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By: Debora McLaughlin Donna Price Executive and Business Coaches Co-Founders: Real World Leadership Institute

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Provided by: The Real World Leadership Institute a joint venture program created by Debora McLaughlin of Open Door Coaching, LLC and Donna Price of Compass Rose Consulting. A publication of Debora McLaughlin and Donna Price Real World Leadership Institute

Copyright 2010 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.


No part of this report may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any informational storage or retrieval system without express written, dated and signed permission from the author.

Legal Disclaimer
The information presented in this report is based on the opinion of the author at the date of publication. As the world changes, the author learns, the author reserves the right to update, revise, change and modify the report as the author feels is warranted. Extensive effort has been made to ensure that all information is accurate and verified, the author, his/her affiliates, partners, staff do not assume responsibility for errors, omissions, or inaccuracies. This report does not assert to provide legal or accounting advice, when legal or accounting information is needed a fully trained legal/accounting professional should be hired and consulted. This report is not intended to be a source of legal or accounting advice. As a professional it is your responsibility to be aware of the laws and regulations of your state and country regarding your business practices.

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REAL WORLD LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE CONTENTS


The Five Functions of a Highly Effective Team.......................................................................................... 6 #1: Safety and Trust ........................................................................................................................ 6 #2: Conflict ......................................................................................................................................... 7 Desired Outcomes to Normalize Conflict:......................................................................................... 7 #3: Commitment................................................................................................................................ 9 Objectives to Ensure Team Commitment: ...................................................................................... 10 #4: Accountability ............................................................................................................................ 11 Objectives for Increasing Accountability: ....................................................................................... 11 #5: Results......................................................................................................................................... 11 Objectives to Keep Attentive to Results: ........................................................................................ 12 Employee Engagement: the Key to Unlocking your Competitive Advantage and Sustaining your Business .............................................................................................................................................................. 12 Inoculate your organization ............................................................................................................... 13 Mix together the key ingredients to create an accountable culture................................................ 13 Creating collaborative teams ............................................................................................................. 15 Developing engaged individuals......................................................................................................... 16 Step 1: Get to know them. ............................................................................................................ 16 Step 2: Open the doors to team and organizational communication. ............................................. 16 Step 3: Build trust. ......................................................................................................................... 17 Step 4: Offer career advancement and improvement opportunities............................................... 17 Step 5: Make them aware of how they contribute to success......................................................... 17 Gaining Healthy Results: .................................................................................................................... 18 Measuring Success: ........................................................................................................................... 18 Making the ConnectionFrom Engaged Employees to Happy Shareholders:..................................... 18 Coaching Staff for Success ..................................................................................................................... 20 Be Real, Be Authentic ........................................................................................................................ 20 Listen to your staff............................................................................................................................. 20 Remove barriers to communication................................................................................................... 21
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Share your vision ............................................................................................................................... 21 The vision can be exciting, inspiring and ultimately motivating to staff. ......................................... 22 Find Out About the Staffs Vision ....................................................................................................... 23 Use the Performance Appraisal to Enhance Performance and a Framework for Coaching Staff to Success.............................................................................................................................................. 23

Our current appraisal framework:........................................................................................................ 24


Create a plan for excellent performance:........................................................................................... 24

SMART Goals ...................................................................................................................................... 25


Break Goals into Achievable Steps ..................................................................................................... 26 Set up a system of accountability....................................................................................................... 26 Be Generous...................................................................................................................................... 27 Learn More About The Real World Leadership Institute! ....................................................................... 28 Replace Old Habits with New Breakthrough Strategies ...................................................................... 29 Heres how it works........................................................................................................................... 29 The Real World Leadership Institute is the result of over 20 years of research ................................... 30 Youll get: ...................................................................................................................................... 30 What you Get.............................................................................................................................. 30 Month 1: Get Real with Leadership Retreat ................................................................................... 30 Month 2: Strategy & Influence in Leadership................................................................................. 31 Month 3: 10 Keys to Unlocking Employee Engagement.................................................................. 31 Month 4: Skills Implementation Lab .............................................................................................. 32 Month 5: Coaching Skills for Managers and Leaders Retreat .......................................................... 33 Month 6: Diversity: Mosaic ............................................................................................................ 33 Month 7: Skills Implementation Lab ............................................................................................. 34 Month 8: Team Advantage Train the Leader .................................................................................. 34 Month 8: Real World Leader Wrap-Up and Celebration, State of the Art Training, Exceptional Executive Coaching ........................................................................................................................ 35 In Summary ................................................................................................................................... 35 To Learn More ............................................................................................................................ 35 Go To: http://www.RealWorldLeadershipInstitute.com.................................................................... 35

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THE FIVE FUNCTIONS OF A HIGHLY EFFECTIVE TEAM


While many books address whats not working in organizations, as coaches and consultants, we like to look for possibilities and strengths within an organization and how to leverage them to optimize people, profits and performance. Using the book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni, we summarized from strengths based perspective five highly effective functions of a team and how to obtain them in your organization.

#1: SAFETY AND TRUST


Absence of trust is perpetuated when team members are reluctant to be vulnerable with one another, and are unwilling to admit their mistakes, acknowledge their weaknesses or ask for help. Without a certain comfort level among team members, a foundation of safety and trust is unlikely. Trust builds cohesiveness and assists team members to focus on results rather than trying to protect themselves, their turf and their job.

