Sunday 30 December 2012

Trust is the big key to your success in 2013. How trustworthy are you?

Below is my final sparkenation for 2012.

For your reflection all my weekly sparkenations for 2012 are here.

Politicians everywhere are demonstrating daily, sadly, that they can't be trusted.  The erosion of trust has us gridlocked everywhere.

As a business owner/leader what will you do about this? How many of your actions erode trust with your employees, your customers, all your stakeholders?  And what will you do about it?

Trust is the big key to your success in 2013. How trustworthy are you?

"Technique and technology are important, but adding trust is the issue of the decade."
Tom Peters

"The moment there is suspicion about a person's motives, everything he does becomes tainted."
Mahatma Gandhi

Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian
I work with business owners/leaders of medium sized business and leaders of divisions in multi-national companies to lift employee performance by enhancing their gifts.



Thursday 27 December 2012

The most significant business move you can make in 2013 - the shift from performance management to performance leadership

Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian
I work with business owners/leaders of medium sized business and leaders of divisions in multi-national companies to lift employee performance by enhancing their gifts.




Thursday 20 December 2012

A nobel peace prize, time magazine person of the year, what’s next?

I wrote the following blog on the 21st January 2009, the day after President Obama’s inauguration.

“From 'Yes we can' to Now We are

As a speaker I watched President Barack Obama's inauguration speech in awe and with tears in my eyes. As a fellow human being I was struck by his use of the word we. I felt in my heart that this is the beginning of a ‘now we are’ time like never before in history.

I am trusting that the 20th January 2009 is the day we will look back on as the day we really began to

make poverty history
provide clean water for every human being
stop people dying from preventable disease
make peace with one another regardless of our religious or political beliefs
collaborate to tackle climate change
build sustainable businesses
allow every human being the opportunity to have a home, earn a livelihood, receive an education and health care
free the world from violence

I am pessimistically optimistic!”

Since then we have made some progress yet I am disappointed. So I suspect are you and President Obama!

We still have a broken financial system in addition to the problems mentioned above and perhaps above all we are stuck with a broken political system.

In the prologue to my Changing What’s Normal book published in June 2011  I wrote:

“From a distance Barack Obama seems to me to be a warm, wise, and wonderful human being, and one of the most articulate people of his generation, perhaps of all time.

He was given a Nobel Peace Prize based on what he might do, rather than on what he had done, in my view.  It is a false hope unless ...

Despite his personal significance Barack Obama is primarily powerless to change what is normal in our world.  His “Yes we can” has become “No we can’t”, unless ...

In an excellent book, a New York Times No. 1 bestseller Switch - how to change things when change is hard, the authors Chip and Dan Heath propose a great three-phase process for change: direct
our rational mind, motivate our emotional side, and shape the path of change.  Their book is about behaviour change that will rarely happen unless ...

Most training or change programs undertaken by millions of people every day fail to lead to behaviour change unless ...

The unless I refer to is: unless intention changes.

The Republican politicians in the United States of America’s parliament have an intention, it seems to me, to replace Barack Obama, a Democrat, with one of their own.  This intention drives everything they do.

The members of the Liberal/Nationals coalition party in my home country, Australia, have the same intent. They want one of their own as our Prime Minister, and it drives everything they do.

This kind of intention has political parties, not in government, all over the world by the throat, and we are all choking as a result.

This kind of intention means good, sound ideas, put forward by politicians in power, rarely see the light of day and compromise and inaction is the result.

Success depends on where intention is.  Right now the political intentions of most are in the wrong place and, therefore, we are heading as a human race to the wrong place.

Consider just two facts, undisputed by any thinking person:
1. How most of us live in the world is unsustainable.
2. More than 6 million children under the age of five die every year, that’s 16,000 per day, simply because they do not have the right nutrition.

We have the solutions to both these problems and many others we are failing to solve.  Why have we failed?  We have failed because the intention of most is about I rather than we, which means winners and losers.

Changing what’s normal is about changing our intention to one where everyone can win.”

Mr. Obama’s recent award by Time Magazine is also I feel one of hope.

I am optimistic that Mr. Obama will take significant actions in his last four years in office that will make the world a better place however no matter what he does, no matter how inspirational and influential he is, each one of us must bring our best to the table.

The world is not going to end tomorrow. The Mayans never said it would!  Their insights are not about the end rather a new beginning.

Bring your best to 2013 and may we together end the world as we know it and usher in a new world where 'Yes we can' has become Now We Are.


Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian
I work with business owners/leaders of medium sized business and leaders of divisions in multi-national companies to lift employee performance by enhancing their gifts.





Monday 17 December 2012

We get what we gift

Regardless of your beliefs about Christmas I think it is a great time of the year to think about two key aspects of performance leadership, namely celebration and charisma, and then take action.

In my Enhancing Their Gifts System celebrating is a key component.  People using the system celebrate every time they achieve a milestone or goal in their performance possibility plan and continually have appreciation conversations with their colleagues when they achieve and accountability conversations when they don’t.  Every 90 days system users and their performance partners formally ask what’s worth celebrating and what could be better and then upgrade their plans for the next 90 days.  These are wonderfully positive and productive conversations because many informal exchanges have taken place in the 89 days preceding.

What’s worth celebrating in your life and work?

What’s worth celebrating about the life and work of your colleagues?

Share your answers with people you work with.
  Doing so, providing you then take action, will improve your relationships.

What could be better in your life and work?

What could be better in your business relationships with others?

Share your answers with people you work with.
  Doing so, providing you then take action, will improve your relationships.

Create a plan that begins January the 1st 2013 and write down how you will keep doing what’s worth celebrating and what you will do to change what could be better.  You just might be staggered at the profound results of taking this simple action providing you do what you write down of course!

The ancient Greek word charisma means gift or talent.  There is nothing flashy about real charisma.

What are your gifts/talents?

Are you bringing these special gifts/talent to your work on a consistent basis?

We get what we gift.


There is no greater present that you can give to your world than that of your best self.  That unique, special, one-of-a-kind that you are.

Take time out in the next 10 days to really focus on what your gifts/talents are.  Ask those closest to you to tell you what’s special about you. Then bring that person to everything you do in 2013.

In the past 18 months I have lost my best friend, my dear Mother, another woman who was like a second mother to me, and our beloved dog who was with us from 8 weeks of age till his passing at 14. I am grateful for the massive difference these beings made in my life just by being who they were. Life is too short to waste a second.

Celebrate your life and the special gift/talents you were born with or have learned or nurtured and grown or maybe even are yet to unleash, and bring all of them to everything you do in 2013. Celebrate with others their specialness, their true charisma.  Help people to enhance their gifts.

Make 2013 your best year yet.
Ian

PS The power if giving lies in the non attachment to getting back.  Give to others freely with no expectations of getting back and paradoxically you will receive in kind a 100 fold.

PSS My friend and one of the accredited mentors of my Enhancing Their Gifts System Gary Ryan is giving away a great online course for young professionals!
It’s only available until Midnight Friday 21st December 2012 (Australian Daylight Saving Time)

I highly recommend Gary’s gift.  Details here.  
Gary is aiming to give away his course to 10000 people.  Please pass on this post to any young professionals you believe would benefit.


Tuesday 11 December 2012

The one action you can take in your business in 2013 that will make all the difference

Google talent management models and you will discover a plethora.

Google talent leadership models and you will find a lot of the same models.

This research suggests we are still searching for what 21st century leadership and management actually is.

Is success in the future about leadership or management? is a question I am often asked.  My answer is that success is always about both leadership and management, never one or the other.  Therefore it is essential to understand,  appreciate and value the difference between them. 

