ELEPHANT ALERT!

A lot of people are sweating right now. (And it’s not because they’re exercising more.) Things are crazy in the world. IRAs have taken a hit; house values are down; unemployment is up; and fewer people are buying what your company is selling.

What’s a person to do?

Here’s the elephant in the office: You can see it everywhere: People are filling their heads with A) things they can’t control; B) events that haven’t happened or may never happen; and C) all the mistakes they’ve made in the past.

There’s an old saying: Stress and worry are like rocking in a rocking chair; it’s a lot of work, but you don’t go anywhere.

STOMP THE ELEPHANT

Ironically, it is during moments like this when you need to perform at your best. Consider that with so many people around you taking themselves out of the game – and resigning themselves to rocking in a chair – that this is when you can shine.

It all comes down to this: Can you function even more on a roll? This doesn’t mean you have to be happy about what’s happening. It does mean that despite increasingly difficult times you become more productive and effective. And this is only achieved when you successfully control you.

Today ask these questions to stay on a roll:

1. What is in my control at this moment?
2. Rather than being attached to a certain outcome, how can I live more in acceptance of what is happening?
3. As events unfold, how will I live out of my values even more?
4. How can I move forward in a productive way?

Feeling the stress? The choice is yours: rock or roll?

Where will you lead – where will you stomp elephants – today?

ELEPHANT ALERT!

(If you know it all, then this isn’t for you.)

Curiously, this blog deals with something everyone knows. Yet, astonishingly, just because humans have the capacity to know something, it doesn’t mean we have the ability to do it.

As you become more knowledgeable can you prove that you’re becoming more effective as a leader?

Here’s the elephant in the office: Too often we hear:  “My boss can’t keep his mouth shut. He has to interject everywhere.” Perhaps there’s a “code of conduct for leaders” that states the boss has the final say in meetings and should be involved in every step of every initiative.

Because such an approach shuts down other people, the know-it-all boss then must become the do-it-all boss.

STOMP THE ELEPHANT

After a keynote in Ohio a man named Steve approached us. “The power of understanding that everyone wants to be great is amazing. When the company decided to spin off our division, I had a problem: I didn’t know any more than the team did!”

“Rather than make something up, I asked a question: ‘Whether you stay with the company or go, what are three things you’re going to do to make the new company more successful than ever?”

“I was stunned. Their ideas were light years ahead of anything I could come up with,” Steve reports. “Moving forward, they executed flawlessly.”

Steve reminds us that great leadership doesn’t mean you’re the smartest person in the room – and that your job is to leverage the talent around you, not dominate it.

A challenge: This week ask questions 10% more – and keep your mouth closed 10% more. You really don’t know it all – which means you don’t have to do it all.

Where will you lead – where will you stomp elephants – today?

ELEPHANT ALERT!

Times are tough. Resources are scarce. Stocks are down. Stress is high.

How is your team performing and responding to the pressure?

Here’s the elephant in the office: As work gets tougher many teams speed down the road to a dysfunctional state. They cultivate a culture of fear. Like leaves falling in autumn, excuses drop on why success can’t be reached. And CYA tactics permeate every meeting.

In the future, will your team be a memory – or become memorable?

STOMP THE ELEPHANT

“It’s easy when it’s easy,” says a friend named Kevin. “You set yourself apart when things are difficult.”

From Rudy to Apollo 13, Hollywood has provided an ample supply of “against all odds” success stories. Yet, just because your team doesn’t live in Hollywood, it doesn’t mean they can’t create their own Hollywood finish.

Everyone knows this: There will be organizations that come out of this “mess” victorious. And equally amazing: Even though this trek down a darker road may be new, you already know why select organizations will succeed. Among other steps, they’ll:

1. Master their focus. Instead of lamenting what they can’t control, they will consistently focus on solutions;
2. Create a culture of inclusion rather than exclusion. No one person has the answer to this riddle. It will only be revealed through collaboration; and
3. They’ll have leveraged their greatest strengths by focusing on what’s already working rather than what’s not. 

Have you ever had the desire to see your team demonstrate their greatness in a way that is recognized by posterity? Then you’ve never had a moment like now.

Is this your time? The answer is yours.

Where will you lead – where will you stomp elephants – today?

ELEPHANT ALERT!

Recently, a top leader told hundreds in the audience, “We need to correct course. I made a decision on a strategy last year – and it has alienated some of you. That wasn’t my intention. I take full responsibility and apologize.”

The person sitting next me inspired the title of this blog when he said, “That bailout was nicely done.” 

The US government has confessed that the economy is screwed up. Time is so short, that rather than take the typical route of finding blame and scapegoats, they agree that a corrective course of action is needed immediately.

