Calm Before The Storm

Have you ever experienced the calm before the storm?  As I gaze out the window on the train, I can see the purple and black billowing clouds far away in the west.  But here, with my world re-sized by headphones and my laptop, there is a peaceful calm, punctuated by the occasional glance to my left, noticing the clouds becoming more ominous and near, as I reach my destination North.  I realize I need to make a contingency plan for my arrival, to make it to my car with my bags intact, and dry.  But then I turn my head back to my writing, and I am again  - calm.  

This Calm Before The Storm is a wonderful quality of the Rare Leader™, an important descriptive behavior of emotional stability.  Sometimes the employees, the customers, or stakeholders do not sense the storm ahead.  Perhaps they do not have the insights of the Rare Leader™ to see the storm clouds in the distance.  But if they did...would they...would you...be able to be the calm before the storm for others?  Would you have made contingency plans for the rainy day?  

During my executive days at Baird, when Fred was President, he would enclose a personal note with each bonus check, thanking every employee for their contributions to the company success, delighting in the opportunity to share the rewards.  However, no matter how rich the rewards, he ended every note the same words of caution.  He would carefully advise us to “save some of this reward for a rainy day ahead, because some day it will rain”.  And indeed he was right.  And those who heeded his simple words of leadership again benefitted from his “calm before the inevitable storm”.

Sometimes the Rare Leader™ is not always the one to predict the storm, but is perhaps the one to sense it, or to accept the wise words of predictive knowledge from those he or she has chosen to trust.  

But, the Rare Leader™ is the one you chose to follow who maintains this unique sense of calm and Emotional Stability.  The Rare Leader™ has balance, poise, an ability to maintain a level course of direction through ups and downs, and knows when and how to apply their intellectual intelligence and maturity.

1. When have you sensed a storm ahead in your organization?
2. What contingencies have you set aside for the rainy day to maintain a level course?
3. Who have you identified you will trust for predictive knowledge?
4. Where have you proven to your Team you have poise and balance through ups and downs?
5. How will you be perceived by your Team during the Storm?

If you want to learn more about the Rare Leader™ in you, 

or if you are interested in retaining Steve as your Executive Coach, 

Contact Steve Riege via: twitter, or his website.

My Boss Is Relentless

When I asked Tim what was on his mind, he really opened up.  

“I love my job.  I really do.  But there are some things that make it really unbearable.  I mean, I’m really good at what I do.  Well, that’s what my friends tell me.  The company is great, and I believe in our products.  From what I see, we are in a great position to grow, and I could have seen myself happy here for a long time...could have. You see, it’s her fault.  You’ve met her.  Yeah, my Boss.  Wait, I’m not saying she’s a bad person.  I’ve met her husband and kids, and they all seem really happy when they’re together.  Her brother works here too.  He’s also an owner, and he’s not like her.  You see, she’s quite bright.   No, actually she’s brilliant.  She’s patented several of our formulas and is respected industry wide.  But my issue is that she’s relentless.  She is all over me.  I just can’t seem to be doing enough to please her.  I don’t know how the others do it. I cant take it.  Yes, that’s why I’m leaving.  You need to help me”

I first met Tim at one of my networking events - “1,2,3@5”.  This is an open networking event I host 4 times each year, attended by a few hundred people.  It’s fabulous networking, and has been labeled as the “premiere networking event” in the business community.  But, it is not the place for confidential coaching.  So when Tim was introduced to me he said, “Steve, I have been wanting to meet you.  Based upon your success Coaching other executives, I know you are the right person to help me.”  I thanked Tim for the gracious compliment in front of the few gathered in our circle near the entrance, and suggested we meet soon to chat in private.  When we met a week later, Tim told me his story, and diagnosed what he felt was his issue.

When I am engaged with a career coaching client, so many times  the client will tell me they love their job, but they can’t work for their Boss.  It’s always the Boss’s fault.  Yeah, that’s right.  Typically this is the Boss who built up a nice $100m business, is admired by the community, and is followed by a growing number of successful “C” level leaders.  We have all met this Leader.  To be this successful, many times they embody most of the behaviors of the Rare Leader™.  

