Good To Great. An incredible book by Jim Collins — relates how certain companies overcame their obstacles and pushed themselves from being just good companies to the stars of their industry. It chronicles how they made the leap, what they did, and what they didn’t do.

How can you make the leadership leap with your team and go from just being a good leader (and that isn’t bad) to a great leader? Here are some basic qualities most leaders use and how to kick each one up a notch to great:

Integrity

When was the last time you really assessed YOUR performance? Do you stand by what you say? I’d like you to think back to three major or difficult decisions you had to make over the past year and review how did you make them? What was the result? Do you feel that you stayed true to your ethics and that your decision grew you as a leader in your organization?

Vision & Planning

How much of your time is focused on looking forward? Not just a few days or weeks, but months and years? How much of your time do you actually design personalized visions for your team — where you see them going?

Communication

Persuasion, Motivation, & Coaching

Adaptability

Decision-making

The post Why Your Good Leadership Isn’t Great. appeared first on Rich Gee.

John lost his job a few months ago. And for some reason, he has no idea why he was let go instead of someone else. In addition, his interviews are not panning out and he’s getting nervous about his available prospects. The clock is ticking.

Mary is having a hard time communicating with her new team. For years, she has been an exemplary manager. But for some reason, her new team is not engaging and sometimes petulant. Projects are floundering.

Karen’s business is not 8 years old and has been growing year after year. For some reason, it’s been hard for Karen to stay focused on key areas of the business. And it’s hurting her bottom line. Her bookkeeper is beginning to notice.

I run into clients like John, Mary, and Karen all the time. And I’ll be honest, most of the time coaching them WORKS. But every so often, I get a client where there is a major hidden obstacle which eludes us. My coaching is affected and the client is frustrated.

That’s where Rich Gee Diagnostic Insight comes in.

Rich Gee Diagnostic Insight is one of the quickest ways to gain a clear picture into your current and past obstacles, whether they are technical, social, or emotional in nature. This insight can be used to develop appropriate coaching recommendations to Move You Forward.

We Identify YOUR Needs

The combination of proven assessment techniques and live professional evaluations provide a wealth of knowledge about an individual’s style of work. What are their values, what drives them, and what are the real obstacles standing in their way. With this understanding, appropriate coaching modifications can be put into place.

We Clarify Barriers To Entry

We will examine your social and professional functioning in light of your current and future milestones and goals. Using this information, we can develop effective strategies for managing people, stress, understanding relationships, controlling impulses, and getting focused at the job at hand.

We Personalize It For You

Rich Gee Diagnostic Insight will be tailored to meet the individual needs of your situation. Rich will use a combination of selected assessments, evaluators, and key resources to help you get a better understanding of what drives you and how we can move you forward ASAP.

LEARN MORE HERE >>

The post Do You REALLY Know What The Problem Is? appeared first on Rich Gee.

You work hard and so does your team. Sometimes, a mis-alignment of communication, interpretation, or expectations occurs. It happens.

It’s not a bad thing even if it happens once in awhile. But when it becomes a frequent occurrence, you begin to question your team’s ability to execute or your ability to communicate.

Then again, it might be another issue. You haven’t set clear communication, timing, and delivery standards with each of your team members (and in-turn having them matriculate it down to their staff).

It sounds hokey, but a simple contract (formal agreement) between parties makes this all go away. Why?

It gives everyone in your organization the ability to measure themselves against a pre-specified standard. And that’s important. If there is no bar, no ruler, no finish line, some (if not all) your team members will begin to develop their own measures. Or worse, they will aimlessly work without any sense of direction (it happens!).

Establishing a contract is simple. Some areas that might be included:

• How often you will communicate with them and how they should communicate with you.
• Who does what, where, and with whom.
• Clearly communicating the Why of every situation and getting buy-in.
• Clear task, activity, project and initiative deadlines.
• Simple ‘business rules’ to guide a project.

It could be written (a set of simple statements on a wall) or verbally built into your organization’s consciousness — your choice. I know Nordstrom’s has a famous card they distribute to all of their employees — it’s powerful. Check it out. (Also check out The Nordstrom Way)

If you have these in place, you’ll see your organization run more smoothly. If not, a subtle undercurrent will develop of crossed expectations, bad communication and missed deadlines.

I’ve been there and it’s not pretty.

What type of ‘contract’ have you established with your team?

The post Establish A Personal Contract With Your Team. appeared first on Rich Gee.