D ESIRED OUTCOMES FOR BUILDING S AFETY , T RUST AND T EAM COHESIVENESS :


Team members are unguarded and genuine with one another and can discuss their personal lives freely. Team members admit their mistakes and willingly apologize to one another. Team members ask for help without hesitation and makes requests of each other for the benefit of the team. Team members acknowledge and tap into one anothers knowledge, skills and experiences. Team members depend on each other for input and support regarding their individual work responsibilities. Team members trust and are more comfortable being vulnerable, stating their personal observations and truth

STRATEGIES FOR BUILDING S AFETY AND T RUST:


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Build bonds and connection so team members get to know each other. Share values, hopes, personal histories, personality preferences, their strengths, and their gaps. When we see the whole person and understand who they are and their backgrounds, it will assist the team to leverage strengths and avoid making unfair, unproductive energy draining judgments about one another.

Find opportunities to spend more time together face to face. One of the biggest impediments to trust building on a team is the lack of time spent working collectively. This includes off site meetings, strategic planning retreats, and social activities. Avoid the temptation to save time at the expense of improving productivity by building a strong team. Teach, model and practice coaching principles, practices and tools to provide a structure for safe, honest, and constructive exchange of feedback so teams can swiftly and timely surface issues that might otherwise take months to address and resolve.

#2: CONFLICT
Safety and trust are critical because without them; teams are unlikely to engage, speak their truth and passion and feel okay to disagree. Conflict is powerful and that power will limit us or unite us depending on how we use it. Conflict is about the productive exchange of diverse ideas and opinions in a focused, efficient and unfiltered way. Its about seeing debate as helpful. Without conflict, decision-making suffers and relationships among team members stagnate. If conflict is not allowed to surface it generally degenerates to mean-spirited, back biting comments behind closed doors and in hallways. Stifling conflict also leads to sub-optimal decision-making because the team is not benefiting from the innovative ideas and perspectives of its members.

DESIRED OUTCOMES TO NORMALIZE CONFLICT:


Team members are passionate and unguarded in their dialogue Team meetings are relevant, meaningful, useful and compelling, not boring. Team members' most important and difficult issues are discussed
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Team members voice their opinion even at the risk of causing disagreement During dialogue, team members challenge one another about how they arrived at their conclusions and opinions Team members solicit one anothers opinions Team members communicate unpopular opinions When conflict occurs, the team names it and addresses the issue before moving on to another subject

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STRATEGIES FOR CONFLICT RESOLUTION :


Teach and practice the art of Dialogue. Set the expectation that conflict is both good and necessary for the team. Conflict is required to stretch, innovate and improve. Use personality assessment to understand how different team member naturally engage in conflict. Understanding multiple diverse strategies for conflict resolution can be used to lead to more strategic decisions about conflict. Establish team Contract comprising team agreements and rules of engagement for acceptable conflict (behaviors, displays of emotions, language, process). Improve effectiveness of meetings so conflict can occur without drama. Have a designed agenda and planned time so members can engage in constructive conflict and resolve critical issues. Practice self-coaching and team coaching and encourage observations about conflict. All are responsible for drawing out any potential unresolved issues and addressing them before moving on to next subject. Team members acknowledge their mistakes and see them as opportunities to learn from and make better the next time. Using coaching competencies and a feedback model to ask questions make observations and make requests to resolve conflict. Track and tout whats working. Celebrate and recognize teams strengths and accomplishments.

#3: COMMITMENT
Without conflict resolution, it is extremely difficult for team members to truly commit and buy in to the decisions because they dont feel that they have a voice or are part of the decision making process. This often creates an environment of ambiguity, second-guessing and confusion in an organization, leading to frustration and team disengagement.

OBJECTIVES TO ENSURE TEAM COMMITMENT:


Team is aligned with and clear about its vision, mission, priorities, and direction. Team members leave meetings confident that everyone is committed to the decisions that were agreed upon. Team members end discussions with clear and specific resolutions and calls to action. The team sticks to decisions. Team members support team decisions even if all of the information is not present and they initially do not agree. Understand that members dont need to get their way to support a decision but only need to know that their opinions have been heard and seriously considered. Teams with high levels of commitment can unite behind a decision even though there is no certainty that the decision is correct. They know that a decision is better than no decision and that it is better to make a choice, act with boldness, be wrong and change direction than it is to waffle or wait for 100% certainty.

STRATEGIES FOR TEAM COMMITMENT :


Team practice to achieve clarity and closure. Leaders and team members demand that the team eliminate ambiguity and leave meetings clear about agreements and next actions. At end of each meeting, the team explicitly reviews the key decisions made and agrees to what needs to be communicated to employees and other stakeholders. Developing a communication system demonstrates public commitment to agreements and aligns employees throughout the organization around common objectives. Set team objectives and deadlines to remove procrastination and waffling. Define worst-case scenario to diminish fear of failure by realizing that even a poor decision is survivable. Establish contingency plans to change the goal and commitment due to change of circumstances and new information that invalidates the wisdom of the initial decision.

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#4: ACCOUNTABILITY
Avoidance of accountability is when the team hesitates to confront one another about performance and behavioral concerns. For teams, accountability means the willingness of team members to name and coach their peers on behaviors that might hurt the teams performance. Team members avoid accountability because of the personal discomfort that comes from calling a peer on his/her behaviors and a more general tendency to avoid difficult conversations. Holding peers accountable means that team members must enter the danger zone with one another. Of course, they can do this only if levels of trust, healthy conflict and commitment are sufficiently high.

OBJECTIVES FOR INCREASING ACCOUNTABILITY:


All members of the team are held to the same high standards. Team members point out one anothers unproductive behaviors. Members are quick to coach peers about problems in their respective areas of responsibility. Team members question one another about their current approaches and methods. The team coaches poor performers to improve. Team members consistently follow through on promises and commitment. Team members offer unprovoked, constructive feedback to one another.

STRATEGIES FOR I NCREASING A CCOUNTABILITY:


Provide a forum for effective exchange of feedback. Publish and revisit team agreements, contract re: goals and standards for behavior. Regularly review progress on goals and implementation plan. Share what is working well? What is not quite right? How to make it more right? To encourage a peers to provide feedback to avoid potential pitfalls.

