Do you want to have a strong team? Teach them how to disagree productively.

A good starting point is to first evaluate how you and your team argue with others.

There are different ways people disagree, argue, or debate. Typically, some disagreeable situations are more emotional than others. Disagreement is not bad. However, the way people disagree can be unproductive and/or hurtful.

Decades ago I took a Dale Carnegie course. It was 13 weeks straight, three hours one night each week. It was fabulous because the instructor, Alan, was awesome.

Every week we meet new people. Alan taught a story metaphor to systematically start a comfortable conversation with a person you’ve never met before. This simple framework helps you bond with people and learn about them. It also sets the stage to ask additional questions as you engage them in sincere conversation.

Back in 2007 the The Wall Street Journal published an article titled Too Many Companies Lack Succession Plans, Wasting Time, Talent.

In the article, Carol Hymowitz discussed the importance of succession plans and how “Only about half of public and private corporate boards have CEO-succession plans in place… This is the case even at giant global companies that have thousands of employees and spend millions each year to recruit and train talent.”

Carol’s article primarily focuses on large companies, but succession plans are just as important for SMBs (more on that below).

Does you have a succession plan?

Have you ever wondered why someone behaved the way they did?

The answer is a combination of “how” they are acting based on their most intense natural behaviors, and “why” they are motivated to behave that way based on their most intense driving forces.

Your business is only as strong as your relationship with your employees. If management isn’t developing a culture of connection, loyalty and trust tend to fall by the wayside.

This is a horror story of one company who accidentally let the leash out too far on some employees they thought they could trust.

This crisis will end. All of them do.

What are you doing today for your organization to rise out of COVID-19 with a stronger, more enduring competitive advantage?

the following is an excerpt from the second course of our new Hire the Best training, coming soon

You may have heard the term, “Talent Acquisition is War,” or seen a headline with the words “The War for Talent.” That kind of rhetoric sounds like hiring managers are setting up bunkers at job fairs, dressed in full camouflage, ready to fight for resumes with company branded t-shirt launchers and notepad covers.

It’s silly.

Back in 2007 I was speaking at an Entrepreneurs Organization (EO) group meeting in San Antonio, Texas, when a question came up about employee recognition. How effective is cash?

I responded cash works with some people, but at least 75% of employees do not prefer cash. You see, giving someone cash is really easy. There’s hardly any effort or thought required. At most it’s a trip to the bank and an accounting entry. When a gift takes so little of time and effort to give, it becomes meaningless.

There are so many other ways to motivate and recognize people that are better than cash.

The last time the San Francisco 49ers were in the Super Bowl was 1994. 26 years ago.

I stopped watching them shortly thereafter.

Last season the team lost 3 of 4 preseason games and then went 4-12 in the 2018-2019 season. Who could believe these guys would be Super Bowl contenders this year?

If you stop and think about your leadership and business, are you a “Super Bowl” contender in your market?

If not, what can you learn from the San Francisco 49ers, who wallowed in mediocrity and failure for much of the past 23 years before thinking outside the box and totally changing the team’s culture?

the following is a sneak preview excerpt from our updated Hire the Best training, coming soon

John and his wife met a nice woman at church. Let’s call her Margaret. As they got to know each other, John and his wife developed a casual friendship with Margaret. They would exchange hellos, talk about their week, and share stories about their kids. They liked Margaret. She seemed sensible, funny, and rational.

John’s company had less than 20 employees. A few months after meeting Margaret, there was an opening in his business at a time when Margaret was looking for a new job. After a couple of coffee meetings, he decided to hire her.

Here are a handful of ways to get off to a good start next month so 2020 is your best year ever…

My experience is the biggest difference between people who are thriving in life, versus those who are unhappy, is gratitude.  Below are 25 contrasts to gratitude.  Where are your strengths?

Our memories are subjective. They impact our lives so much, including what food we eat, the friends we hang out with, and the businesses we work with.

There’s a short quiz that’s incorrectly attributed to Charles Schulz, the American cartoonist best known for his Peanuts cartoons with Snoopy and Charlie Brown. It looks like this…

…You have a meeting with two managers of another team, Natasha and Vito, to discuss a problem that occurred between your team and their team. You’re shocked by their response….

One of your team members promised they would do something for a client.  They got distracted with other work, and it was not done on time.  The very upset client contacts you.

You meet with the employee.You remind them of the commitment they made to do the work excellently on time.You explain the client just called and unloaded on you…

Instinctively, leaders can be too quick to blame employees for poor behavior, lack of skills, and not meeting their expectations.

The leader’s expectations are high, yet the employee made a mistake by not meeting them. The mistake is like an onion. It has a strong smell and you want to get away from it as quickly as possible.

Should your company use social media? Should you personally use social media? We have been wrestling with these questions for years.

As a small business, one of our biggest challenges is connecting with potential clients outside our network. We attend events, ask for referrals, and share advice through our email list. We also produce content on our podcast, our blog, and by writing books. Those efforts produce quality relationships that we greatly value. But they can be difficult to scale, to grab the attention of people outside our network.

That’s where social media is alluring.

You expected “X,” but the other person or team did “Y.”  This “pulls your trigger” or “pushes your button” and you emotionally flood. 

Your emotions instinctively, instantaneously initiate survival thoughts and actions…

Soft skills. It’s a term you’ve probably heard before. From executives and consultants, to Seth Godin and Inc Magazine, people are talking about the importance of soft skills so much it feels like a new diet craze.

However, when you take some time to investigate, it becomes clear that “soft skills” just means “likeable”, “conscientious”, or “admirable”. It’s a broad term used to describe almost all non-technical skills.

A consistent training regimen is important for you and your team. Effective training provides new hires and existing employees with the skills and knowledge they need to not only do their job but improve their performance. However, like many companies, you may not be sure how to train your employees, when to train them, and when to retrain them on previous skills.