Direction

According to Ken Blanchard, author of the “One Minute Manager," he said all team members fit into one of four categories: directions, coaching, support and delegation.

People need direction. Young and inexperience personnel really do not know what to do with the training they receive. This responsibility should not be taken lightly. Once instructions are given, let them own it and do the job. Don’t feel like you have to micro-manage your personnel. Ken Blanchard has the mindset of coaching his staff to do something right and rewarding them with words like, “Job well done.” Warren Buffett said, “It's better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours and you'll drift in that direction.” Finding a mentor that will guide you in the right direction is a must.

Employees who can do the job on their own will become more independent, but they will need a coach for direction. When I think of great coaches, they focus on what their team does correctly and not so much on what they do wrong. Vince Lombardi said, “The price of success is hard work, dedication to the job at hand, and the determination that whether we win or lose, we have applied the best of ourselves to the task at hand.” A coach sees the big picture. He or she has usually been in the same shoes of the person they are coaching and can give direction from experience.

They need our support. Most of the time, our team members are able to work without your direction and need encouragement. They will run in a ditch or hit a guardrail of life along the way and need someone to say, "I know you can do this." Terrell Owens a former NFL player said, “A lot of emotional stress that people go through, some people figure out a way to handle it. They have a strong enough support system to keep going and keep moving forward. Some people, they feel like they don't have that outlet.” Having that support system on and off the job is very important.

Delegation is thought of as passing down authority and responsibility to others under your leadership to carry out activities. When you delegate, you are releasing your authority to others to get the job done. If there is no delegation, you can only accomplish what you can do personally. That’s okay if you don’t have anyone to under your leadership. When you delegate, provide each person with vision on the front end and accountability on the back end, and they will multiply your efforts toward success. We all need accountability. We also need to know where we stand. When we’re given authority to do a job, we can go forward with the job at hand. This unknown author said, “Even 'Super-You' needs help and support. There is no shame in asking for assistance. Push aside the pride and show respect for the talent others can bring to the table. And, remember that there is no such thing as a single-handed success: When you include and acknowledge all those in your corner, you propel yourself, your teammates and your supporters to greater heights."

Wayne Bailey is a Distributor with SendOutCards. He has recognized tremendous growth in his personal and business relationships by implementing the strategies he talks about in his articles. You can email Wayne at wayne_bailey642@hotmail.com or visit: www.sendoutcards.com/waynebailey.   

Confrontation

When was the last time you were confronted about a bad situation or you had to confront someone? The easy thing to do is avoid the confrontation, right? Wrong. Why do we want to avoid confrontation? There is a real fear that when your confront someone, you will not be liked and kicked out of the social circle. By avoiding confrontation, in most cases, it will make situation worse. If done properly, addressing the issue will help you grow as a person, and hopefully, the other person will grow, too.

When you confront someone, you should always do it with class and respect. You should never confront someone to make them look bad or make yourself look better. Below are some excerpts from the book “Developing the Leaders Around You:"

1. Confront ASAP. The old saying is, "Crow is easier to eat when it’s still warm."
2. Address the wrong action, not the person. Never ever make it personal.
3. Confront only what the person can change. They can only manage what they have control over.
4. Give the person the benefit of the doubt. If they said they messed up, believe them.
5. Be specific. This is so the act can be identified clearly.
6. Avoid sarcasm. Adding this to the mix, it becomes personal.
7. Avoid words like “always” and “never.” These words are absolute. Just think if they were coming back the other way.
8. If appropriate, tell the person how you feel about what was done wrong.
9. Give the person a game plan to fix the problem. If you’re their supervisor, this could be documented officially or non officially.
10. Affirm him or her as a person and a friend. Shake his or hand or give them a pat on the back and tell them you still appreciate them and their work.

In the end, you want to have the best interest in place for the person you’re confronting. There’s a good chance this person may grow from the conversation and learn from the experience.

Wayne Bailey is a Distributor with SendOutCards. He has recognized tremendous growth in his personal and business relationships by implementing the strategies he talks about in his articles. You can email Wayne at wayne_bailey642@hotmail.com or visit: www.sendoutcards.com/waynebailey.   

Change is Here to Stay

Change is never easy unless you’re responsive to change. Woodrow Wilson said, “If you want to make enemies, try to change something.” That’s the way some people look at change. It’s like working out. If I work out once a year, my muscles are going to really hurt the next time I try to exercise. If I work out every day, my muscles don’t hurt as much or maybe not at all.

Our brain is the same way. If we’re changing our habits from bad to good on a daily or weekly basis, then change doesn’t hurt as much. When change is coming, it would be easy to say, “We’ve always done it this way, why change?" Whenever change is happening, people usually fall into six categories according to the book, “Developing the Leader Within You” by John Maxwell.

I summarize them here:

Innovators-They are the ones who come up with new ideas, but are usually not a manager or policy maker.

Early Adopters-They are the ones who see it first as a great idea and embrace the change.

Middle Adopters-They make up most of the crowd. They respond and react to the opinion of co-workers.

Late Adopters-They are hanging on to the end and late to endorse the change. They are the ones who say under their breath, “I’ll never accept the new guy."

Laggards-Their motto is, “Change is never good.” They are the ones who would spend more time to rally the troops against the change then to accept the change.

Wayne Bailey is a Distributor with SendOutCards. He has recognized tremendous growth in his personal and business relationships by implementing the strategies he talks about in his articles. You can email Wayne at wayne_bailey642@hotmail.com or visit: www.sendoutcards.com/waynebailey.

The Importance of Promoting "Team"

Business owners looking to create a stronger, more cohesive working environment are constantly searching for ways to motivate their employees. There are a number of things you can do to promote commitment from the people who work for you, like developing a learning culture in your organization and communicating your values and goals; however, there's more.

Click HERE to read this article in its entirety and learn how you can begin to create success in the workplace.

Our Latest E-Newsletter: How to Decide Where to Network & Building a Learning Culture

Running a successful business is about "people." Building relationships and being an effective business leader means helping others see their potential, thereby enabling them to achieve their potential. This issue of our Profit-Driven Tips e-newsletter focuses on how to determine where to network as well as building a learning culture in your organization.

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