Business Toolkit – Page 57 – thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World

Saying Thank You to Your Employees

November 23, 2020/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Communications, Guest Blogger, Leadership /by Ryan Shaw

Dr. Cindy McGovern offers five meaningful ways employers can say “thank you” to their staffs during the holidays and throughout the year.

Today’s post is by Dr. Cindy McGovern, author of Every Job is a Sales Job (CLICK HERE to get your copy).

A holiday party for employees is a nice touch as the year winds down, and nobody ever turned down a big bonus as a reward for doing a good job month after month. But the best way a business leader can say “thank you” to valuable employees might not have anything to do with parties, money, or gifts.

The most meaningful way to show a hard-working, loyal staff that you truly value and appreciate them is to listen to them and respond when they have ideas, complaints, and personal struggles.

Here are five ways to show your gratitude to employees this season and all year round.

Solicit their ideas

When former PepsiCo CEO Roger Enrico sent a video to the corporation’s thousands of employees saying they should “take ownership of the company,” janitor Richard Montanez took it seriously. He pitched Enrico an idea for a new product that he created by dusting the company’s popular Cheetos with chili powder instead of cheese powder. The result: Flamin’ Hot Cheetos are among the company’s top sellers, and Montanez, who never went to college, is a marketing executive worth millions.

Montanez didn’t set out to create a goldmine snack. In fact, he was just trying to salvage a pile of Cheetos rejects that had come through a malfunctioning machine without any cheese dust so his family could eat them.

But Enrico gave Montanez the same attention and respect he gave to the corporation’s product development team. Now, Montanez is one of the company’s most-enthusiastic ambassadors.

The 4 Need to Know Approaches to Growth

November 16, 2020/1 Comment/in Business Toolkit, Entrepreneur, Sales, Strategy /by Mike Figliuolo

Knowing your growth strategy and understanding four key growth approaches – organic, acquisition, new products, and geographic expansion – will help you be more successful in achieving the growth you desire.

You have to ask yourself – how does your business grow? Is it geographic expansion? Are you selling new products? Are you selling the same products to new customers? Are you growing by acquisition and buying other businesses?

What’s your overall growth strategy? You need to be able to answer this question. Look at your historical growth and where it came from. That’s usually a pretty good indicator of how your organization is going to continue to grow from here. Pull out your strategic plan and look at your marketing plan to see where the future growth is expected. Assess whether or not that sales and marketing plan is aligned with where the future growth is supposed to come from.

Different Approaches to Growth

There are some very common methods for growing and they all have very different economic profiles.

Acquisition

One way you can grow is acquisition. The economics of conducting an acquisition are you spend a lot of money up front to buy another company or portion of another company. You’re buying a large piece of the market when you do so. The way you make acquisition economics work out is you reduce the costs of the combined entities by looking at synergies.

So, you bought another company. Congratulations! You have two HR departments now. You have two marketing departments. You have two Legal departments and two IT departments. You have two of everything! How do you consolidate those and reduce costs? That’s the first source of economic value in an acquisition.

The second source of acquisition value is all about growth. Now you have a new market you can enter if the acquired entity was in a different geography or targeted a different market segment. You can sell your existing products into that new market. You can sell the products you acquired into the existing markets you were in pre-acquisition. That’s how an acquisition is going to drive top-line growth.

Organic Growth

Veterans: Please Don’t Leave Your Military Values Behind

November 11, 2020/3 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career, Communications, Guest Blogger, Leadership /by Ryan Shaw

The military focuses on a unique set of standards and values. Transitioning military personnel advice are advised to focus on values for a successful military-to-civilian transition and career, and personal success in the civilian sector.

Today’s post is by Lida Citroën, author of Success after Service (CLICK HERE to get your copy).

In the 10 years I’ve been working with transitioning military service members and veterans, I’ve learned a great deal about the differing cultures between the civilian sector (where I come from) and The United States Armed Forces. The differences make for wonderful conversation and opportunities to learn and grow.

Most civilians grow up in households, communities, regions and areas where, as young adults, we’re encouraged to think independently, to serve ourselves (first) and others (also), while also getting educated, culturally socialized, and politically savvy.

Contrast the civilian environment – where most of the 98% of Americans who’ve not served in the uniform of our country grow up – with the military culture (1-2% of the U.S. population). I’ve been fortunate to have coached, mentored, helped, and collaborated with thousands of veterans, and they tell me that the military culture features standards, processes, clear expectations, and rules. Lots of rules.

