If you believe in the concept of "Every battle is won before it is ever fought" from The Art of War written by Sun Tzu, then you know that what you do in preparation of accomplishment is key to determining the outcome.
Here is a recent Nike commercial that drives the point home from an athletic perspective.
Have a successful day
-Jim
© 2008 SuccessCo
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1) Track "problem Trends" early - at the first sign of sagging numbers, lack of performance, product slumps, etc. immediately seek to find the problem and address the issue early.
2) Read books and magazines that are outside your industry and usual reading patters. This is a great way to keep a broad perspective and come up with new ideas.
3) Take two retreats annually - Get out of the office and away from your day to day routine to develop longer term strategies.
4) At the end of each day, take a moment to reflect on what was effective and what was not.
5) Have fun - For Bill, you can see he has a great sense of humor - check out this hilarious video mocking his time in retirement featuring cameos by Brian Williams, Steve Ballmer, Matthew McConaughey, Jay-Z, Bono, Steven Spielberg, George Clooney, Jon Stewart, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama, and Al Gore... From the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, during his last keynote address.
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Hiring these days is like walking on rice paper. What can you ask, what can’t you ask? How in the world can you find out if a person is the type of individual you’re looking for?
Although I’m not going to get into the legalities of the hiring process, specifically what interview questions can and can’t be asked, I am listing some great interview questions that are outside the traditional box, that will assist you in finding out who the ‘real person’ sitting across the desk from you is.
Some Great Outside the Box Interview Questions
- Tell me 10 ways to use a pencil other than writing.
- If selected for this position, can you describe your strategy for the first 90 days?
- With your eyes closed, tell me step-by-step how to tie my shoes.
- If you could choose one superhero power, what would it be and why?
- What assignment was too difficult for you, and how did you resolve the issue?
- Tell me the difference between good and exceptional.
- Why is there fuzz on a tennis ball?
- What do you look for in terms of culture -- structured or entrepreneurial?
- Give examples of ideas you've had or implemented.
- How do you think I rate as an interviewer? Why?
- How would you go about establishing your credibility quickly with the team?
- Give me an example of a time that you felt you went above and beyond the call of duty at work.
- What is your personal mission statement?
- What do you see yourself doing within the first 30 days of this job?
- What two adjectives best describe you?
- If I were your supervisor and asked you to do something that you disagreed with, what would you do?
- How many times do a clock's hands overlap in a day?
- What techniques and tools do you use to keep yourself organized?
- If you could get rid of any one of the US states, which one would you get rid of, and why?
- If you had to choose one, would you consider yourself a big-picture person or a detail-oriented person?
Disclaimer – This post is for your personal entertainment and not legal or HR advice. I am not responsible for your hiring or business screw ups. Please consult with your attorney for specific hiring advice. Sorry – my attorney said I had to include this!
-Jim
© 2008 SuccessCo.com
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When you hear the word "coach", what comes first into your mind? Do you picture a basketball team with a man/woman shouting out directions? Or perhaps a football team with a man/woman pacing to and fro and calling out the names of the players?
Coaching is no longer reserved to sports teams; it is now one of the key concepts in leadership and management. Why is coaching popular?
Coaching levels the playing field
Coaching is one of the six emotional leadership styles proposed by Daniel Goleman. Moreover, it is a behavior or role that leaders enforce in the context of situational leadership. As a leadership style, coaching is used when the members of a group or team are competent and motivated, but do not have an idea of the long-term goals of an organization. This involves two levels of coaching: team and individual. Team coaching makes members work together. In a group of individuals, not everyone may have nor share the same level of competence and commitment to a goal. A group may be a mix of highly competent and moderately competent members with varying levels of commitment. These differences can cause friction among the members. The coaching leader helps the members level their expectations. Also, the coaching leader manages differing perspectives so that the common goal succeeds over personal goals and interests. In a big organization, leaders need to align the staffs' personal values and goals with that of the organization so that long-term directions can be pursued.
Coaching builds up confidence and competence
Individual coaching is an example of situational leadership at work. It aims to mentor one-on-one building up the confidence of members by affirming good performance during regular feedbacks; and increase competence by helping the member assess his/her strengths and weaknesses towards career planning and professional development. Depending on the individual's level of competence and commitment, a leader may exercise more coaching behavior for the less-experienced members. Usually, this happens in the case of new staffs. The direct supervisor gives more defined tasks and holds regular feedbacks for the new staff, and gradually lessens the amount of coaching, directing, and supporting roles to favor delegating as competence and confidence increase.
Coaching promotes individual and team excellence
Excellence is a product of habitual good practice. The regularity of meetings and constructive feedback is important in establishing habits. Members catch the habit of constantly assessing themselves for their strengths and areas for improvement that they themselves perceive what knowledge, skills, and attitudes they need to acquire to attain team goals. In the process, they attain individually excellence as well. An example is in the case of a musical orchestra: each member plays a different instrument. In order to achieve harmony of music from the different instrument, members will polish their part in the piece, aside from practicing as an ensemble. Consequently, they improve individually as an instrument player.
Coaching develops high commitment to common goals
A coaching leader balances the attainment of immediate targets with long-term goals towards the vision of an organization. As mentioned earlier, with the alignment of personal goals with organizational or team goals, personal interests are kept in check. By constantly communicating the vision through formal and informal conversations, the members are inspired and motivated. Setting short-term team goals aligned with organizational goals; and making an action plan to attain these goals can help sustain the increased motivation and commitment to common goals of the members.
Coaching produces valuable leaders
Leadership by example is important in coaching. A coaching leader loses credibility when he/she cannot practice what he/she preaches. This means that a coaching leader should be well organized, highly competent is his/her field, communicates openly and encourages feedback, and has a clear idea of the organization's vision-mission-goals. By vicarious and purposive learning, members catch the same good practices and attitudes from the coaching leader, turning them into coaching leaders themselves. If a member experiences good coaching, he/she is most likely to do the same things when entrusted with formal leadership roles.
Notes: Coaching is just one of the styles of leadership. It can be done in combination with the other five emotional leadership styles depending on the profile of the emerging team. Moreover, coaching as a leadership style requires that you are physically, emotionally, and mentally fit most of the time since it involves two levels of coaching: individual and team. Your members expect you to be the last one to give up or bail out in any situation especially during times of crises. A coaching leader must be conscious that coaching entails investing time on each individual, and on the whole team. Moreover, that the responsibilities are greater since while you are coaching members, you are also developing future coaches as well.
SuccessCo
Try not to create an adversarial climate when overcoming a prospects objection or while engaging someone that you are trying to influence – You will soon discover that although you may be right, the end result will only be a great resolution not buy or act upon your recommendations.
Try these verbal techniques to help your words be more harmonious during the interaction.
* Take the blame – “I am sorry that I failed to make my point clear . . .”
* Make a Concession – “You are quite right that it may seem to be ____________ at first. However, when you consider . . .”
* By saying that others feel the same way – “Joe Smith at Acme manufacturing said the same thing at first.”
* Paying tribute to their idea – “I know that you have the interests of your company at heart.”
The greatest ability in business is to get along with others and influence their actions. A chip on the shoulder is too heavy a piece of baggage to carry through life. John Hancock
-Jim
© 2008 SuccessCo.com
To be an effective verbal communicator, it will serve you well not to use the words Never, None, All, Always, Everything and Constantly.
The other person is likely to focus on the exceptions to what you are saying, rather than the general meaning of the point you are trying to get across.
This guideline is especially helpful in dealing with employee issues, employee discipline and during employee reviews.
Jim
© 2007 Successco.com
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