Tell your team what is expected of them

If you don’t, they will likely do something not expected.

Who, or what department, do you need to talk to today?

Let your team fix you

Leaders like you are human, and have strengths and corresponding weaknesses.  If we try to pretend we do not have weaknesses and get defensive when anyone points out how our weaknesses are effecting our business, then people will not be able to help us.  

Be honest.  Let yourself be vulnerable.  Admit your weaknesses to your key people and let them fill in, adapt, and apply their strengths to your weak area.  

That what teamwork is all about.

Walk the talk

Leaders establish the morale, integrity and justice in the cuture of their team by their own actions, not words.  We cannot say one thing and do another.

Putting your words aside and being honest, how do your ACTIONS influence your team?

Choosing your enemies

Do not underestimate the power of an enemy, no matter how great or small, to rise against you another day.

Do not consider all opponents to be enemies.  There are worthwhile friendly confrontations, inside and outside your organization.

Do not make enemies who are not worthy of your efforts to render them completely ineffective.

Who do you consider your enemies, and how does the above advice relate to them?

Leaders Must Listen

As leaders we like to think we know everything, and maybe we think we’re supposed to. Sometimes we are just so used to calling the shots that it becomes habit to keep calling them all the time.

But don’t forget to ask “What do you think we should do?” and “How do you think you should handle this?” – and then listen to your people answer.  Your team members will be glad you asked them, and you’ll probably learn something.

Your number ONE problem

What is the biggest problem in your business that is in the way of you accomplishing your goals; the problem that if removed, would release the brakes from your businesses’ performance?

Go after it.  Believe you can solve it.  Go for the throat of the problem.  Be merciless in removing it.  Make it your number one priority every day until it is dead and gone, or doesn’t matter anymore.

A leader should decide what priorities they and their team will work on each day – and what could be more important than solving or neutralizing your biggest problem?

What is it?

What do your people think of you?

For a leader, this is REALLY important.  If people think “the man” is a jerk, cheap, doesn’t care, is not trying, etc., whether it is true or not doesn’t matter.  If they feel negatively about their leader, they will not give their best.

In fact they could back off performance by 10%, 25% or even 50%!  You can’t get engagement and peak performance from people if you are viewed poorly.  And remember, people don’t SAY what they feel for fear of being fired.  

Is it time to communicate more, take people to lunch and talk to them, empower them, take an interest in them, or ask for their opinion and ideas?

Building the business that's not you

When you start a business, you are saying that you are willing to take on enormous responsibility, risk going broke, and commit to years of work for no pay. 

Why do we do this?

So that we can own an enterprise that makes a profit without us being there every moment in the future. And of course, we want these profits from our properly built “machine” to be more than we could earn in salary somewhere else.

How’s that going?

The cause of bankruptcy

When a business fails, it’s because it spent more money than it took in.

No matter what happens to sales, you must spend less than that.

Right?

Go(al) Time!

By now, you should have evaluated last year’s performance of your organization and set new goals (with your management team) for 2016.  Then you should have scheduled a group meeting(s) with EVERY employee to tell them what the goals are, what their specific part is in it, and how/when progress will be measured.

Tell them what you expect from them, and give them the resources and support necessary for them to perform and achieve the goal.

Get some excitement going!  That’s leadership!