Great leaders translate vision into decisive action — a skill that’s especially vital in tough times. But what are those skills? Do you have a blind spot? Should you be doing more?

First off — great leaders do three things — no more, no less:

1. They motivate their people.
2. They deliver information when required.
3. They help their people with obstacles.

That’s it. As a leader, if you find yourself doing anything else, you’re doing too much. Now let’s look at each one:

They motivate their people.

The most successful leaders are those with the best people skills, especially during the most difficult circumstances. Poor communication and interpersonal relationships routinely thwart leaders who are otherwise technically competent. In order to succeed, leaders must be fully engaged with the individuals who make up their organization. This means an array of capabilities like coaching, mentoring and how to give constructive feedback which reinforces the behavior and motivation of your peak performers. The best tool to learn how to motivate is Dale Carnegie’s: How to Win Friends and Influence People.

They deliver information when required.

What does this really mean? Incredibly efficient two-way communication. And the cruel joke is that most leaders had the chops to make their way up the ladder and succeed — now the skills that got them there (getting things done) have no place in leadership. You now have to communicate to your team to get things done. This is where most C- and VP level executives fail – you need to lead with greater impact by applying emotional intelligence to manage your team. The best tool to effectively communicate is Daniel Goleman’s: Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ.

They help their people with obstacles.

Here’s the mistake all leaders make. When their people come to them with a problem — they spend time helping them brainstorm, choose and sometimes execute a solution. I’ve seen this happen time and time again. Great leaders ask their people to come to them when they have a problem, but they also require their people to come with a solution too. 80-90% of the time, that solution is usually the best one and the team member is further empowered to make those tough decisions. On the off chance (that 10-20%) that your people might be wrong, you’re there to help them investigate other options. For optimal delegation, seek out Michael Abrashoff’s: It’s Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy.

At the end of the day, you need to build a leadership style that creates trust, sets a clear vision and guides your entire team toward greater performance and profit. 

The post 3 Critical Skills of Effective Leaders. appeared first on Rich Gee.

You’re moving on up.

Making your way up the ladder, dodging bullets, using every last bit of your intellect and motivation to deftly ingratiate yourself with key decision-makers.

It’s a high-wire balancing act many executives go through to grab the golden ring. What are some of the techniques used? Based upon many hours of advisory with C-Level clients, here are the two major tenets that bubble to the top:

IQ – Intelligence Quotient (or Tactical Intelligence)

You have to have the chops, the intellect, the experience, and knowledge to make it through the first hurdle. It’s that simple. Many executives whine and complain when they hit a very real glass ceiling, but in the end, it’s their fault. They haven’t done the requisite homework and they’re trying to bribe the teacher with an apple. Bottom line, you have to put in the hours, the sweat and tears to adequately build a firm foundation of tools to leverage in the myriad of situations that arise. Some are:

• Financial – This is all-important – I can’t tell you how many executives I would watch sit in meeting and clearly see they had no idea what was in front of them on our financial projections. Know this area cold.
• Operational – Know how the organization works inside and out. Sit at home and map out your operational chain from start to finish. Where are the dependencies? What past decisions are holding the company behind? What areas might take the company to the next level? If you are unsure or unclear about one or more of these connections, talk to your people and LEARN.
• Marketplace – What’s happening in the outside world? Who are the key players? What are the market forces at work – are they playing fair or are they slowly (and possibly illegally) undermining your position. Think holistically. Get out there and mix with your peers, understand the levers that make the world go round. What is the competition doing and how do you master the game of chess with them every day?

EQ – Emotional Quotient (or Emotional Intelligence)

This is where most C-Level executives fail. What got them to this position (IQ) is now failing them. For some positions (CFO, CIO), all their hard work to make it to the table is now useless when they need to use skills other than IQ:

• Communication – Communicate clearly and concisely. But communication is a two-way street, you need to listen too.  Listening is an art – shutting your mouth (and mind) to focus your full attention to those who are giving you critical information.
• Motivation – Every word, every order, every instruction must be nicely wrapped to motivate your people. Of course, sometimes you have to bark, but if you find yourself barking most of the time, step back and see how to manipulate your direct report’s levers so they want to make things happen and not undermine you. How do you grow your direct reports, your staff, and your organization through motivation?
• Empathy – The hardest one of all – in addition to communication (which is overt), understand those signals to allow you to ‘listen in’ and help your people with their problems and obstacles. Ferret out those signals and dive into what is holding them back and help them. You also have to be patient to allow the natural flow of the company to run it’s course. Too many executives forget there are forces you cannot control.
• Sales – You have to have the ability to mix all three of these areas together and move people into action inside your organization and outside too (prospects into clients, retention and extension of current clients).