How Learning Dance Makes You a Better Leader

November 9, 2020/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career, Communications, Guest Blogger, Leadership /by Ryan Shaw

How dance makes you a better leader with interviews with CEOs and leaders of industry.

Today’s post is by Megan Taylor Morrison, author of Dance Adventures(CLICK HERE to get your copy).

Boardrooms and bachata? Lindy hop and LinkedIn? Merengue and meetings? Business and dance seem like uncomfortable bedfellows, but dancing can inform leadership, making your interactions with clients, employees or business partners more effective and fulfilling.

I’ve experienced this crossover firsthand. I’m a business and leadership coach and former professional dancer who has used the wisdom I’ve gained from overcoming challenges on stage -from breaking a heel while dancing in front of hundreds of people to having to perform outdoors in the pouring rain – to support my professional growth.

I’ve also brought these ideas to my private and corporate clients. Whether I’m introducing the idea that leaders also need to know how to follow during a corporate retreat, or watching a type-A CEO’s journey learning to release control in her first tango classes, I’ve seen methodologies from dance have a significant impact on people’s leadership.

In my book, Dance Adventures, authors from around the world share incredible stories about how dancing abroad catalyzed their personal and professional growth. Here are a few of the lessons that authors and leaders from around the globe took away.

5 Key Methods for Motivating Your Workforce

November 2, 2020/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Communications, Leadership /by Ryan Shaw

There are variety of responsibilities that fall under a leaders purview but none perhaps more important than motivating the employees they work with.

Today’s post is by Mark Williams.

One of a leader’s most important responsibilities is to motivate and inspire employees — both to aspire to fulfill their true potential and to stretch themselves in the service of organizational goals. While a leader makes critical decisions every day that impact the bottom line, creating a culture where employees feel motivated and engaged is an equally weighty responsibility that is sometimes overlooked.

Motivating others is a tall task made shorter by focusing on five key methods — recognition, respect, motivation, professional development and empowerment.

Recognition

I like to say that rewards and recognition are like religion — if you only practice your beliefs once or twice a year, they won’t influence your behavior. If you have regular and consistent ways of recognizing employees for a job well done, you will be much more effective at encouraging the behavior you need to achieve your organizational goals.

Not all rewards have to be monetary, either. There are plenty of very motivational ways to incent workers without tying recognition to compensation. I’ve done everything from spa days and birthday lunches to giving an employee a five-pound bag of gummy bears because I knew that’s what speaks most loudly of my appreciation for her work toward reducing expenses at our organization.

Authenticity Lies in Your Ability to Cut The Crap

October 26, 2020/1 Comment/in Business Toolkit, Communications, Leadership /by Mike Figliuolo

Authentic means getting rid of the B.S. and buzzwords and layers of ‘protective’ crap. Sharing who you truly are is the best way to establish a connection and build trust with your team.

Today’s post is by Mike Figliuolo, Managing Director of thoughtLEADERS and author of One Piece of Paper(CLICK HERE to get your copy).

The only way I know to roll back the tide of all the meaningless jargon in our world is to say what you really mean.

Words spoken from the heart and the gut are clear, concise, meaningful, and genuine. They help ground you and your team. They signal that you are willing to take a stand for something you believe in instead of watering down your beliefs with complicated words so you will not offend someone or so your simple thoughts will sound more important. It is imperative that you realize such approaches have exactly the opposite effect.

Using buzzwords makes you sound less intelligent. Filling your leadership philosophy with obscure or difficult to define concepts diminishes peoples’ trust in you. Both behaviors are counterproductive and hinder you from reaching your goal of becoming an authentic leader.

That is why you are here, isn’t it?

Allow me to share a story that demonstrates the trouble jargon-filled leadership philosophies can cause, as well as how an executive avoided such a trap.

I know several executives who were members of the same senior leadership team. After a reorganization, their new boss, Jared, worked hard to get the team to gel. After several months of effort, it simply was not happening. The team members were mistrustful both of Jared and of each other. Team meetings were painful and one-on-one sessions with Jared were even worse.

The team was quickly devolving into chaos. Jared decided he would break through the dysfunction by getting everyone on the team to know each other better as people and as leaders.

