The Law Of The Team

At this time in my life, virtually everything I do is a team effort.  In my personal business coaching, public speaking and career coaching I have a team to support me.  But, when I was younger, I used to try to do everything myself.  Or, as my businesses grew, I would try to know everything in detail about all aspects of the business even though I had turned over many aspects to my team members.

The truth is that this approach held back my growth as a self-employed business owner and the growth of my business. Smallbusiness growth and small business success are about developing a good team.  Any business that grows has a team or teams supporting that growth.

Team Means Letting Go

For most self-employed business owners, entrepreneurs or solo professionals there is a huge focus on control.  Yet as their businesses grow they still bring the mentality “I’m going to have to do it if it is to be done right.”  They hire people and build a team but they are disempowering them at the same time.

How?  They don’t trust them.  The number one cause of team dysfunction is lack of trust.  The little secret of growth is this.  You have to let go in order to grow.  To let go successfully, you must have systems and processes in place where all team members can be held accountable.

Team Means Amplification

In my personal business coaching practice, my team makes me better than I am.  When I recognize a situation with a client that needs to move forward very often I bring in an expert.  A good example is in the area of human resources.  As a small business grows it must have an employee handbook, performance reviews and policies and procedures.

When that is needed I bring in an expert in human resources to assist with the process.  She is part of my team.  And, at the same time, she amplifies the value I bring to my business coaching clients.

How does she do that?  She makes me better than I am.  As part of my team she multiplies my value to others.  And most importantly, she enables me to focus on what I do best, business coaching where I am focusing on creating and designing the pathways my clients want to have the future they desire.

Your Team Is Your Financial Nest Egg

for the future is just like developing a financial nest egg.  It may start slowly, but what you pout in brings a high return—similar to the way compound interest works with finances.

How does my team help me build that nest egg?  I have an organization that does my SEO work which helps my websites rank higher which in turn brings me business.  My accountant keeps track of and keeps me on track financially.

My team and the team you can develop will do many things.  Your team can give you more time.  Your team can represent you in things such as the example I gave in human resources.  Your team can provide a sense of community.  And most importantly your team can help you fulfill the desires you have for the future you want to create.

Develop your team and watch the law of the team work for you.

Business Keys To Success: You Are Responsible For Your Attitudes

Life is full of surprises, and the adjustment of our attitudes is a lifelong project.  Think about your destiny in business and life.  It will never be determined by our complaining spirits or high expectations.  In my business coaching practice and in my own life I had to come face to face with my attitudes.

For myself, self-employed business owners, entrepreneurs, solo professionals, corporate managers and all individuals our attitudes are what will determine in large part our destiny.

We Choose The Attitudes We Have Now

And it is an ongoing choice.  And it surprises me, the large number of adults who fail to take responsibility for their attitudes.  If they are unhappy they may something like, “I got up on the wrong side of the bed.”

If failure begins to repeat itself in their lives they often say, “I was born on the wrong side of the tracks.”

When their lives aren’t progressing while others and their family are still on the rise they may say, “Things would be different if only the birth order was different in my family.”

Whether you are running a small business or starting your own business it is a continual challenge to adjust your attitudes.

Attitudes 

In all of the above examples there was one common thread.  There is blame for everyone else or circumstances for their problems.

When a marriage fails they believe they married the wrong person.  When someone else gets a promotion they wanted, it’s because they are in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Yes, in the words of Rose Ann, Rose Anna Danna, “It’s always something.”  It’s always something except for them and their attitude.

Attitudes-A Summary 

When John Maxwell talks about attitudes he has a great summary.

The pessimist complains about the wind.

The optimist expects it to change.

The leader adjusts the sails.

To be the leader in your life you must adjust your attitudes.  The greatest day in your life and mine is when we take total responsibility for our attitudes.  That is the day we truly grow up.  When you grow up you choose to be responsible for your attitudes and how you view your circumstances.

To have small business and personal success be the leader in your life.  Adjust the sails.  With the right attitudes you will create the circumstances to have the business and life you desire.