Here’s a great book to read on this topic.

What other elements do you feel play a key role in defining you as CEO material?

The post Developing The CEO Within You. appeared first on Rich Gee.

Okay, ‘Complexify’ is not a real word. 

But it should be. Because we all complexify our careers, our business, and our lives with excess baggage.

Most of my time in corporate and coaching is spent wading through this morass of baggage to get to that shiny nugget of an idea.

For years, I was the one in the meeting trying to understand a needlessly complex presentation or product. All because the presenter was trying to impress their audience by making the communication more complex. They used lots of big words. Volumes of charts. Slide upon slide of bullets.

So here are my commandments:

1. Complex communication is lazy. Usually, if people complexify their presentation, it’s because they haven’t thought the entire presentation through. They haven’t put themselves in the audience’s seat to view the presentation. In fact they add slides, graphs, bullets, and garbage to their communication because they are afraid of missing anything — so they just add everything. It’s like going on a trip — you’re afraid of not having the right clothes — so you bring them all.

Easy Fix: Edit, edit, edit. You need to revise constantly with an eye to shortening your communication – make it more concise – keep it clean and simple.

2. Complex communication doesn’t make you look smarter. So many executives and business owners try to be clever with their communication. They feel their college and grad school education is best portrayed with a complex and mellifluous vocabulary. The more the better. They will happily drop a report or presentation with 75 slides to give the effect they are a hard worker — just like in school when they dropped a 20 page paper on the teacher’s desk. I’m not advocating ‘dumbing it down’ — just simplifying it a bit. By the way, the teacher hated you for it.

Easy Fix: Keep your self esteem in check — people will appreciate direct, simple language and direction over complex and fuzzy information. Today, most people recognize and admire people who keep things simple and straightforward. Remember, the Gettysburg Address (263 words in length) was delivered in two minutes. That’s your goal.

3. Complex communication works against you. You might not know it, but many people probably walk out of your presentations with more questions they came in with. Are many of your email directions followed up with multiple questions? Do people on your team go in the wrong direction frequently with their duties? It might be time for you to review HOW you speak to them — they might not totally understand your intentions.

Easy Fix: At the end of a presentation or meeting with staff, ask: “Any questions? Is there anything you want me to go over again? Is everyone clear?” Be earnest and push them for questions — and don’t give them a mental demerit if they do ask a question. That’s your job — to clearly inform, direct and motivate your troops.

POST YOUR QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS BELOW

P.S. Do you need to de-complexify your life? Let’s talk. I’ve worked with people from all over the world who wanted to take aggressive steps in their life — contact me to schedule a complimentary session.

The post 3 Tips To De-Complexify Your Life. appeared first on Rich Gee.

Everyone has a manager/boss. Even if you are in business on your own, someone is out there plucking the puppet strings of your career.

I work with a myriad of people who have incredible success and terrible issues with their manager. Some bosses are insane, some are saints, some are psychotic, and some are surprisingly normal.

One area I find where most people begin to see the cracks appear in their relationship concerns how they communicate with their manager.

Healthy, regular communication will always ameliorate any potential situation, ensure problems are addressed, and steps are taken in a reasonable amount of time.

Things go wrong when people forget two-way communication resembles a tug-of-war with a huge rope. When one side doesn’t communicate and pulls away, the other side needs to fill the void, take up the slack, and increase their communication.

So how do you do it? Here are some simple rules:

1. Regular — schedule it on their calendar; meet with them (face to face) to discuss what’s happening.
2. Short — make it a 10-15 minute meeting; the shorter, the better — focus on the tactical.
3. Stick to business — cover what you’re working on and discuss next steps. Use an update sheet (1 page) to document what is discussed.

Here’s a great email/paper template I offer to my clients (Rule: Only 1 Page):

1. Accomplishments (from last week):

• Accomplishment 1 (keep each bullet point short)
• Accomplishment 2 (keep it less than 5-7 words)
• Accomplishment 3 (easy to scan)

2. Activities for this week:

• Project 1 (projects to be completed this week)
• Project 2
• Project 3

3. Long-Term Projects (in the near future):

• Project – Due Date (must have due dates)
• Project – Due Date
• Project – Due Date

4. Concerns & Issues:

• Issue 1 (talk about obstacles)
• Issue 2 (come with solutions)
• Issue 3

This template allows you to document your progress and ensure there are no crossed expectations about what you do and what your manager wants you to do. In addition, when you have 52 of these sheets in a binder, reviews go so much easier because you have a syllabus of accomplishments to choose from.

