JustinMcCullough.com

Growth Catalyst, Leadership Development and Team Builder

Leadership

Trust. Business Catalyst or Achilles’ Heel?

By

Trust600What if character and competence were the primary concern for building your business (and yourself)? Have you considered that?

According to thoughtful work by Stephen Covey and Ken Blanchard, both of whom have sold millions of business books and helped transformed countless businesses, there is an important case for trust in your employees and business.

This is what Stephen Covey had to say about Trust in his book Speed of Trust and Smart Trust:

  1. Trust is an economic driver.
  2. Trust is the number one competency of leadership.
  3. Trust is a learn-able competency.

I can agree with this. When you don’t have trust, things quickly fall apart, stall out, and bog down.  Depending on the character and competence of those working with you, the outcomes could be “just barely manageable” or down right “tragic”.  And its the relationships of others as well as the poor performance of the organization that pay the cost of these trust problems.

During a two day business retreat, I experienced all sorts of trust building exercises, all with one purpose; To open us up to one another, draw us closer as a team so we could work together, and become more trusting partners in the work we needed to do. I’ve experienced it first-hand. Trust matters if you want to drive successful teams and a successful business.

This post is about the mechanics and components of trust and most likely it is not at all what you think it is.

For example, how do you look at team building? My guess is that it doesnt look much like this:Building a Great TeamSince your team building model most likely doesn’t build up from trust, you are likely to suffer from these problems:

The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team

So let’s take a quick look at this insightful introduction to trust by Stephen Covey.

Are you looking for velocity in your business? Want to go further, faster, more efficiently? If so, Trust should be at the core of your relationships, partnerships, and projects.

we-need-to-build-a-relationship-of-trust-not-just-within-a-firm-but-within-a-society-by-trust-i-quote-1I’t comes as no surprise as to how important trust is.

trust-the-foundation-of-a-cohesive-team-6-638 How exactly does trust work?

be-the-flintstones-10-638

It starts with understanding the two key components of trust:

trust-competence-characterComponents-of-TrustTo summarize that in as simple of a way as possible, trust looks like this:
TrustMatrix

As you consider trust, you can put yourself and others into 4 primary quadrants:

TrustDistrustQuads

When you put it in action, trust looks like this:ppn0808_030b.jpg_600
In order to move into Trust, you must be able, believable, connected, and dependable:

ABCD-TrustModel

To move toward trusting environments, you must address character and competence and dispel the myths of trust:
Screen Shot 2015-04-23 at 9.13.12 AM

When you harness the power of trust, you’ll see the benefits or suffer the consequences.

coveyhighlowtrust

Look out for the behaviors that build or diminish trust.
behaviors-that-build-or-diminish-trust-accounts-1-728trust-presentation-6-728

 

The Ugly Business Syndrome and it’s 8 Curable Causes

By

UglyBaby
The young, self-absorbed hipster couple exits the hospital after just seeing their first newborn…

Guy: Ugly Baby.

Girl: Yeah, ugly, definitely. But I’m sure it’ll get cuter as it grows up.

Guy: Will it?

Girl: (with a chuckle) Geez, lets hope so…

And that’s what folks will say about your business when it’s first born.

That one-room office with a card table for a desk and the boxes stacked where a filing cabinet should go.

Or maybe you’ve got a bit of a start-up bank-roll and got an office and fancy new equipment.  Doesn’t change anything – not really.

It’s just fancy clothes on an ugly business.

Why your new business is ugly when it’s first born:

  1. Not unique
  2. Not built for success
  3. Not ready
  4. Not aware of its customers
  5. Led by losers
  6. Without core values
  7. Without purpose
  8. Not in harmony

These eight things typify most start-up businesses. And that’s ok – really.

Just like in life, your business is never finished and you should continually be looping through and refining and redirecting your plans.

You see, I’ve come to learn these eight things are ok so long as you don’t stay that way.

Let me explain…

Explaining ugly

1 – Not Unique

People don’t do risky, don’t finance risky, don’t join and work for risky.