So why then, does Tim, and perhaps many of you have this identical issue?  First, let’s be honest and cut to the truth.  Many times people who self diagnose their issues are the worst doctors.  They locate all sorts of cuts and bruises and apply nice looking band-aids, and take ibuprofen, and all seems well...for a day or two.  These self diagnosers never find the core issues beneath these symptoms of pain and discomfort.  It is far too difficult to look inside yourself with any deep effective level of an unbiased assessment.

Tim, while thinking this was all about his Boss, had self diagnosed himself to be distant from the problem.  After all, this Millennial has what it takes.  A nice degree, a quality internship, a good family legacy in business, and after 18 months on the job, Tim is ready for the world.  He does not have the patience to be treated like a kid by his Boss.  Tim  sees himself ready to be anointed for greatness.

One of the behaviors that made Tim’s boss successful was her Achievement Drive.  As one of the 12 behaviors of the Rare Leader™, she knew she needed to achieve, and realized she needed to lead others to achieve.  She had Goal Clarity from her collaborative work with her Team.  Tim knew she was persistent.  But Tim only saw her persistence as pushing and prodding and “bugging him”, rather than her actually trying to motivate him to also be decisive and take action.  Tim was so self involved, that he did not see that Kate’s pushing and prodding made those around her successful too.  In reality, Tim was too selfish to see his Boss cared so much for him that she was making every effort to help him succeed.  

Now, after several Coaching sessions, Tim was hoping it was not too late to revive his chances with Kate.  Had Kate given up on Tim?

1. Can YOU save your career?
2. Are your job frustrations someone else’s fault...or your own?
3. Are you too self involved to see others are trying to help you? 
4. Do you self diagnosed your problems at work?
5. Does your Team understand why you push and prod them to achieve?

If you want to learn more about the Rare Leader™ in you, 

or if you are interested in retaining Steve as your Executive Coach, 

Contact Steve Riege via: twitter, or his website.

Committed to Achieve?

When I initially meet with my coaching clients, we complete an initial assessment.  Part of the assessment helps begin to uncover core issues for our future work together.  New clients  usually take great care to explain who they are.  However, because we have not yet built the trust required in a coaching relationship, these new clients are careful not to disclose anything too revealing, or damaging.  

True to form, it’s almost as if they have a scripted message they never tire of delivering.  I’ve heard it so many times.  If its a family business, they talk of their Grandfathers dedication and vision to build this company passed on through the generations.  

If not a family business, their self assessment initially focuses on their targeted education from a respected University, their rise from an entry level job, and their baby boomer work ethic that took them to the top.  

Bill told me about his rise to the top, but became agitated when speaking to his reason for seeking my help.  “No one here shares my passion for our mission, goals, and objectives...I seem to be the only one with the drive, and commitment to make certain we’re successful”  

I always find it interesting the burden some executives feel that they are alone in their quest for success.  They feel like the 3 handicap golfer always dragging the 15 handicapper in the 2 golfer best-ball tourney.  Bill’s shoulders were tired.

I decided to ask Bill’s permission to speak with some of the employees to gain their honest perspective...(This was something he had never done).  Focusing on Bills assumed solo ride on the “commitment train”, I discovered some valuable perspectives.  Some substantiated comments were;

• “Yeah, Bill’s pretty crazy about his wanting to win.”
• “Bill constantly complains in leadership meetings about the Team not getting on board...Frankly, I’m not certain what that means.  Bill’s all over the place with his goal of the week.”
• “That’s pretty funny actually.  Like last week when he was all over us, driving us, really angry, telling us we must not care...and then he decided at the last minute yesterday to go on some golf trip today with his buddies, and canceled our Team meeting.  This commitment thing comes and goes with him.”
• “Committed to his vision?  Committed to his goals?  Oh, yes, that’s Bill all right.  But to be honest, I’m not certain what this vision is, and what specific goals he has set.  How  am I supposed to join him if I don’t know what he really wants?”

As Bill and I spent more time together, we found that trust which is required to build the foundation of our work.  Eventually a more complete disclosure of “what keeps Bill awake at night” came through.  Over time, Bill discovered solutions to some bigger internal issues, enabling him to find confidence with himself and his Team.  

Bill found he was able to work with his Team to collaboratively discover the Company vision, and set a course of accountable actions to reach goals towards success.  This goal clarity enabled Bill and his Team to see the vision and goals together as partners, and share in the strategies and tactics.  

The shared accountability between Bill and his Team, and between the Team Members gave a new level of commitment and persistence towards achieving goals.  This persistence was fueled by a functional trusting Team, with a leader sharing and encouraging his commitment to achievement.  

