I completely understand this, but in my opinion, this view is very short sighted and not very creative.

When it comes to building a strong company for the present and the future, focusing on recruiting top talent and then developing that talent are two critical steps which will secure your future.  We have to all be seeing the big picture.

I have read a lot of top leadership books, and of course, we have written a leadership book (EDGE! A Leadership Story,) and at the end of the day, people will tell you that they will leave a company over salary and benefits, but if you dig deeper, they will tell you that they are bored, tired of the same old, same old and they are restless for something exciting.

So, it’s time to really buckle down and start considering how you can pull in some top talent without breaking the bank and how to begin developing out your entire team so that they stick around.  Once the economy does turn around, we are all going to be back on the topic of war for talent, and you don’t want to be the company left without strong employees who can move your company in the direction of innovation.

So…here are just a few ideas on the topic:

1. Start looking closely at top talent who are sophomores and juniors in college and offer them a low cost paid internship.  They will develop loyalty to your company if they can get their foot in the door.

2. Treat people like you would treat your grandmother…yes…you have to treat people as well as you can.  Show them respect and compassion and keep people happy.

3. Come up with at least five creative ways to train people without spending a dime.  This could be an internal shadowing program, a “tip of the day” posted on a big white board or a tour to a local historical site…a site that would stimulate ideas and growth.

4. Don’t ignore Generation Y.  They need your focus right now.  Simply because you are not in “hiring mode” does not mean that you can ignore this generation.  If you cannot hire them, then look for creative ways to educate them about your company and about topics related to your industry.  This can be accomplished with a great blog and a forum to get Gen Ys to interact with you.

5. Bring in a movie that has a leadership message and offer a two-hour lunch break one day for brown bag and to watch the movie.  At the end of the movie, have a discussion about the leadership lessons learned while watching the movie.  A few that are tops for this purpose are movies like 21, Wall Street, It’s a Wonderful Life, Hoosiers or Citizen Kane.

–Jeff Simpkins, Book Yourself Solid Certified Coach

Community Bank Consulting

www.CommunityBankConsulting.com

This is a great list…and I will add one more:

Develop and strengthen your leadership skills.

As an entrepreneur, you are going to be faced with hundreds of opportunities and challenges to get people to go with you in the direction of your vision, which will require you in one way or another to be a great leader.  People will be much more likely to follow you if you are role model, persuasive and if you live in integrity.  And…as an entrepreneur, you will quickly see from Mike’s list that flying solo is not the approach.  You have to be willing to network and collaborate with others, which again…can be tricky if you are not honing your leadership skills.

So, check out the list today…and work on your leadership skills.  Mike suggests working with a coach…I could not agree more!

But I have found myself recently not turning on the news…or should I call it the “olds?”  The same old, same old stuff.  Madoff takes off with billions of dollars, AIG is begging for million dollar bonuses, and Anna Nicole Smith’s boyfriend and doctor are in trouble for prescribing medications for her to the point of stupification.

As an executive coach, I am always looking for the bigger message.  From where I sit, the problem is not with the actions (although they are staggering)…the problem is with our DNA.  As Americans, we have this code being woven into our DNA that reads:

1) Do anything to get ahead

2) To be successful, you must be rich!

3) Go to extreme measures to either be a celebrity or be around a celebrity

4) Bend the rules…just this one time, becuase you deserve it

5) So what if I get a $1 million bonus while the economy is falling apart…you HAVE to have me, so PAY ME!

You see, the issue is that we don’t have integrity sewn deeply into our DNA.  Even our government is having problems with integrity, and it is like a twisted maze to see how to get out of this.

We are going to have to start practicing some behaviors and holding people accountable to:

1) Telling the truth

2) Following the rules

3) Being transparent

4)  Disclosing information to our customers and constituents

5) Doing the right thing when no one is looking

6) Enforcing consequences when the above 5 are broken

Sounds simple, but this is so difficult to follow.  Somewhere along the way, we went down a path as a nation that was built on greed, sex appeal, power and manipulation.  And, the more we have of these things, the more we crave them.

Today, as you are reading this post, I encourage you to take one step…a step in the direction of walking closer to the line, telling the truth and disclosing more of what you need to.  If each person in our world just took one step to get back to some strong core values of integrity and doing the right thing, our world would be a much better place.

So, as a leader, what do you do during these times to keep people inspired and moving in the direction of profitability and sustainability?  These 5 strategies will help to get you started.

1) Challenge your historical models. If you are leading or managing your business using leadership models or measurement tactics used in the past, you are probably missing a huge part of the bigger picture.  Uncertain times show us that we are moving into a new economy/new world.  New times call for new leadership models and new ways of measuring results.

One Step: Get brushed up on how to lead a virtual team.  With virtual teams, you have to assume that the way you lead in a traditional work environment just won’t work.  You must be willing to mega communicate, form allies across borders and learn how to get people who work independently to work as a unified team.

2) Listen to your customers.  Your customers are now living with new problems, asking new questions and are in need of new products and services.  It is critical to listen closely to what they most need and want.

One Step: Open an online forum using a tool like Collective X to get your customers engaged in a conversation about what they most need and want from you.

3) Look closely at your own ability to provide psychological safety. During uncertain times, people are afraid…very afraid.  As a leader, you have to be willing to give the people of your organization a safe environment to open up, share their concerns and provide top decision makers with feedback.

One Step: Go online to http://los.hbs.edu and take the time to fill our the Learning Organization Survey.  Ask 20 people from across your organization to do the same and then come together to discuss how you can increase psychological safety.  When people feel safe, they are much more likely to give more time and intellectual horsepower to your organization.

