Christian Whamond Leadership learnings

Things Customers Want Most From You

22/9/2012

It's not just about your product or service. Customers want you to be the type of person they can trust to get the job done.

What do your customers really want from you? No matter what your industry, your customers want more than just great products and workable solutions.

What they really want to know is that you--personally--are the type of person whom they can trust to get the job done. Here are the seven things they want to see in you:

1. Independent Thinking

Customers want to know that you'll represent their interests, even it's not in your own financial interest--and particularly when the proverbial chips are down. (Of course, it's your job to make certain that the chips stay up.)

2. Courage

Customers want to know that you can be trusted to do the right thing. They expect you to tell them if buying what you're selling is a mistake, or not truly in their interests. That takes real guts.

3. Pride

The best customers don't want you to truckle and beg. Because they're trusting you to deliver, they want to work with proud, successful people who can handle even the most difficult tasks.

4. Creativity

Customers don't have the time to sit and listen to cookie-cutter sales presentations. However, they always have time for somebody who can redefine problems and devise workable solutions.

5. Confidence

Customers are taking a risk when they buy from you. They both need and expect you to exude the kind of confidence that assures them you'll do what it takes to make them happy.

6. Empathy

Customers want you to see the situation from their perspective. They want you to understand where they are, how their business works, and the challenges that they face--not just intellectually, but in your gut.

7. Honesty

Above all, customers want you to be honest with them. In fact, the previous six values are built upon a foundation of honesty. Without honesty, you have absolutely nothing to offer any customer.

Show the team that you are willing to make sacrifices for the team

19/9/2012

If a team doesn't reach its potential, ability is seldom the issue. It's rarely a matter of resources. It's almost always a payment issue. The team fails to reach its potential when it fails to pay the price. If you lead a team, one of the difficult things you must do is convince your teammates to sacrifice for the good of the group. The more talented the team members, the more difficult it may be to convince them to put the team first.

Begin by modeling sacrifice. Show the team that you are willing to . . .

•Make financial sacrifices for the team.
•Keep growing for the sake of the team.
•Empower others for the sake of the team.
•Make difficult decisions for the sake of the team.

Once you have modeled a willingness to pay your own price for the potential of the team, you have the credibility to ask others to do the same. Then when you recognize sacrifices that teammates must make for the team, show them why and how to do it. Then praise their sacrifices greatly to their teammates.

What happens to a team when members constantly play "out of position"?

19/9/2012

Just about everyone has experienced being on a team where people had to take on roles that didn't suit them: an accountant forced to work with people all day, a football forward forced to play center, a guitarist filling in on keyboard, a teacher stuck doing paperwork, a spouse who hates the kitchen taking on the role of cook.

What happens to a team when members constantly play "out of position"? First, morale erodes because the team isn't playing up to its capability. Then people become resentful. The people working in an area of weakness resent that their best is untapped. And other people on the team who know that they could better fill a mismatched position on the team resent that their skills are being overlooked. Before long, people become unwilling to work as a team. When people aren't where they do things well, things don't turn out well.

The ability to find another's seed of success takes commitment, diligence, and a genuine desire to focus on others.

19/9/2012

I believe every person carries the seed of success. Every person is craving to become the best that they can be. The ability to find another's seed of success takes commitment, diligence, and a genuine desire to focus on others. You have to look at their gifts, temperament, passions, successes, joys, and opportunities. And once you find that seed, you need to fertilize it with encouragement and water it with opportunity. If you do, the person will blossom before your eyes.

Raising people to a higher level and helping them be successful is more than just giving them information or skills. The good news is that when you understand some basic concepts about people, it opens the door to your ability to develop others.

Remember . . .
•Everyone wants to feel worthwhile.
•Everyone needs and responds to encouragement.
•People are naturally motivated.
•People buy into the person before buying into their leadership.
•The more you understand people, the greater your chance of success in mentoring.

Don't be a old school manager, Bullying and threatening employees that they will loose their job are not effective, they are demotivating and demoralizing.

Give people a purpose, set goals and delegate tasks with them, coach them every week and give them feedback about the performance.

Find their seed through weekly one on one's and have professional loving relationships with your people.

Sycophants - Are they an asset or a liability?

7/9/2012

Leaders love to be loved, and in the process of being loved, they surround themselves with yes people. Yes people make their living telling the boss how wonderful he or she is and how great his or her ideas are, even when that is not true. Why dont they tell the truth? Because that isn't their job. Their job is to say yes to the boss. For that, they are handsomely rewarded.