This is where there is often trouble.  For many management is still seen as controlling people and dictating what they feel, think and do and don’t feel, think and do.  This is a nasty hangover from the industrial revolution where it was assumed we could treat people like machines.  The headache this hangover has been allowed to cause is a massive barrier to progress in the 21st century in almost every aspect of our lives.  It is a fundamental reason for non-achievement of what is possible in business, politics, education, family, religion, you name it.

Further we have got carried away with leadership often seeing it as a cure all.  We are drawn to individuals who offer us hope and fail to remember than unless we take action ourselves hope is nothing more than a wish.

I define leadership as the art of inspiring people to bring everything remarkable that they are (that unique and special person that each of us is) to everything they do.

I stress to anyone who will listen that leadership is usually a massive failure without management.  I define management as the practice of making it simple for people to bring everything remarkable that they are to everything we do.


Leadership is primarily about inspiring and influencing people.  Management is primarily about systems and processes that help people to bring their best to their work.  We need both leadership and management working in harmony with one another and at the same time.

Most talent management or talent leadership models address many components such as recruitment, induction or onboarding, engagement, learning, performance, remuneration, succession etc., etc,. etc.

The better models also address how leading and managing talent fits with business goals and how deploying talent in special ways means achievement of these goals and beyond.

The problem with most models and frameworks and approaches is that they are beyond the desire and sometimes the capacity of micro, small and medium sized business owners and leaders because they are too costly, too time consuming and too complicated to implement. My Enhancing Their Gifts System is different of course and was specifically designed to address these challenges and more.

I have never met a micro, small or medium sized business owner/leader who isn’t time poor.  I have rarely met one of these people who easily invests money in people either. And certainly I have never met anyone who wants anything to do with people to be complicated!

Uppermost in my mind in my work always is helping my clients to invest wisely in time, giving you very high value for money service, and making leading people for you as uncomplicated as possible.  And I add a fourth challenge for my clients and one for me.  Most business owners/leaders don’t yet know how to lead people or how to design systems and processes that are good for people in uncomplicated ways.  My challenge is that more often than not you don’t want to admit that you don’t know how and your silence is often deafening!

We humans are complicated.  Inspiring us isn’t complicated and nor is co-creating appropriate management systems and processes when you know how.

The one action you can take in your business in 2013 that will make all the difference is to admit that you don’t have all the answers, particularly when it comes to dealing with people, and to seek help in the areas where you don’t yet have the skill required.

Admitting our shortcomings is simple to do.  Simple is rarely easy!

Some things to consider.

Would you leave important financial matters in your business to people who don’t have the expertise?

Would you leave important legal issues in your business to non-lawyers?

Would you trust the supply of essential items for your business to people who can’t deliver?

I am sure your answer to all three questions is no.  Why are you battling on and struggling with getting the best out of your employees?

The most important words I have said to the many mentors I have engaged for my personal development and the development of my businesses is “I don’t know.”

Being prepared to say “I don’t know” is a tremendously freeing up statement.  And it opens the door for the most valuable learning of our lives.

You don’t have the time, energy, or the money to any longer put your challenges with your employees on the backburner.  Learn how to truly lead people and co-create with them systems and processes that make things simple for them to bring their best to their work consistently and you will change your business and your life forever.

Please, uncomplicate your life and take the one action you can take in your business in 2013 that will make all the difference, admit that you don’t have all the answers and seek help in the areas where you don’t. Free yourself from worry and guilt which Wayne Dyer once described as life’s two most useless emotions.

My clients tell me that I see what most people don’t and say what most people won’t.  I am candid and contrarian.  I have also learned to be caring and compassionate.  I am not for everyone though. 

Three possible choices for you.

1) Give me a try by taking up a complimentary Monday morning mentoring session.  Details here.

2) Contact one of my accredited mentors.

3) Contact someone you already know who has expertise in leading and managing for people and engage them to help you ensure that 2013 is off to the flyer that you deserve.

Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”
John Watson

PS
I was delighted to contribute to an ebook produced by my friend and colleague Gihan Perera for the seventh year in a row. 

Please download Expect More From 2013 with our compliments here.

Wednesday 5 December 2012

Expect More From 2013 - complimentary ebook

For the seventh year in a row I am pleased to have contributed to an ebook produced by Gihan Perera on strategies for success.

The ebook contains 39 insights from leading experts in Personal and Professional Development.


Please download the ebook here with my compliments and please forward the link to your friends, family and colleagues.

Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian
I work with business owners/leaders of medium sized business and leaders of divisions in multi-national companies to lift employee performance by enhancing their gifts.




Monday 3 December 2012

Sustainability can be really simple

My mother-in-laws brother is in his late seventies.  He and is wife travel a lot in a modified utility that is their home away from home. The caravan part of the ute is made mostly of recycled stuff.  The vehicle runs on oil from fish and chips shops!  My “uncle” buys the oil from your average fish and chip shop owner whenever he needs to.  Mostly he gets it for free. He then cleans the oil and puts it in the ute.  These entrepreneurs made a trip recently of several thousand miles for a cost of $25!

Sustainability can be really simple.  It just requires your entrepreneurship, some ingenuity and particularly not listening to the naysayers.  My “uncle” had plenty of people telling him he couldn’t do what he has done.

The great author science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke had some great insights into what can happen with ideas.  My paraphrase as follows:

people tell you that it is a crazy idea, and it will never work.
Next people say your idea might work, but it’s not worth doing.
Finally people say I told you that it was a great idea.

“Information is not knowledge, knowledge is not wisdom, and wisdom is not foresight. Each grows out of the other, and we need them all.”
Arthur C. Clarke

What information do you have that you could turn into insight, then an idea and then get inspired enough to turn the idea into innovation?

Get going now.  Don’t wait for anyone.  Most likely you will find sustainability in your life and work very simple too.

Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian
I work with business owners/leaders of medium sized business and leaders of divisions in multi-national companies to lift employee performance by enhancing their gifts.


Thursday 29 November 2012

Three ways to close your talent gaps

I digested with great interest the 15th global PWC CEO survey.  You can download it here.

The headline on page 8 says “Talent shortages biting.”  The opening line on this page is “Talent gaps and mismatches not just an issue for the future, they are hurting businesses now.” Yep!

The final paragraph on page 8 says
“The real question is why talent gaps remain such a challenge, despite being an evident strategic priority.  This is not a new issue. Our CEO surveys throughout the past decade have consistently highlighted the availability of skill as a significant strategic threat across all sectors.”

Why do talent gaps remain a challenge indeed?

I have 3 primary answers.


My first two answers invoke the wisdom of Albert Einstein.
1) "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."

Leader after leader that I meet are thinking how business was in the 20th century and in some cases the 19th and even the 18th century! How it was is no longer.

Many leaders I meet think social media will go away. It won’t.
And crucially despite overwhelming evidence of what works and what doesn’t, a lot of people I meet still don’t get that if you put people first you do better in your business.

There is a lot of stupidity and idiocy across the board in the world today.

I love the following definitions.

Someone said that the definition of stupidity is
“Expecting a different result by continuing to do the same old thing”

Someone said that the definition of idiocy is
“Doing something different and still getting the same result”

What changes could you make today to be less stupid and less idiotic particularly when it comes to how you see people, help them identify their talents/gifts and how well you are helping people to enhance their gifts in their best interests, yours, and that of all your stakeholders?

The internet has changed business forever.  What changes could you make today to be less stupid and less idiotic in how you and your people use the internet and the tool that is social media?

What must you begin doing today that means thinking differently than in the past?