People want comfortable, safe bets therefore they want what’s already been done and proven to work. You can’t survive in a marketplace where all business are alike, that’s where price wars and unscrupulous marketplace activity thrives.  So, you must be risky (unique) to ultimately stand out and succeed. Don’t worry, you’ll get there, your business depends on it.

Read Seth Godin’s Purple Cow to make your business remarkable.

2 – Built for success

Every business starts with limitations and deficiencies.

Usually this is in at least one place but often many places including funding, systems, tools and resources, staff and leadership.  You’ll run business from a place of scrappy endurance, constantly trying to put a finger in the dam before it bursts. Some actually succeed at plugging all the holes.  You know what happens to those that don’t.

Make sure you build a business like a champ.

3 – Ready

No start-up is truly ready when it starts.  No business in operation is truly ready to go to the next level.  Just like becoming a parent, you are never ready for your first child, you just do it and figure out what works and what doesn’t work. Its always a game of vision, priority, sacrifice, and investment.

4 – Customers

You need customers and you know you must have a product or service to address that customer.

But beyond that, what do you know about your customer? Start-ups and even mature businesses often do not know their best customer or how to reach them. It’s something that takes shape over time as you experience sales, growth, and what makes your customers happy. It’s experience in a natural way of doing business.  Some companies are more conscious and involved in knowing and finding their best customers than others.

You would be wise to know your customer as soon as possible (and attract more of them). And by all means, please know the value of your customer.

5 – Losers

Both literally and metaphorically, companies are led by losers, misfits, egomaniacs and castaways.

Some call it entrepreneurial others call it rebellion.

The truth is that the leaders in business have drawn a line and decided to go their own way against the grain and disrupt things.  Many of those losers do not adapt, learn, and grow and they indeed fulfill their loser status however a good number reveal to themselves and the world around them that they are winners and set a standard of excellence.  We are all fighting to win, but rarely start as winners – the world is built for losers so the odds are already stacked against you. (controversial thought isn’t it?!)

6 – Core Values

An organization does not have core values, it adopts them. 

Core values come from people and specifically from founders, owners and leadership. 

The natural state of an organization is to be neutered of core values. As in, to not claim core values at all. this often happens because a misconception that core values are an academic exercise or that maintaining core values causes conflict with human resources.  Companies (most leaders) want to “win” not maintain values and often see values as a detriment to success.

You should know that truly great companies have core values, hire with core values in mind, and direct their company by their values. It’s never too early to know what you stand for.

7 – Purpose

An organization must stand for something, a greater good of some sort.

A company without purpose will only work for worldly reasons of greed, power and success.  While those motivations have been proven to work and can be seen in Forbes, Inc Magazine and many other sources, they are the exception not the rule. Enron and countless others illustrate what happens when the purpose of the organization is lost.

While money is good, profit is necessary, “to make money and get rich” is not a sustainable purpose.

Make sure you have a greater good.

8 – Harmony

Both internally and externally, business lack harmony and are in a constant state of vibration.

There is a ripple effect within your business that creates a state of flux and constant stress and struggle.  This inner disruption ripples out into the marketplace to customers, vendors, and competitors. People sense it when they speak to you.

You’ll want to iron our the wrinkles so you can focus on your best work. If all the other seven things are in place, you’re likely to experience perfect bliss!

Ugly is choice!

As odd as it may sound, don’t let your ugly business stop you from living your dream.

Just make sure you address the issues and constantly work to improve it.

I’ve been there myself and discovered some truths along the way.

So what do you say? Got an ugly business?

(photo credit)

28 Punches That Cause Black Eyes in Business

By

blackEyeChamps don’t take punches they can block or avoid. With good form, discipline, and training, Champs elevate their game at all levels.

Champs rarely get knocked out.

So, what about those black eyes we keep getting as hard fighting Entrepreneurs?

It’s from taking avoidable cheap shots with poor form, bad training, lack of discipline and being unfocused. That’s what causes those black eyes in business.

When you are a scrappy and ambitious upstart, you do the time and the hard work to stay in the ring. You survive your way to success. You train and work through the challenges, you begin to see growth and victories. This creates the illusion of being a champ.

But this does not make you a champ, merely a fighter.