As you think of your own Achievement Drive, answer these questions;

1. Are you considered “crazy” or “passionate” about your achievement drive?
2. Are you “consistent” with your Goals, or “flexible” as needed?  
3. Are you “committed”, or merely “participating” with high energy?
4. Are you a high achiever at providing clarity with your Team?
5. Are you driven by “goal clarity”?

If you want to learn more about the Rare Leader™ in you, 

or if you are interested in retaining Steve as your Executive Coach, 

Contact Steve Riege via: twitter, or his website.

Achievement Drive - Is there some Mozart within you?

Have you ever been in the presence of someone who has this unmatched passion and drive to succeed at what they set out to do?  Don’t you look at them and feel this huge “aha” moment, and wish it were you?  We typically apply this to a high achieving athlete, such as an NFL quarterback capping a long drive with a touchdown, the top ranked tennis player at the Open winning on a tiebreaker, or the basketball player, who during a time out huddle in overtime says to the coach...”give me the ball, I will score”....and they do, and he does.

From somewhere deep inside, these gifted athletes draw upon a strong quality enabling them to step up and deliver.  We tend to look at them as “at the moment performers”.  When they need to turn it on, they can.  But what we athletic mortals do not understand, is that they do not turn this high achievement drive on and off.    They will tell you they are ON, all the time.

My father, who was a gifted musician always spoke of that “Mozart within us”.  He believed that all of us have been given the gift from God to be just like Mozart at something.  You might know, that Mozart as a five year old wrote his first composition, Andante in C.  We might think of outstanding, once in a lifetime athletes as having found their Mozart.  Maybe it is so evident because they take their gift a bit more public as evidenced in their high achievement drive to succeed.

Have you found your own Mozart within you?

If you were a Mozart at athletics, we would know who you are.    However, maybe you have a Mozart gift giving you the ability to lead.  If you are a Rare Leader™ I suspect you have found a bit of that Mozart within you.  Why not “be like Mike”, and ask for the ball and Lead others.  Show everyone you have the same High Achievement Drive to succeed in leading an organization, and in leading other successful people.

As a Rare Leader™, you must show you have the ability and energy to release a strong commitment and persistence from within.  This is only possible when you have goal clarity supporting your need to achieve.  This is driven from an unrest - to push, prod, and motivate others, taking decisive action.

1. Do you believe there is a Mozart in all of us?
2. Are you a Leader who “wants the ball”?
3. Do you feel you have High Achievement Drive?
4. Can you release a strong commitment and persistence from within?
5. Is your need to achieve guided by goal clarity?
6. Are you driven to push, prod, and motivate others to take decisive action?

or if you are interested in retaining Steve as your Executive Coach, 

Contact Steve Riege via: twitter, or his website.

I’ve Got Wonderful Relationships...I’m their Boss.

One of my clients asked me to help them discover a downward trend in profits at one of their locations.  Everything seems to check out, they said.  Marketing plans are consistent with our corporate guidelines.  Inventory control checks are all green on my dashboard.  Our service menu is easily the most inviting within a 60 mile drive.  Our online presence is great, with our website winning an award a few months ago.  Our pricing is in line with our competition.  But over the last year, our revenues have been slipping, and now we are below target on our bottom line.

I looked at the data and he was correct.  His dashboard looked very green, but the rolling 12 month report on revenues and profit was revealed something was wrong.

What are your customers saying...I asked?  They did not have reliable data here.  All they had were a few comment cards filled out by customers on their way out (if they took the time).  I suggested a targeted customer contact study.  Over the next month, we sent e-mails with a brief confidential survey to every customer from the past 12 months.  The return rate was actually quite high.  We invited 24 random customers to focus group events, teasing them with some nice “freebies”.  My facilitation of these gatherings told us what we had not known.  We changed the comment card and left it and an envelope with each customer during their service.   We used a “secret shopper” program to get an inside view of the customer experience.

I love data.  It not only verifies our intuition, but opens new doors to explore.  The customer data revealed one important topic, with several issues we had not anticipated.  The employees were failing their customers expectations.  We found inconsistencies in delivering the service that customers selected. (employees altered the service to what they “felt like doing”.)  We found customers were disappointed to learn their favorite employees had left.  Looking deeper we discovered turnover was high, but because of the great reputation, filling open positions came easy, disguising the turnover.  Employees generally seemed disengaged, unhappy, and a “turn off” to customers.  In short, the employees were turning customers away.