2) "Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts." (Sign hanging in Einstein's office at Princeton)

The headline on Page 12 of the PWC survey says “Operating in the dark?” and then says “So how can companies become more strategic about talent? One place to start is by getting better data.

CEOs consistently say they don’t have enough information to improve
decision making in areas such as cost of employee turnover, staff productivity, or employees views and needs.”

Only 16% of CEOs according to the PWC survey believe that the data they get is sufficiently comprehensive.

What data do you have?  What data do you need to get?

More importantly what insights do you need to act on to stop the bleeding of money and other resources when it comes to leading people?

What do you measure?

And is your focus on lead measure
s not lag measures as outlined in my blog here?

3) Lack of role clarity

There is a lack of role clarity everywhere in business at two levels, employees and leaders.

I meet employees all day every day who don’t really know where they fit.  They are not clear on their personal piece of your organisation’s strategy execution plan.

Most strategies fail to get executed because employees, the chief executors of strategy, havenʼt yet bought into the strategy or as is more often the case, they donʼt yet understand or own their unique piece of the execution map.

My Enhancing Their Gifts System™ changes this big time.  If you don’t yet know about the system please see overview and links at the end of this post.

I liken strategy to a compass and execution to a map. Ensuring employees co-create with you and own their unique piece of your execution map is a key part of your role as a leader. Imagine a giant quilt woven together, each piece different, yet integral to the whole. All of your employees need their piece. 

Integral to each employee’s piece is how much they’re bringing their unique gifts to their work on a consistent basis. 

Your primary role as a leader therefore is talent maximisation.  There are thirteen key aspects.  Take your pulse here and see how well you are.

Improve your talent maximisation, think 21st century solutions to your challenges, and measure what really matters and there will no longer be a talent gaps at your place.  The results will astound you.

Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian

Enhancing Their Gifts System Overview

The Enhancing Their Gifts System is a proven methodology for obtaining full engagement by employees that enhances people performance and workplace satisfaction.  It is about people, performance, results.  In that order.

Please view the FAQs here.

From October 1st 2012 it became possible to not just implement the system with my help in person it can now be implemented through a do it yourself program with support from an accredited mentor online and/or in person.

The best way to see if the Enhancing Their Gifts System is for you is to register for a complimentary demonstration clinic here or get in touch with an accredited mentor or myself and arrange a private clinic.

Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian




Tuesday 27 November 2012

The power of peer groups

Do you have a 100 year plan for your business? My friend Bob Bradley has one "It is the norm not the exception for a business leader to be in a leadership development peer group." You can read all about Bob's plan here.

I have had the honour of speaking to Bob's groups twice and many other CEO/MD peer groups. It is very clear to me that the people who invest in these kind of groups are better performers than those who don't.

Are you a member of such a group?

If your answer is no you are doing yourself, your people and your business a great disservice.

The other thing I like about Bob's 100 year plan is that it is about legacy.
What kind of legacy will you leave?

And what kind of legacy are you leaving right know?


Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian
I work with business owners/leaders of medium sized business and leaders of divisions in multi-national companies to lift employee performance by enhancing their gifts.




Wednesday 21 November 2012

How great is your influence as a leader?

This excellent article The Shift From Chief Executive To Chief Influencer By Julie Moreland provides great insights into real leadership.

How great an influencer are you?

I define leadership as the art of inspiring people to bring everything remarkable that they are to everything they do.

I also stress to anyone who will listen that leadership falters and usually badly without management.  I define management as the practice of making it simple for people to bring everything remarkable that they are to everything they do.

How great an inspirer are you?
and how simple are you making it for your people to bring everything remarkable that they are to everything they do?


Long gone are the days of command and control. 

Today your key role as a leader is to identify, enhance and deploy the unique talents/gifts of your employees in their best interests, the interests of all your stakeholders including the planet, and your business.  To fulfill this key role you must be inspiring, a prerequiste to positive and productive influence.

How inspiring are you?

The more inspiring you are the more you can step away from old style ineffective leadership and make the move from performance management to talent leadership and the profound difference such a move makes to your people and your business results.

The talent maximisation pulse check here is one way for you see how inspiring and influential you really are.  Take the pulse check.  You just might be staggered by what it reveals to you.

Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian
I work with business owners/leaders of medium sized business and leaders of divisions in multi-national companies to lift employee performance by enhancing their gifts.



Monday 19 November 2012

"Action, Brevity and Conviction" keys to all forms of communication

In his Change This manifesto Matt Eventoff states what leaders can learn from masterful orators of the past - "Action, Brevity and Conviction."

Read Matt’s manifesto here and take it to your heart and then change what’s normal about all your communication. You will become a greater leader. And you will inspire the people you work with to become greater leaders too.

Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian
I work with business owners/leaders of medium sized business and leaders of divisions in multi-national companies to lift employee performance by enhancing their gifts.






Friday 16 November 2012

Overcoming our biases is often a key to our differencemaking leadership

This 2 minutes and 26 seconds video by Ian Moore from United Kingdom looks at (in a hopefully entertaining way) one of the biases we have in our thinking - and how we can do something to overcome this bias.




The The Spirit of Community is a fascinating website and their publication “Spirit Of The Times” is a good read.  In issue 8, 2012 there is a great article by Richard Sanders “The flawed paradigms of economics and sustainable development.” Richard makes two observations worthy of some deep thinking about for differencemaking leadership as follows:

“Our planet’s scarce resources are massively over-allocated to the global growth economy resulting in ecological overshoot” and

“Planetary resources are massively under-allocated to the vast majority of humanity who live in poverty, yet massively over-allocated to the wealthy minority of humanity.”

The above quotes may test your biases.  Put them to one side (even if temporarily!) and answer the following question:

What is your leadership doing about the world’s great challenges?

One of my clients sent a link to another article that may test your biases.  It’s from Laissez Faire Today called “How to be free when you’re not.” You can read it here.

Seth Godin’s latest publication “Graceful” is worth far more than the $2.99 I paid Amazon for the Kindle version.  I think it is a key read for differencemaking leadership.

And speaking of Kindle if you want to understand how to make an impact in the digital world read Chris Brogan and Julien Smith’s “The Impact Equation - Are You Making Things Happen or Just Making Noise?”.  Invest just $9.99 for this on Kindle.  I first heard about the book via a blog from Chris titled “Social Media isn't dead, just boring” I am glad I invested the $9.99 in the book and highly recommend it to you.

Two further books I highly recommend that may challenge your biases, yet inspire you to be the differencemaking leader you want to be.

“Thinking, Fast and Slow” by Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman, and
“Wilful Blindess - Why we ignore the obvious at our peril” by Margaret Heffernan.

Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian
I work with business owners/leaders of medium sized business and leaders of divisions in multi-national companies to lift employee performance by enhancing their gifts.



Wednesday 14 November 2012

25 ways to move from performance management to performance leadership

25 ways to move from performance management to performance leadership and inspire premier employee performance (order not relevant)

1. Stop seeing people as they are.  See people as the can be.

2. Find out what’s really important to your people and help them achieve it.

3. Assess performance not people.

4. Stop trying to manage people.  Instead lead people.

5. Help each employee to create their own personal piece of your strategy execution map.

6. When you assess performance support assessment with data.

7. Provide "feedforward" before feedback.

8. Focus on standards instead of goals.

9. Discover a shared-view with your employees about where you’re going, why you’re going there, how you will get there, who will do what and when, how you will live your values.

10. Teach people to be accountable and let them be.

11. Appreciate people when they do well.

12. Never confuse a person with their performance.

13. Name the elephants in your rooms.

14. Role model candid and authentic conversations.

15. Never review performance and salary at the same time.

16. See problems as opportunities to innovate i.e. change what’s normal rather than solve the problem and reinstate the status quo (normal).