Where real victory comes from

The champ has a comprehensive understanding of what creates victory. A real champ knows the today’s victory is the result of weeks, months, even years of intentional actions.

And a great champ in business looks less and less at the victory itself and more and more with the struggle within. The champ knows conquering the struggle one-by-one results in victory. These victories are the real wins that matter, because conquering at this level is true elevation, not luck, windfall, or brute force.

The opposition within your business

Are you a champ or just a scrappy fighter? Are you focused on the victory, or the things blocking it?

Are you getting black eyes from things you should be overcoming instead of enduring?

Understand what causes struggle and you’ll know what’s preventing your greatest victory.

Here’s some common sources of unnecessary black eyes. Address these and see new levels of success in your business and go from a fighter to a champ.

Customers


The lifeblood of the business is its customers yet many businesses struggle to know them, serve, them, keep them and get more of them!  In fact, businesses often:

  • Do not know who their customer is or how to keep them.
  • Do not know how to serve and multiply their customer base.
  • Do not speak the same language as the customer often using inside terms and jargon instead of clear “what’s in it for me” language the customer understands.
  • Do not know the value of one customer and what that customer is worth in one sale or over the year with repeat business
  • Do not view customers as the priority and lifeline of their business.
  • Inconsistent in their customer development efforts.

Marketing


As a discipline, marketing is the one function of the business that is specific about driving sales and attracting and keeping customers and should be consistently growing and evolving.  Unfortunately marketing is often the most neglected area of the business.  Most businesses:

    • Do not know how to market and therefore struggle to leverage and use their staff for sales and marketing initiatives and constantly question their customers and business.
    • Do not have ongoing strategic plans for sales and marketing efforts.
  • Do not know how to differentiate, position and build value in the business.
  • Do not have a consistent image, presence, and voice and often use “me too” marketing that’s ineffective and wasteful.
  • Overwhelmed by the sea of available marketing and advertising options available and how to effectively use them.
  • Do not know how to develop and execute meaningful business building initiatives.
  • Do not have the marketing and sales mindset and often start and stop these efforts as activities instead of viewing them as core competencies.

Sales


All good marketing results in sales activity and all sales staff should be in harmony with marketing efforts, messages and appeals.  Sales should be a natural extension of the marketing process.  However most businesses:

  • Do not take ownership of sales and align it with their core values and marketing efforts
  • Do not create sales tools that move prospects through the buyers continuum.
  • Do not include a clear call to action or ask for the order.
  • Do not see staff (sales or customer service) as a marketing asset, business builder, or brand shaper.
  • Do not have daily, weekly and monthly plans that work in harmony with marketing to drive sales with follow through.
  • Do not have an ongoing plan to turn cold prospects into warm connections over time.

Priorities


The most common thief lurking inside a business is the one that looks like an important project, assignment, or initiative that steals time and resources with no positive impact on the business. Most businesses struggle with priorities and often:

  • Do not have a true understanding of how to run the organization to generate expected results.
  • Do not see the important and necessary work around them because they are stuck inside the business, inside the fog of war doing the daily grind.
  • Do not know how to drive innovation or progressive improvement in the business.
  • Do not keep a current pulse on best practices, what matters to their customer, or what drives the business forward.

Systems

The backbone of the business is it’s systems and most businesses rush to get their billing systems, employee management systems, and operational systems in place but fail to put sales and customer systems in place.  In fact, most businesses:

  • Do not implement or develop sales systems that understand the sales cycle from beginning to end.
  • Do not implement lead generation systems that use the web and various types of marketing to create prospects, early stage buyers and repeat customers.
  • Do not have a referral system in place resulting in dormant sales simply because you are not tapping into your already satisfied customer base.
  • Do not understand what customer and prospect touch points can and should be automated and where to have direct interaction that furthers the sales or retention of customers.
  • Become indecisive or have a haphazard decision making system and way to evaluate business opportunities, marketing opportunities or sales opportunities.

These issues are not random.

In fact, they are linked together like links in a chain. Most businesses are so busy grinding along and lack the professional and educational disciplines of leadership, sales and marketing that they have not seen the connection. And it’s killing their business!

