull by the horn. They assume 100% responsibility and accountability for their actions and the consequences of those actions.  These individuals embrace realistic personal goal setting. Whining about this or that is not part of their behaviors or what my friend David Herdlinger calls the Weasel Words of Life.

Additionally self leaders embrace positive core values and demonstrate those ethics or what some business ethics through their daily behaviors. This individuals know what is right and wrong when it comes to interacting with others.  In times gone by, their words are their bonds such as described by Jon Huntsman in the book, Winner Never Cheat.

To develop self leadership begins within the mind or the belief system that are reflected in their attitudes. These beliefs and attitudes drive the actions (behaviors) creating the results.  By taking this process to heart, individuals can raise their own BAR (Beliefs-Actions-Results) and become self leaders.

In the business world, one hears these 3 words almost every day:

1. Compromise
2. Consensus
3. Leadership

For small business owners to crazy busy sales people to C Level executives, many are scrambling to meet end of the year and quarter sales goals along with other organizational objectives.  To achieve these results, there may be some compromise of behaviors, ethics, policies and procedures. Short cuts may be taken to make those targets.

Compromise is viewed by many as a positive behavior. However when the word is examined what does it mean? The word is actually two words:

1. com Latin for together
2. promitere Latin for promise

When one compromises, one is forsaking a promise so that he or she will come together with someone else. This coming together is a concession and may in many cases results in sacrificing the original promise (think business ethics and values).

The word consensus comes from the word consent which is also two words:

1. com Latin for with
2. sentire Latin for to feel

In modern terms, this word is used in many cases to secure agreement especially on opinions which are strongly rooted in feelings.

The reason for today’s posting is because of this quotation by Margaret Thatcher:

Consensus is the absence of leadership.

When leaders (alledged) want everyone to agree (consensus), they engage in compromising behaviors and business ethics take a fast ride down a slippery slope of no return. Making hard decisions such as not fudging sales goals‘ numbers is not easy. However, the issue is one of business ethics and individual values or morals.

Peter Drucker, the management guru, said “Leadership is all about results.” I agree with this clause “through the demonstration of positive core values.”

Great leaders truly do not compromise nor engage in consensus specific to their core values. Yet today it seems far too many in leadership positions seem to throw the baby out with the bath water just to get what they want under the disguise of compromise and consensus.  If you disagree, you only have to look at the US current political environment and these are the individuals who write the policies (laws) for business engagement.

Of course demonstrating positive core values does come with a price and usually that is a potential loss of business. A recent discussion on LinkedIn reflected the softness around business ethics and how many are not willing to come right out and say “This is wrong!”

Business networking and the process of providing referrals is another great example of compromise and consensus.  How many times do business members refer someone just to make the weekly referral numbers?  How often do they compromise their values with the hope to secure some business from another member?

As Smokey the Beat said “Only you can prevent forest fires,” only your behaviors demonstrate business ethics or lack thereof.  When compromise and consensus create less than positive ethical behaviors just to secure additional business (increase sales), then there is an absence of leadership.

In his weekly selling skills  survey, Jeff Gitomer asked this question:  Follow up is important to close the sale because? He then provided four answers.  In my haste, I misread the question and answered incorrectly. Shame on me. The right answer was it builds rapport.

Jeb Blount in his book, People Buy You, takes issue with this sales skill of rapport and suggests at its basic level rapport is “awkward, cheesy and manipluative.” I too have found this word suspect and self-serving as a sales skill.

In my sales training coaching practice, I much prefer this phrase of building authentic relationships because relationships are key in selling. This (relationships) is also one of the 78 key talents identified by Innermetrix in their Attribute Index (AI) assessment.

Since people buy from people they know and trust for the most part, then it makes sense to build authentic relationships with the right people, also known as your target market, and centers of influence. How you interact or connect with these individuals will either help you achieve your goal to increase sales or not help you.

Authenticity is the key in building a relationship.  One can have rapport with almost anyone, but what is behind the rapport? This is where the self serving may come to play and may lead to this question:

What is keeping you from being authentic?

In many cases, the first obstacle is you.  As Pogo said:  “I met the enemy and he is me!” How often do we lie to ourselves to justify our behaviors?  In many cases these justifications are manifested through our daily actions and reactions.  The reflection in the mirror is so dirty we cannot see who we truly are or the affects our behaviors have on others.  We are so focused on ourselves that we forget to think of those around us. Many of us know these types of individuals, self serving, all about me and never about you.

The book Leadership and Self Deception published by the Arbinger Institute provides great insight into how we continually deceive ourselves by being inside the box.  This ongoing deceit keeps us from being authentic.  The results are manifested by how we treat others and eventually blame others because we, heavens forbid, cannot accept the real source of the problem – Ourselves.

Hundreds of years ago, William Shakespeare penned these words “This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day.  Thou canst not be false to any man.” Shakespeare was writing about being authentic.  For if you cannot be true to yourself, how can you be true to anyone else?

In sales, leadership begins with being true to yourself, first.  In working with clients, I call this “Self-Leadership.”  For if you cannot lead you, how can you lead others?