17. Keep your promises.

18. Praise in public and in private.

19. Share success stories other people can see and feel themselves in.

20. Be a disruptive influence for good.

21. Be fully present in the now.

22. Only have performance conversations about previously agreed actions. Only change actions with agreement.

23. Focus on processes not outcomes.

24. Do your life’s work and inspire your employees to do theirs.  Taking the pulse check here may help you and your people.  As soon as you complete the pulse check and press send you will be able to download the PDF version of my Changing What's Normal book. Sparkenation 6 in my book 'Discovering Your Life's Work' will help you a great deal because it contains lots for you to think about concerning the 16 statements of the pulse check.

25. Be remarkable at identifying and deploying the gifts/talents of your people. Take the Talent Maximisation Pulse Check here.  You just might be staggered by what completing this pulse check will reveal to you.  As a thank you for completing the pulse check, as soon as you press send you will be able to download my appendix ebook to the leaders guide in my Enhancing Their Gifts System™ - 45 really useful tools, tips and techniques for recruiting, engaging and retaining great people, a resource people worldwide have used to help them maximise the gifts/talents of their people.

Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian

I work with business owners/leaders of medium sized business and leaders of divisions in multi-national companies to lift employee performance by enhancing their gifts.




Monday 12 November 2012

Rather than trying to manage your poor performers out, how about leading them in?

I have had many people contact me following my recent article Performance management is an oxymoron too!  There have also been several discussions in LinkedIn groups about the article.  I have felt despair at times because when a lot of people talk about performance management what they often mean is managing someone out of their workplace because of poor performance and so performance management’s bad name is heightened.

Rather than trying to manage your poor performers out, how about leading them in?

There are many tell tale signs of under performing workplaces.  Here are my top 10:

#1. Leaders avoiding and/or putting off difficult conversations about performance.
#2. Leaders confusing problems with people.
#3. Leaders confusing problems with personalities.
#4. Leaders have poor communication and presentation skills.
#5. Lack of a shared view between leaders and employees about where the organisation is going, why it’s going there, how it will get there, who will do what and when, and how we will behave regardless of the situation.
#6. Employees don’t know the organisations strategy for moving forward and particularly they don’t know and own their piece of the execution map.
#7. Leaders failing to truly appreciate people when they do well and employees failing to appreciate other employees when they do well.
#8. Poor accountability.
#9. Blaming and shaming rather than being accountable.
#10. A focus on business goals and how they will be achieved rather than a focus that maintains harmony between personal and business goals.

Seth Godin offers some great insights into overcoming these short comings in a recent blog Bad performance, good performance and the other two kinds
Seth talks about personal performance.

All change is personal first. Relationship change is second.  Organisational change is a distant third.

Start with the personal.  Humanize your relationships with your employees.  They are people first, employees second.  Get to know your people, their hopes and dreams, their fears and failings.  See your people as they can be, not as they are. 

Have conversations with your people about how they can turn their personal hopes and dreams into reality.  Document with them how they will do this.  Keep this to a page and just focus on the next 90 days yet with the long term firmly in mind.  On the other side of the page help your people to outline how they will bring their unique talents to their work on a consistent basis.  Use this document as the basis for daily appreciation and accountability conversations.

The writer Leon Gettler, who for me makes the Management Today magazine in Australia, said in a recent article “The toughest job for managers is having difficult conversations.”  If you don’t know how to have such conversations get to learning how and fast.

My promise to you is that the more you treat people as the one-of-a-kind human being that each of us is, the tough conversations get simpler and paradoxically there is less of a need for them because people become accountable for their own intentions, feelings, thoughts and actions.

Documenting performance possibility and having daily appreciation and accountability conversations (the tough ones) are key components of a performance leadership system.  Operative word leadership.  System is the management bit.  Rule of thumb leadership is about people, management is about systems.

I actually prefer the word talent to the word performance in this context.  Talent or the lack of using our talent/s well is what leads to performance, good and bad.

A powerful talent leadership and management system means we

*recruit people aligned with our values
*identify and cultivate people's gifts/talents
*induct and engage people to bring their best to their work consistently

Such a system also means:
*leaders are having informal and formal and candid conversations daily about performance that inspires and leads to personal accountability
*employees are having the same kind of conversations with each other and other stakeholders
*wisdom is retained when people move on
*how achievements are celebrated is known, agreed, and lived
*succession planning works in practice
*overall the special gifts/talents of individuals are being enhanced

How does your system stack up?

Having such a system is integral to leading people in and soon means a far less need to manage people out.

Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian

PS My Enhancing Their Gifts System™can help you move quickly from performance management to talent leadership and management.

In just 30 days time the very special offer for implementing and embedding the system via a web based learning program and with the help of an accredited mentor expires.  It is an offer I will never be making again.

I will hold the offer for anyone who participates in a demonstration clinic.  The next clinics are on this Thursday the 15th.  Details here. There will be more clinics before the December 12th offer cut off day.  You can also make arrangements for a private clinic simply by contacting an accredited mentor or myself.


Wednesday 7 November 2012

When problems are bigger than the people trying to solve them

I watched a show on ABC television last night about American politics.  I am sorry I didn't catch the name of one of the people interviewed.  A non politician, this person said something like
"it was easier for Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, they were men bigger than the problems.  Today the problems are bigger than the men."

I find this very insightful. American politics like many other nations is virtually gridlocked and therefore little of great value gets done.  If this continues it won't matter of course who is the new President when you read this because nothing of value will get done and America will slip further. 

The world in many ways is gridlocked and we need inclusive leaders willing and able to collaborate in order to solve the big problems affecting us all.

How about your business?  Are you trying to solve big problems and not being inclusive and collaborative?

I witness a lot of go it alone leaders.  These folk try to do it their way and ignore people who would do things differently.  True leadership is about finding a way forward together.

Think about all the problems you face in your business.  See them as opportunities for innovation.  If you solve the problems will this mean a return to normal, a reinstating of the status quo and therefore mean you are just back to where you were?  Or will you solve your problems in such ways that will take your business to performance levels never achieved before?  To do this, to truly innovate, you need to be inclusive, collaborative and inspiring so that everyone puts their shoulders to all the wheels.   

True leaders inspire people to bring everything remarkable that they are to everything they do and then they get out of the way.

Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian

I work with business owners/leaders of medium sized business and leaders of divisions in multi-national companies to lift employee performance by enhancing their gifts.




Monday 5 November 2012

Chicken Soup Not For The Soul - Guest post by Steve Harris

This is a guest post by Steve Harris one of the accredited mentors of my Enhancing Their Gifts System™



Many years ago I worked in an organisation that had a very advanced, very modern online performance appraisal system. This system was well structured for such a device, Senior Management and HR had bought into the concept of taking their old paper based system online.

Participation was mandatory and all sorts of strange penalties awaited tardy employees if they did not put in the required data.

In an MBA textbook fashion, the goals were set annually, in concrete, and reviewed quarterly by both parties to trace performance. A series of subjective behaviours was also included to help “develop our human capital”, like they were something you bought from a supplier and needed to be kept well serviced and shiny.

It also included a section on personal and professional development, where the good employee wrote down their career and developmental aspirations, in the fond expectation that those in the rarefied air of senior management would look out from their lofty perch and reach down to help this aspirational employee up into the realms of management possibility.

Indeed, this no doubt happened, and may well have helped me along.

But I also knew a very intelligent fellow who, faced with this intellectual challenge of determining where he should aspire to be inside this shining example of corporate life, wondered if anyone really read this stuff.