Champs would see these as little thugs and remove them. A real champ would not allow these struggles to drain power, energy, momentum and impact in their business.

How do these common issues continue to surface up?

The nature of business is the same, but the mechanics and the marketplace have changed dramatically. Same fight, different ring.

If you are dealing with these issues, you have to be more diligent in your business building efforts. You have to fundamentally understand your customer and realize they have more information, more options, and more alternatives then ever before. It’s no longer good enough to just be in business providing a product or service.

You have to more focus and intention with your customer gathering activities (sales and marketing).

You have to elevate your business output because the expectations are rising, the market is full of alternatives and if you look like everyone else, sound like everyone else, and don’t know your customer then you’ll never rise to the top.

A champ rises to the top by overcoming these issues within the business.

(photo credit: Mike Nelson)

Business Core Values or Die!

By

Every business has core values, a set of beliefs and ideas that define you as an organization.

Values show in how you hire, fire, train, build, communicate, negotiate, serve, market and react within the market. For very small businesses your core values as a person often create the core values of your business. But not every business had defined their core values, instead many businesses pick and choose values situation by situation usually without even knowing it.

Business owners often struggle to know who they are as a company and because of this, they often look, feel, and sound different as a company according to who’s doing the talking and what the situation is. This is especially bad in customer service, sales and marketing situations where it can create conflicting ideas about the business, the promises the company is making, and your value to the customer.

As it turns out, it’s hard to be something that you are not, both in life and in business. Core values are not something you post on a wall or put in a memo, they are something you live and breathe daily and intentionally. They guide decisions and often make decisions for you. They put things in perspective and provide the foundation you stand on.

By now you’ve heard about Zappos, the company Amazon bought for $847 Million dollars that started with two or three guys trying to sell sneakers online. They didn’t have new products that had never before been seen, infact they sold the same brands you already had access too at local stores. They didn’t have an awesome advertising agency and a huge ad budget. However, what they did have that no one else did, was core values that guided them every step along the way. When you read “Delivering Happiness” by Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, it’s very clear that his core values as a person drove the core values (and success) of the company.

Here’s Zappos 10 core values:

  1. Deliver WOW Through Service
  2. Embrace and Drive Change
  3. Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
  4. Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
  5. Pursue Growth and Learning
  6. Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication
  7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
  8. Do More With Less
  9. Be Passionate and Determined
  10. Be Humble

If this is new information for you, just Google “Zappos Family Core Values” and dig in and be sure to watch the video where Zappos employees are talking about the core values they are guided by and believe themselves.

You, as the small business owner are driving the core values of the organization. So, who are you?

The DNA of core values is shaped by these keywords:
Integrity, Honesty / Truthfulness, Trust, Commitment / Diligence, Order / Cleanliness, Humility, Service, Respect / Dignity, Justice/ Fairness, Grace / Compassion, Forgiveness, Consideration, Accountability, Excellence, Value, Quality.

What do you stand for?

Trust, honesty and integrity may have been your response. So, why do you have contracts and agreements then? Why do you have escape clauses in your service proposals or no guarantee to your sales transactions? Why do you let employees say things that are not true or you don’t deal honestly yourself with employees or customers?

When you stand for something, you stand firmly for it – not wavering and not sometimes nor only when it’s convenient.

If you stand for quality, then guide your business with quality. Put systems and tools in place that uphold your expectations of quality and make sure that what the customer sees represents quality to them while matching your expectations of quality. You cannot stand for quality but then be so frugal that you do not invest in quality. You cannot stand for quality but have no quality control or evaluation process. You cannot stand for quality and hire inexperienced workers who have no understanding or ability of producing quality themselves.

What you stand for, IS what you are.

What you stand for, IS what you stand on when it comes to your business, your employees, your customers and your sales and marketing. The same goes with any ideas like fairness, affordable, practical, fun, friendly, and accessible and so on.

When you begin to see the power, confidence, and guidance of defined core values and a consistent view of what you stand for, you’ll be whole and complete in all that you do. You will not be double minded, confused, or tempted to go off course in your hiring, customers, marketing, or sales because you will know what you stand for and what you stand on!