Returning to the book Leadership and Self Deception, this is really all about self leadership and the process of individual discovery by using the concept of being in or out of the box.  To be authentic means you must examine your actions with an open lens. This lens is not covered with the filter of self-deception.

This process, to be authentic, is not easy.  However, the parable in the book provides additional insight as to how to step out of our box.  Essentially, when we are in the box (unauthentic), we view others and ourselves as objects.  As we move outside of our box, we begin to see ourselves and others as people instead of objects. Here is where the tactic of building rapport truly becomes questionable.

By being in the box, we also create negative energies that generate negative behaviors by others.  For example when someone does something right such as coming home on time, we look to connect past wrong behaviors (lateness) to current right actions. Essentially, we discount the person’s recent achievement and focus on past mistakes. The end result is two unhappy individuals.

Keeping our ego at the door by continually connecting with our core values is a great strategy to stay authentic.  Recently, I had an opportunity during a business to business networking event to speak about my company.  The first thing I did was to thank everyone at the table for their referrals and for thinking of me.  Years ago, I would not have taken this action.  Sales Training Coaching Tip:  Learning how to manage your ego and then realize you are greatest obstacle helps you to stay the course and be authentic to those around you.

In selling, the better phrase is “building authentic relationships,” because the goal is to always raise the BAR. For those salesperson who truly want to Be the Red Jacket, to stand out in the crowd, then leave building rapport for those who are like all those other sales professionals.

Graphic Courtesy of Bing Images www.asiaparttime.com

Salesperson are in many cases the first contact for their representative organizations. Between the business to business networking events, the civic organizations, the chambers and other associations, sales people are the ones meeting and greeting.

Unfortunately, so much of the sales training coaching programs fail to look at leadership skills and focus more on specific sales skills such as:

• Asking probing questions
• Overcoming objections
• Delivering  “killer” presentations
• Closing the deal (I truly dislike this phrase and prefer “earning the sale” however closing the deal is a key search word phrase.)

In the last few days, I have read several great posts about leadership. In all cases, these individuals were in sales even if they held a non-selling title.

For example Tim Berry shared his 5 crucial business lessons learned the hard way. Leo Hindrey wrote about the CEO shortsightedness. Then Kevin Eikenberry discussed leadership respective to the current oil spill.

Years ago Peter Drucker, noted management and respected guru, said “Leadership is all about results.”  In my book and numerous articles, I have enhanced his definition with this clause: “Using clearly articulated positive core values.”  This is why I believe selling is about results and ethical behaviors and why I write so much about both of these topics. Sales Training Coaching Tip:  The different between leadership and management is managers partner with others to secure the results.

When the belief is adopted that everyone is in sales from parents selling education to children to teachers selling learning objectives to students to management selling the vision, values and mission to their stakeholders, then everyone must demonstrate great leadership.  Just imagine what could happen if everyone became leaders who delivered results while modeling positive core values (behaviors).

What sales skills are necessary for sales success or if you prefer what makes a sales superstar? These two questions have been making the rounds recently between LinkedIn Discussion Groups as well as known sales blogs. Today, I received my weekly newsletter from Jeff Gitomer who discussed a survey specific to sales skills.

My sense is there a confusion between marketing, selling and soft skills within the overall sales process.  This confusion leads to different sorting of what makes a great salesperson or sales superstar. So would it not make sense to align the skills to the sales process?

If people buy from people they know and trust, then it would make sense that interpersonal, self-leadership people or soft skills would be top of the list. Even better, my sense is those who consistently demonstrate high, positive core values receive over the long haul far more earned commitments than those with less than honorable behaviors. And having a positive attitude by truly knowing and understanding yourself can only help you become better at what you do.

So my first three choices would be:

1. Self-Leadership skills also known as people, interpersonal or soft skills
2. High positive core values that have been written into a values statement
3. Positive attitude based upon knowing individual talents, decision making style and internal motivators

Then looking at the sales process, marketing is the first phase.  If your products or services are not known, your sales will reflect that knowledge. With the marketplace very crowed, creativity is no longer an option, but a necessity. Additionally with so many sales leads being left to whither on the vine, this suggests discipline is also required. Finally, being an active listener is also very important in this phase as well as the selling phase. The next 3 choices are:

1. Creativity
2. Discipline
3. Active Listening (this is a self-leadership skill)

Selling is the second phase of the sales process. Here is where these three technical skills are very much in evidence:

1. Value determination and articulation by doing the required research and then by asking questions ignored by others
2. Presentation based upon product and potential client knowledge
3. Earning the sale which may just be becoming quiet and waiting for the client to make a decision

Every salesperson brings a unique set of experiences and skills to the table.  How they integrate these skills into every interaction is what makes them different from their competitors and allows them to be the Red Jacket.  Your goal is to be authentic first, knowledgeable second and technically savvy third.  Invest the time to understand your own skill sets. By taking this action, you just may increase sales.

P.S. You may find the free sales skill assessment to the right of this column of value.