Communicate

How well do you communicate and do you fully understand the incredible value you can bring to your proposition, if you make all things perfectly clear?

Numerous business books have been written with the underlying theme that poor communications result in many of the self-inflicted wounds that businesses and business people suffer. Communications, good and clear communications, make the difference in all relationships. Many times, because of our deep knowledge specific to our products or services, we tend to"varnish" over relevant and important issues. The best course of action, is to not leave any topic on the table that has not been addressed, while allowing the person we are communicating with to make the qualitative decision as to the relevant weight of each matter and just how much they want to know more about any particular thing.

My experience finds that women are better communicators than men because they typically want to discuss, in-depth, what ever the specific issues are. Men tend to gloss things over and make too many assumptions because they feel they have delivered a clear message. Perhaps because they themselves have a clear understanding of the issue(s) being discussed. Perhaps they do this in the interest of time. But there is very little, short of ; "run the place is on fire" that does not deserve in-depth discussion especially considering that people place different values on different matters. What may seem to be insignificant to you may be the biggest issue to the person you are communicating with and communications is a two-way street.

Communications, good and clear communications, must be your objective and the way you run your life. Addressing issues thoroughly will resolve many issues in the valuable relationships you are working hard to build.

Good communications builds solid relationships while poor communications can harm relationships. You choose every day and during every conversation just how well you are going to communicate. Choose wisely!

Give of Yourself

All of us are professionals and as such we have considerable demands on the time we spend building our business. Building your business must be your focus on a daily basis.

However there are people in your community that need your time and talents. Giving of your time and talents is not only needed it is one of the most fulfilling endeavors you could possibly devote your efforts to. The benefit will be manifest in lives of people you may never see but you will know that through your efforts these nameless individuals were provided the opportunity to live a life that they may not otherwise be afforded.

Throughout your community there are organizations who sole purpose is to serve others, especially the less fortunate. Get involved in one of these organizations and be one of the top 20% that are the go-to people who get things done. It is true that 20% of the people in any organization are responsible for 80% of the positive results. You should already be one of the people who make up the 20% in your profession so by focusing your talent and time to help others, you are well equipped to be a get-it-done individual in one of the organizations that need your help.

Giving of yourself without any expectation of recognition or reward is going to be of greater benefit to you than it will be to the people you are serving. It works that way every time, so get involved and give.

I Am Not Because...

When people are failing to meet expectations or to grow, there is one reason out of five that is keeping them from achieving the desired results. Once the reason for failing to meet expectations is determined, immediate, positive and strategic corrective action must be taken. Getting the to the real reason will be challenging, uncomfortable and difficult, but not getting to the real reason is far more destructive. Many good employees are ruined by leaders who don't take the time to get their hands dirty and help.

The five reasons people fail to meet expectations:

1. They do not know what is expected

2. They do not know how

3. They are afraid

4. They are not capable

5. They know what is expected, they know how, they are not afraid, they are capable but they simply will not do it. Why?

Recently a survey was conducted asking employees what they needed from their supervisors and the number one response was: "What is expected of me." Hard to believe that we hire people to do a job but fail to clearly articulate what, specifically, they are required to do at what levels.

If people do not know how to do something, get them trained. It is impossible to hold people accountable for not doing what they don't know how to do!

People are typically afraid of the unknown. The more they do something the less fear they will have if they have the proper risk & reward system in place.

Successful sports teams put players in the position they are most capable of performing at. If they are not capable of performing at any position, they can't be a part of the team.

When someone has the opportunity to do something they are fully prepared to do and they choose not to, the root-cause must be determined and the only way to arrive at the best conclusion is to communicate. If they decide not to do even though they know what is expected, they know how, they are not afraid and they are capable, then they can't stay and the sooner they leave, the better.

Don't pick only one

There is no one, even they with vast levels of professional training success, that owns a franchise of "how-to-improve-knowledge". There are many people conducting really good training that have unique angles to saying the same thing as every other trainer. Listen carefully to what  trainers have to say and take ownership, but don't fall in love with any one source because, what they are sharing, they likely learned most of it from someone else and also from their personal experience. In Brian Tracy's book: "Eat That Frog" Tracy states that 90% of the ideas and strategies in the book, he got from someone else.

There is a saying: "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear." There is virtually an unlimited amount of information readily available that will help you identify what you need to do to get better at whatever you decide to get better doing. When you learn from other sources, apply the knowledge. Consciously become the student that is ready for the teacher. Of course the teacher is not always a person. Many times the teacher is a book, a particular challenge you face, or when you fall down and you find yourself in the place where you "must do something." The action you take will either get you closer to a successful resolution or farther from it. Either way you learn.

Ask yourself what you are doing to get better. Are you listening to successful people including your friends and associates. Perhaps one of the most under utilized knowledge resources we have access to is the knowledge of the people around us.

Endeavor to learn from others and learn all you can so you can go out and put to work successful strategies you have learned. You do not have to make the same mistakes as others and you can accelerate your development by practicing what successful people preach! Use everyone and everything, not just one!

Momentum

• Sir Isaac Newton discovered that for every action there is an opposite and equal reaction.

• During a 2-hour flight an MD8O jet airplane burns approximately 50% of the fuel it is carrying building the necessary momentum required to takeoff.

The energy required to build momentum is significantly greater than the energy required to maintain or increase momentum. Jim Collins, in his hugely popular book, Good to Great, talks about how great businesses become great. In this fantastic book Collins refers to projects as flywheels. (The flywheel is a massive steel wheel that is critical to the operation and requires a great deal of energy to start turning and is of course a metaphor representing important activities.) Once the flywheel is turning, it becomes much easier to maintain the momentum, if effort is continually dedicated to the activity. In order to get the flywheel to turn faster, it is simply a matter of committing more energy.

When you get moving you are well on your way to building necessary momentum. The momentum you build will help you move forward to reaching your goals. However it is very important to understand that you are going to invest the most expensive-time in your effort to building momentum in the beginning. Starting your flywheel to turning will require a considerable amount of time and energy.

Obviously, if you stop dedicating time, energy and effort, your flywheel will start to slow down, wobble and eventually stop completely. Then, all of the time and energy you dedicated to building momentum will be lost. You must determine what your most important flywheel is and then you must dedicate your energy and effort to build and maintain momentum. Choose wisely, and make sure you are indeed working on the most important flywheel and once it is moving, you can devote energy to other flywheels. Never take your eye off of the most important flywheel and always keep the momentum.

Great companies build and maintain momentum by focusing on and dedicating energy and time to turning their most important flywheels.