Your BEST Business Investment Is Not What You Think!

The cold, hard math is that EVERY business or endeavor has finite resources. Even the most successful companies like Amazon or Apple must make decisions regarding how they will invest their resources (though I would like to have their limitations on what type of delivery drone to buy or whether to create a self-driving car or go with the IPhone chip that is implanted in our heads . . . just kidding about the IPhone chip in the head thing . . . I hope!). But what if the best investment was not on THINGS but on PEOPLE? This has got me thinking out loud about the Return on Investment for doing so.

For someone who is in the crowded marketplace of leadership development and personal effectiveness, it is important that I make my case for why individuals or organizations should redirect resources from THINGS to PEOPLE. According to the Carnegie Institute, 85% of FINANCIAL SUCCESS is due to your ABILITY TO LEAD, COMMUNICATE, and NEGOTIATE. Technical skills account for only the remaining 15%! But what do we spend most of our time and resources on?

Further, data on employee engagement generated from Gallup demonstrates that EFFECTIVE managers and leaders can decrease disengagement, double engagement among team members and drastically reduce staff departures among millennial employees. But again, very few of us come “factory equipped” to lead and manage effectively (I know I wasn’t!) so that requires us to INTENTIONALLY equip ourselves to do so. Further, employee SATISFACTION is not a sufficient metric for success. ENGAGEMENT only happens when team members are aware of their ROLES, confident of their CONTRIBUTIONS, have CONNECTIONS with other organizational members and are CONSTANTLY PROGESSING in their DEVELOPMENT. Again, no mention of expresso machines or bean bag chairs in the office! Finally, Gallup researchers have found that TOP PERFORMING organizations (as defined by measures such as profitability, innovation, staff retention, market share, expanded customer base, etc.)  make a STRATEGIC INVESTMENT in manager and leader development and hold those managers accountable for the DEVELOPMENT of their own teams!

So, what would constitute an effective leader development initiative? Whereas the specifics are more involved than a blog reader’s attention span (!), such an intervention would include content such as:

Managing Change

Collaboration

Effective Communication

Ethical Leadership

Sustaining Personal Development

Creativity

Organizational Values and Mutual Expectations

Leadership

Equipping Others and Developing Emerging Leaders

Resilience and Failing Forward

Team Building

Etc.

Etc.

Now I know that any business owner, college administrator, hospital director, non-profit board member or faith leader must make the tough call every day as to how direct their finite financial, human, time, and energy resources. Often in such calculus, leadership development often falls to the side. But in an environment where employee disengagement costs the U. S. economy $450,00 billion dollars a year (along with international disengagement rates that produce an additional $500,00 billion in losses annually per Gallup data), can we still afford to do so?!?!

As always if I can help you and the people you associate with Get Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I would invite you to email me or to visit my website below and see if any of the training or coaching experiences I offer can provide an impact! Also, as a bonus, if you go to my Out Loud Strategies website (www.outloudinc.com) and enter your contact information, I will send you a FREE guide to establishing a mentoring initiative program in your organization! Such an initiative would be critical to add value to your organization!

Yours in Leadership (and still walking both roads!),

Bill Faulkner

Principal Consultant – Out Loud Strategies

Independent Coach, Speaker, and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team ^TM

Email = bill@outloudinc.com

Visit our website at: www.outloudinc.com

Feel free to “LIKE” our FB Page www.facebook.com/outloudinc

Going Beyond Brand Identity Produces Brand Ambassadors!

So, here’s a captain obvious thought, “If you want repeat customers, treat them like they already are!” This is a powerful lesson I learned recently while visiting a restaurant in St. Simons Island, Georgia. The staff experience at the Ocean Lodge Restaurant and Hotel was so positive to the point when they asked me to write a review on TripAdvisor.com, I had no problem doing so. You see, I had moved from being a customer, to a Brand Ambassador! This got me thinking out loud about how this happens and how, as a leader, you can replicate the process for yourself.

According to the 2013 State of the American Workplace report produced by Gallup, just having a strong Brand Identity is no longer sufficient to compete in the marketplace. Businesses, non-profits, colleges, and other enterprises large or small must come up with new ways to rise above the noise in an era of social media and marketing. Simply put, an enterprise can no longer rely on their own resources and team to promote their brand, they now need an army of enthusiastic customers to become volunteer brand ambassadors to get the word out! But how do you do this? How have brands such as Apple, Chick-fil-a, and Bose done so? I believe to produce brand ambassadors; three elements must be present in any endeavor from colleges to food pantries to corporations.

