In Leadership training, we often talk about ethics, and one part of an ethical leader to me is someone I can trust.  For me to trust someone they cannot lie or twist the truth.  From my point of view, the twisting of events in the State of the Union was just a lot over the top this year.

I can understand trying to spin things toward your point of view, but leaving out little details that would lend to a different conclusion is just plain dishonest.  As one pundit said after the speech, he was surprised how our President seems to believe one way and governs another way. (I’m paraphrasing him)  What I hear was his walk doesn’t match his talk.

As far as I’m concerned it is time for some real hope and some real change this election year.  Maybe if we are lucky we can find candidates that walk their talk, and spin a lot less.  Maybe we can find leaders that are ethical and don’t lie to us so that we see what they are really all about.

Okay, I can dream can’t I?

I am a planner and I find that knowing when I want to take time off allows me to shop for vacation destinations early and save a good amount of money being the early bird.  But mentally I look forward to the next trip or break in the normal routine.

While I am an advocate of planning to save a dime, I also plan things to increase my individual productivity.  I am self-employed, so I have to be careful not to be on vacation more days in a year than I am working, or the money dries up.  I have always been one of those employees that gave more than a day’s work for a day’s pay, which is why I am such a supporter of anything that increases productivity.

The reason I am promoting the idea of planning your vacations is so that the remainder of the year you can concentrate on working.  As I watch numerous clients diddle away their 40-hours every week and think nothing of pushing a project down the road for 6 months, I am appalled that some of them continue to collect a paycheck.  Not only do they lack personal accountability for their productivity, their employers seem to be out to lunch too.

Vacations and Holidays are for rest and relaxation and the remainder of the days in a year are for work.  Whether you are on a salary or paid hourly, it is vital for your company’s success that you put in a full-time effort.

So whether you are planning to stay home and paint, go camping, or fly to a resort or cruise this year, plan the time for vacation, and spend the rest of the year earning your paycheck.  You will feel so much better this time next year if you exercise life and workplace balance.

After battling numerous health issues, he passed away this morning in his sleep.  Yet even over the past two weeks as friends and family came out of the woodwork to say their goodbyes, he remained the role model I have looked at these past 35 years as a true servant leader.  He was eager to move on, and yet patient enough to wait for God’s timing.

His faith was as strong as anyone could ever hope to achieve, and the reason my faith was restored a long time ago that God is actively working in our lives for our good.  He walked his talk more than he talked it, and for someone who definitely had the gift of gab that is saying something.

Years ago when I started to learn the concepts of Servant Leadership and what types of actions it takes to live that kind of role, it didn’t take me long to realize I had a model of leadership in my own family.  He never judged people and always looked for ways to help them succeed.  He never acted differently than the ways he wanted others to behave.  He walked his talk.

If you are struggling to find a hero or a role model to follow, may I suggest you look around your close family and friends.  While it is admirable to look at political and historical people of the past, you just may find more inspiration and motivation in the personal relationships close by.

In memory of Gerald J. Sponsler 1929-2012

Now granted the holidays may have diverted people’s attention, but for weeks I’ve been trying to line up people to work on this house.  I leave phone messages, and emails and I get nothing returned.  I know the economy is bad, and that the amount of work is minimal for some of these companies, so I’m stymied as to why the lack of responsiveness.

I’m working with a company right now that wants to improve customer service, and frankly they are making such a major project out of it that by the time they actually start training they could have been done already.  I have been trying to focus them on the basics, and finally made headway last week.

Do phone calls get returned in your company?

Do your emails get answered within the day?

Do you need to follow-up with people on a regular basis to get responses?

I asked these same three questions, and I encourage you to ask yourself the same ones.  If things are not going smoothly with the basics, can you imagine the difference if just phone calls and emails were answered?  Wow!  Do you really need a 6-month training program to improve customer service?

So as we begin 2012, I want to encourage you to get back to the basics of every process you want to improve this year.  Before you make a mountain out of a mole hill, take a step back and try something simple.

For those of you following this blog, you know that the purpose of my message has been about Building Leaders and Empowering People.  Most of the time I am focusing on one particular group of employees or manager, but today I believe this message will be something everyone could benefit from.

I have three New Year’s Resolutions I would like everyone to add to their list of resolutions.

First, be grateful for all that you have, focusing less on what you think you are missing.  Be grateful for the job and responsibilities you have been given.  There is a purpose for what you are doing or else you would not have your job.  If you are a leader then be grateful for the opportunity to set a vision and lead others toward implementation.

Second, be a lot more productive in 2012 than you were in 2011.  I don’t mean busier, I really mean productive.  By focusing on time management and goal accomplishment, you can get more done in less time.  Being productive can mean giving your employer more than they are paying for, but it also makes job security a closer reality.  If everyone in your world were a little more productive and accountable, life would be a whole heck of a lot easier to deal with.

Third, be a mentor to as many other people as you can.  All of us can add value to another person’s life at work and home.  We need to be open to helping others learn, and at the same time learning from others.  In the past few years there has been almost a stinginess in mentoring to remain the source of all knowledge, thus increasing job security.  We need to reverse this trend if we are ever to dig ourselves out of this economic hole.

I feel these resolutions will give you a more fulfilling New Year, and prepare you and your team to meet the challenges ahead.

Happy New Year!

This time of year retailers pull out all the stops to bring shoppers into their store.  These same retailers staff up with rude and inconsiderate people who are focused on their own needs in sidebar conversations and collecting their next check and never missing a break.