There were no exit interviews.  There were no follow ups with employees who left.  There was no corporate intervention on employee relations issues.  There was no data to analyze, leaving us to imagine the employees seemed isolated on an island with their manager.

The Manager can’t be the problem, said my client.  She’s great...she’s one of our best leaders.  Her reports are accurate and on time, she’s engaged with our Leadership Team, everyone  up here at “Corporate” loves her.  

But when we did talk to employees, we found the other side of the story.  Their comments included...She was a bully, she’s toxic, It’s all about her and no one else, she micromanages, she doesn’t care about service consistency, she ignores standards and protocol, she has mood swings, she has favorites, she doesn’t care about what I think.  And finally the revealing comments saying...”she makes certain the number one goal of her looking good to “Corporate” is always top priority”.

So...in short, the financials all seemed to check out until it was too late from a revenue to profit indication.  The business model seemed to shine.  The Manager (I hesitate to call her the Leader) was focused on her own success, and failed to build quality relationships with the employees who in the end, drove customers away. 

1. Can we save this business?
2. What steps would you take to turn losses into profits?
3. How can you ensure customer satisfaction?
4. Does this manager listen, understand, respond, or sense the needs of other people?
5. What if this Manager focused on others first?

If you want to learn more about the Rare Leader™ in you, 

or if you are interested in retaining Steve as your Executive Coach, 

Contact Steve Riege via: twitter, or his website.

But, Do I Have To Like People To Be A Leader?

We have concluded one of the twelve behaviors of the Rare Leader™ is to be high in “relationships”.  The quick response from some people has been...”so what you’re telling me, is that if I don’t like to be around people I can’t lead?”  

I’ve heard feedback on assessments when I review candidates for an Executive Leadership opportunity for a client...

• If my MBTI shows me to be an “E” rather than an “I”, am I doomed to be in the trenches, rather than leading the troops?  
• My DiSC profile shows me to be a lower “I”, should I see this as an indication I can not influence the people I lead?
• My Culture Index profile indicates I am a lower “B”.    Because I like to think and focus on the tasks at hand rather than socialize shouldn’t be interpreted that I can not lead.

Now what? 

While there is a great amount of reality that Leaders interact with people, and establish that mutual trust between them, it is not intended the “relationship” behavior of the Rare Leader™ be an emphasis on social skills and desires.

However, the Rare Leader™ is always dealing with people, displaying the ability to listen, to understand, and to respond.  The Rare Leader™ uses intuition to sense what people are feeling and thinking.  The Rare Leader™ is able to recognize different behavioral styles proving he or she can focus on others rather than themselves.

Sometimes, “E’s”, or higher “I’s”, or higher “B’s” struggle leading others.  Perhaps their personal focus is on the social side of working with others rather than actually leading.  

This high “sociability” might even mask their inability to establish a trusting relationship, disabling any intuitive skill to sense what motivates their Team, or to understand and appropriately respond to differing styles of behavior.  After all, the key to utilizing these assessment profiles is understanding how you can affect others, and how to sense and interact with others.

So let’s make a deal here...

1. Don’t take the popular assessment tools at face value as an indicator of Leadership.  We need to understand what they really mean.
2. Social Skills are not the same as “relationship” behaviors and abilities.
3. Consider these important questions;

• Do you have the ability to listen to people?
• Can you understand what others are trying to communicate to you?
• Are you able to respond effectively to others?
• Are your intuitive skills heightened?
• Can you sense what people are thinking or feeling?
• Can you recognize differing behavioral styles in people you lead?
• Do you focus on the success of others as well as your self?

Check back with us soon, to discover and share more about your answers to these questions.

If you want to learn more about the Rare Leader™ in you, 

or if you are interested in retaining Steve as your Executive Coach, 

Contact Steve Riege via: twitter, or his website.

I have people skills, I am good at dealing with people...

The Rare Leader™ is always interacting with people.  The Rare Leader™ is able to utilize intuition to sense what people are feeling and thinking.  The Rare Leader™ has the ability to interact positively, actively listening, understanding, and responding to different behavioral styles.  The Rare Leader naturally proves he or she can focus on others rather than self.