Customer Intimacy – now before you get nervous, this is nothing creepy! Customer intimacy is simply building an emotional connection with a client or customer. I am sure all of us have had the experience in dealing with an impersonal call center or retail staff. In fact, we have pretty much have come to expect that is the way it will be in such situations. But think about when you were pleasantly surprised. I bet you shared that positive experience with friends and associates. Back to my experience at the Ocean Lodge. I was expecting at most courteous service but the wait and bar staff treated us like old friends. They laughed at (but also made fun of) my lame jokes. In short, they made an authentic CONNECTION! On the surface this may just seem like a slow night in a beach town in January but according to Gallup, when enterprises intentionally engage and connect with their customers, they experience a 240% increase in business related outcomes. If I have said it once, I will say it again . . . soft skills have hard dollar implications!

Brand Promise – when an enterprise keeps or makes good on a promise to their customers and clients, they create Brand Ambassadors. Again, back to my example, the staff asked us about our preferences and made suggestions about some small plate choices and we were not disappointed (I highly recommend the short-ribs if you go!). The other way an enterprise does this is, when they fall below standards (which will inevitably happen), they empower front line staff to MAKE IT RIGHT! It may cost a little bit to do so on the front end, but the good will this generates is likely to be shared widely; thus, another brand ambassador is born!

Brand Difference – finally, providing experiences, products, and services that are CLEARLY different than competitor brands are vital in creating brand ambassadors. Obviously, I am using a lot of food examples today but who has not heard a friend or colleague tell you about a favorite restaurant you just have to go to if you happen to be visiting their home town or city? Further, I am sure you have seen a TV show where people travel hundreds of miles out of their way to eat at a certain barbeque or burger joint even though I am sure there were similar options where they live. The difference was that there was something about the quality of product or experience that created such a competitive advantage.

See how all of this works? And the beauty of such a business building strategy is that you don’t have to triple the size of your marketing or sales team. Just CONNECT, keep your PROMISES, and provide something of such quality or DIFFERENCE that your customers will do all that work for free! In addition, they will spend more time in or with your business, forgive the rare shortcoming, come back often, spend more money, and will less likely be swayed by competitor brands.

A few blogs ago, I discussed the difference of moving from an A to a THE! In terms of your personal or organizational effectiveness. I have a designed a companion workshop along that theme and a big part of the curriculum is helping participants work on creating Brand Ambassadors. So, if you ever find yourself lucky enough to be in St. Simons Island off the coast of Georgia, make sure to visit the Ocean Lodge Hotel and Restaurant. Ask for Molly at the bar and make sure Stephen waits on you! And just as an FYI, the shrimp and grits is simply heaven on a plate!

Ocean Lodge Hotel and Restaurant = www.oceanlodgessi.com .

As always if I can help you and the people you associate with Get Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I would invite you to email me or to visit my website below and see if any of the training or coaching experiences I offer can provide an impact! Also, as a bonus, if you go to my Out Loud Strategies website (www.outloudinc.com) and enter your contact information, I will send you a FREE guide to establishing a mentoring initiative program in your organization! Such an initiative would be critical to add value to your organization!

Yours in Leadership (and still walking both roads!),

Bill Faulkner

Principal Consultant – Out Loud Strategies

Independent Coach, Speaker, and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team ^TM

Email = bill@outloudinc.com

Visit our website at: www.outloudinc.com

Feel free to “LIKE” our FB Page www.facebook.com/outloudinc

You want a more engaged team? You have to lead the WHOLE person!

According to Gallup, about 70% of any workforce across industries is disengaged with their work. In other words, they are not putting forth their best efforts which costs billions in lost revenue and productivity. Gallup also shares, however, that quality leadership and management is the single most important factor in reversing such trends according to their 2013 State of the American Workplace report. This got me thinking out loud about the important Y.B.H. (yes but how?) question in terms of increasing staff engagement and wellbeing.

First, according to Gallup effective leaders and supervisors can no longer expect staff members to compartmentalize their work and personal lives. In fact, Millennial employees (now the largest generational cohort in the workplace) do not want to! Effective leaders understand that a “whole” person comes to work each day bringing their joys, concerns, aspirations, etc. By helping team members improve both their personal and professional lives, leaders WILL improve workplace performance! When we as leaders understand and attend to the emotional eddies that swirl around the workplace, everyone benefits!