His recipe for chicken soup, pasted into the personal development section regularly, appeared to go unnoticed for many years, proving to him a pet theory and providing me with a story I have told over and over again.

Why? Because put simply, if you want to demotivate or demoralise the very people that your business success depends upon, then create a system that everyone has to slavishly follow, but no one pays any attention to.

Better to engage directly and openly with your employees and treat them as the unique, talented individuals they are, than process them like a bunch of chickens destined for the soup.

Steve Harris can be contacted on +61 438703570.


Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian
I work with business owners/leaders of medium sized business and leaders of divisions in multi-national companies to lift employee performance by enhancing their gifts.


Wednesday 31 October 2012

You’re Special

Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian

I work with business owners/leaders of medium sized business and leaders of divisions in multi-national companies to lift employee performance by enhancing their gifts.


Monday 29 October 2012

The simple path to performance improvement is normally, sadly, a road seldom taken

Jane and John Doe are your typical employee.

 I began meeting John and Jane nearly 40 years ago when I first began my working life. In fact back then I was John Doe.

Since 1991 when I left the corporate world and began working with business owners/leaders of medium sized businesses and leaders in multinational organisations to help them improve performance, I have met 1000’s of Jane’s and John’s. Regardless of industry, country, product or service Jane and John Doe are everywhere. They are the majority of your employees.  And they are stopping (albeit unwillingly) your business from being the standout it could be.

Jane and John Doe are your average employee. They are neither actively engaged or disengaged.

When I first began researching employee engagement 12 years ago the first survey I looked at was one by the Corporate Leadership Council. It involved more than 50,000 employees from several countries and industries. The findings were “13% of employees fully engaged in their work, 11% actively disengaged and 76% open to persuasion.”

Each of these percentages staggered me. And guess what? Despite billions of dollars spent, and countless hours and tons of energy, nothing has really changed.

Engagement surveys across the world still reveal the same kind of dismal results.

The 2007-2008 global workforce study by Towers Perrin (now Towers Watson) involved more than 90,000 employees from 18 countries. The results: “Only 20 percent of them felt fully engaged ... 40% were ‘enrolled,’ meaning capable but not fully committed, and 38% were disenchanted or disengaged.”

In Blessing White’s Employee Engagement Report 2011 which reflected interviews with 11,000 individuals I noted the following: “Fewer than 1 in 3 employees are Engaged.” And “The Engaged stay for what they give; the Disengaged stay for what they can get.”

What is going on? 
What is going on is that in most organisation's Jane and John Doe are being overlooked.

Jane and John Doe are salt of the earth people. They come to work every day with good intentions, do what they believe is their best, and go home. Very few leaders pay Jane and John much attention because they’re busy pampering those they feel are the so called “engaged” and trying the “fix” the “disengaged.”  

The future success of your business lies with how you see, treat and take care of Jane and John Doe. Jane and John, like every human being, have aspirations. In my experience the trouble is you don’t know what Jane and John’s aspirations are because most of the conversations you have with them, if you have conversations at all, are about your business and not about them as people. You need to have conversations about the personal and your business.  

The magic is in the middle

Most organisations look like this with most employees in the middle.

Political elections are won and lost in the middle.  Just ask Obama and Romney!

You can win more in your business by moving the middle to the left and the right to the left or out the door.

What’s next?

5 actions you can take.

1. Truly get to know your employees who are neither engaged or disengaged.  Find out what really matters to them and what they are passionate about.

2. Help your neither engaged or disengaged employees to identify their unique talents or gifts and work with them to create a one page 90 day action plan to better ultilise their talents or gifts to achieve what really matters to them.

3. At the same time help people to add to their one page 90 day action plan how they can better bring their unique talents or gifts to their work.

4. Teach people to have regular conversations with their team mates about their one page 90 day action plan and how to show appreciation to another when their plan is working and how to be more accountable when, for whatever reason, their plan isn’t followed.

5. Ensure that every 90 days people have a what’s worth celebrating and what could be better conversation with themselves and their team mates and then upgrade their one page personal and business action plan for the next 90 days and continue appreciation and accountability conversations.

I realise the actions above may seem counter intuitive or even silly.

My Enhancing Their Gifts System makes it simple for you to take the above 5 actions.  If there is not significant performance improvement within 90 days of implementing the system I will give you your investment back no questions asked.

What the system does like nothing else available on the planet is engage people in their hearts and minds for the right reasons, unlike most performance management systems that try to engage people in their minds for all the wrong reasons.

See the key differences between the Enhancing Their Gifts System and the rest here and register for the next demonstration clinic or contact me to arrange a private clinic.

“The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost (published in 1916.)

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”

I have been a pioneer in the development and effective use of one page personal and business action plans.  What is truly unique about the Enhancing Their Gifts System is not the one page however.  What is special is the journey before the one page is created and the powerful conversations that follow.  It is a road less traveled.  I promise you that taking it will make all the difference.

Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian

I work with business owners/leaders of medium sized business and leaders of divisions in multi-national companies to lift employee performance by enhancing their gifts.




Friday 26 October 2012

WYSIATI and WYSINATI

Long plane rides and train journeys this week has meant lots of reading time for me. I have been digging deep into a great book by Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman called Thinking, Fast and Slow which is about the reliability and unreliability of the intuitive and conscious minds and human rationality, irrationality and other thought provoking concepts.

Daniel’s WYSIATI struck me. What You See Is All There Is. It struck me equally that WYSINATI is also a key part of our lives. What You See Is Not All There Is!

For me WYSINATI is a key to successfully working together.

The songwriter Scott Wesley Brown wrote “No one of us has got it all together, but all of us together got it all.”

Next week be aware of how bias effects your decision making and make a concentrated effort to find out how other people see situations. Then work together to find a shared view of the way forward and go for it.

I am willing to bet that doing the above will mean you will have a happier and more productive week!

Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian

I work with business owners/leaders of medium sized business and leaders of divisions in multi-national companies to lift employee performance by enhancing their gifts.



Monday 22 October 2012

Instead of your call is important to us ... how about ...?

Over the last few weeks I have had to deal with the fall out from actions I thought would be simple, putting in a new phone line in my office, getting some frequent flyer points that went to the wrong account in the right account, and changing some facets of how my websites work.

In dealing with each of these I spent an incredible amount of time waiting on phone queues where over and over I encountered:

Your call is important to us ...
We are sorry for your inconvenience ...

In each case I was made to feel that problems not caused in any way by me were actually my fault!

While I did make productive use of my waiting time I also amused myself by writing down the following lines people in call centres could give.

Your call is important to us however because we aren’t a profitable business we can’t employ enough people to answer customer calls so you will just have to wait and listen to some very ordinary music.

Your call is important to us however our company provides no training or learning in customer service for us so you will just have to wait while we read the manuals and try and figure out a solution to your problem that we know nothing about.

We are sorry for your inconvenience however we know we are incompetent, we just don’t have time to learn what we know we should because people keep calling us.

We are sorry for your inconvenience but our systems were created by people who have no real world experience and are designed to reduce our customer numbers so that we can cope.

I am really sorry for your inconvenience.  We have supervisors who can fix this for you however they are all at lunch.  (I am not making this one up!)

Blame, shame, buck passing, no accountability, incompetence.

What would I experience at your place if I called you?

When things don’t go according to plan for your customers how do you solve the problems that you caused and still retain a good relationship with your customers?

What time, energy and money are you investing in ensuring your people are professionally able to provide a customer service experience you can be proud of and that your employees and customers are proud of too?

How well are you tapping into the unique talents of your employees and then deploying them in the best interests of your employees and your customers?