"Well, look, I already told you. I deal with the #*@#$% customers so the engineers don't have to. I have people skills! I am good at dealing with people! Can't you understand that? What the hell is wrong with you people?!"... Tom Smykowski responding to Bob Slydel - Office Space

Tom was a leader of the Software Engineering Team at Initech, a company plagued by excessive management.  When pressed, Tom really felt his number one skill was “dealing with people”, because had “people skills”.  

Now, I don’t know about you, but when I think of people skills, unfortunately I think too many times about managers like Tom, who really do think their people skills are second to none.  Even though Tom is a fictional leader, from a fictional company, from a movie, it is in fact, rare to find real leaders from real companies with great people skills.  The reason Tom felt his people skills were so strong, is that he was so focused on himself, rather than the Team members he was leading.

Great relationships with people do start and end with the skills and behaviors you show in establishing powerful, long lasting, relationships of trust, collaboration, and shared success.  

Do you have great intuition?  Can you connect the dots of what you observe about the people you lead?  To properly observe, you need a keen ability going beyond what you might easily see, hear, or touch.  Intuition takes you inside the character of the people you lead, to sense and understand what they are thinking and feeling.  What does the connection tell you?  Connecting the dots and applying your intuition about people is similar to the skills you find as a visionary, using data and trends to see into the future.  Your intuition should enable you to see the future possibilities between yourself and other people.  

What is your ability to interact with others?  Are your active listening skills refined?  Does it come naturally to listen intently and be able to repeat what you heard...word for word?  

After listening, can you understand what the other person is really saying?  What is their hidden meaning?  What action are they seeking from you?  Do they desire you to offer a response full of ideas, suggestions and directives, or are they merely seeking a listener with empathy?  

What is your response?  Does your response come from truly caring about what they have to say?  Or, is your response quick, to the point, enabling you to move to your next agenda item of your day?

Perhaps the hidden challenge for the Rare Leader™ with relationships is adapting all of these skills to the “human factor”.  After all, like snowflakes, no two human beings are alike.  This gives you great opportunity to develop your intuition, interaction, listening skills, understanding, and response, to varying styles and diversity of people.  This adaption to diversity draws from the Core of your Character.  This adaption to diversity of behavior styles in your Team, is the test of the integrity of your Character.

In the end, your relationships with others have no grounding if you continue to focus on yourself first.  This was really Tom’s issue when self analyzing his number one skill at Initech.  I see this same issue when observing, assessing, and coaching leaders who fail at building positive relationships as a proven characteristic of becoming a Rare Leader™.  The core of these failings continue to look back at a narcissistic self involved, “me first” Leader.  

Who do you focus on?  What is your style?

1. Do you have great intuition?
2. What is your ability to interact with others?
3. Are your active listening skills refined?
4. Can you understand what the other person is really saying?
5. Does your response come from truly caring about what others have to say?
6. Can you prove you do focus on others rather than yourself?

If you want to learn more about the Rare Leader™ in you, 

or if you are interested in retaining Steve as your Executive Coach, 

Contact Steve Riege via: twitter, or his website.

Look Before You Leap

“I’m Decisive.  I own this company and I am expected to make decisions.”  Is this you?  

Or does this sound familiar?  “You spend so much time trying to figure out what to do, that nothing gets done.  I didn’t hire you to sit around and do nothing”.

Jack was stunned as he listened to Julie and Robert.

Jack owns a very successful business.  Its been in the family for two generations before him, and his two children will carry it into the fourth generation.  Jack has already made that decision.   After all, Jack plans to retire someday, and as part of his exit strategy Julie and Robert will need to begin their preparations.  

Jack decided Julie should finish her degree in finance.  Her math skills are top notch, and she is at the top of her class in the business school.  Robert will need to apply himself more.  He will be taking over sales, because Robert is such a great people person, just like his grandfather.  Jacks dad Bill likes to stay involved, so Bill will be mentoring Robert in sales.  

Jack will require both Julie and Robert to spend some time at other business to learn more without the family ties and platform of favoritism.  Jack has already made those connections and arrangement with a few friends from his country club. 

Jack told his wife Susan that with these decisions, the retirement is in place, and his name on the door of this well known business will pass on to another generation.  “A perfect plan”, Jack said.

