Tag: Training

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Great Mentors Do More Than Give Advice- They Ask These Questions

Great Mentors Do More Than Giving Advice- They Ask These Questions

Being a good mentor is very important, but the question of how you become a good mentor is always up for debate. It’s about being so much more than just someone that tells you how they achieved success. One of the most common and important characteristics of all good mentors seems to be their ability to ask insightful and meaningful questions.

Asking questions to your protege’ will allow you to be more insightful and offer better solutions tailored to their specific situation. You will begin to build a genuine relationship with this person where trust can be established and a mutual partnership will grow. Here are some of the questions all the good mentors ask.

1. What Are You Reading?

Finding out about your mentee’s reading habits, interests, hobbies, and other personal questions will help you build a lasting relationship. This will also give you insight into their lives and the way they respond to situations. When your protege knows you are someone they can trust, they will open up to you more allowing you to help them in the best way possible.

2. What Obstacles Are You Facing?

Mentors can provide valuable insight to overcoming obstacles when they understand just want their understudy is going through. Sometimes, the person may not have even thought about their obstacles and need to be prompted to dig deep. This will also give you an opportunity to find their strengths and weaknesses.

3. What Options Have You Come Up With?

Pointing out the exact solution to your protege’s problems isn’t always the best way to go about things. You should allow your mentee to come up with potential solutions to their obstacles. There will be a time when you need to fill in the gaps to trigger a solution, but doing all the work for them will not help them grow.

4. What Do You Want To Be Different In 3 to 5 Years?

This is a great question to help your understudy look forward to the future while determining what they can course correct now to get there. A 3 to a 5-year window is perfect since it’s not so far in the future that they get distracted by how much can change by then.

5. Tell Me More

While this technically isn’t a question, this bold statement will prompt your mentee to provide more information on their opinion or the conclusion they came up with. Biases or blind spots that they couldn’t see before will become more obvious. You as a mentor can help expand their mind around the situation and find new ways to help.

We would love to hear your comments. Please email or call today!

Gary Brunson
gary@myclearfocus.com

Debra Rider
debra@myclearfocus.com

574.361.2674

Sustainable Growth & Profit Consultant, Coach, Mentor and Counselor/Therapist for Business Owners and Professional.

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A Corporate Board Member’s Toughest Job – Setting Company Leadership

A Corporate Board Member’s Toughest Job – Setting Company Leadership

Being a part of a company’s board sounds like a daunting job, and it truly is. And while it may be extremely tough to do, the simplest job lies here – hiring and monitoring the leadership teams, starting with the CEO. Staying focused on this task will mean more time to oversee the culture, strategy, and performance of the company.

Yet even the simplest job comes with difficult tasks to keep up with. It would be too easy if you could just hire the leadership team and watch the company grow. The board also has to figure out how to assess performance, find a new CEO in case the current one leaves, and find the best leadership structure for the company.

Assessing Performance

By completing an annual review, the board is able to accurately track and assess the performance of the CEO. Some companies even hold an off-site retreat over the span of a few days to go over strategies for staying competitive in an ever growing marketplace. Focusing on leaders that have the future of the company in their mind is crucial.

The CEO Succession

There comes a point in everyone’s career that you will either stay with a company and retire or leave for a better opportunity. In any case, the board must have a plan in place to fill the vacant CEO role when it happens. According to Forbes, the average tenure for a US CEO is 9.7 years.

With the lifespan of a company being roughly 11 years before going public or going through acquisition, per EquityZen, the board has to find a CEO that is right for the future. Even though trends show that two-thirds of the CEOs hired from within are successful, you may not have a large enough talent pool to choose from. If you are a smaller company, reaching outside may be your only and best option.

Leadership Structure

Planning the role of the CEO is only one part of the job. The structure of the CEO’s role is extremely important to figure out. In most instances now, the CEO is also a chairman of the board. It is actually quite undermining to the CEO to not be part of the board when they are the head of overall operations for your company.

 

It can also become a bit complicated when the CEO retires or if the CEO is the founder of the company. Having them still be part of the board can cause tension with the new CEO. It would be very difficult for a founder or retired CEO to not overstep boundaries and only handle board duties.

Need help? Contact us today!

Gary Brunson
gary@myclearfocus.com

Debra Rider
debra@myclearfocus.com

574.361.2674

Sustainable Growth & Profit Consultant, Coach, Mentor and Counselor/Therapist for Business Owners and Professional.

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2 Things You Need To Do For Your Millennial Employees

2 Things You Need To Do For Your Millennial Employees

Millennials in 2019 are ages 23-38 and their population is larger than the Generation X demographic that came before them. This next generation of managers and leaders are eager and energetic. They are just as critical and important to the workplace today as well as the future.

However, it’s important to note that as a group millennials are not as loyal to employers as other groups. According to a 2016 survey of millennials, 66% of this particular demographic start a new job with the expectation that they will leave in three years. So what is the secret to retaining millennials keeping your turnover low?Current Leadership

One of the most important things to note is that most employees leave a job, not because of wages or work, but instead, it’s the managers that they have.

It’s important to mentor and coach them a way that they both understand and makes sense for the company. A trustworthy and willing leadership team is important to keep your employees.

This is also important when it comes to having regular performance reviews and giving feedback in real time. This might include weekly one-on-ones, daily numbers sent via email, and regular reports given. An annual report will not work because how can someone fix a problem or continue doing something positive if they only hear feedback once a year?

Path To Promotion

A millennial that has at least 6 months of experience is going to feel that they are ready for a shot at a promotion. However, promotions should have a required length for a promotion to be allowed. If you do have a requirement, make sure that expectation is set during the interview so it is clear what will be required.

Most millennials are not going to stay at a job that doesn’t promote from within. Why would they want to start an entry level job with no chance of moving up in the company? Promotions shouldn’t be guaranteed, but based on job performance and given fair opportunities.

Applying What You’ve Learned

Once you’ve figured out what you need to do to keep millennials as employees, it’s important to apply it right away. Meet with your teams and make sure they understand what you will be implementing and get started on a game plan. Let your employees know that you care and what changes will be taking place and you are sure to see a change in morale.

We would love to hear your comments. Please email or contact us today!

Gary Brunson
gary@myclearfocus.com

Debra Rider
debra@myclearfocus.com

574.361.2674

Sustainable Growth & Profit Consultant, Coach, Mentor and Counselor/Therapist for Business Owners and Professional.

Copyright protected by author Gary Sorrell,  Sorrell Associates, LLC.  All rights reserved worldwide.

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The True Key to Workplace Productivity

The True Key to Workplace Productivity

In order to entice the most skilled employees, you need to stay on the cutting edge of workplace trends. We’ll discuss some ways the workplace is changing and what you can do about it. You can make your workplace more job seeker-friendly and increase workplace productivity.

What Does an Agile Workplace Look Like?

More and more employees are seeking a flexible work environment. They want to be able to work on the go, from where they’re at. Workplace agility provides the tools necessary to accomplish this.

Give your employees the tools they need to continue to be productive and efficient from wherever they’re at. Workplace agility is supported by technology that can create this flexibility for your employees. We’ll discuss some of these vital tools in depth later on.

Why Is It Important?

Today, there are more jobs than there are qualified people to fill them. This means you need to be attractive to potential employees. According to several studies, current job seekers care more about flexibility and options in the workplace than they do salary.

They need a space that allows them to work on their own time. Some work best on their own. Some thrive in a space that allows them to collaborate with others. And, yet, even others excel when they’re able to work in their own environment at home. Agility creates space and the tools to integrate all of these needs into the workplace and increases overall productivity.

How to Create an Agile Workplace

This isn’t something you just plunge into without any planning. You’ll need to have a strategy, implement that strategy, then quickly adapt to what’s working. You’ll need to track employee engagement to see how active they are on different tools such as the cloud and apps.

Create a space that has a common area for employees to come together to collaborate, but still has private offices for those that need time to work on their own. Most suggest starting with a cloud-based office suite to aid in collaboration as your employees work together in person and from the comfort of their own homes.

Technology Tools for an Agile Workplace

Virtual reality and augmented reality are several great tools that allow your employees to attend meetings or test products from wherever they are at. SaaS platforms and the cloud are vital tools for remote work. These tools allow your team to collaborate with each other via the internet.