So back to the Y.B.H. question, here is one suggestion adopted from the excellent work by Rick Miller’s Center for Applied Leadership “LeaderStyles” instrument. Not only does the instrument help capture your personal leadership style, it also speaks to important factors that every supervisor should learn about their team members. Specifically, effective leaders can answer the following about each direct report:

• What do they value?
• How do they gain acceptance and prove their value?
• What is their mindset in approaching problems?
• Where do they add the most value?
• What is important to them both personally and professionally?
• How do they prefer to be communicated to and to communicate to others?
• What gives them encouragement and hope?

Now the worst thing a supervisor can do is to put these questions on a survey and hand it out! You are actually going to have to TALK with them in a slow process of discovery. I would also avoid turning this into an interrogation session where you rapid fire these questions! That tends to scare the heck out of employees! In fact, if you have never had such conversations before, it may be a bit “off putting” for both of you but if you are sincere and stick with it, the results will be incredible. Finally, it is one thing to learn this rich data about someone, but then you will need to DO SOMETHING with this knowledge. I would recommend using it in a way that helps you customize your leadership and supervisory style to meet their needs versus the other way around.

In the final analysis, there is nothing more empowering to a staff member than to know they have a supervisor that, along with holding them accountable for their best efforts, cares about them as a real person!

As always if I can help you and the people you associate with Get Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I would invite you to email me or to visit my website below and see if any of the training or coaching experiences I offer can provide an impact! Also, as a bonus, if you go to my Out Loud Strategies website (www.outloudinc.com) and enter your contact information, I will send you a FREE guide to establishing a mentoring initiative program in your organization! Such an initiative would be critical to add value to your organization!

Yours in Leadership (and still walking both roads!),

Bill Faulkner

Principal Consultant – Out Loud Strategies

Independent Coach, Speaker, and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team ^TM

Email = bill@outloudinc.com

Visit our website at: www.outloudinc.com

Feel free to “LIKE” our FB Page www.facebook.com/outloudinc

Swing for the fences this New Year, but don’t forget your base hits!

Like a lot of people, I am sure you have listed some New Year’s Resolutions. And like a lot of people, I am sure not all of them will come to pass! In fact, I recently saw a great meme on Facebook that stated, “I can’t wait for February because that is when I can stop going to the gym and start going back to the bar!” Like a lot of my colleagues who focus on both organizational and personal effectiveness, I have been thinking out loud why we often come up short in our new resolutions or goals. The answer, I believe, is that while we expect home runs, we don’t value our base hits!

You see, as I heard author and speaker Paul Martinelli share, SUCCESS is really just a series of base hits or rather, a cumulation of small victories and steady progress points! Just think about the typical “I am going start going back to the gym” scenario. So, January 2^nd arrives and you and all your fellow resolvers are at the gym and running on a treadmill like you were being chased by Zombies (a convenient visual since you probably spent the break binge-watching The Walking Dead)! And as can be expected, you overused underused muscles thus you were too sore the next day to go to the gym. And so it goes. The reason for this scenario along with falling short in other resolutions is that we think we have to get it right or be perfect the first time or else we have failed. I propose this is the wrong mindset.

But what if we took the base hit approach? In other words, what if we took smaller but successive steps in reaching new goals? Behavioral experts have discovered that this incremental approach is more likely to create the new habits and changes we desire versus going cold turkey on the cookies or running a half-marathon before you are even close to ready. What if you were able to get to the gym every other day but started out by just walking fast and doing a few crunches? Would I like to get homeruns and book five-figure training contracts every time? You bet I would but those are few and far between for even the most well-known speakers. But what if I booked a series of smaller amount engagements? I would eventually gain the goals I have (scoring a win) but just think about how many more people I get to meet, encourage, and help along the way?

Do this quick activity for me. Think about a big goal you have this year or quarter (and there is nothing wrong with standing in the batter’s box and pointing to the upper seats!). Now instead of stopping there, detail a series of manageable steps you can take that will get you there. If you fall short or miss a gym day, then get it in your head and heart that you HAVE NOT FAILED, you just haven’t completely succeeded yet! The project and gym will still be there tomorrow.

As always if I can help you and the people you associate with Get Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I would invite you to email me or to visit my website below and see if any of the training or coaching experiences I offer can provide an impact! Also, as a bonus, if you go to my Out Loud Strategies website (www.outloudinc.com) and enter your contact information, I will send you a FREE guide to establishing a mentoring initiative program in your organization! Such an initiative would be critical to add value to your organization!

Yours in Leadership (and still walking both roads!),

Bill Faulkner

Principal Consultant – Out Loud Strategies

Independent Coach, Speaker, and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team ^TM

Email = bill@outloudinc.com

Visit our website at: www.outloudinc.com

Feel free to “LIKE” our FB Page www.facebook.com/outloudinc

Did You Lead This Year by Walking BOTH Roads?