Here’s the elephant in the office: Do you work with someone who has made a mistake, but refuses to accept responsibility for it? Consequently, they carry around a “fog of disillusionment” that repels even innocent bystanders. It takes a gas mask to have a meeting with such people!

Remarkably, it takes one simple act to clear the air – and get back to work.

STOMP THE ELEPHANT

Making an apology – taking responsibility – is a powerful leadership act. And while it’s easy to identify those people we work with who have the “fog of disillusionment” around them, consider that you, too, have such a challenge.

Are you ready to conduct your own bailout? With whom do you have a troubled relationship? It may be time to say, “I apologize. I take responsibility.” (If your ego has a grip on you, you can add, “I apologize for my part.”) And of course, it’s illegal to add “…but you need to take responsibility too.”

Bailouts save sinking ships. And they immediately put relationships on a course to greater productivity.

Bailouts are in vogue. Why not conduct your own?

Where will you lead – where will you stomp elephants – today?

ELEPHANT ALERT!

There’s an old saying that if you squeeze an orange you can expect to get orange juice. The pressure for higher performance is significant. Stress, adversity, ambiguity…it can seem to mount every day. Do you feel like you’re getting squeezed?

And when you’re squeezed – what comes out?

Here’s the elephant in the office: You may laugh at the above question. Most likely this is because you’ve worked next to people who, when squeezed, emit some not-so-pleasant material.

Isn’t it ironic? When things become difficult, when the pressure mounts, some people and teams deliver their worst.

STOMP THE ELEPHANT

As you grow older, as your responsibilities and the pressures mount, what are you discovering about yourself? Do you like what you are delivering for your peers, your family – and yourself?

When the numbers aren’t where you want them to be, does your response reflect your deepest values? When you’re tempted to cut corners, do people see your highest level of integrity? When you get home at night and you’re exhausted, does your family see you shine?

At this point in your career, do you appreciate and admire who you have become? And are you excited about who you are you becoming?

Regardless of your answer to the above question you can celebrate – because asking yourself these questions begins to build the awareness that is necessary to create the changes you want to make.

This week pay attention. The next time you feel the pressure mount, the next time you feel the squeeze, ask yourself, “How will I respond in a way that is congruent with who I want to be?”

It is how you respond to pressure that people discover who you really are.

Where will you lead – where will you stomp elephants – today?

ELEPHANT ALERT!

We just left Vail, CO after completing a “flight school” for a special finance company. As you know, the finance world is one big storm now. Yet, every person left this session understanding that THEY can determine the altitude at which their organization flies. Each employee understands that they can choose to be a passenger – or a pilot.

Passengers wait for others to lead; the pilots in this organization choose to lead.

So much in the finance world is out of an employee’s control. Therefore, their focus on how to live the attributes of quality leadership is becoming stronger. And because leadership is something they can control, they are experiencing success.

Here’s the elephant in the office: Most companies have a focus that takes their teams directly into the storm. “It’s scary right now,” many people are saying. “The economy, the pressures in the market, the attitudes…it’s tough to concentrate.”

STOMP THE ELEPHANT

What can you control? Do you know people who are allowing the variables outside of their control to distract them? You can see these “passengers” in life – the stress and worry corrupts their focus. And their results plummet.

You can always control your focus…which allows you to control your behaviors…which determines your results. During this turbulent time it’s wise to remember what the flight attendant told us when we boarded: If things get rough an oxygen mask will drop. Place your mask on your face first before helping anyone around you.

In other words, check your focus before trying to lead someone else.

Be a better pilot this week: Determine a question you’ll ask when life becomes turbulent. And then allow a stronger focus to deliver your leadership best.

Where will you lead – where will you stomp elephants – today?

ELEPHANT ALERT!

Ages ago they didn’t believe the human body had “cells.” They didn’t even know cells existed. Then the microscope was invented – and suddenly cells existed. The microscope didn’t invent cells, it revealed them.

What solutions do you need that don’t exist right now? And what will you do to facilitate the necessary “equipment” to discover the solution?

Here’s the elephant in the office: Some take the approach that if they can’t “see” the solution, then it’s not there. When new ideas are offered these people shoot them down, discredit them, or dismiss them. “It’s not possible!” they claim. This means their organization is doomed, because it is now limited only to “what is possible,” or more accurately, “what’s been done before.”

STOMP THE ELEPHANT

We just left Quebec City, Canada, after addressing the Packaging Association of Canada. They’re in a tight spot: Everything they do to provide you packaging requires energy – and fuel costs have skyrocketed. Plus, they must respond to the growing consumer demand for green products.

No easy solutions are in sight. But the industry isn’t in peril. After meeting these leaders, I’m convinced they’ll pass onto future generations a legacy of quality and innovation, because they have a key understanding.