#5: RESULTS
The only real reason to work in teams is because they can achieve
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results that would be impossible for an individual to achieve working alone. An unrelenting focus on collective goals is a requirement for any team that judges itself on results. Teams that are inattentive to results suffer because individuals work to satisfy their own status, ego or departmental needs, rather than focusing on the collective goals of the team.

OBJECTIVES TO KEEP ATTENTIVE TO RESULTS:


The team enjoys a reputation for high performance, high positivity. Team members are quick to point out the contributions and achievements of others and the team. When the team fails to achieve collective goals, each member takes personal responsibility to improve the teams performance. Team members willingly make compromise for the good of the team. The team consistently achieves its objectives. Team members value collective success more than individual achievement. Team members place little importance on titles and status.

STRATEGIES TO A CHIEVING R ESULTS:


Declare that the team is the priority. Results suffer when team members put a higher priority on the activities of their own departments or divisions and works responsibilities than on the team. Team members declare their intentions and make public commitments to objectives. This helps them to follow through and be less likely to let personal needs take precedence. Ensure alignment of goals through the organization. Align the goals of the team with the mission of the organization. This will help members to stay focused on collective results, rather than department or individual ones. Focus reward on team results. Team based reward form the basis for compensation and recognition.

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT: THE KEY TO UNLOCKING YOUR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE AND SUSTAINING YOUR BUSINESS
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Do you suffer from lack of accountability in your organization? If youre like most leaders, you regularly deal with workforce issues that get in the way of your organizations success. Here you have all this talent at your fingertips, yet goals are not being met and your business isnt nearly as successful as you know it could be. Its frustrating! Accountability begins with engagement, a heightened emotional connection to your company that influences your employees to exert greater effort. According to a recent Gallup study, only 29% of employees are engaged in their jobs. Others are currently looking for work, willing to switch jobs if the opportunity presented itself or are feeling depressed or overwhelmed and as a result are underperforming. Disengagement costs between $243 to $270 billion dollars a year from low productivity. Can anyone afford this right now? So what is the upside? Engaged employees perform up to 28% better and are 87% less likely to leave the organization. 84% believe they can positively impact the organizations quality and 72% want to optimize service delivery. One study by Serota Consulting showed that share prices of organizations with engaged employees raised an average of 16 percent. The industry average is a mere 6 percent! With obligations to the success of your organization, your shareholders and your customers, in todays economy, its in your best interest to improve engagement and with it accountability.

INOCULATE YOUR ORGANIZATION


Be a different type of leader. Accountability doesnt have to be a heavy load, like pushing a rock uphill. The old management centered, top down approach breeds lack of accountability and creativity, creates resentment and offers poor results. Dont make the same mistake your competition will: trying to make improvements by putting the spotlight on poor performance. Instead, put the spotlight on success. With the right ingredients you can create an organizational culture that breeds responsibility, ownership and accountability.

MIX TOGETHER THE KEY INGREDIENTS TO CREATE AN ACCOUNTABLE CULTURE


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The key to your leadership success lies in creating an accountable and engaged collaborative working environment. This begins with the foundation of building a learning culture, a new kind of business architecture in which employees can learn, solve problems, challenge one anothers perspectives, and go beyond their present knowledge, skills, and attitudes. A learning environment promotes honesty, direct communication, safety to speak ones opinion without negative consequences and the ability to recreate ideas and solutions in ones own context. The environment allows employees to play with new skills and to test new attitudes and ideas for improvement in a safe setting with colleagues. It is not an accident the best companies to work for focus on culture first, strategy second. Ricardo Simler, CEO of SEMCO, grew the company from several hundred employees to over 5000 and increased revenues from $4 million to $20 million when he moved from traditional management to employee focused leadership. The Zappos culture is widely studied as an example of a results driven culture of motivated employees at all wage levels. A learning culture of collaborative teams and engaged individuals produces results. One key differentiator of companies with superior financial performance is employee engagement. Employee engagement is the best competitive advantage companies will exert to defend their business. The link between company performance and employee engagement exists for all businesses across all industries. It is the key to creating a sustainable competitive advantage.

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CREATING COLLABORATIVE TEAMS


So how do you succeed? You build collaborative teams. Team leadership is the ability to lead and motivate individuals and teams to work together to the highest levels of performance. Using a proven performance coaching framework you too can lead and motivate individuals and teams to work together to the highest levels of performance. 1. Performance. Performance. Define what good looks like. Instead of focusing on whats lacking in performance, set the bar for success. Gather your teams together and collectively identify what good looks like in any area that is lacking in accountability. What does good look like for this team, company and for each of them as individual? 2. Efficacy. Next evaluate what is getting in the way of achieving this level of performance. Do you have the power to produce the desired affect? What resources might be needed in time, energy, money, training, skill, motivation? Develop a plan to fill these gaps. Develop SMART goals: strategic, measurable, actionable, result oriented and timely. 3. Ownership: Talk about ownership, responsibility. What does it mean? Define the difference between accountability, responsibility and responsiveness and as a team evaluate how to measure success in each of these areas. Encourage self evaluation and team evaluation. 4. Possibilities: Create a vision together. What could happen if what good looks like were implemented? What would be the impact on each employee, the team, the organization, your customers, your market share, and your shareholders? 5. Linkage: Discuss how each individuals work is linked to the result you are trying to create. If your focus is excellent customer service, how do their tasks relate to that performance goal? Through this discussion you put accountability on the big screen, engaged employees understand how their work is related to the big picture, expanding their vision. 6. Evidence: Discuss how each individuals work is linked to the result you are trying to create. If your focus is excellent customer service, how do their tasks relate to that performance goal? Through this discussion you put accountability on the big screen, engaged employees understand how their work is related to the big picture, expand their vision.

