Monday, February 20, 2012

A Wise Word For Leaders

I think people want to be magnificent.

It is the job of the leader to bring out that magnificence in people
and to create an environment where they feel safe and supported
and ready to do the best job possible in accomplishing key goals.

This responsibility is a sacred trust that should not be violated.

The opportunity to guide others to their fullest potential is an honor
and one that should not be taken lightly.

As leaders, we hold the lives of others in our hands.

These hands need to be gentle and caring and always available for support.

Ken Blanchard - One Minute Manager

http://www.yourenhance.com/

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Taking Care of your Most Important Relationships is Most Important

This week as I prepare for travels to South Carolina, a conference in Nashville, and a week in DC and Maine, I've been pondering this situation:

Within my network of followers and friends are maybe a dozen colleagues who can VOUCH for me. WHO are they? WHERE are they? and HOW can I take care of them? Trust is not something I can win, it's something I have to build, and it must be engendered.  I discovered five guiding principles that I'm using to care for my more important business relationships.  They will help you, too.

Know Thyself
Before you engage in any kind of relationship you must know yourself first. Start with knowing your business and industry.  Is your primary motivation to earn a living, or impact change? Are you building a profit, or equity in a company that you will sell? Have you created a job for yourself, or are you planning to achieve financial freedom? Did you invest your own money, or someone else's? Is this business going to satisfy you for the long haul, or are you going to start something new in a few years? Business networking communities offer different benefits for different kinds of businesses. Marketing is about fishing where the fish are. Networking is about finding like-minded fishermen and sharing your tools.

Be Human
Stephen MR Covey defines Sustainable Trust as [Execution X Strategy] x Trust.  Credibility and reliability comprise trust and beg the questions:  are you as good as you claim to be?; and do you do what you say you're going to do? Self-orientation is an additional variable that can impact trust. The higher the self-orientation, the less likely we are to trust someone. An example of LOW self-orientation is someone who recommends a competitor  because they believe the competitor is better. HIGH self-orientation might be a unscrupulous salesperson who's deceitful, arrogant and always looks for leads not relationships.  As your credibility and reliability increase, your self-orientation can change as well. It's important to be aware of it.
Show Up
The third principle for building and increasing trust is showing up. Woody Allen said: "90% of success is showing up." I agree.  Long before MySpace, Classmates.com and Facebook, we lived in tribes, and community was distilled into a single phrase -- I see you.  The majority of the population under-utilizes the power of social media tools for peer-to-peer networking. Networking, building relationships, and taking care of your referral partners takes time both online and off-line. Social media tools make the chore easier.

Be Helpful
Warmth judgements are derived from things like trustworthiness, friendliness, helpfulness and sociability. Competency judgements include intelligence, creativity and perceived ability.
Social perception reflects evolutionary pressures. So the root of these questions is what is the intention of the other person? Is this person friend or foe? And next, does this person possess the ability to act on those intentions. If they're a friend, can they help me? If they're a foe, do they possess the ability to hurt me?  If people are asking this, upon meeting you, how are you answering? How are you being helpful?

Feed the Machine
The fifth and last guiding principle for taking care of your most valuable peer relationships is the backbone of all friendships. When you feed the professional-peer-relationship-machine, your peers will vouch for your business, spread the word, send you new clients, and introduce you to new opportunities.
Here are 4 great ways to feed the machine:
• Make someone's client happy
This is turn could make your peer look good, and they'll happily send you more.
• Make someone's job easy
Offer to help others; don't just ask for help.
• Show acknowledgement
If someone gives you helpful information follow up and let them know how you used it.  If someone sends you a client acknowledge
• Reciprocate
When someone helps you, find a way to help them in kind.

Within your network of hundreds of followers and friends are maybe a dozen colleagues who can VOUCH for you. WHO are they? WHERE are they? and HOW can you take care of them?
http://www.yourenhance.com/

Monday, February 6, 2012

Kudos to the Doer!

"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again;

who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat."