Thank You Emily!

My sister Emily gave me this book for my birthday.  I have just started reading it and have enjoyed it so far.  It makes you think...which is always dangerous :-)

Appreciation

Ethiopia

We just returned from Ethiopia.  I spent the last two and a half weeks there while the rest of my family spent the entire summer there.

I highly recommend that everyone from a so-called first world country visit a country like Ethiopia.  It gives life perspective.  What I always find amazing when visiting there is the happiness and friendliness of the people.  A family of six live in a room smaller than my living room and yet they are always smiling and inviting - and they all get along!

We could all learn lessons from the people in Woreta.  I hope I don't forget what I have learned.

Wild Colts

The wildest colts make for the best horses when properly trained.
 – Cal Farley, founder of the “Boys Ranch” in Arizona in the early 1940s

Who are the wild colts in your operation?

It’s easy to discount these folks as troublemakers and renegades.  Perhaps they are the folks who care an awful lot and may be frustrated by not being able to fully express themselves.  Identify these people and then become involved with them.  See what makes them tick.

Don’t break the wild colt.

You need the energy that he or she supplies.  Just focus them toward mutually beneficial goals.

And remember…you were probably a wild colt early in your career…perhaps you still are.

Lead the Green

We often speak about “catching someone doing good,” We speak about making sure we praise people everyday.  There have even been ways thought up to help us do this.  Place 50 pennies in one pocket and each time we praise a job well done we move a penny from that pocket to the other.  Hopefully by the end of the day all the pennies have moved to the other pocket.  This is a good thing to do – praise, catch people doing something good.  It is easier said than done…would you agree?

Think how we do things.  We measure and grade everything nowadays.  You are either red, yellow or green in many different categories.  Measuring things are good.  We need to know where we stand.  But let’s look how we use this information.  Do we use it to praise?  Do we use it to improve?  Or do we use it to hammer?

It is very easy to see what is going wrong.  When we visit another store, sometimes we notice what the competitors are doing right, but we certainly always notice what they are doing wrong.  How often do we do the same thing inside our own operation…inside our own stores?  It’s very easy to fall into that trap isn’t it?  With so many things measured no one can be perfect.  No one can possibly be green in everything.  Do we praise those who are mostly green?  Do we coach – not berate – those who are red?

One reason why we do this – manage the red - is that we are managers.  If we are red in something then we feel the strong need to manage the hell out of the red and make it go away.  We do not pay a lot of attention to the green because we are already green in that particular area.  We’re good.  But there is the fallacy.  We became green in a particular area because we paid attention to it.  We led the way to green.

We get so caught up in “managing” that we sometimes forget that leading is better.

Leading the green.  Perhaps if we lead the green it could pull the red along with it.  You ever notice when you are working on something that is your hobby, as you work on your strengths your weaknesses improve too.  Your confidence grows which flows into all aspects of your hobby.  Before you know it you have turned a weakness into…well, maybe not a strength but certainly not a weakness.  Can the same work in your store?  Can it work for you?

Leading sometimes is just getting out of the way and letting your team perform.  You may not feel like you are doing anything.  You may feel a strong need to “manage” something.  Don’t.  Let your team spread its wings and then make sure you praise the effort.

There are too many things to measure in our business to be great at them all.  Tom Brady, arguably the best quarterback in the NFL still threw 3 interceptions in the AFC Championship game a few years ago.  He still left the game with his head held up high.  He performed well in many areas and he knows he has a history of performing well.  He also led his team – something that cannot be measured in red, yellow and green.

Lead your team into the good.  Lead the green…coach the red…

Productivity

Productivity - or improved productivity - is not necessarily getting more things done by yourself or adding more things to your plate. It is being smarter with the things you have to get done and deciding what needs to get done now, what can be left undone and what can be delegated.

We as leaders need to help our teams improve their productivity through better planning, organization and delegation. If our teams are not as productive as they need to be we need to look at ourselves and decide where we need to be better.

A Quote

“If you think about disaster, you will get it. Brood about death and you hasten your demise. Think positively and masterfully, with confidence and faith, and life becomes more secure, more fraught with action, richer in achievement and experience.”

― Swami Sivananda