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The first letters of each step spells P.E.O.P.L.E. You dont have to achieve great results by yourself. What you achieve together can be greater than what you might have imagined and all of you will have fun in the process. This framework harnesses their own power to uncoverand then fixissues that are blocking the power to produce. The end result? Your team feels good about owning the outcome and is committed to producing ongoing results.

DEVELOPING ENGAGED INDIVIDUALS


How do you inspire individuals to become engaged employees?

STEP 1: GET TO KNOW THEM.


Studies show that the most engaged employees have a good relationship with their manager. Today having more reports often means a break down in relationship for each employee. How much time are you spending with your team members? Dont feel you have the time? What if spending the time developing this relationship resulted in increased productivity, accountability, ease in workflow and greater results? What if this meant that you had more quiet time for your own work? Now will you have the time? So what do you need to do to get started? Provide regular and frequent meetings with your team members. Learn about their personal and professional goals, what they see as their strengths and areas of development. Allow them to voice ideas, complaints (with a solution) and requests. Listen without distraction and keep any promises that you make. Get to know their values and personal and professional goals. Discuss how their values and how their work contributes to the organization. Knowing the importance of their role furthers their engagement.

STEP 2: OPEN THE DOORS TO TEAM AND ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION .


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Many organizations have no trouble communicating with employees from the top down, but struggle with developing an atmosphere in which communication can occur from the bottom up. One way to encourage two-way conversation is to include employees in meetings and decision, creating an open dialog. Every voice is heard and innovative ideas shared. Employees perform better when they not only know what is happening within their organizations but get to share in offering their thoughts and ideas as well. When people are linked to the goals and outcomes of an organization, they are able to reach their highest potential. And when that happens, the company reaches its highest potential too. How great is that?

STEP 3: BUILD TRUST.


The best way to build trust with employees is to share the organizations values, to co-create goals and create accountability measures to stay steadfast to those values and goals through both word and deed. As a leader you build trust by offering a consistent and positive pattern of behavior including the ability to express a willingness to listen and share information, demonstrate trust in others, promote honest communication, show fair behavior and fulfill promises and therefore build your own credibility and ultimately, trust in your, your team and your organization.

STEP 4: OFFER CAREER ADVANCEMENT AND IMPROVEMENT OPPORTUNITIES .


Employees need a line-of-sight on their future to be truly engaged. Give them the tools they need to succeed, including education and skills. Be sure that there is room for them to grow, and that their potential upward trajectory is visible to them. New employees can benefit by a getting to know us while we get to know you orientation. Others can be helped to identify their strengths through career assessments and evaluation and receive personal performance plans to help them to acquire the skills they need to reach their career aspirations. A CPI 260 might show a new leader how they would be perceived by their team and what strengths to leverage as well as outline the areas for development. A conflict resolution assessment might help staff members learn improved methods of communication to better inspire others.

STEP 5: MAKE THEM AWARE OF HOW THEY CONTRIBUTE TO SUCCESS .


Keep your staff informed and provide feedback. Make employees aware of how they contribute to the organizations success. Employees should
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understand how their duties and responsibilities affect the organizations bottom line, and should be made to feel a part of the organizations success. Offer constructive feedback focused on promoting positive change by using the BE FAIR method. Behavior, state the behavior you want changed. Effect; describe the effect it has on you, the team or organization. Feeling, tell them how you the behavior makes you feel. Alternative, suggest an alternative. Invite; invite them to try it out. Response, ask for a response and agreement.

GAINING HEALTHY RESULTS:


There is clear and mounting evidence that high levels of employee engagement keenly correlates to individual, group and corporate performance in areas such as retention, turnover, productivity, customer service and loyalty. (Conference Board Study of Employee Engagement). Why are organizations with engaged employees more successful? Employees who are involved and passionate about the organization and their jobs pass their passion and loyalty on to the organizations customers. When all is said and done you have engaged employees, fulfilled customers, a happy organizationand satisfied shareholders. To that end, creating a culture which fosters employee engagement not only has an impact on the people involved with that organizationit has a profound and lasting impact on the world in which we live.

MEASURING SUCCESS:
So how do you know when you are successful? To find out if employees are engaged you can take a survey. We use the Perception Gap Assessment or a survey to determine how all staff members feel about their work, the organization and its management. Engaged employees are on the same page as their leaders. You can also measure retention changes, organizational performance, and increased productivity and of course increased profitability and market share.

MAKING THE CONNECTIONFROM ENGAGED EMPLOYEES TO HAPPY SHAREHOLDERS: Why are organizations with engaged employees more successful? Employees who are involved and passionate about the organization and their jobs pass their passion and loyalty on to the organizations customers. When all is said and done you have engaged employees, fulfilled customers, a happy organizationand satisfied shareholders. To that end, creating a culture which fosters employee engagement not only has an impact on the people involved with that organizationit has a profound and lasting impact on the world in which we live.
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As a result, instead of suffering lack of accountability you should be seeing: A performance based and highly positive collaborative culture High profitability and productivity Excellent customer service and retention Improved communication Clear, creative and confident leaders High performing teams focused on business results.

Now doesnt that feel better? Exercise the best competitive advantage companies can exert, build a culture of accountable, engaged people focused on results. The truth is, these uncertain economic times, getting your company to the next level might not be good enough. What you really need to do to ensure your company stays aliveand thrives Accelerate your organizations success beyond all levels through focus on employee engagement, leadership development and team building to build a sustainable collaborative working culture. You owe it to yourself, your organization, your shareholders, and your employees to do what you can to ensure your company survives and thrives for a long time to come. Creating an atmosphere that results in a more engaged workforce results in productive workers, loyal buying and referring customers, satisfied shareholdersand a better world. Imagine your team working together collaboratively and enthusiastically sharing their innovative ideas and creating new solutions to the organizations dilemmas. Imagine leading a team that embraces change and systematically produces successful outcomes like clockwork. Imagine a company culture in which positive energy, synergy, and success is contagious. NowImagine this being YOUR Company, YOUR Team...