Did You Lead This Year by Walking BOTH Roads? www.outoudinc.blogspot.com

Unless you’re a zillionaire, you probably had both good and bad days this year. Then again, I guess zillionaires have their bad days. Like when their G-6 jet won’t start or someone thoughtlessly scratches the yacht (I hate when that happens. . . awfully inconvenient that!). But as my habit of using December to REFLECT and January to PLAN, I have been thinking out loud about how as leaders we have to “walk both roads” of, as Jimmy Buffet sings, “good days and bad days and going half-mad days!”

I have often said that anyone can be a successful leader. That is, it’s easy to lead when everything is going your way and things come easy. True leadership, transformational leadership, however, comes when you lead yourself and others through tough times. I bet you are a transformational leader as opposed to one that blame others when things don’t work out (that’s a prerogative that seems to be reserved exclusively for politicians and celebrities these days!). In fact, I know you don’t cut and run when things get hard! You just square up your shoulders and step forward into the whirlwind of life. Just remember sometimes you will end up in the pleasant suburbs of Liferockesistan and other days smack in the middle of downtown Thissucksville! You’ll just have to let go of the baggage that no longer serves you and enjoy the sights along the way.

To be honest 2016 was a challenging year for me. But it was also a time of great growth. I learned so much in the books I finally got to read, the great people that I got to meet, and the experiences I have had. I have learned a lot about myself too and what I still need to work on.

So even if 2016 was not your best year either, just remember you are still above ground and walking tall (or in my case, more like 5’9” on a good day)! Take encouragement in Tennyson’s words of King Odysseus in his later years, “Though much is taken, much abides; and though we are not now that strength in old days moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are; one equal temper of heroic hearts, made weak by time and fate, but strong in WILL to STRIVE, To FIND, and NOT to Yield. “

So, don’t yield and take the good with the bad like a champ! You’re not done yet . . . not by a long shot! Besides, your people now and the people you have yet to lead need you to help them walk both roads too! You see at the end of the day there is just no avoiding it and the best leaders have mastered the art of leading when its easy and when leadership gets tough. It is my fervent hope and prayer 2017 will be your best year yet. But just in case you do hit a bump or two in the road, when people ask you how you are doing, just tell them “fine and dandy” (but inside, proudly proclaim . . . “and still walking both roads”!).

Many thanks to those who supported Out Loud Strategies and this blog this year. Due to your support I had the opportunity to speak in front of several large groups and a couple of my postings reached over 100 and 200 views! I hope I have added value to you and I look forward to what I can share in 2017! As always if I can help you and the people you associate with Get Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I would invite you to email me or to visit my website below and see if any of the training or coaching experiences I offer can provide an impact! Also, as a bonus, if you go to my Out Loud Strategies website (www.outloudinc.com) and enter your contact information, I will send you a FREE guide to establishing a mentoring initiative program in your organization! Such an initiative would be critical to add value to your organization!

Yours in Leadership (and still walking both roads!),

Bill Faulkner

Principal Consultant – Out Loud Strategies

Independent Coach, Speaker, and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team ^TM

Email = bill@outloudinc.com

Visit our website at: www.outloudinc.com

Feel free to “LIKE” our FB Page www.facebook.com/outloudinc

Your Best 5 Minutes this Week!

Being a positive person in cynical world is not easy! Everything from news stories to entertainment works to bring you down. Besides, trying to be up-beat around your grouchy family and friends really irritates them (though I admit to secretly enjoying their discomfort!). This has got me thinking out loud about why more people are not as happy or as satisfied with their lives as they should be. I recently completed a 5-minute exercise that just may help!

First, I believe the reason we do not feel as good about ourselves as we should is all based on messages we receive from advertising, media and the entertainment industry. Advertisers know that nothing works like envy! In other words, if you do not drive a certain car, wear certain clothes, look a certain way, have a certain life style, drink a certain beer, etc. then somehow you are “less than”. The way to become “better than”, therefore, is to use or buy that particular product or live a certain way. I call this “the Big Lie”. You see advertisers and the media know that everyone has a soft spot in our armor and they exploit that. The result is we spend time, energy, and money chasing something that really does not exist. Seriously, does anyone understand a perfume or cologne commercial?!