What promises are you making to your employees and your customers and how well are you keeping them?

Some people have heard the talk, don’t believe it and therefore don’t walk the
talk. 

Some people have heard the talk, believe it, but don’t walk the talk. 

Some people have heard the talk, talk the talk, but still don’t walk the talk. 

Real leaders rarely talk the talk, they just walk the talk. For the sake of your sanity and your personal and business prosperity I hope this is you.

In an online discussion recently I stated that change management is an oxymoron and that what we need is change leadership.  I was thanked for my thoughts by one person who then said “If Management is defined as Planning, Leading, Organising and Controlling/Co-ordinating (Fayol’s 1849), then change leadership is only one (albeit very important) component of a change manager’s role.”

What may have worked in the 19th century doesn’t work anymore.

And clearly a lot of 20th century innovations don’t work anymore either!

What are you doing in your business today that belongs in the 19th and/or 20th century's and not the 21st century?

Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian

I work with business owners/leaders of medium sized business and leaders of divisions in multi-national companies to lift employee performance by enhancing their gifts.



Monday 15 October 2012

Are you focused on goals or standards, results or rituals?

On the recommendation of my colleague Maria Carlton who is a best selling author and publisher I purchased a book by Derek Mills The 10 Second Philosophy®.  Derek is known as The Standards Guy®

Derek’s book is about having standards instead of goals.  It is a very refreshing read and I have added his book to my recommended reading list.

For many years my focus has been about following rituals, what Derek calls standards.  I know that if I follow the right processes for me then the outcomes take care of themselves.

Is your focus on outcomes or processes, goals or standards, results or rituals?

Some people live in the past, stuck usually with intentions, feelings and a mindset about what has happened.  We can’t change the past.  We can view what has happened with different feelings and new eyes.  We can see failure as a learning opportunity for example rather than as a negative.

Some people live in the future, stuck usually with intentions, feelings and a mindset about what might happen.  We can’t guarantee the future.  We can vision what is possible and take one step at a time towards possibility.

The most successful and happy people who I know live in the present.  We can change the present.  We can control what happens within the sphere of what is in our control, our intentions, feelings, thoughts, and actions.  Sure it is important to have direction, goals, targets, to begin with the end in mind.  The trick though is to focus on the now.  This is what processes, standards or rituals can do for us.

The author of another great book, The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle provides the following wise advice: “Stress is caused by being 'here' but wanting to be 'there'.”

Be crystal clear about where you want to go and who you want to become, then focus on where you are now and on being the best you can be right now.

My rituals one pager may help you.  Please download it here and then create your own or something similar.  In his book Derek Mills provides a template for setting standards in personal health and fitness, environmental, relationships, family, emotions, career, and time. Get his book and check it out. 

Whatever tool you use the point is this: Have something that helps you to maintain your focus in the now.

The Chinese philosopher Laozi is quoted as saying - "The journey of a thousand miles begins beneath one's feet," often translated “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”  Focus on the single step you are taking right now.

I have very clear goals in all aspects of my personal and business life written down.  The key is not my goals.  The key is my execution plan to achieve them and sticking to the plan. Rituals/standards/processes help immensely.

What execution plan are you following?

And in your business what execution plan are your employees following?

Is it their own piece of the puzzle?


Most strategies fail to get executed because employees, the chief executors of strategy, haven't yet bought into the strategy or as is more often the case, they don't yet understand or own their unique piece of the execution map.

Summary

Some people live in the past.  Their focus is on what happened.

Some people are future focused. Their focus is on what might happen.

The most successful and happy people are crystal clear on where they’re going and their focus is on what will happen in the present.

Keeping standards or following processes or rituals are what the most successful and happy people do.

What modifications/changes will you make to be more focused on the present?

Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian

Wednesday 10 October 2012

Do we really need “appraisals?” guest post by Steve Harris

This is a guest post by Steve Harris one of the accredited mentors of my Enhancing Their Gifts System™


There are two terms in use in the lexicon of the HR professional which I take particular exception to. They are “performance appraisal” and “performance management”. I realise these systems need a name, but, why not call them a name which shows what your intend as an outcome?

Oh wait…

These probably do reflect the outcomes desired, if indeed, the company’s philosophy towards its people is one of command and control, punishment and reward.  Measurement for measurement’s sake.

A bit strong you say? Recently I was involved with an organisation that was, outwardly at least, committed to a structured and transparent mandatory performance management system.

This system was structured in such a way that when used as mandated, recorded performance and behavioural goals or KPI’s were in great detail, and had review periods that allowed for weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual appraisals (like it is a test hat you must pass, or fail!).

Yet the promised high performance culture remained elusive, and adherence to “the system” was poor at all levels of management.

Why?

Put simply, the system was intrusive, demeaning and too onerous for management to use. To prepare for each session, log the details on the system, conduct the interview, log the results and get next level review of the outcomes took, say, 3 hours, a manager who had 10 reports would effectively spend their working week reviewing the staff’s performance.

This seems absurd, and it is.

The real damage though was to staff morale, because what they are presented with is a mix of objective and subjective measurements that could be used as a form of disciplinary evidence, when what the organisation should have been looking to is a system of performance development.  This is where KPI’s and behaviours are designed to suit the individual’s development needs and abilities; and that the system was there as an adjunct to the true needs of the staff. With this improved ability to understand the goals and aspirations of the staff member the management team’s efforts can focus on bringing out the best performance in each and every unique individual.

Better I think to look at these systems as performance development systems, because surely you want to encourage and motivate people to do their best whilst they are work, not monitor their every move and critique them at every turn. Ask yourself, would this motivate you?

Steve Harris can be contacted on +61 438703570.


Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian
I work with business owners/leaders of medium sized business and leaders of divisions in multi-national companies to lift employee performance by enhancing their gifts.


Monday 8 October 2012

Are you less valuable due to a poverty of attention?

In 1978 Nobel Prize winner Herbert Simon said: "A wealth of information creates a poverty of attention."

There is a lot of good that can come from social media not least of which is how quickly people can now gather together to support a cause and bring about change.

There is also a dark side to social media - a poverty of attention.

Paying attention to ourselves, our employees, our customers/clients, all our stakeholders, is a key to delivering value to them that they demand, desire, and feel that they deserve, which after all is what business is all about.

Paying attention is also key to living our values, feeling valued and encouraging other people to feel valued. Living our values and feeling valued are critical to delivering value.

I notice and feel a distinct lack of attention in shops and stores everywhere and online shopping is generally a soulless experience particularly when it doesn’t go to plan and becomes a nightmare because great customer service online to solve problems I am yet to experience.

We are all the poorer when people don’t truly engage and pay attention.

There is much I love about social media. Through it we can easily maintain our Google rankings, enhance our credibility and reputation. We can demonstrate our value via great content, spot opportunities for collaboration, and further the power of interconnectedness.

The darker side though is that we can all too easily spend too much time and energy online and fail to properly pay attention to real people in the real world. And we are all poorer as a result and therefore less valuable.

When I first embraced social media in 2007 it didn’t take long before I was spending 20 hours a week online. I would be a minnow today compared to some people!

Over the past 18 months I have really been focusing on getting my in person and online work in perspective and harmony for me. I now spend just a couple of hours a week on social media and my business is booming.

My focus has shifted back to paying attention to real people in real life. My business is better, my life is better. My family, friends and clients see me as more valuable to them. This is what really matters.

How valuable are you really to the key people in your life and your business? 

Could your online and in person harmony be better for you so that you are genuinely being as valuable as possible to the people who really matter in your life and your work?

Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian
I work with business owners/leaders of medium sized business and leaders of divisions in multi-national companies to lift employee performance by enhancing their gifts.