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COACHING STAFF FOR SUCCESS


Creating work environments that are successful benefits both the employer and the employee. There are tremendous advantages to creating effective workplaces. This report outlines top strategies for realizing an effective team and how you can coach your staff to success, so that they are producing more and better and your business has greater earnings. As the manager, business owner or supervisor your commitment to your staff and their success is an essential key.

BE REAL, BE A UTHENTIC In order to build a partnership you must be sincere, real and authentic. If you are not it will be impossible for you to successfully coach staff and build the rapport and loyalty that you want and that your business needs. Staff can read your sincerity. In coaching staff part of the goal is to build a partnership so that staff see you as the leader/owner/supervisor as an ally, someone that is on their side. Your goal as the leader is to have staff fulfilling the company vision. In fact, there are no sides, only the ones that we create. This approach is about taking down the barriers and the sides and working as an effective team.

LISTEN TO YOUR STAFF


Be open to hearing their ideas, their observations and let them know what you can and cant do. Staffs have valuable insights and ideas. They are there doing the work of the company or organization. They see what works, what doesnt work and they see why or why not. This is gold. They have ideas about solutions. But if you are not open to hearing them and using them you wont know about this gold. The company will continue to function in the ineffective or inefficient ways that it has been operating. As the leader you can create open circles of communication where ideas are valued and welcomed. Share your ideas and ask for their thoughts and feedback. Be willing to be wrong.

REMOVE BARRIERS TO COMMUNICATION There are many barriers to communication with employees. Some are invisible. They are the barriers that people create in their minds, with their personal history, assumptions and beliefs. These might include ideas that the boss is unapproachable. Our beliefs about the roles each person is in can create barriers to communication. There are also physical barriers. These can include how the office space is set up. The boss's office can be intimidating in itself. The location of the office can establish walls. Visiting the office can cause stress for employees especially if summoned by the boss. As the supervisor you can work to remove these barriers so that they arent interfering with your communications. Some barriers can be removed. Move from behind the desk. When you meet with staff sit without desks and tables between you and the employee you break down barriers to communication and ease the environment for the employee. The desk or table in the middle feels safer. It protects us, but it also changes the communication dynamic. It can set up a power relationship that gives the message of who is the boss and who is the employee. As you work to break down the barriers to communication, rapport and performance this can be an easy one to remove. If you are meeting with a group of employees sit in a circle without a large table. Circles are wonderful because everyone can be seen and is equal in the circle. The circle can help remove the we vs. them structures that exist. You can work within these circles to establish a safe place for employees to communicate with you.

SHARE YOUR VISION Its important to start with vision: the companys and the employees. What is the company vision? The company vision should be compelling and known by staff. When staff dont know the owners vision for the company it is hard for them to help move it forward. Having a clear and compelling vision that employees can buy into provides a foundation for success.

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Sharing your vision with staff lets them help you in achieving it. Be clear with staff what your vision is for the company. When staffs are unclear of the vision of the leaders/owner they cannot be as helpful in accomplishing the vision. They also cant figure out where they fit into the organization. And the direction it is going in. Stating a clear and compelling vision to staff can be inspiring and motivating to staff. I recommend that you first look at the core purpose of your business, what is the heart of the business? What is the business about, what is at the center of the business? Once you have identified your core purpose you can more clearly outline your vision. What is the direction you are taking the business? Where do you see the business? What is the growth, the new products, new services that you want in the business? Are there new buildings or other types of expansion? Both the core purpose and the vision are important components for staff to know and understand. The core purpose can give staff deeper understanding of your business, the vision gives them a roadmap. Why include staff in the vision? Well, if they are working for you but are under an assumption of the purpose of the company and unclear about the direction the company is going the results can be detrimental to the organization. You want staff working in the direction you are going and not against that direction. Often this can happen as a result of this miscommunication or lack of knowledge and the results have a negative impact on the company.

THE VISION CAN BE EXCITING, INSPIRING AND ULTIMATELY MOTIVATING TO STAFF.


I met with a leadership team in which we discussed vision. During the meeting the owner of the company talked of his vision, the core of what was important to him in the business. It was different from what the company leaders knew. They were surprised. They gained clarity and understanding of what was important, where their focus needed to be. Vision matters, communicating vision matters more! But what drives the individual isnt the bosss vision, the companys vision, but their own compelling vision.

Employees can embrace the company vision but True success comes from within and from personal vision Personal vision should be compelling and tie into the company vision Do you know your employees dreams and visions for their lives and career

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FIND OUT ABOUT THE S TAFFS VISION Talking with staff and learning about their vision, their purpose and what they are trying to accomplish is valuable information for you as the leader or owner of the company. Are there ways the organization can support the employees vision? Does the position that they are in support their vision as well as the companys? This is the ideal, but sometimes its not the way that it is. Looking at how you as the leader can empower the employee to live their vision benefits the company in several ways. It continues to build the relationship between you and the employee, it furthers you as a partner in their success, and when employees see that you are interested in them and their vision, they become more dedicated and motivated to achieve the companys vision. Compelling visions are personal, written in the present tense, as ifthey are happening now, and point to an exciting future. Encourage your staff to write their own compelling vision and share it with you. Several times I have encountered leaders that had employees that wanted their job or wanted to open similar businesses to theirs. It scared them, but its a really a great opportunity. The opportunity is that they have high motivation, high interest in your role, your jobs. You can use that motivation and interest to train the person, develop the person and at the same time help them in creating their vision.