Susan agreed that the plan sounded wonderful.  Her vision of this business has always been for she and Jack to retire earlier than most of their friends, and begin to travel and enjoy a second home in a warmer climate.  In fact, Susan was in negotiations on the purchase of this second home in Arizona.

Jack engaged me to work with Julie and Robert.  He wanted my coaching expertise guiding them along as they finished college, worked a few years outside the company, and then began their careers in the family business.  

In my first meeting with Jack, he told me of the decisions he had made.  He was quite proud.  After all, he learned the importance of being Decisive after attending one of my seminars  focused on the twelve behaviors of the Rare Leader™.    Yes, Jack had learned pretty well.  He and Susan had their Vision as owners.  Jack had a natural Drive to Succeed, a Positive Outlook, and he was now displaying his Decisiveness.  He had also mastered several other behaviors of the Rare Leader™.  

However Jack missed the bell on the balance between Planning and Execution.  This is why I titled this program the Rare Leader™.  Great leaders may possess great skill levels in some or most of these behaviors, but it is very seldom (if ever) that someone can actually master a perfect score at all twelve behaviors of the Rare Leader™.  That is why I call it Rare.

I asked Jack about his planning process to have created this perfect plan.  Jack explained how easy this had been.  Considering his vision, the academic success of his children, and the ability to pass the business on to the next generation, there wasn’t much planning needed.  He saw the opportunity, and made the important decisions.

I asked Jack how Julie and Robert felt about the plan.  Jack told me how excited they both would be.  He knew they admired him, and shared the pride of the success and reputation of the family business.  I caught the words “would be” and paused, looking for words to place in my next delicate question.  So, Jack, as I understand you, Julie and Robert are not aware of your plan?  Have they not been involved in the planning?  “No, not yet” he answered, “but we’ll be telling them this morning when I introduce you to them”.

Jack was stunned as he listened to Julie and Robert.

Jack opened the meeting with his children very well.  “Have you each been thinking about your life after college”, he asked?(Remember the sage old advice, to not ask a question unless you know the answer?)  Jack had not anticipated Julie and Robert’s answer would be different than the answer he had already decided they would make.

Julie had come home this weekend to announce she was accepting an internship with a large financial research firm in New York.  Part of her excitement included the continued employment that typically is granted to successful interns.  Robert had thought very carefully about his education.  His aptitude scores helped him confirm his decision to follow his passion into Ministry.  He would be making his applications soon to seminary.

Jack was stunned...

Julie and Robert had grown up watching the anguish and fighting between uncles and aunts fighting over what their father Bill had built, only to see the older child Jack walk away with the reins to the family business.  Christmas was never the same any more.  Vacations were not spent with their cousins like the good old days.  They saw the tension and heartache of running a family business, and both Julie and Robert had decided long ago to never go into the family business and take a chance of hurting their own close relationship together.

Stunned...

What about working in the family business?  What about the fourth generation?  What about my Vision?  What about...

What about the planning portion of executing a decision?  

1. Does your Decisiveness take you away from good Planning?
2. Does your Planning include key partners affected by your Vision?
3. What could Jack have done differently?
4. What other behaviors of the Rare Leader™ should be exercised when discovering the fine balance between Planning and Execution?

If you want to learn more about the Rare Leader™ in you, 

or if you are interested in retaining Steve as your Executive Coach, 

Contact Steve Riege via: twitter, or his website.

Stuck In The Moment

I left a lengthy session with a client deeply involved in their strategic planning process.  When I say deeply, I mean way over the top.  They asked me to help them finish the plan.  They felt they were too close to the task at hand to hold themselves accountable to the finish line.

This is a company that has experienced great growth.  Ownership felt they needed to put some type of plan together rather than run in the direction of hot sales as they have on the past.  

So here they are - planning, and planning, and planning.  Meanwhile, the world and all of those hot sales are passing them by.  Everyone is committed to planning, leaving no one to keep the business flowing.  Operations are slowing down, designs  contain more errors, and the road warriors are not on the road selling.  All the key players are focused on planning their future.  And, just as they dove in and pursued the hot sales during the infancy of their company, they are now driven and focused on the planning efforts.  However, they have become “stuck in the moment” of all the planning...and they “can’t get out of it”.

In Leadership, there is a time to realize the balance between planning and execution needs an adjustment.  Todd the CEO, realized this at the quarterly review when studying the running 12 month reports on sales, backlog, errors, and manufacturing.  