With the desire to work remotely comes the need for a “work as you need to” model. As long as employers are getting their work done, then employers aren’t concerned with the hours they logged doing the work. This is also a great model that allows employees to come together to brainstorm then separate to fulfill their duties on their own.

Gary Brunson
gary@myclearfocus.com

Debra Rider
debra@myclearfocus.com

574.361.2674

Sustainable Growth & Profit Consultant, Coach, Mentor and Counselor/Therapist for Business Owners and Professional.

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Tell Your Company’s Story To Recruit The Right Talent

Tell Your Company’s Story To Recruit The Right Talent

It can be difficult for small business owners to sell potential employees on the company. While brands such as Google and Amazon have recruits lining up off of name-power alone, your small business will not have that luxury. Being able to sell your company and its culture will go a long way to attracting top recruits to your business.

Let Them In On Your Culture

One of the most important things to remember as a business owner or a leader is why. Why do you wake up every morning excited to provide whatever service it is you provide to your customers? You should be able to easily explain to potential recruits why you and your employees strive to give 100% every day.

While you should be selling the positive values of your workspace environment, there is no need to lie or exaggerate to make yourself look better. Find out what makes your business great and come up with a concise and informative pitch using that information. Lying and exaggerating is just going to hurt your reputation and cause newcomers to be unhappy when they discover all that glitters isn’t gold.

Sell Recruits On Your Employees

The best way to give potential recruits a peek into the culture of your workplace is by your employees. After all, no one knows better about how awesome it is to work for you than the people who do.

Create a recruiting campaign based around the positive culture at your business and use your employees to do so.

You can use quotes, photos, videos or testimonials to try and sell potential employees. Recruits are more likely to trust the people that work for you than you yourself. Showcase why people love working for your company by actually using the people who love working for your company.

Show Them the Benefits

Try not to be obtuse to the fact that while a positive work environment is great, it’s still a job at the end of the day. And what’s the reason most of us seek out jobs in the first place? We simply need a paycheck and the benefits that the job provides.

Don’t be afraid to showcase your benefits during a recruiting campaign. For many people looking for a job, it could be the deciding factor between choosing you and someone else. Let future employees in on what they could be gaining by working for you.

Sell New Recruits on You

More importantly, sell potential recruits on working for you. Make your workplace an inviting one, and people will come.

We would love to hear your comments. Please email or call today!

Gary Brunson
gary@myclearfocus.com

Debra Rider
debra@myclearfocus.com

574.361.2674

Sustainable Growth & Profit Consultant, Coach, Mentor and Counselor/Therapist for Business Owners and Professional.

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How Business Leaders Can Focus on Their Why

How Business Leaders Can Focus on Their Why

As you get caught up in the day-to-day business, feeling like you’re wading through numbers and spreadsheets, it’s easy to lose sight of the “why”. It’s not surprising that those who work with meaning behind it are more productive and more satisfied. We’re going to help you learn how you can focus more on your “why”.

Find Meaning that’s Relatable

When you find a purpose that drives others as well, you’re more likely to attract others to you who bring support and enhance your efforts. It also helps you find purpose when you see that you’re working towards a similar cause. It makes you feel like you’re part of something much bigger.

Find Meaning in Your Services or Products

If you’re having trouble finding purpose, then you can look at what you provide.

Some business leaders provide a service that fills a need. Others create products that help others. Whatever it is, think about how it affects others.

Does it fill a need or help others? This is the driving force of many small business owners. They see a need and want to fill it.

Find a Way to Make an Impact

If you’re having a hard time finding meaning in what you provide, there are other ways your company can make a social impact. Many leaders give their companies meaning and make them more relatable by donating to charitable organizations

Another great option is donating your time. This is something that will also help your employees feel purpose as they can come together to donate their time to the community.

Use Your “Why” to Get You Through Menial Tasks

When you have found your “why” use it as motivation to get you through the mundane parts of your day. If all these small, menial tasks all work together to help someone out, then knowing that will energize you to get through. You can also help encourage your employees and increase productivity by helping them see what part of the “why” they play.