Monday 1 October 2012

Performance management is an oxymoron too!

I always read with interest the New World of Work newsletter from the great people at Tomorrow Today.

The following in the September 28th issue caught my attention:

“It seems amazing, but many businesses still don’t understand the positive impact engagement can have on their bottom line. For example, various recent studies have found:

- that the most engaged companies have 5 times higher total shareholder return over 5 years than the least engaged companies (Kenexa)

- that companies with high levels of engagement outperform the stock market index and post shareholder returns 22% higher than average.  (Aon Hewitt)

Yet Gallup still reports that 71% of employees are disengaged.”

I am not at all surprised by these sad numbers.  Most people don’t yet get that employee engagement is an outcome of what we think about people and how we treat them. Indeed engagement is a way of life.

Performance management systems are so often a contributor to poor performance because the focus is usually trying to manage people and appraising them.  We need to stop trying to manage people (see my article here.) We also need to stop appraising people.  Appraisals are for houses and cars.  Even then I doubt the value of appraisal.

What we should be doing with people is appreciating them and making it simple for them to be accountable.

Performance management is an oxymoron.  It’s the third of the big three oxymorons that lead to bad business.  The other two are strategic planning and change management.  You can read my thoughts on these two here.

I am on a mission to rid the world of dull, boring, unhelpful, disliked, unproductive, meaningless, useless, valueless, dumb, uncaring, unappreciated, and pointless conversations about performance and the devastating negative effects they have on people and productivity, I am about putting fun, candor, joy and meaning firmly back into such conversations. Authentic employee engagement, optimum performance by the majority of your people everyday, and the guaranteed execution of your strategy are the key results.

Last week I was asked why I do what I do.  I answered in a heartbeat, because more human beings need to be fully alive.

My father taught me that a key to success in life is to be spiritually alive, physically active, and mentally alert.  Over the years I added emotionally healthy and universally aware to my Dad’s three to state what I believe it means to be fully alive.

My work is about helping people to be fully alive.  The results of course take your breath away.

Please set aside 12 minutes and 57 seconds and watch my video You’re Special below.  If my story resonates with you then my work could be a godsend for you.




Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian

I work with business owners/leaders of medium sized business and leaders of divisions in multi-national companies to lift employee performance by enhancing their gifts.

Friday 28 September 2012

The lesson from losing my blog

Two weeks ago I changed servers for my personal website as a part of a major upgrade of my web presence in readiness for the official launch of my Enhancing Their Gifts System™ on October 1st.

One result was that the many links to this blog no longer worked due to a problem with domain mapping by Google and Blogger.  I also lost all of my emails that were tied to my previous server.

I was one of thousands affected by the domain mapping problem.  Many people vented their anger online. It never ceases to amaze me what some people say online that I am certain they would never say in person! 

I was frustrated too initially, particularly the time it took for Blogger to fix the problem.  This is a common issue.  When everything technological works it is great.  When something goes wrong it seems to take forever to fix and the basics of customer service don't seem to be understood by the giant companies.

An old lesson emerged anew for me through this experience - there are things that we can control and there are things we can't.

For a few days I let myself be controlled by things totally out of my control.  As a result I lost focus and put myself behind my schedule.  Then I came to my senses and just got on with what I could do and stopped worrying about things outside of my control.

You and I are responsible for our intentions, feelings, thoughts and actions.  We are not responsible for other people's intentions, feelings, thoughts and actions.

I hope Blogger has learned from this experience.  I thought about moving platforms yet on balance decided to stay here.  It's good to be back!

Control what you can and let go of what you can't.

Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian
I work with business owners/leaders of medium sized business and leaders of divisions in multi-national companies to lift employee performance by enhancing their gifts.




Monday 17 September 2012

"Failure is feedback"

This weeks sparkenation.

I can’t go past a comment by Ross Lyon the coach of the Fremantle Dockers in the Australian Football League again this week. Following his teams loss to Adelaide he said "Failure is feedback."

How do you see failure?

I know myself that I have learned far more from failing than I ever have from succeeding.

More sparkenations here.

Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian
I work with business owners/leaders of medium sized business and leaders of divisions in multi-national companies to lift employee performance by enhancing their gifts.





Wednesday 12 September 2012

Are you seeing through their eyes?

I helped a team of people through a conflict yesterday.

The trouble was everyone was seeing the issues through their eyes.

I asked people to look at the challenges through the eyes of the various stakeholders explaining that one of the skills of real leadership is being able to hold several views in your mind at once, even if you disagree with this or that viewpoint.

It was an enlightening conversation.

We then explored shared-view and how sometimes we need to let go what is precious to us in order to find a way forward that leads to what is best for all stakeholders.

See my blog about shared view here.

What emerged was a co-promise and a commitment to a win/win/win way forward that most participants thought was going to be impossible at the beginning of our conversation.

Marcel Proust had it right many years ago when he observed "The magic of discovery lies not in new landscapes but in having new eyes."

Be the difference you want to see in the world
Ian

I work with business owners/leaders of medium sized business and leaders of divisions in multi-national companies to lift employee performance by enhancing their gifts.





Monday 10 September 2012

What do you do when you come up short?

This weeks sparkenation.

I was fascinated by a pre game comment by Ross Lyon the coach of the Fremantle Dockers in the Australian Football League.  He said "If we come up short we'll take a look at where we failed to execute."

What do you do when you come up short?

The Dockers won the game beating the reigning Premiers and pre game favourite Geelong.  In many post match interviews players clearly knew their individual piece of the execution map.  Such role clarity is critical in achieving optimum performance on a consistent basis by any team, anywhere, and integral to my Enhancing Their Gifts System.

More sparkenations here.

Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian
I work with business owners/leaders of medium sized business and leaders of divisions in multi-national companies to lift employee performance by enhancing their gifts.





Wednesday 5 September 2012

Enhancing their gifts - the ultimate responsibility of real leaders

I am in the final stages of development of my Enhancing Their Gifts System™ - a simple, painless, sustainable, time, energy and money saving track to lift employee performance, driven by them. It is the culmination of my life's work to make it simple for business owners and leaders to ensure that the majority of your people are performing at their best on a consistent basis.

My system is godsend for business owners and leaders.

At the moment the only way you can get the Enhancing Their Gifts System™ is when I personally come to your workplace, teach it to you, and help you implement it.

Obviously I can only do this with a small number of people every year. I have been doing so now for two decades.

This is all about to change.

From 3rd October 2012 any business owner/leader anywhere will be able to implement the Enhancing Their Gifts System™ without me in person.

This is the most exciting thing I have ever done in business.

20+ years of real world application. Authentic employee engagement, optimum performance by the majority of your people everyday, and the guaranteed execution of your strategy are the key results.

And you will be free to focus on lifting your own performance and have the time and energy to work on your business more than in it.

Three options to see if the Enhancing Their Gifts System™ is for you.

Option 1) Take the talent maximisation pulse check here.

Taking the pulse check will help you to see where you’re at in your number 1 role as a business owner/leader, maximising and deploying your people’s talents/gifts.

As a thank you for completing the pulse check, as soon as you press send you will be able to download my appendix ebook to the leaders guide in my Enhancing Their Gifts System™ - 45 really useful tools, tips and techniques for recruiting, engaging and retaining great people, a resource 100's of people worldwide have already used to help them maximise the gifts/talents of their people.

In a great book The Talent Masters - why smart leaders put people before numbers, authors Bill Conaty and Ram Charan state:
“Talent will be the big differentiator between companies that succeed and those that don’t.”

I couldn’t agree more.