Then he called me...

As we worked through activities of the past few months, it was clear the collaboration process and Team involvement on the strategic plan had taken leadership control away from Todd.  We worked through the symptoms to the core issues.  Todd found his leadership had been absent while he was allowing all the planning activities to take over the momentum of his Team away from their focus on execution.  

Todd was faced with two challenges.  First, he needed to get his Team engaged in the tasks at hand.  Secondly, the Team needed to put some of their planning to work and begin to execute some of their action steps.  

As time has passed, Todd is leading again.  Sales are coming in.  Quality is on track.  Manufacturing is in process.  And, there are  some elements of the strategic plan completed.

The Rare Leader™ is able to blend all twelve of the key behaviors, and balance them with, and against each other.  

The Rare Leader™ is also able to 

discern the fragile balance between planning and execution.

1. Are you “Stuck in the Moment”?
2. When you are stuck, are you able to “get out of it”?
3. How do you prevent getting “stuck”
4. What tools and resources can you use to identify and maintain the proper balance between planning and execution?

If you want to learn more about the Rare Leader™ in you, 

or if you are interested in retaining Steve as your Executive Coach, 

Contact Steve Riege via: twitter, or his website.

Are You Planning To Execute?

There is this fine balance in everything we do.  There are decisions to be made.  Each moment of our life requires execution to some degree on every breath, every movement,  every thought, and of course every action.  Some execution comes with an instantaneous decision.  And then there are some points of execution that were the results of long, laborious planning.  Yes, there is that fine balance in planning and executiuon.  

How much time, effort and resource do you put into making a decision and leaping into action?

When your execution results in leading others, your discernment of this fine line between planning and execution is now affecting others, compounding the stress of getting it right.

I recently presented a sales training seminar on the topic of “Why Sales People Fail”.  In this portion of the five part series, I focused upon the “failure of sales people to operate from an accountable, written plan”.  The necessity of a clear and focused direction is paramount.

Preparing a personal business plan requires six essential steps.

• Assess strengths and obstacles
• Articulate a strategy 
• Align resources
• Focus your effort
• Deploy resources
• Revisit, Revise, Remain

Step two, “articulating a strategy” is where the planning takes place.  Working on the triad of a foundation of "where you are",  a Vision of "where you want to be", and an action plan of "how to get there", prepares you to move from planning to execution.

When preparing your personal business plan, whether it is for selling, or what ever your vocation may be, these six steps will help you define the fine balance from planning to execution.  In the end, your Team will see you as visionary, decisive, with high achievement drive, and they will follow you.  It’s one of the reasons you are a Leader...perhaps a Rare Leader™.

When it comes to planning - remember - The Rare Leader™ has the keen ability to lay out clear plans and organize people and resources.  The Rare Leader™ will display a balance between planning and execution, meaning = how and why to plan, and how and why to take action.

Perhaps it is time for you to define that fine line.

1. Do you sometimes find yourself “frozen” in the planning mode and unable to take action?
2. Do you find that sometimes you took action too quickly and perhaps some careful planning would have been in order?
3. Do you have a process to plan?  (This process can enable you to move thoroughly, but quickly from planning to execution)
4. Are you balanced between planning and execution?

If you want to learn more about the Rare Leader™ in you, 

or if you are interested in retaining Steve as your Executive Coach, 

Contact Steve Riege via: twitter, or his website.

Passion is...

Ready, set, go.  Everybody have their list in front of them?  who wants to go first?  Ok, go ahead...define passion.  Hmmm...That’s what I thought.  When you really have to put it down on paper, or describe it to a group, it’s not that easy is it?

That happened to me as I sat down to write about Passion.  When I think about defining Passion as I am driving, or getting ready to start my day, I can see it so clearly I can almost taste it.  Passion.  But when I sit down and attempt to put pen to paper, I get writers cramp or something else that gives me pause.

You are probably like me.  When you see someone who is Passionate about something, you can tell.  No one has to say “Wow, that Pastor Gable is so passionate about the word of God when he preaches”.  If you were to have dinner with Bud Selig as I did, you can tell the commisioner is very Passionate about baseball.  Even my five year old grandson Mason gets passionate about things in his young life that matter so dearly to him.  

So how do you define Passion?  The answer is that you don’t.  Thats the wonderful thing about it.  When you meet someone who has Passion, it doesn’t require definition.  It is so obvious, because it comes so easy and naturally to the person you have observed.