USE THE PERFORMANCE A PPRAISAL TO ENHANCE PERFORMANCE AND A FRAMEWORK FOR COACHING STAFF
TO SUCCESS

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Our current appraisal framework: Often the manager talks about issues that the employee didnt know were coming. The anticipation of the appraisal is stressful and the actual appraisal can be stressful. Its important to recognize your feelings about performance appraisals and to imagine the employees perspective.
History of being an uncomfortable experience Reframe the experience & create a positive, goal oriented environment that thrives on success, enhancing performance An opportunity to tune into the person and find out what is going on with them Create a plan for the upcoming year. Most individuals (most employees) want to be successful Use the employee performance appraisal as a format for creating a goal plan with the employee, or you can create a goal plan separately, but either way create a goal plan that focuses the employees energy towards success. Today we are talking about how to reframe the experience for both the employee and the manager. With the manager as a coach and partner committed to the employees success the environment can shift. The goal is to reframe the experience, creating a positive, goal oriented environment that thrives on success and enhancing performance and not on problems or issues. In my experience working with many groups of people solving problems, I found that when they focused on what was going well and built upon it they were more successful than when they worked on what the problems were that they were having and what they needed to improve. In focusing on solutions, they ultimately identified the things that needed improvement as well. Work with each staff to create a goal plan. Identify the different roles they have in their life and at work so that you can create a comprehensive plan. Keep it simple with at most 10 goals. Including personal goals helps to remind both you and the employee that there should be life/work balance. Start with what is going well and create goals that build on those successes. Write goals that are SMART: specific; measurable; achievable; relevant; time bound.

CREATE A PLAN FOR EXCELLENT PERFORMANCE : You, the supervisor become the partner or the coach coaching for success. In creating a plan
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focused on success for the employee, the manager begins to shift the paradigm to one of employee and coach/partner. As supervisors, our role is to build successful teams and we need successful team members in order to do that. If we focus on creating success, we are more likely to create it. Focus on the positive, the solutions. Whats going right, how do we create more of it? When we create goals that are SMART, we can measure them, and track their progress. If goals are soft, not measurable it becomes difficult to progress the plan or give any feedback. So, how do we make them measurable? Measurable is countable, how many, when, who?

SMART Goals SMART Goals have certain attributes that make them measurable. When you can measure the goal you then know if you are attaining it. Goals should be results or outcome oriented and not focused on the process. Specific: o Write the goal with a specific outcome or result.

Measurable: o Can be counted: how many? How much? Who? Attainable: o Is reasonably attainable, can be achieved within reason, a stretch but not impossible. Relevant: o Goals are relevant to the persons position, the organization, the vision, values of the company. Time-Bounded: o Write goals for the appraisal that can be accomplished within the timeframe of a year.

This is an opportunity to reframe the experience and create an annual plan that is positive, focused on the future and compelling. The annual performance appraisal is an opportunity to enhance employee performance and create greater success for the company and the individual. Coaching skills can be used in creating a good performance appraisal experience for both the employee and the supervisor and to keep good performance going throughout the year.
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Once you have set goals your partnership has begun. Part of what makes the performance appraisal uncomfortable is that for many it is the only time of the year that their performance is discussed so openly. This plan becomes the center of your partnership with the employee. The plan needs to be kept alive and in front of you both. You have focused during this meeting on what has gone well and how you can build upon that over the next year. It is important to keep the goals alive during the year and not wait until the next appraisal to discuss them again. This just keeps the old framework of stress and discomfort going. The first step in keeping it alive is to...

BREAK GOALS INTO ACHIEVABLE STEPS Often goals feel big and that bigness makes them overwhelming. Break goals down into the small actions that are needed to accomplish the goal. Identify which step you will take first. Steps can be smaller goals that the employee works on each month. Select doable steps and write them down.

SET UP A SYSTEM OF ACCOUNTABILITY Meeting with employees on a regular basis provides a framework for talking about goals, scoring goals and figuring out what happened and what the next steps are. This is your partnership meeting. It should occur at least monthly. This gives employees feedback and a chance to talk with you about the challenges they are facing and how to overcome them. Regular check-ins help keep people focused. When people know they have set out to accomplish a task by a certain date or the next meeting they are more likely to do it. When there is an accountability structure employees know that its important, it matters and theyre going to be asked about it. When you set goals and then never check back in on the progress, employees can interpret that the goals didnt really matter and arent important to you. These partnership meetings must be prioritized by you. Dont schedule them and then reschedule them and continue putting them off. They are one of the keys in your plan for coaching staff to success. Monthly review meetings should be positive. You can start with what went right or well. Remember the goals outlined are focused on creating better results for the company. You want that. Focus on the plan. At the monthly meeting spend time to: Review the vision Review the accomplishments (Whats going right?)
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Review the goals Score each goal give it a percentage 60%; 85% When a goal is falling short use coaching skills to help figure out what the problem is and how to change it. Does the leadership need to shift to provide more supervision, training, direction.? If the goal is below 80% talk about whats in the way? Is the individual in their own way? If the person is in their own way, they need to make a shift in their feelings, beliefs, paradigm, to move forward and get out of their own way. Are they choosing not to make the necessary shift? Its an opportunity to talk about choices that we make. We each operate from a place of personal responsibility. We are responsible for ourselves, our actions.

Use basic coaching questions to focus the meeting Whats going right? What makes it right? Whats the ideal, the vision? Whats not quite right yet? What are the resources needed?

The monthly review of the PLAN gives you the opportunity to really check-in with staff and support them in developing success. It also prevents the annual performance review dread. They know you are invested in their success as well as that of the company. This is powerful. It develops you as a leader and partner of the staff member and lets you know where the focus needs to be. It also creates a regular stream of communication-both ways that can only improve results.