Truly we live in an unencouraging world. In fact, leadership expert and author John Maxwell often states that one of the primary jobs of leaders is to encourage others. In light of John’s great advice, I want to lead you by encouraging you to take 5 Minutes to encourage YOURSELF. Adopting a powerful exercise from Jim Loehr’s grate book, The Only Way to Win, I want you to take 5 minutes to think about yourself. I know that sounds weird in that most people rarely do so. Regardless, I want you to take 5 minutes to think and then write about YOUR BEST SELF. In other words, list those things about yourself that you are most proud of in terms of:

• Accomplishments
• Character Strengths
• Values
• Relationships
• Skills
• Abilities
• Attempts
• Challenges You Overcome
• What You Have Built
• What You Still Want to DO!

The only rule is that you cannot stop until you use the entire 5 minutes (or 10 if you are feeling particularly generous about yourself!). I did this very exercise this week and it was incredibly powerful in that just like everyone else, I have times of self-doubt. The problem becomes when we dwell on the negatives, it diminishes are effectiveness in work and life. Confidence (as opposed to arrogance) is an impact multiplier!

I will also grant you that doing this was not as easy as it sounds because we live in a world that does easily let us feel good about ourselves. But here’s the thing, you need to stop second guessing your own worth and value. You need to listen to YOUR BEST SELF more than the Itty Bitty Critical Committee that often lives in your head! If you still find it difficult to complete this exercise, then contact me and let’s see if I can help.

As always if I can help you and the people you associate with Get Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I would invite you to email me or to visit my website below and see if any of the training or coaching experiences I offer can provide an impact! Also, as a bonus, if you go to my Out Loud Strategies website (www.outloudinc.com) and enter your contact information, I will send you a FREE guide to establishing a mentoring initiative program in your organization! Such an initiative would be critical to add value to your organization!

Yours in Leadership,

Bill Faulkner

Principal Consultant – Out Loud Strategies

Independent Coach, Speaker, and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team ^TM

Email = bill@outloudinc.com

Visit our website at: www.outloudinc.com

Feel free to “LIKE” our FB Page www.facebook.com/outloudinc

A “When I . . .” life is no life at all!

Recently I read a story about Jill Costello in Jim Loehr’s great book, The Only Way to Win. Jill was a coxswain on the UC-Berkley rowing team who found out she had Stage IV lung cancer at the end of her Junior year. This was obviously a remarkable diagnosis for a non-smoking 21-year-old who also so happened to be a peak athlete but was more remarkable was her courage and grace in dealing with her disease. Featured in the November, 2010 issue of Sports Illustrated, she stated, “Your life is happening right now and this is the only moment you can control. This is the only minute that really matters. If you are dwelling on something that happened in the past or feeling anxious about the future, you are missing out on your life”. Such a profound insight got me thinking out loud that too many of us are leading a “When I . . . “ life!

Your life is happening right now and this is the only moment you can control. This is the only minute that really matters. If you are dwelling on something that happened in the past or feeling anxious about the future, you are missing out on your life. - Jill Costello

I have often written about the danger of waiting for some life event to happen before you get on with your life. This creates a “When I . . .” mindset.

When I get a promotion . . .

When I find the right person . . .

When I move to a new location . . .

When I get into shape . . .

When I earn that next degree . . .

When I . . .

When I . . .

(equally troubling and unproductive is the past tense, “If I had just . . . .”!)

Now don’t get me wrong, it is imperative that we set life changing goals for ourselves and work hard to achieve them. The problem is when these can also become life delaying goals where we miss out on our life that is happening now while we are waiting on the one we are hoping for! Just think of the relationships, experiences, learning, and development we can be having NOW just because we are waiting on something better?!?!

I have heard it said that yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery; thus, today is a present! Today is truly a gift so what will you do with it? How will you spend it? I encourage you to take joy in the minute whenever you can. Don’t forget to lose focus on what is right in front of you while you are looking ahead. I bet you will be surprised about all the great stuff that you can experience in the here and now versus the there and then!

As always if I can help you and the people you associate with Get Better, Be Ready and LEAD OUT LOUD, I would invite you to email me or to visit my website below and see if any of the training or coaching experiences I offer can provide an impact! Also, as a bonus, if you go to my Out Loud Strategies website (www.outloudinc.com) and enter your contact information, I will send you a FREE guide to establishing a mentoring initiative program in your organization! Such an initiative would be critical to add value to your organization!

Yours in Leadership,

Bill Faulkner

Principal Consultant – Out Loud Strategies

Independent Coach, Speaker, and Trainer with the John Maxwell Team ^TM

Email = bill@outloudinc.com

Visit our website at: www.outloudinc.com

Feel free to “LIKE” our FB Page www.facebook.com/outloudinc