There Will Still Be Hard Days

Even though you have found your purpose and you now feel energized and motivated, there will be days when that won’t be enough. Or, days when your drive just won’t be there. You can find encouragement in the fact that the next day is a new day and the drive will be there.

We would love to hear your comments. Please email or contact us today!

Gary Brunson
gary@myclearfocus.com

Debra Rider
debra@myclearfocus.com

574.361.2674

Sustainable Growth & Profit Consultant, Coach, Mentor and Counselor/Therapist for Business Owners and Professional.

Copyright protected by author Bruce M. Anderson. Reprinted with permission. Sorrell Associates, LLC.  Thinking Partners Inc.

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How to Overcome Decision-Making Problems

How to Overcome Decision-Making Problems

Making decisions is harder for some people than it is for others. Some people are just naturally good when it comes to solving problems or making decisions. Whether you have a small choice to make or a bigger workplace decision, here are a few steps to overcome this problem.

Don’t Be Overconfident

One of the biggest mistakes in decision making is being overly confident. There’s a difference between being certain and being overconfident with your decision making.

If you head into a decision without thinking things through, you’re more likely to fail.

Instead of making a quick choice, treat your decision as a serious action. A good way to avoid being too confident is weight all your options and consider the facts of the situation. It also doesn’t hurt to get other opinions from trusted resources.

Be Okay With Reasoning It Out

Taking the time to reason will save you a lot of grief in decision making. The most successful people are the ones that take time to consider the pros and cons along the way to their goals. For example, if a business owner wants to buy another part in his company, he’ll think about the percentage of success.

Some helpful steps to reasoning include:

  • Gather important information.
  • Consider the alternatives as you collect information.
  • Draw from your past experiences as you look at the facts.
  • Review the facts in front of you.
  • Think about the consequences.

Following these steps will help you reason out the facts from your emotions and help you avoid failure.

Consider The Odds

Considering the odds is also known as finding the probability. Using this important skill will help you make better and smarter decisions in all areas of life. You’ll also have an easier time understanding the probable outcome of your decision.

Be patient with this step. Using basic probability is a practiced skill for a lot of people but it is essential to making decisions. The best decision-makers don’t use this skill once and forget about it. They keep returning to it every day in their lives.

Making the Decision

After you walk through the process, it’s time to actually make the decision. Going through this process doesn’t mean the outcome is successful every time. However, the process does help you successfully analyze every step and avoid quick choices that hurt you in the long run.

Follow this process to learn a valuable skill and avoid decision-making problems.

We would love to hear your comments. Please email or contact us today!

Gary Brunson
gary@myclearfocus.com

Debra Rider
debra@myclearfocus.com

574.361.2674

Sustainable Growth & Profit Consultant, Coach, Mentor and Counselor/Therapist for Business Owners and Professional.

Copyright protected by author Bruce M. Anderson. Reprinted with permission. Sorrell Associates, LLC.  Thinking Partners Inc.

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Strong Leaders Know How to Serve Their Team

Strong Leaders Know How to Serve Their Team

Traditional leadership and servant leadership are different. A traditional leader exists to sit at the top of the pyramid and hand orders down the line. A servant leader flips the pyramid upside down by sharing their power with the team. They put the needs of the team above their own so that everyone on the team can advance.

Characteristics of a Bad Leader

You’ve no doubt had a bad leader. There are certain characteristics that these types of leaders exhibit. For example, a bad leader gives the answer, “I’m the boss, that’s why” as the only reason for making a change. A servant leader would never say that.

Other things that a bad leader tends to do is play favorites. They obviously give preference to certain people on the team. Also, they will tell you that their door is always open, but it never seems like they are available to you.

Characteristics of Servant Leaders

On the flip side, servant leaders are counter-cultural to the stereotypical boss type. These men and women spend their time finding ways to take care of the team through servanthood.

Some of the characteristics of a servant leader include:

  • Readily listening to the ideas of others
  • Be a team player
  • Lead by example
  • Follow through with the things they say

These leaders are inspirational to the team and have a greater ability to partner with them. More is accomplished when teams work together with a leader that comes alongside them and gets in the trenches.