If you meet regularly with your manager (say weekly) for 10-15 minutes and use the recommended template, your relationship will strengthen and soar.

I’ve even suggested this template for attorneys to keep their clients up-to-date on their progress. It actually helps when their retainer runs out and the client asks ‘what have you been doing?’ — you now have a weekly documented process to bypass these uncomfortable conversations (and ultimately when you discount your fees because they’re angry).

What do you use to update your manager/client on your progress?

The post The Best Tool To Communicate Effectively With Your Manager. appeared first on Rich Gee.

I came up with a simple and powerful tool the other day. I was standing in my office in front of a large Post-It notepad sheet with a red sharpie in my hand (red delivers intention!) — and the ideas just flowed. What did I come up with to help you be the best?

To be the best you can be, there are four stages to success — Find Me, Want Me, Sell Them, Close Them. This works for the corporate executive, to the aspiring entrepreneur, all the way to the person in transition. It’s simple, it’s direct, and it works. Let me explain each one:

STAGE ONE: FIND ME

We go through our lives partially hidden to key influential people and once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. We either sit at our desk toiling away, make cold calls to people who don’t want our services, or hide at home and send out electronic résumés to closed positions. And we wonder why we aren’t moving up, getting the best clients, or landing that dream job. It’s frustrating.

The best businesses are easy to find – a big sign, the best location — the ability to stand out and be a billboard so millions of people can see you:

• Executive: When was the last time you introduced yourself to the leaders in you organization? Do they know you?
• Business Owner: New signage, new website, new branding — getting out and touching lots of people?
• Transitional: Keywords on LinkedIn, writing articles, hitting industry meetings, hitting the library?

STAGE TWO: WANT ME

Okay — now we are being seen by the powers that be. What do we do now? We want them to WANT US. How do we do that?

You need to develop your own personal brand that will engage your audience and get them to see your ability, your product, and your talents:

• Executive: What can you do to really help your company? If you’ve done it, do you brag about it? Be bold.
• Business Owner: What one thing do you do that can change people’s lives or fill a hole in their life? Spotlight your brand.
• Transitional: Polish your image and brand – hit the gym, change your fashions, and show them what you can do for them. No begging.

STAGE THREE: SELL THEM

They’ve seen us and they want us. It’s time to sell them and show them we are the best choice (this is where most fail).

You need to develop an iron-clad delivery that will make them better understand what you can do for them and that you’re the only person on this earth who can do it. Find the BURNING issue that keeps them awake at night and show them how you will solve it.

• Executive: Think big – what are the real issues your company/industry are facing right now? Figure out some powerful solutions.
• Business Owner: Who are your biggest/best customers? What aren’t you doing for them that will change their life?
• Transitional: It’s not what you did – it’s what you can do for them RIGHT NOW. Pinpoint what that is and deliver it.

STAGE FOUR: CLOSE THEM

Everyone forgets this one. They market, produce the itch, and make the sale — then they forget to close or leave them hanging.

Once you’ve sold them — get them to sign on the dotted line. Don’t feel that it’s their job to jump into the boat after you’ve hooked them — take them off your line and place them nicely in your cooler.

• Executive: Once they are interested in you — try to offer yourself to help them with a major initiative or pitch. You have the time.
• Business Owner: Once they are sold — make the closing process simple, easy, transparent, and fluid. It should be pleasurable for the customer.
• Transitional: Ask for the job. Get them to commit. Show them that you can leave for a better opportunity. Sign on the dotted line.

If you stick to this method and produce key deliverables for each stage — I promise you — you will be THE BEST YOU CAN BE.

By The Way — To be your best, listen to our weekly podcast!

The post You Can Be The Best You Can Be. appeared first on Rich Gee.

After 20+ years in corporate management positions and coaching high-performing executives, I’ve seen it all.

Bad leaders who can’t make up their mind, who vacillate quarterly based on wind direction and managers who manage by fear, non-information, and deception. They flail constantly fearful of the future, frustrated and angry with their situation, and are secretly guilty about their past failings. We’ve all worked for one of them.

As a leader, you have three basic responsibilities to your people — if you get them right and stick to only these three, you will be hitting home runs all season long.

Motivate Them.