I was in a great mood this past weekend, as my wife and I were shopping with a great coupon and found something we had been searching for, and now was that much cheaper too.  Then we check out of this department (not discount) store only to be “assisted” by a young lady talking on her in store head set about her next break.  I came within inches of screaming – “hey, I’m the customer here!  You are ringing up the wrong price!  Hello? – Get off the phone!”  Thankfully my wife has much better control, and while grabbing my arm, also got this lady’s attention.  Smiles were not exchanged, but we paid the correct amount.

In other areas of a different store, I saw numerous employees that were dressed (and I say that loosely) with revealing clothes, un-tucked shirts,  and pants below the butt-line.  This is not this store’s dress code, and I can guarantee that HR and Training communicate a different set of standards during orientation.

The fault of all these issues and the many more I’m not naming sit at the foot of Spineless Managers.  These folks are scared of communicating with these staff members.  They are focused on getting through the day with as little confrontation as possible, and since they can count on customer issues, they take a pass on dealing with staff.

If a manager doesn’t know how to deal with these types of communications, okay, train them.  And while I agree that many managers are not trained these days in one-on-one communication skills, many choose to look the other way.

Staff represents your company.  Staff-Customer experiences today determine future experiences.  Managers are being paid to manage the operations, the service level and the staff.  It is about time they did their jobs a little better.

One last thought for those who think they have job security and can act any way they want.  You are wrong!  There are still a lot of people out there that want your job, and would work harder than you do.  That goes for the lady that ignored me, and her spineless manager for not dealing with this behavior.

I was listening to a news article on TV the other day claiming that office parties are still the best way that organizations can say “Thank You” to their employees.  Really?

What happened to the simple vocalizing of the words THANK YOU to each of your employees, peers and supervisors throughout the year?  When was the last time you heard people thank you for your contribution one on one?  When was the last time someone sent you a note of thanks for your contributions?

Oh no, parties are the way to go!  Spend money on food, entertainment and gifts to demonstrate your gratefulness to employees.  Make a heartfelt speech to the group that everyone is valuable and a contributor to the success of the company.  Give me a break!

We have all been to these parties, and I will admit that the sentiments spouted off from the platform are never as sincere as they should be.  There is always someone in the group munching down the food, and tearing open their gift that has not been a part of the company’s success, in fact they are the real reason we are not as successful!

I will be the first to admit that I am old fashion.  I am the kind of leader that takes the time to know my staff, and I look for ways to thank them specifically and frequently.  Yes that takes time, but it is more cost-effective than wasting money on office parties.

So for those reading that I’ve got your attention, try diverting the money spent on parties toward developing your employees.  Honestly, if companies spent the money they do on parties on training, the appreciation factor would still be high, and the return on the investment in your employees would last longer then the logo pen set you gave them!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

I was given the phone number, and told to call in a few minutes before the interview time, and then I noted that the whole interview was only 10 minutes long!  What could we possibly discuss in 10 minutes?  Thankfully the DJ was a skilled interviewer and immediately put me at ease and we covered so much more territory than I thought possible.  I also noticed that after hanging up the phone I was still breathing and I had survived!

Although I get bored with routine very easily, I also approach everything new with a tremendous amount of caution.  Actually to be truthful, I ask a million questions of anyone that I can find that has experience in the area I am about to enter.  In this case, a friend of mine used to host a radio talk show and understood my anxiety and prepared and coached me through the process ahead of time.

Too often I see people struggling to get through an experience that is new to them without any outside help.  When if they reached out to friends, peers, managers, staff or consultants (me) they could reduce a lot of stress and perform at a higher level.  I have no fear in telling someone I could use their help, advice and experience to make me perform at a higher level.  Or in the case of the radio interview, get through it and not come across as completely incompetent because of being nervous.

So the next time you are faced with a new challenge, take a moment and look around your world and find someone who knows more than you do about the task at hand.  Give them a call and lean on their experience to make you successful!

My daughter is taking online classes through a university noted for a robust learning environment.  The professors are giving a lot of constant feedback on assignments, discussions and actively participating daily with their students.  On top of all that, there is a grading section that a student can read about their progress for the week by assignment and a weekly summary.

I just became aware of this last feature, and when I discussed it with my daughter, her eyes lit up with “how cool”!  Since this happened to be the last week of the course, I responded with a typical dumb parent response like, “Huh”?

In her orientation course, and all through the past 9 weeks, she had not know about this feedback section.  She was passing one class, and the other class is not doing as well as I would have liked.  If she had known about this feedback, she would have had some valuable information to learn and improve from.  Yet she missed the feedback altogether!

Feedback is essential, but I’m learning that feedback sent is only good if it is received.  If you are giving feedback, then make sure it is being received.  If you are a manager, how are you making sure your advice is being received? If you train, teach or coach, are you checking to see if your message has been received?

We in the learning world hammer so much on encouraging people to give feedback, but what I think we urgently need to do is check to make sure we are also training people on how to confirm their feedback is received.

How are you doing this?

I recently heard a paster comment that it is easy to be thankful for all the good that is happening to you, but that we should be thankful for all the bad that is happening to us too.  “For God is in charge of all works in our life for our good.”  We may never know, nor should we always be trying to figure out how it all works together for our good, just trust in faith that it is.

This means to me that I’ve been a little remiss in my list of things to be thankful for.  It also helps me on my mission to be more accountable for my actions if I am not blaming others for things but being grateful for my circumstances.

There must be a reason that people don’t return phone calls and emails.  There must be a reason that decisions are avoided or delayed and sales are not closed.  There must be a reason that my cat appreciates my words more than clients.

I am thankful for all that has gone well in my life without a doubt, and I am going to be making a serious effort to be more grateful for all the other obstacles too.  It won’t happen overnight, but with your help or without it, I will make Thanksgiving a year-long activity.  (Accept for the eating, as I have to lose some weight this year too!)