BE GENEROUS Your generosity builds loyalty; generosity of time, benefits, wages, perks, working conditions and yourself. Greed of organizations, leaders or owners does not help their success. Treating staff fairly, and with generosity assists in building the rapport and success that you as the leader want.
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Through effective coaching of staff you can further build your business success. Staff is interested in your success and theirs. By following the steps outlined and developing effective coaching skills you can shift the work culture. As the leader, your skills are paramount in building the business overall success. People are your business, no matter what business you are in. If you dont treat your people well, you wont be able to build the success you want. Treating people well, recognizing their strengths and tapping into their knowledge and wisdom will only assist you in achieving your vision. As the leader you must be committed to success for the business and for the staff that work in the company.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE REAL WORLD LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE!


Theres no denying it, todays business climate presents unprecedented challenges. Lack of available capital, poor sales, and reduced consumer confidence are just some of the issues plaguing todays businesses. Combined with reports that 54% of US employees are disengaged negatively impacting profits, productivity and customer service, even the most experienced leaders are looking for new solutions. This is precisely why the Real World Leadership Institute was formed. We create a place for leaders to target their challenges, to gain the leadership traits that offer a shortcut to performance and to join in with other leaders to learn and grow from one another. We work with leaders who want to enjoy:

Clear, confident, and creative leadership A performance-based and highly positive, collaborative culture A systems approach to business and organizational development High profitability and productivity Excellent customer service and retention Open communication High performing teams that translates into business results

Youll receive proven strategies that:


build collaboration promote employee engagement


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create high performing results

so you can accelerate the vision you have for yourself and your organization. This is not your standard workshop where you will leave with glossy materials and workbook in hand only to return to your office and be unsure how it all applies to your team, to your organization, in your industry. Its been proven that that type of training simply does not work. Instead you will receive personalized attention and your goals become our objectives. We start with a lively, engaging and educational two and half day retreat, where managers and leaders come together to learn, grow and challenge themselves and each other. Then, each subsequent month we will reconvene to leverage your progress and to work on the challenges you are currently facing. Its during this time that youll be given a rare opportunity for both group and one on one coaching, so you can track your progress, identify and overcome your challenges and achieve your results. There will also be a leadership workshop every month, where well focus directly on the most up to date, proven strategies and exciting trends that will optimize your leadership results even further.

REPLACE OLD HABITS WITH NEW BREAKTHROUGH STRATEGIES


Lack of available capital, poor sales, and reduced consumer confidence are just some of the issues plaguing todays businesses. Combined with reports that 54% of US employees are disengaged negatively impacting profits, productivity and customer service, even the most experienced leaders are looking for new solutions. This is precisely why the Real World Leadership Institute was formed. We create a place for leaders to target their challenges, to gain the leadership traits that offer a shortcut to performance and to join in with other leaders to learn and grow from one another.

HERES HOW IT WORKS


In addition to your three retreats and six monthly webinars, as an Institute participant you will have monthly access to an executive coach for personal executive coaching sessions. Normally this type of session is conducted independent of a group program, so there is always a missing piece to the puzzle. Usually a valuable piece. Executive and management coaching has proven to have a
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seven times return on investment (Sherpa Executive Coaching Study 2009). But why settle for just attending training when you can wrap a team of personalized support and resources around you, your team and your organization?

When you combine personal, one-to-one executive coaching into the mix, the result is the most comprehensive leadership program you will find. Its action-based, content-rich and accountabilitydriven. When you have these three factors you get a leadership program that will give you the skills, the outcomes and the results youve been seeking. And thats how you become the Exemplary Real World Leader at your company, before the end of 2010.

THE REAL WORLD LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE IS THE RESULT OF OVER 20 YEARS OF RESEARCH
Weve crammed 20 years of research into this program in a way that is easy to grasp and master at the real world, in the trenches level.

YOU LL GET:
6 Full Days of In Person Training 6 Skill Development Webinars 9 Months of Leadership Development Individual Executive Coaching Pre,-Post and Mid-Term Assessments Skill Development that Works in the Real World

Find out if this program is a fit for you.

WHAT YOU GET


Heres a month by month glimpse at the Real World Leadership Institute:

MONTH 1: GET REAL WITH LEADERSHIP RETREAT


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We begin with The Leadership Challenge Workshop, the most talked about retreat based on an intense discovery process created by best-selling authors and leadership icons, Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner. It will be an experience like no other. The Workshop demystifies the concepts of leadership and leadership development and approaches it as a measurable, learnable, and teachable set of behaviors, establishing the unique underlying philosophy, that leadership is everyones business. The Workshop is grounded in the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership. Not everyone is born a natural leader, but leaders can be developed. People can become exemplary leaders. Evidence of the Leadership Challenge has demonstrated that leaders who use The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership more frequently are seen by others as better leaders. You work hard, why not get the recognition and the results you deserve?

MONTH 2: STRATEGY & INFLUENCE IN LEADERSHIP


This month is all about influencea must-have skill-set that is, ironically, rarely taught in any structured wayuntil now. During this powerful webinar you will learn that influence, your ability to influence others is a skill you WANT in your toolbox. Exercising influence uses a practical real world model that will help participants discover how to: Develop effective influence behaviors and a strategic and tactical approach to influence Plan for influence Design and apply to real-life situations Resolve problems and conflicts Accomplish far more in their organization with less effort Take charge of their professional lives in a powerful, ethical, and productive way

MONTH 3: 10 KEYS TO UNLOCKING EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT


Have you ever felt like you were pushing ahead, only to find you are held back by the people who need to perform in order for you to meet your goals? Leadership is not accomplished alone. You need to engage your teams, your employees, to align with goals and to work together to achieve. Getting people to play nicely together sometimes is not easy. Getting them to understand and align with the organizational goals is even harder. Traditional, push it forward leadership does not work anymore. Let us show you what does. Here
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we will go deep into employee engagement and how as leaders we have a role in engaging with our employees to improve overall performance. There is clear and mounting evidence that employee engagement keenly correlates to individual, group, and corporate performance in areas such as retention, productivity, customer service, and loyalty. This timely webinar session provides a comprehensive framework, language, and process that genuinely connect a people strategy with good business strategy. Leaders who implement an employee engagement strategy quickly see an impact, how could you not with the following results:

84% of engaged employees desire to have a positive impact on the organization 72% think daily about ways to improve customer service 68% want to positively impact the bottom line

Learn the top 10 ways to drive engagement create a better workplace and exceed your goal expectations.