You need to find the fuel that will energize your people. Most leaders manage everyone the same way and wonder why some people don’t resonate or act recalcitrant to your requests. It’s because you’re not finding what motivates THEM. What is that spark that gets them going, focused, and productive.

No one likes to come to work and be bored, ineffective, and sidelined. They want to be involved, excited, and active to various challenges that tap into their talents and grow their abilities.

Communicate Effectively.

To walk the talk, you need to hone your talk. Most leaders don’t care about what they say and how they say it. They’ve worked diligently for years to get where they are and rely on past abilities to keep them in their present role. That’s a big mistake that usually bites them on the butt.

You need to speak in their language — make it easy to consume your message. Stop the annual ‘president’s letter’ — get out of your office and speak directly to your people – in small groups, one-on-one, and informally. Drop by and say ‘Hi!’.

Communication also includes LISTENING and UNDERSTANDING. This is where most leaders fail — they become loudspeakers of canned company propaganda and don’t take the time to listen and understand their people — their wants and needs, how they can work better, how they solve problems, what they hear from customers, etc.

Educate Passionately.

Your people are starving for new information, tools, and efficiencies to help them perform better and grow in their position. You are in your position because of what you’ve done, how you did it, and what you used to get there. Most people don’t know what you know.

Step out of your self-imposed cocoon and give people the tools and knowledge to help themselves grow. Make lunch & learns a regular event, go offsite to different locations and bring your people with you, make it a point of ALWAYS grabbing some staff and introduce them to your clients and vendors. Encourage and finance increased education at all levels and most of all, make conferences, books, magazines, etc. mandatory and paid for by corporate.

If you do these three behaviors — and only these three when you lead, you will be remembered by your people as one of the greats.

The post The 3 Secrets All Leaders Know. appeared first on Rich Gee.

When you start a new job, everything is just hunky-dunky. You’re in a new office, new boss, new responsibilities, new friends, and hopefully, more money and increased responsibility.

Many people expect their boss and company culture will bring them along (like orientation at college) and help them integrate well into the inner workings of their new organization. Not so fast.

Sometimes it actually happens — most of the time, it doesn’t. And who’s to blame if something goes awry? YOU.

So I’ve listed five major mistakes that new employees make when they first start a new job.

1. They expect everyone to be nice and ‘on their side’.

There are 3 types of people you meet on the job:

1. Helpers – people who will help you learn the ropes and work with you.
2. Walking Dead – lifeless people who go about their day; get in the way with complaints/regulations.
3. Threats – people who actively regard you as a threat; major impediment; try to trip you up.

Stick with the Helpers, disregard the Walking Dead, and keep your eye on the Threats.

2. Your boss will love you forever.

You need to prove yourself to your boss before the initial work honeymoon ends. They usually give you a few weeks to get up to speed and then they want to start seeing results.

Look at it as a good-will savings account. When you’re hired, you have a small positive balance. But any mistake, deficiency, or screw-up deducts from your account. Your job is to blast out of the starting gate, make some quick wins, and fill up your new savings account with good-will currency.

3. You can work as hard as you did at your last job.

You have to kick it up a notch at your new job. Come in early, stay late, and attack any project/task with increased vigor.

You are on stage right now and many people are silently grading you. Good first impressions are hard to develop, but bad ones are easy to deliver. Constantly task yourself to deliver more, add quality, and help others.

4. Communication will work perfectly.

When people move to a new job, communication structures are usually completely different from their past gigs. And this is where new hires slip up . . . badly. You need to:

• Establish clear communication structures with your boss and staff. Schedule regular status meetings with clear agendas.
• Listen the first few days/weeks at meetings. Get a good feel for how things are done before jumping in with a ‘great idea’.

5. Your expectations of success will align with your boss’ expectations perfectly.

No, they won’t. And this is why so many people are let go in the first 90 days on the job. You need to be crystal clear with your boss about your responsibilities and deliverables. So do this:

• Develop a 30/60/90 day action plan with your boss. Work with them the first few days to clearly delineate your role, responsibilities, activities, deliverables, and most importantly — deadlines.
• Meet each week and track your progress with your action plan. Check off your completed tasks and ask for help with those problem children activities.
• At the end of 90 days, you and your boss should be ecstatic about your progress since you’ve been delivering what they asked for. If they aren’t, they’re bat-shit crazy and it’s time to move on.

This is a great tool to keep you and your boss on the same page and ensure there are no surprises that might derail your career.

The post New Job? Five Mistakes We All Make. appeared first on Rich Gee.