4) Train your people “up.” We hear this all the time, but during uncertain times, you need people who can quickly jump into a leadership role when needed.

One Step: Open a rotational development program which gives a pool of people in your company the opportunity to move around your company.  The more these employees know about all aspects of your company, the better they will be able to lead when the time comes.

5) Be dedicated to running a lean operation.  This means saving both time and money.

One Step: Lead a “lean movement” inside your company.  Get everyone involved in looking for any and every way possible to save time, money, energy and space.  Offer rewards for creative ideas on this topic.  You will not only find multiple ways to “save”, you will build morale in the process.

If you have not yet picked up a copy of EDGE! A Leadership Story, I encourage you to do so.  The main character of the story is a CEO who learns to shift his leadership during a challenging time in his life.  Leaders who have read the story have walked away with some new ideas about approaching their own leadership during challenging times, and I believe you will benefit greatly from reading the story of our protagonist, Mitchell James.

So, today in this blog post, I am going to identify the BIG problem I see with many of my current clients and my provocative point of view.

Big Problem: A large number of decision makers are cutting out coaching and training right now, because it appears to be a luxury expense in their budget.

Big Risk: Without coaching and training, your existing employees (those few you have left) are probably not growing and becoming stronger. Right now, with the economy as it is, you want to have the best and brightest people on your staff who can help your company make more money, save more money and be more productive (saving time WILL save you money!)

Big View: Executive Coaching is not a luxury! It is a requirement for your competitive advantage in the marketplace.  Without Executive Coaching, your team stands the risk of falling apart over the next year.

How I Can Help You Get Stronger and NOT Fall Apart: With the type of Executive Coaching I offer, I can help your team become the strongest team in your industry by teaching them how to:

1. Build  intellectual horsepower
2. Increase their ability to think strategically
3. Garner new clients
4. Use Web 2.0 tools (which are free) to “listen” to what your competition and the world are talking about
5. Diagnose their biggest shortcomings and teach them how to turn these into strengths for your company

If you are serious about staying ahead during this down economy, you need me!  Send me an e-mail to beafields@beafields.com, and I will show you how I can help you get stronger while your competitors are losing market share and quite frankly falling apart.

Chuck Todd and Sheldon Gawiser have recently published a book How Barack Obama Won: A State-by-State Guide to the Historic 2008 Presidential Election.  I have read a few excerpts and have listened to Todd interviewed on the subject, and I believe this is a must read for anyone who wants to learn how to lead AND market.

Reason 1: On Morning Joe this a.m., Todd pointed out how important speeches were, are and will be to President Obama.  His oratory skills are outstanding and compelling.  He uses every chance he can to sell the public on his position, and he clearly states his position with poise, charisma and strength.  His intelligence and polish are impressive.  Many pundits are arguing that the President is not winning in the “bubble” on Capitol Hill but that he is still winning with the public, and for our confidence as a nation, this matters, and it matters in a very big way!  Now his big challenge is to win with Congress.

Reason 2: Is Obama still in politicing mode?  You bet he is!  He has some major initiatives on his plate (the economy, pulling out of Iraq).  If a Presdient can’t go out and get the votes needed in Congress to get the job done, then you may as well hang it up.   Just as in politics, in business and leadership, you don’t stop campaigning…you do all in your will and power to get people on board.

Reason 3: President Obama is appealing to the intellect of the American people.  He is talking straight from the hip, lets us know that he is fully aware that we all know we are in the midst of a major recession and that we have to act swiftly to take action to turn things around.  Many leaders will try to paint a rosy picture, and I am just not hearing this from Obama.

Reason 4: President Obama is using is his audacity of hope approach.  He is staying hopeful, using optimism and reminding us all that we’ve been in this situation before and came out stronger on the other end.

If you are a business owner or a leader in any position, I would recommend that you begin studying why Obama won and how he is continuing to be popular with the public.  I am certain you will gain a few insights into how to apply his skills in the direction of your own leadership.

Here is his speech from last night to Congress.  Watch this and see what you can learn.

I’m almost embarrassed to say that our company is thriving in this down economy. The last three months have been the best ever by more than 10%.  What’s the secret?  One word: TRUST.  In this environment people are looking to trade their hard earned dollars for an experience they trust.  In entertainment, ticket sales for movies are strong.  My wife and I were at the theatre last week and the house was packed. Why?  Because we trust the experience we’re paying for.  In business, this principle works the same way.  So how do you build trust amidst this chaos?

What we’re doing is focusing on articulating our customers core values and then infusing them into the work we are doing for them.  It’s cutting out all the extraneous B.S. in their marketing materials and making them leaner machines that get to the heart of their customer’s needs. When their core values are accurately expressed in their marketing materials (writing AND design), their customers have a subconscious reaction to their materials, an intangible feeling of love or hate. What happens is that they attract the customers who are most perfect for them, while turning others off so they’ll not waste their time!  This leaves our customers with more time to nurture their perfect customers, deliver results to them and increase orders as our results drive more customers to them.

And you don’t need to hire a company like ours to help you to articulate your core values and then infuse them into your materials. Send me an email to corey@writersoftheroundtable.com with Core Values in the subject line and I’ll be happy to send you a step by step approach to help you articulate your core values. The process will take you less than 30 minutes in total!  Then you can take those results and hand them over to your own writers and designers to ensure your marketing materials are built around the values of your organization.

It’s actually really easy once you understand the power of the principle.  I was fortunate to learn about core values when working with Bea Fields on EDGE! A Leadership Story. I truly believe that the power of core values can make the difference between thriving and dying in this economy.

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