Servant Leaders Make it a Priority to Have an Open Door Policy

Probably one of the things that is most important for servant leaders is to have a “door is always open” policy. So many people will say that this is the case, but the team can’t get face time with them. When a leader actually makes it a priority to talk to those under them, they will know how to serve them better.

If you are a leader, strive to be a servant to others. That is the best way to run a company and be successful.

We would love to hear your comments. Please email or call today!

Gary Brunson
gary@myclearfocus.com

Debra Rider
debra@myclearfocus.com

574.361.2674

Sustainable Growth & Profit Consultant, Coach, Mentor and Counselor/Therapist for Business Owners and Professional.

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A Simple Tip to Improve Your Performance Management

A Simple Tip to Improve Your Performance Management

A Simple Tip to Improve Your Performance ManagementAs a leader, you are in charge of many aspects of the job such as communication, strategies, management and more. But, there’s one area where leaders often fail. Unfortunately, these mistakes cost them great employees.

Employees Want to Feel Appreciated

The simple tip to improve the performance from your team is this- appreciation. They want to hear that you are happy with their performance and results. Of course, this needs to be genuine thanks about their work and what they accomplish.

How to Show Appreciation to Your Employees

If you google performance management, you’ll come up with the 4 basic steps you need to take for a successful performance management cycle.

These steps include planning, action, monitoring, and reviewing the employees.

What you likely won’t read, is how you can use these steps to show true appreciation to your team.

Planning

The planning or goal- setting phase is a perfect time to sit down with your employee and have a heartfelt conversation with them about how you believe in them. You can easily point to their strengths and qualities that you know will help them with the task. It’s powerful when someone believes in you.

Action

When you get your employees set in motion, you need to be consistent with checking in on them. Many people complain that they only hear from their managers at the start and end of a project. Everyone needs someone on the sidelines cheering them on.

Monitoring

The monitoring phase is not a time to micromanage the employees. Rather, it is a time to give them the ability to reach out to you and share what’s going on. During these conversations, you can take the time to reward their progress. Rewarding along the way helps them push through and keep moving forward.

Reviewing

Once the project is completed, the reviewing phase is a good time to go over how things were handled during the project. You can use this time to assess how well they did during certain parts of the process. Of course, it is also a time to share how they can improve on future projects.

When you realize how important it is to show your employees they are appreciated, it will make a big difference in their satisfaction and retention.

Gary Brunson
gary@myclearfocus.com

Debra Rider
debra@myclearfocus.com

574.361.2674

Sustainable Growth & Profit Consultant, Coach, Mentor and Counselor/Therapist for Business Owners and Professional.

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Exceptional Leaders… Make Contingency Plans 

Exceptional Leaders… Make Contingency Plans 

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita have highlighted the need for leaders to make contingency plans should unlikely but potentially negative events occur.

Exceptional Leaders know that bad things happen quickly while good things generally happen slowly. While no one can precisely predict the future, those who plan for the unexpected certainly fare better than those who don’t.

Having a plan gives comfort now. Having a plan means avoiding the panic caused by not being in control. Having a plan means recovering more quickly.

After being shut down when the World Trade Center was attacked, Merrill Lynch moved their operations to backup locations in New Jersey. Within five days their technology was up and running with employees at their desks. This required extraordinary prior planning.

Thought Provoker

Have you thought through all the potential consequences of unexpected but potentially negative future events?

Do you have plans in writing to account for those consequences?

Do you have all the insurance that is prudent and that you can reasonably afford? What risks are not covered?

Do you have primary and secondary backups for all your electronic information that is vital to the operations of your business?

Do you have alternatives for quickly acquiring resources that are vital to the operations of your business? This could include suppliers as well as employees who are vital to your business.

Exceptional Leaders know how to measure and manage risk. This includes developing the needed contingency plans for dealing with improbable but potential external events.

We would love to hear your comments. Please email or contact us today!

Gary Brunson
gary@myclearfocus.com

Debra Rider
debra@myclearfocus.com

574.361.2674

Sustainable Growth & Profit Consultant, Coach, Mentor and Counselor/Therapist for Business Owners and Professional.

Copyright protected by author Bruce M. Anderson. Reprinted with permission. Sorrell Associates, LLC.  Thinking Partners Inc.

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