The microscope was needed to prove cells existed. Discovering business solutions requires creating a mechanism where solutions reveal themselves. That mechanism is your culture. Here are three actions to better do this:

1. Establish a focus on what’s already working;
2. Ensure people feel good (read: creativity);
3. And develop a “let’s-determine-how-that-idea-will-work” mentality vs. a “here’s- why-it-won’t-work” approach.

Do you believe your solutions are out there?

Where will you lead – where will you stomp elephants – today?

ELEPHANT ALERT!

What evidence do you have that you’re taking the right action?

Everyone has good intentions. Most organizations claim, “Our people are our greatest asset.” Yet, what investments do they make to leverage their competitive strategic advantage?

Here’s the elephant in the office: No one gets married and then says, “I’m going to let this marriage fall apart.” Still, few couples use effective tools and build into their weekly routine actions that ensure their marriage thrives. The same thing happens in the workplace: Everyone has the intentions of “building trust,” but few take deliberate, weekly actions to ensure they’re getting stronger.

The results don’t lie: The “best of intentions” approach doesn’t work.

STOMP THE ELEPHANT

Most subscribers to this blog are using a systemic, tool-based approach that consistently builds individuals, teams and results. The culture of engagement created by this approach pays dividends.

When you say “Quality is a priority” you’re not just talking about what is delivered to your customers. You take it a step further than your competitors and make the quality of your leadership and culture a CONSISTENT priority as well.

Because you experience it every day, you probably don’t need more proof that you’re doing the right thing. So here’s more evidence you can share with the nay-sayers who claim the “soft stuff” doesn’t matter: A recent Towers-Perrin global survey (page 4), with over 40 companies participating, revealed those organizations with the highest percentage of engaged employees increased their operating income by 19% and their profit per share by 28% year to year. Those companies with a disengaged workforce? They saw a 33% decline in operating income and a drop of 11% in earnings per share.

You’re rare: You have good intentions AND you lead with an action plan to deliver on those intentions. You’re taking the right action.

Where will you lead – where will you stomp elephants – today?

ELEPHANT ALERT!

Imagine you are the coach for the defending Super Bowl champions, New York Giants. Because you won last year, you tell the team, “It’s obvious we have the best talent, so we’re not going to practice together. Just show up on game day ready to play.”

This insane approach would result in a 0-16 record and the end of your career. Shockingly, guess what the predominant approach is in business?

Here’s the elephant in the office: Despite the best of intentions, the traditional “training mentality” is costing companies billions of dollars. Giving people a “once-in-a-while” chance to improve how well they work together backfires; people become cynical and skeptical and an attitude of “the company values rhetoric” emerges as employees are exposed to a daily dose of dysfunctional teamwork.

“Once in a while” must be replaced with “all the time.”

STOMP THE ELEPHANT

An event-based, build-the-team-once-in-a-while mentality is the predominant approach in business. Most of the people reading this blog are a part of a company that has achieved a paradigm shift: It is in EVERY interaction you have with others that defines and determines your effectiveness as a team. This is the essence of culture.

Therefore, successful organizations equip team members with leadership tools they can apply in daily interactions. These companies understand that it is in every conversation you have with a colleague that you are either destroying your culture – or making it stronger.

Professionals understand that “game day” only reflects the efforts and effectiveness delivered in the previous six days. Instead of building a team “once in a while,” they know that the only way to win is via a systemic, moment-by-moment approach.

Results never lie: this is the only way to win. What will you do in your interactions today to bring your team one step closer to victory?

Where will you lead – where will you stomp elephants – today?

ELEPHANT ALERT!

How much do you budget to maintain your company’s copying machines? Those machines are expensive buggers! Yet of course, without them it would be tough to do business, wouldn’t it?

How expensive is it to do business with a team that is not aligned and communicating well?

As you consider your budget for 2009, where and how you decide to spend your money will say a lot. And what some companies tell the world is shocking.

Here’s the elephant in the office: “More and more I realize how insane the old approach is,” shared an executive. “Some companies have training budgets smaller than the budgets for maintaining their copiers!”

What does it say about a company that spends their money on the equipment people use, but not the people who use the equipment? Imagine a new semi-truck barreling down the highway at 70 mph…with a bunch of five-years-olds fighting over the wheel.

STOMP THE ELEPHANT

Focusing on how effectively people work together is the mother of all strategies.

A growing company in Colorado has a leadership team that tells the organization: “Watch where the money goes.” Do you suppose there’s a connection between the fact that this company has invested in the tools people can use to communicate and work together (culture) and that they are no longer in the red, but now on healthy financial ground?

“It is our people which separate us from our competition. It’d be crazy not to invest in our strategic competitive advantage.”

Any organization that rises to the upper tier has its moment in history when it realizes the statement “it’s not in our budget” really means “it’s not our priority.” So they set new priorities – and live their values even more.

Where will you lead – where will you stomp elephants – today?