MONTH 4: SKILLS IMPLEMENTATION LAB


By now you are feeling empowered. Odd things are happening. The quietest people on your team are offering ideas around the conference room table. You and those around you show up energized and your workplace has turned into a potential winner of one of best places to work. Show up to this webinar ready to report on your successes and be willing to take on new challenges. This is a month of follow-up, celebration and focus on self development via a Skills Implementation Lab checking in on Leadership Challenge Skills, Employee Engagement, and Influence. With each training and webinar, you are setting your personal skill acquisition or skill development goals. Skills Labs help to reinforce what you have learned, and what has challenged you back in the workplace. It is one thing to learn new skills at a workshop. But the real goal is to implement new skills in your real world workplace. Team Building in the classroom does your team no good. Taking your new skills around team building and living them at work, skyrockets your team!! We know you are busy so we designed your lab via webinar making it easy for you to join in from
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wherever you are. Here we will review the skills that you targeted during the live workshop and learn how to target them toward your deepest challenges. These Skill Labs are a key component to your success. 80% of training is lost quickly, use this key reinforcement lab to use what youve learned and mold it to your style of leadership. It is in the follow-up, the continued focus on skills acquisition and implementation that true change happens.

MONTH 5: COACHING SKILLS FOR MANAGERS AND LEADERS RETREAT


During our second two day retreat we will focus on developing coaching skills for leaders. Integrating coaching skills into your leadership and management of staff will give you the tools for a continuous improvement. During this dynamic, interactive, experiential, and comprehensive two-day workshop on Coaching for Commitment you will: Learn hands on coaching skills Learn current coaching strategies and methodologies Be offered a practical, how-to guide to coaching for anyone (no matter what their skill level) who wants to hone their coaching skills for a range of circumstances and using a variety of methodsface-to-face, with a virtual team, on the fly, by phone, or e-mail. Coaching skills in your workplace will support your goals of increased employee engagement, increased follow through of team performance and improved organizational performance. Coaching enhances the workplace flow and culture.

MONTH 6: DIVERSITY: MOSAIC


Most organizations talk a good game about diversity, but if youre really serious and committed about creating diversity in the workplace, Diversity Mosaic is the quintessential resource for making it happen. Bring out the brilliance in every team member and value the individual contributions each has to offer. Make your organization stand out from other by embracing the Mosaic model. This month youll master the Five Cornerstone concepts: 1: The Diversity Enhancement Process 2: The Inclusive Definition of Diversity 3: The Business Case for Diversity 4: The Cultural Competence Scorecard
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5: The Diversity Adoption Curve Learn how to really implement real world diversity.

MONTH 7: SKILLS IMPLEMENTATION LAB


Just like the first Skills Implementation Lab we focus on using the new skills in our workplaces. It is not enough to participate in the training. It is the implementation that is essential to real world success.

MONTH 8: TEAM ADVANTAGE TRAIN THE LEADER


This month is your final two day retreat and celebration. Throughout the journey we have focused on leadership, employee engagement, influence, diversity, coaching skills, all leading to you being a great leader and a great leader of teams. During this two day development time the focus is all on teams. As a leader, being able to develop a high performance team is a key to becoming an exemplary leader. This has been a focus of the journey up to this two day retreat but now we intensify the focus on your team leadership. Team Advantage is a proven team coaching program that designed to give leaders the skills that they need to transform their teams. We will take the coaching skills you have learned throughout the program and focus them on transforming your team. Team Advantage is a proven team coaching program designed to transform teams. We will be focused on you as the facilitator and we will play the game during our retreat with our team. Praise for Team Advantage: Team Advantage is for any leader with a team and a goal. Its a proven process, with challenges and rewards that will drive your team past typical corporate objectives to new levels of engagement and commitment. You can transform your teamand youre Team Advantage.Ken Blanchard, coauthor of The One Minute Manager and Leading at a Higher Level The outcomes of conducting a 16-game pilot project accelerated goal attainment and produced significant results, leaving a sustainable impact on team leaders and the team members by improving their collaboration, team focus and performance. Team Advantage brings action learning and management by objectives into alignment so that teams are truly transformed.Anne Whitaker, senior vice president, International Pharmaceutical Company
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MONTH 8: REAL WORLD LEADER WRAP-UP AND CELEBRATION, STATE OF THE ART TRAINING, EXCEPTIONAL EXECUTIVE COACHING
This combination accelerates results and ensures adoption of new skills. By the end of the program youll be well equipped and empowered to take your company to new plateaus of employee interaction and customer engagement. In Month 8 we will set new goals and plan to move forward, after all the role of leadership is a continued journey.

IN SUMMARY
As you can see, the Real World Leadership Institute is like no other training or leadership program out there, because it combines the work of some of the best minds on earth, with the individual executive coaching of two of the most prolific leadership coaches in the industry. And the investment is far less than what most similar programs are putting forth. If you feel youre ready to make a bold step forward for yourself or your organization then take action now to secure your spot!

TO LEARN MORE GO TO: HTTP://WWW.REALWORLDLEADERSHIPINSTITUTE.COM


If you have any questions Call:

Debora McLaughlin 603.589.4008 Donna Price 973.948.7673

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