How Avoid Mistakes When Doing Analysis and Making Recommendations

October 19, 2020/0 Comments/in Books, Business Toolkit, Communications, Leadership /by Mike Figliuolo

Three major mistakes people make when conducting analysis are succumbing to confirmation bias, analysis paralysis, and generating weak results. If you’re mindful of these risks and approach your analysis rigorously and objectively, you can make a recommendation that will be easily approved.

Today’s post is by Mike Figliuolo, Managing Director of thoughtLEADERSs and author of The Elegant Pitch: (CLICK HERE to get your copy).

A hypothesis-driven approach to problem solving and making recommendations can be tremendously efficient. You create a hypothesis (something taken to be true for the sake of argument), conduct analysis designed to prove or disprove the hypothesis, then make your recommendation based on the results of your analysis. Typically your hypothesis is based upon prior experiences you’ve had as well as your knowledge of the subject matter you’re evaluating. I’ve personally used this approach for years. I refer to it as the Structured Thought Process. The method is both efficient and effective. That said, using this approach is not without risks.

Risk #1: Confirmation Bias

While it’s great to have experience and prove your hypotheses are correct, that same experience carries risk with it. Confirmation bias – the tendency to look for or interpret information in a way that confirms your preconceived ideas – is the biggest risk you face when using a hypothesis-driven approach like the Structured Thought Process.

No one wants to be wrong so it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking disproving your hypothesis means you made a mistake. That fear of being “wrong” can lead you to wear blinders when you’re conducting analysis. You might ignore or dismiss facts contrary to your hypothesis. You might only look for data that proves you’re “correct” which can then skew your analytical results. Before you know it, you’re making a case based upon incorrect information. You find you’re like a horse wearing large blinders that only allow you to see down a very narrow path, ignoring things outside of your field of view.

Tips for Hiring Customer Service Staff in Anxious Times

October 12, 2020/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Communications, Customer Service, Guest Blogger, Leadership /by Ryan Shaw

4 Make-Or-Break Customer Service Skills and How to Find Them

Today’s post is by Ken Crowell

The pandemic and economic and political turmoil has Americans stressed out, making customer service skills more important than ever for businesses to be able to thrive and grow.

Even before the latest economic disruption, poor customer service was blamed for costing American businesses billions each year. Meanwhile, ample evidence indicates that companies with friendly and attentive employees keep customers and attract new ones.

Customer service personnel are the first point of contact customers have with your company and can make or break your business. A service orientation also helps employees work together and independently to fulfill company goals, and helps create a culture of teamwork and collaboration.

We’ve compiled a list of what we consider to be the top skills to look for when hiring, as well as some questions that can help identify the candidates who possess these qualities. Look for candidates who demonstrate:

Self-Control: A Crucial Skill for Good Leadership

October 5, 2020/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Communications, Guest Blogger, Leadership /by Ryan Shaw

Self-control is not a born trait, it is learned and developed and can be a difference maker as a leader.

Today’s post is by Jill Ratliff, author of Leadership Through Trust & Collaboration (CLICK HERE to get your copy).

Do you think you have good self-control?

Most of us think we do—but often suddenly find we don’t. Yet self-control is one of the most important skills a leader can develop to engender trust and support collaboration. Nothing fractures trust and discourages open collaboration like the fear of an uncontrolled negative reaction in times of stress. Team members who fear their leader’s response to stress or errors are not likely to think and act creatively, and innovatively.

And make no mistake: self-control is a skill, not a character trait. You aren’t born with self-control; you have to learn it and practice it.

Self-control is your ability to manage your response to any situation. It’s the ability to be confronted with a situation, however stressful, dire, or even infuriating, and choose not to respond with anger or frustration, but rather with an even temper, kindness, and compassion. It’s the ability to remain conscious of your own emotions even under difficult circumstances, when an employee makes a serious mistake or doesn’t live up to your expectations, or when business takes an unexpected turn that requires decisive action. In the real world, we can’t change anybody else, all we can change is our reactions. Look closely at the word “responsibility” and you’ll see it breaks down to our ability to respond. Learning to control our responses to be productive rather than reactive helps build strong teams and, as a result, successful outcomes.

Self-control is a habit we can develop over time. How can you develop better self-control? Here are a few tips and practices to help.

Boosting Sales Is About Simplicity

September 30, 2020/0 Comments/in Business Toolkit, Career, Communications, Leadership, Sales /by Ryan Shaw

Sales are the lifeblood of any company. No sales, no company. The good news is there’s an incredibly simple technique that you can do right now to help boost your numbers.

Today’s post is by Mike Figliuolo, Managing Director of thoughtLEADERS.

Strap yourself in. You’re about to have your mind blown.

Ever since grade school when I sold anything that wasn’t nailed down, I’ve been drawn to sales. It started with pencils I painted with custom designs and people’s names on them. I then graduated to selling comic books. Then I sold table space at comic book conventions I put on myself (at age 14). Over the years I’ve migrated to other sales roles and, in the day to day running of thoughtLEADERS, I’m the head of sales.

I won’t lie – sales can be a grind especially when facing competitive situations or making big ticket complex sales. Long lead times, budget constraints, and prospects who are tough to get a hold of make selling efforts difficult.

But I’ve found a secret. I’ve found a way to get in touch with clients and prospects and engage them in a sales conversation 100% of the time. Not only that, they’re excited to talk to me about it and they’re usually ready to buy by the time we finish talking. I’ve been astonished with how effective this technique is and it’s beyond simple. I’m going to share it with you now and it will change your life.

How to Make “Easy Button” Career Decisions

September 28, 2020/0 Comments/in Balanced Lifestyle, Business Toolkit, Career, Communications, Guest Blogger, Leadership /by Ryan Shaw

Finding your core values isn’t just good for guiding your life, its good for guiding your career too.

Today’s post is by Tracy Timm, author of Unstoppable (CLICK HERE to get your copy).

When it comes to making career decisions, we’ve all been to “the dark side.”

Endless pro-con lists. Sleepless nights. Emotional rollercoasters. Circular conversations. Worrying if this is our “one shot” while simultaneously wondering if we’re settling or worth more. Trying to balance the shiny components of the offer, maintain a level head, remember to negotiate, and keep every other generic piece of career advice front of mind.

Cue confusion, anxiety, doubt, and fear.

But what if there was a way to ensure that every decision you made in your career was in your best, long-term interest? What if you could wade through the emotions and momentary elation and get down to brass tacks: Will this work for me or is this just another distraction?

In the moment, it can be so difficult to separate what really matters from how we are currently feeling. After all, no matter if we’re being offered the CEO role or a part-time consulting position, there are so many emotions at play.

It’s human nature to feel compelled to pursue something that we’re offered. Even if the offer is coming from left field (hello, Mr. CMO, would you like to design a logo for me?) there’s something about an opportunity showing up on your doorstep that begs the question: Am I supposed to take this?

Protecting Yourself When You Make a Tough Call

September 23, 2020/3 Comments/in Balanced Lifestyle, Business Toolkit, Career, Communications, Leadership /by Mike Figliuolo

I can guarantee you’ll face a major moral/ethical dilemma situation at least once in your career. Even if you make the right decision, you’re still at risk for bad things happening. Here are some tips on navigating those sticky situations.

Today’s post is by Mike Figliuolo, Managing Director of thoughtLEADERS.

When I was a cadet at West Point, we learned the Cadet Prayer. We didn’t learn it as part of some religious education but rather because there were points in it about ethics. The one line that stood out for all of us was “Make us to choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong.”

Sounds awesome in theory, much tougher in practice.

There have been times I’ve lived up to that and others I’ve fallen miserably short. I’ve had friends, colleagues, and clients have similar experiences. While it sucks to choose the easier wrong and deal with the consequences later, it’s even worse to choose the harder right and still get screwed over when bad things happen to you as a result.

I’d like to offer some thoughts on how you can protect yourself when you’re choosing to follow the moral high road. It’s a funny thing – when you’re walking up on the high road, you make yourself a nice, big, target silhouetted against the skyline. In situations where you’re doing the right thing, someone else is probably doing the wrong thing. Those are the folks who will try to take that shot at you while you stroll along the high road. If you don’t protect yourself, you’re going to find bad things happen to you. Sometimes those people taking the shot will walk away from the situation unscathed. Now that is a bad outcome. Here’s how to avoid it.

Be Right

If you’re going to make a difficult choice, be sure you’re right. Calling the Ethics Line? Ensure you have all the proof of wrongdoing you need before picking up that phone. If you’re filing a report and it comes to light that you’ve submitted inaccurate information, you’ve just made some hefty accusations against someone that weren’t warranted. Even if nothing happens to them, you’ve tarnished their reputation. You can expect some less-than-favorable responses from doing so. Also realize the Ethics Department won’t look too kindly upon you for filing a “false report.” Be absolutely, unequivocally right before reporting something.

Seek Counsel