Every business has sycophants, creeping around the corners, sucking up to the boss and reinventing the truth. Hire an advisor and his job likely becomes to advice you to do what you wanted to do in the first place. Advisors who voice dissent too often are soon out of a job. Most people dont keep "no men" around.

So whats wrong with surrounding yourself with yes men? Nothing, until the disaster that could have been foreseen drops into your lap and your board of directors is asking you to resign. Wall street is littered with the remains of CEO's who let their yes men convince them that their companies could manage the risk of derivatives. When the CEO's figured out the risk couldn't be managed, it was too late for them and their companies.

Reference. Warren Buffett. Management secrets.

Lead by example

5/9/2012

Are you as a leader setting the example? Are you living and breathing the actions and behaviors that you ask your people to embrace?

When I meet with many leaders within large originations they vent about how their people can be so frustrating. They have values and behaviors that they are asking their people to live by, yet they themselves don't display these same V's & B's

I herd a leader of a organization asking his people to deliver great customer service and asked "what are you doing today to deliver great service to your customers, what can you do today to go the extra mile?"

I highlighted that his customers where his people and if they don't see you living by these same values and behaviors they see his request as only that, a request or in some instances, a command.

If you want you people to live a breath certain V's & B's make sure that everyone in your organization believes that these are your V's & B's and they see you living these as much as possbile and not just another order from the top tear management group.

Give your people the same service you expect them to deliver to your customers. Have you gone the extra mile today for your people?

Any team that wants to excel must have good substitutes as well as starters

3/9/2012

It's not difficult to see the importance of having well-trained, capable reserve players who sit on the bench in sports. In major league baseball, the teams who win championships do so because they have more than just a good pitching rotation and solid fielding. They possess a bench and a bullpen with strong players who can substitute or pinch-hit. In the NBA, players and fans have long recognized the impact of the bench by talking about the all-important sixth man, the person who makes a significant contribution to the team's success yet isn't one of the five starters on the basketball court. And football coaches express the need to have two skilled quarterbacks on their rosters. A great starter alone is simply not enough if a team wants to go to the highest level.

Any team that wants to excel must have good substitutes as well as starters. That's true in any field, not just sports. You may be able to do some wonderful things with a handful of top people, but if you want your team to do well over the long haul, you've got to build your bench. A great team with no bench eventually collapses.

Rules for Being Human.

3/9/2012

Everybody fails, errs, and makes mistakes. You've heard the saying "To err is human, to forgive, divine." Alexander Pope wrote that over 250 years ago. And he was only paraphrasing an ancient saying that was common during the time of the Romans. Recently I came across something called "Rules for Being Human." I think several of these describe well the state we're in:

Rule #1: You will learn lessons.
Rule #2: There are no mistakes - only lessons.
Rule #3: A lesson is repeated until it is learned.
Rule #4: If you don't learn the easy lessons, they get harder.
Rule #5: You'll know you've learned a lesson when your actions change.

You see, writer Norman Cousins was right when he said, "The essence of man is imperfection." Failure is simply a price we pay to achieve success. If we learn to embrace that new definition of failure, then we are free to start moving ahead - and failing forward.

Successful leaders always initiate connection

3/9/2012

A leader can't connect with people when he is only communicating among groups; he must connect with individuals. The stronger the relationship and connection between individuals, the more likely the follower will help the leader. Successful leaders always initiate; they take the first step and make the effort to continue building relationships.

Connecting with people isn't complicated, but it takes effort.

Your people are more willing to take action when you first move them with emotion.

When you give first, your people will give in return.

When you connect with individuals, you gain the attention of crowds.

When you reach out to your people, they will reach back toward you.
Whether you have just taken over a leadership position or are well established, you must connect with your people if you are to succeed.

Vision

3/9/2012

Our vision is only actionable if we share it. Without sharing, it’s just a figment of our imagination.

Dream

3/9/2012

It's less distracting to chase a dream than to chase the competition. Besides, wouldn't you rather reach your dream than reach your competition?

Don't work for anyone. Work with everyone.

3/9/2012

Stop Checking Up on Your Employees.

3/9/2012

Giving your employees autonomy can be hard. But micromanagement kills both motivation and creativity.

Resist checking up on your employees, asking whether they've finished a task or constantly monitoring how they achieve their goals. Instead, try asking questions like, "What do you need to get this project done?" "Is anything getting in your way?" or "What can I do to help out?" Find out how their projects are going without making them feel as if they are under constant surveillance. This will put you in a better position to provide your team with the resources and help they need. And, it should be a two-way street: Share information about what you are up to, especially if it might be relevant to what your team is doing.