Accountability: 5 Keys to Manage Success

Last week, I presented a program in Arizona called “Accountability: 5 Keys to Manage Success (Yours & Others).”

The audience was leadership and management professionals from a luxury, private country club.

This is a different audience than the corporate types who I typically work with. That being said, the issues are always the same.

There are people who need an attitude adjustment (one of the topics covered).

There are organizations that don’t do regular performance appraisals/discussions, which creates a disconnect with employees -- and often less than stellar results.

Behaviors impact all relationships, and your reputation.

So often, it is the smallest behavior gaffes that create problems within a team, company, or with customers.

And, in this current climate of financial uncertainty, the willingness to demonstrate courage is more critical than ever.

Finally, the willingness to put things into perspective may change how you look at life and work.

If you have thoughts on any of these five “keys” for managing your success and others – let me know.

Are All Presentations Created Equal?

I just facilitated a customized presentation skills program for regional sales managers of a very large medical device company.

Their objectives were to understand the differences and similarities between these types of presentations:

 management vs. leadership
 formal vs. informal
 informative vs. persuasive
 face to face vs. phone, web, etc.

The irony -- although they are different, the bottom line is the same.

All types of presentations have two things in common:

1) A message to structure and develop to achieve a result

2) Delivery that engages the audience members and accomplishes the goal

Is it possible to give presentations that are a combination of management and leadership, informative and persuasive?

Yes.

It comes down to what you want that audience walking away knowing, doing and feeling.

Should you prepare less because it’s informal?

Not really.

It’s always respectful to your audience (be it one or many) to be clear about your objectives and to deliver the message with clarity and enthusiasm.

In future blogs, I’ll get more specific about the differences and similarities between management and leadership presentations, and ways to be effective while presenting.

If you want to bring this custom “Speaking to Lead” program to your team, let us know!

When Times Get Tough, the Tough Keep Going

“Certainly times are tough, but we recognize that employee development needs to continue.”

This quote, from a February 9, 2009, article in The Wall Street Journal, was spoken by David Metzger, Director of Management Development at Canon USA.

I congratulate Mr. Metzger and Canon USA for thinking “big picture.” As long as a business is still in business, the need for effective leadership is critical -- even more critical in difficult times.

A big part of leadership is communication. After all, you could be a brilliant strategic thinker, and may make great decisions, but if you can’t influence others, how can the decisions or strategy be implemented?

If you can’t communicate effectively, the rest of these attributes rarely matter.

Even if your company has cut back on training, it is no excuse for individuals to do the same.

Keep learning new techniques and strategies. At some point, this recession will end, and you will be well ahead of the game!

One avenue to consider -- my next BRODY BOOST Camp, April 2, 2009.

Click here for more information on this day-long open enrollment career development workshop.

Leadership During Chaos (Guest Blogger Ed Oakley)

When you Google the word “leader” you will find 368 million – that’s right, MILLION -- “hits.”

When you visit Amazon.com and enter “leader” in a book search, you get 433,048 possible titles.

“Leader” and “leadership” are difficult concepts to define. It’s more of a “I’ll know it when I see it” type of thing.

I frequently speak to corporate women’s initiatives regarding leadership. And, of course, read as much as possible about the subject – including blogs.

My colleague, Ed Oakley of Enlightened Leadership Solutions, had the following post on his "Leadership Made Simple" blog.

Ed's blog was nominated one of the Best Leadership Blogs of 2008. His story just proves that you don’t need a fancy business title to “Step Up! for Success.”

“February 23rd 2008 -- I was waiting for my flight from Richmond, Virginia, last month after presenting 'Leadership Made Simple' to 150 managers of a large company headquartered there. That is when I experienced impressive leadership in the midst of chaos.

It all began when United Airlines’ 'Simon' (an automated message system) informed me via my cell phone that my flight through Chicago was cancelled. After an hour wait on a priority line, I knew there was a real problem of some kind. When I finally talked to United, I discovered that snow in Chicago had closed the airport and created major travel problems within the entire United system, and no doubt, other airlines, too.

The only chance I had to get home the same day was if I could make a flight to Washington Dulles that left in one hour flat. I did the 'OJ' dash to get to the airport and the gate, huffing and puffing, only to find that the airplane had not yet arrived. I was actually quite relieved.

The entire air travel system was in chaos, and there was a line of dozens of people waiting to talk with Michael Quintel, the United gate manager. Every person needed to share their problem - concerned about connections mostly - with a gate agent who really had little or no control over anything.

I was sitting about 10 feet away from Michael’s podium, so I heard everything. I was personally calm because my connecting flight from Dulles to Denver was several hours away. I was in the right state of mind to simply watch and listen how Michael handled the situation.

This guy had the patience of Job! He listened to the same story over and over and over. Yet, every person was treated as if THEIR story was original. Michael was absolutely MASTERFUL at having every individual believe he was there for them and was doing everything he could do for them. And he sincerely was! It’s where he naturally came from. In every single case, the frustrated and concerned passenger walked away more calm and confident than before he talked with Michael.

What I realized was that Michael was able to stay 'Forward Focused'
no matter what happened. What a model he was for what I want to be like when I grow up. It is a model of emotional maturity - and I am continually working on mine.

If I were to try to create a simple model for what Michael did so well, it might look like this.

He stayed 'Forward Focused' while he:

- Listened completely to each person, honoring them and their situation.

- Shared exactly what the situation was - in terms of how the situation affected that individual - no matter how many times he had to tell the same story again.

- Offered any options that he could find in his computer, helping them take responsibility for their own decision.

In every case, they walked away feeling better about their predicament.

My hats off to Michael Quintel, United Airlines representative, a proven leader in a challenging situation!”