They also state:
“Talent masters understand the subtleties that differentiate people.”

Talent is another word for gift. My life’s work is to help business owners and leaders lift employee performance by identifying and enhancing their gifts.

Bill Conaty and Ram Charan also state:
“The enlightened CEO recognizes that his top priority for the future is building and deploying the talent that will get it there.”

I help people to be such enlightened leaders.

Option 2) Subscribe to my complimentary 9 lessons online Enhancing Their Gifts course here.

Option 3) Register for the first demonstration clinic on October 2nd. Details are here.

Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian
I work with business owners/leaders of medium sized business and leaders of divisions in multi-national companies to lift employee performance by enhancing their gifts.

PS If you already have a talent leadership and management system in place please read below.

The Enhancing Their Gifts System™ works regardless of what you have or don’t have. It has been deliberately designed to work with any system. The 1 piece of paper that is essential for the Enhancing Their Gifts System™ to work will not conflict in any way with paperwork or electronic forms you may already have.

The key question for you is; Do your employees love what you currently have?
If your answer is no, implementing and embedding the Enhancing Their Gifts System™ will be a godsend.



Monday 3 September 2012

Catching People Doing Things Right!

 I am very excited that my friend and founder of The Wow Awards Derek Williams is coming to Australia. I am honoured that Derek and myself finally get the opportunity to work together on September 13th in Melbourne to share some breakthrough insights into what constitutes providing remarkable customer service.

As customers, all of us know that way too many organisations make claims about their 'commitment to service' while failing to deliver on their promises.

We've discovered that there are a number of reasons why this happens, which has enabled us to uncover what organisations can do to stand-out based on a reputation for delivering great customer experiences.

We're delighted to share these insights in this afternoon seminar on September 13th.

Derek will be sharing his experiences and thinking after 15 years of running The Wow Awards, with organisations as diverse as Jones Lang LaSalle, British Gas, Edinburgh City Council, Cadbury and many other blue chip companies.

And I will be sharing insights into your number one role as a business owner/leader, enhancing and deploying your people’s talents/gifts.

All the details for our Melbourne event on September 13th are here.

Derek is also presenting his insights along with those of a great mutual friend Steve Simpson in Brisbane on 11th September 2102, and in Sydney on 17th September 2102.

If you can’t make it to any of these events I highly recommend that you get in touch with Derek and discuss bringing The Wow Awards to your place and start to benefit from Catching People Doing Things Right.


Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian
I work with business owners/leaders and leaders of business units in multi-national companies to lift employee performance by enhancing their gifts.




Wednesday 29 August 2012

Are you naming the elephants in your room?

On a plane to Indonesia this week I began reading the book ‘Wilful Blindness’ by Margaret Heffernan.

The author quotes Judge Simeon Lake’s instruction to the jury in the famous Enron case “Knowledge can be inferred if the defendant deliberately blinded himself to the existence of a fact.”

And the author’s comment “Their claim not to know was no excuse under the law.  Since they could have known, they were responsible.”

I reflected much on the half of the book I have read so far and the examples of where ‘wilful blindness’ seems to be at play such as climate change, the GFC and the continuing fall out, and all manner of cover ups. 

There are elephants in many board rooms and blocking people’s way in the corridors of many organisations.  It takes courage to name the elephant, and be transparent and authentic in removing them.  Doing so is real leadership!

These thoughts were in my mind as I began the first of a series of leadership seminars with an interpreter.  I needn't have worried for the openness and willingness of participants to be real was inspiring.  (Thank you Lya for your great work interpreting my thoughts and the thoughts of participants back to me)

Would I find such openness and willingness to name the truth at your workplace?

Saying what you should, naming the elephants, can change everything for the better.  It is what real leaders do. Are you a real leader?


Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian
I work with business owners/leaders and leaders of business units in multi-national companies to lift employee performance by enhancing their gifts.






Monday 27 August 2012

Why are you here?

This weeks sparkenation.


My thanks to my colleague Maree Harris for sending me the above quote.

More sparkenations here.

Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian

I work with business owners/leaders and leaders of business units in multi-national companies to lift employee performance by enhancing their gifts.





 

Friday 24 August 2012

Conceiving and achieving highly successful change initiatives - a manifesto

It has been said that there are only three things that don't change, death, taxes and change.

Here you can download the manifesto you can view below to help you thrive on the last one.


Be the difference you want to see in the world.
Ian

I work with business owners/leaders and leaders of business units in multi-national companies to lift employee performance by enhancing their gifts.




Wednesday 22 August 2012

Find out how good you are at your number one role as a business owner/leader

I am in the final stages of development of my Enhancing Their Gifts System™ a simple, painless, sustainable, time, energy and money saving track to lift employee performance, driven by them. It will be a godsend for business owners and leaders.

All that remains in the development is the filming of the stories, philosophies and techniques that are integral to the system and then putting it all together.

I am doing the bulk of this filming with a live audience on 5th September 2012 at a great CBD venue in Melbourne.  This is never-to-be-repeated workshop.  If you can make it to Melbourne please go here to find out more and register.  There are just 16 places left.

At the moment the only way you can get the Enhancing Their Gifts System™ is when I personally come to your workplace, teach it to you, and help you implement it. Obviously I can only do this with a small number of people every year.  I have been doing so now for two decades.

This is all about to change. Very soon any business owner/leader anywhere will be able to implement the Enhancing Their Gifts System™ without me in person.

This is the most exciting thing I have ever done in business. It is the culmination of my life's work to make it simple for business owners and leaders to ensure that the majority of your people are performing at their best on a consistent basis.

20+ years of real world application. Authentic employee engagement, optimum performance by the majority of your people everyday, and the guaranteed execution of your strategy are the key results. And you will be free to focus on lifting your own performance and have the time and energy to work on your business more than in it.

I recommend as a first step to see if my system is for you that you take the talent maximisation pulse check here.

Taking the pulse check will help you to see where you’re at in your number 1 role as a business owner/leader, maximising and deploying your people’s talents/gifts.

As a thank you for completing the pulse check, as soon as you press send you will be able to download my appendix ebook to the leaders guide in my Enhancing Their Gifts System™ - 45 really useful tools, tips and techniques for recruiting, engaging and retaining great people, a resource 100's of people worldwide have already used to help them maximise the gifts/talents of their people.

In a great book The Talent Masters - why smart leaders put people before numbers, authors Bill Conaty and Ram Charan state:
“Talent will be the big differentiator between companies that succeed and those that don’t.”

I couldn’t agree more.

They also state:
“Talent masters understand the subtleties that differentiate people.”

Talent is another word for gift. My life’s work is to help business owners and leaders lift employee performance by identifying and enhancing their gifts.

Bill Conaty and Ram Charan also state:
“The enlightened CEO recognizes that his top priority for the future is building and deploying the talent that will get it there.”

I help people to be such enlightened leaders.

Take The Talent Maximisation Pulse Check here. It is one way for you to find out how well you are deploying the gifts/talents of your people.
You just might be staggered by what completing this pulse check will reveal to you.

Be the difference you want to see in the world.Ian
I work with business owners/leaders and leaders of business units in multi-national companies to lift employee performance by enhancing their gifts.


PS If you already have a performance leadership and management system in place please read below.

The Enhancing Their Gifts System™ works regardless of what you have or don’t have.  It has been deliberately designed to work with any system.  The 2 pieces of paper that are essential for the Enhancing Their Gifts System™ to work will not conflict in any way with paperwork or electronic forms you may already have.

The key question for you is; Do your employees love what you currently have?
If your answer is no, implementing and embedding the Enhancing Their Gifts System™ will be a godsend.