Business Keys To Success-Building A Team

Building a team is one of the quickest paths to business success.  Whether you are running a small business, starting your own business or in a corporate environment the value of having a good team is critical to any success.

Yet, very often in my business coaching practice, whether it be with self-employed business owners, entrepreneurs, solo professionals or corporate executives I have observed that their ability to move forward is dependent on the team and type of team they have put in place.

A Good Team Starts With Trust

Interestingly, almost any one can put a team together.  Whether you are running a small business, starting your own business or employed in the corporate environment having or being part of a good team is a positive game changer.

But to put a team together where the members trust each other is critical to moving forward.  If you can’t trust your team or teammates to get something done then everything bogs down.

A team in a way is like a convoy in time of war.  It only moves as fast as it’s slowest link.  Having trust allows us to get the heart of challenges quickly, resolve them and move on.

A Good Team Will Disagree 

Once there is trust then there can be disagreement.  When everyone is in agreement and supporting the mission then the tactics to accomplish the mission can be discussed openly.  Also, the overall strategy in which the tactics are employed can be discussed and altered.

It is important for the team leader to allow this disagreement.  When team members feel that they have truly been heard, then when the decision is made they are much more likely to support it.  Disagreement is a means of giving your team ownership in the process.

 A Good Team Will Have Commitment and Accountability 

As team members take ownership they will have a greater commitment and a desire to be held accountable for results.  Without commitment and accountability it is hard to have the good morale and positive momentum that teams need to move forward.

Team members who are truly committed also are willing to be held accountable.  They want credit for helping the team achieve its goal.

A Good Team Will Pay Attention To Results

You may say that this would go without saying.  Unfortunately if you don’t have trust, the ability to openly disagree, commitment and accountability then most teams don’t want to look at the results.  And the reason is obvious.  The results are not good.

Paying attention to results ties everyone on the team together.  But without trust, the ability to voice opinions, commitment and accountability there is no sense of unity and no desire to focus on results.

Build your team to position yourself for the success you desire.  When you move from “I” to “Let’s” you are building a team and opening up the possibility for great things to happen.

From The Business Coaching Chronicles-A Little Extra Change

Most people are resistant to change.  They desire improvement but they resist changing their everyday routine.  That’s a problem because, as leadership expert Max DePree says, “We cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are.”  To sharpen your talent through practice, you need to do more than just be open to change.  You need to pursue change—and you need to do it a little bit more than other achievers.

Change-Understand Why You Are Changing

In my personal business coaching practice I had a client, for a very short period of time,  who was in the financial services business.  He had just purchased another very successful practice.  He brought me on to collaborate with him and to build the future he envisioned when he purchased the business.

Every person or entity that purchases a business does not purchase it for what it is doing today.  What it is doing today dictates in large part the terms of purchase.  Businesses are purchased because of the better future the buyer or buyers feel that it will bring.  And, once purchased they want to make changes to start molding the business into helping them have the future they desire.

Unfortunately, many times in their eagerness to put their immediate imprint on a business they make changes that are not good.  This is what happened to my client.

Change For The Worse–Process 

In a period of a year, he managed to take a very profitable business and turn it around to where it was very unprofitable.  How did he do it?  Running a small business is a lot of work but when you can’t get out of your own way it becomes overwhelming.

The first thing he changed were some of the core processes without consulting the client base.  Why?  He wanted to make it more convenient for him.  He started with a strong client base of 40 clients.  A year after his changes he had 10 clients.

Change for the Worse—People 

He also managed to alienate every employee.  How did he do this?  As a self-employed business owner coming from the corporate world he believed that the business was all about him.  For years he had to adhere to what’s right instead of who’s right.  But now that he was a business owner it was all about who’s right.

Employee turnover was great and attitudes fell and in the process so did customer satisfaction.

Change for the Worse—Brand

Now that the process and people were headed in a negative direction the company brand which had been extremely positive in the area now became a negative.  The leads for new clients that used to roll in completely dried up.

The business is now gone.  It was sad to watch something that was so good and vibrant die.  And it all happened because of a little bit of change in many areas.  And a little bit of change without understanding why make the change, brought one large failure.