When a Leader Takes Ownership with Passion, it is no secret.  We can all see the obvious.

Think about the other side.  Some people approach their role as a leader with pain.  It hurts to watch them, let alone actually work for them.  They simply don’t care.  When it’s crunch time, they hope somebody else will step up and make it happen.  Goals are not met, no one is held accountable, sales suffer, good employees leave, and still, the leader without Passion takes no responsibility to assure success.

Taking Ownership of assuring success combines responsibility with passion.  Being passionate about your job as a leader almost eliminates the need to discuss responsibility.  That’s why Passion is so important when the Rare Leader Takes Ownership.

When John Gable preaches with Passion, it is because he has prepared, he believes he has been called, and he actually loves what he does.  Bud Selig has loved baseball all his life.  He invested his own money to buy a professional team.  He knows why baseball is Americas past time.  

They are passionate because this is “their Mozart”.  Thats what my dad called it.  He was a classically trained musician.  He was certain God created something very special and unique for every individual.  How else could Mozart compose his first composition, Andante in C, at age five?  Unfortunately, not everyone finds it.  But when they do find that Mozart in themselves, they Take Ownership with Passion.

What is the Mozart in you?  Is Leading organizations and people touch that Mozart in you?  If so, then Take Ownership of Leading, and do it with Passion.    

If you want to learn more about the Rare Leader™ in you, 

or if you are interested in retaining Steve as your Executive Coach, 

Contact Steve Riege via: twitter, or his website.

Give Me The Ball

There’s 10 seconds left in the game.  We’re down by 2 points.  This is the championship.  This is what we have worked so hard all year long to accomplish.  It was our BHAG.  

And then, during the timeout, someone speaks up and says it.  He looks at everyone in the huddle, and says those four words.  “Give me the ball”.  It is at that moment you realize someone has taken over.  When it really matters, he announces he is taking ownership of the crucial score. He is telling us if he makes the three pointer we win.  If he misses the shot, if he is anything but perfect for 10 seconds, he is to blame.  And...he is ok with that responsibility.  

Make it we win, and perhaps he is a hero.  Miss it, and the season os over, and the spotlight of blame is on one person.

Would you interpret this scenario as an analogy to “Taking Ownership” at work?

You’ve been there.  It is a crucial moment.  The Board meeting begins in moments, and there is one more question we had not expected.  Or, just before you reach an agreement on the details of a large sale the buyer throws in one more twist.  You tell others...”give me the ball, I’ve got this one”.

I will agree with you that this is a time where someone takes ownership of finding the right answer, or meeting the terms to create that sale.  However, the Rare Leader™ will be found Taking Ownership differently.  

As a leader, Taking Ownership is not about you taking the final shot.  This is about you leading others.  The Rare Leader™ understands the importance of accepting responsibility as a Leader, not as the MVP. A Rare Leader™ of people, and of organizations reaches pinnacles of success by finding others who will step up to be the MVP.  

The Rare Leader™ will fill the organization with people who are passionate about taking responsibility for choices, feeling, thinking, and in everything they do.  The Rare Leader™ provides an example, so others on the Team will stop blaming others for their own decisions, and will teach them to be responsible for who they are.  The Rare Leader™ will initiate this type of change of culture in their organization because they believe in themselves.

Have you ever heard this prophesy? “The greatest sales people may not make the greatest leaders.”  Great sales people are really successful at selling, because they are passionate about selling.  They love being the MVP of the sale.  They love the hunt, the harvest, and they love devouring the fruit of success.  

If I am a Rare Leader™, my team hopes being the greatest performer at my "craft" was not the top qualifier for the job.  My team does not need the MVP as their Leader.  My Team needs a Rare Leader™ who is passionate about making them the MVP at what they do.  My Team needs a leader to Take Ownership of making the entire team and the entire organization successful.  

I need to Take Ownership of Leading others.

1. Have you ever wanted the ball as time was running out?
2. Have you ever been the MVP?
3. Have you hired an MVP?
4. Have you led a Team of MVP’s?
5. Are you a Rare Leader™ who is passionate about Taking Ownership in leading others?

If you want to learn more about the Rare Leader™ in you, 

or if you are interested in retaining Steve as your Executive Coach, 

Contact Steve Riege via: twitter, or his website.