How do you treat employees?

Did you know that how you treat your employees is an indicator to how your employees act toward your customers? Where employees are treated poorly, you can expect to see customers being treated poorly. When customers are mistreated, you’ll see the results in your sales.

So, are you building up or tearing down your employees? Are you educating them with an expectation of potential or reprimanding them with an expectation of continued problems? Are you setting them up for success with ongoing training, mentoring, and progressive growth opportunities?

If you want your company to thrive, start looking at your employees as a marketing asset. Minimize bad habits with your employees and enable them to fairly represent you and encourage them as being important and valuable and they will act that way to customers as well.

The act of implementing, educating and honoring core values along with an appropriate change in office-wide bad habits will be enough to see noticeable change. More importantly, it will place a firm foundation under your entire business and all layers of staff. This consistency will pay big dividends and keep everyone on the same page.

Look at the actions of your employees and see the results.

It’s not uncommon to have bad experiences in fast food establishments, but occasionally you’ll have a standout experience that includes a clean building, friendly cashier, overall pleasant atmosphere and the meal you expected. In those experiences, you can be certain that the franchise owner or manager there cares for their employees. Happy, cared for employees make happy customers.

Do you see areas where you can improve your environment, training process, and daily communication with employees? Look for areas where employees are in direct contact with customers and you’ll see how they are directly affecting your sales and marketing.

Whoever is on the frontline with customers is controlling the mainline of sales.

How do you treat customers?

This is where the rubber meets the road. No customers, no business. It’s that simple.

Core values or not, when it comes to customers, they are the final decision so how are you treating them? Like a transaction or nuisances? Like family or old friends?

I can’t tell you how important this is. All the marketing in the world cannot overcome bad behavior with customers. If you treat your customers poorly, you’re going to fail – period. They are your lifeblood and without them, you die.

Fear or Confidence – Unclutter Your Mind

By

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stuant63/2255781557/sizes/z/in/photostream/

The mind is the most powerful computer in the world, but it’s vulnerable and hackable. If you are feeling overwhelmed or having problems “shutting off”, change the way you are thinking about things. Try running a personal defrag on your biological hard drive and separate your cluttered mind into black and white sectors – free up your mind for good.

The things on your mind are like the people in a crowded room, you can’t really think with all that noise, but you try. While you may feel like you have many things on your mind, most of it can be grouped into these 2 categories: Fear and Confidence.

The Looming Buzz of Fear:
Things that you fear will gnaw at you like a fly flitting around your food or a mosquito in your ear. These fear clouds tend to hover over you, raining on your actions, ideas, and goals often producing a double negative impact by locking up your mind and also interfering with the things you have confidence in. Your fear factory includes these things:

  • New ideas or concepts you don’t understand but want too
  • Problems (work, personal, intellectual) that you don’t know how to solve
  • Statements you want to say but are unsure or wish you said, or regret saying
  • Something you did or didn’t do that you regret

The Funhouse of Confidence:
Things you are confident in tend to be more like a pinball game in your mind often beeping, bumping, and bouncing around in constant action only limited by your time, energy and circumstances. It’s your confidence in these things that keeps your mind playing with them, juggling them until you can deal with them. These things are labeled as “easy” or “fun” items but often flood your mind and chew up brainwidth until you act on them. Your cockpit of confidence includes these things:

  • Tasks and to-do items of all shapes and sizes and priority
  • Problems (work, personal, intellectual) you have a solution for
  • Ideas you want to develop
  • Statements you want to say or will say in the future
  • Good intentions

Once you know that crowded room in your mind is really just full of fear clouds and pinballs of confidence then you’ll see that crowded room take shape to something manageable – very manageable.

Now that you have them in black and white, or rather categorized as fear of confidence, get them out! Process the demons, write the tasks, schedule the activities, move the ideas to goals and goals to task items and take action on the good intentions and things you want to say or already said.—- just start doing it – don’t think about it, get it in motion from inside of you to outside of you… This purge will free up your mind and make you more productive and more focused. I call it “buffering” once you move the simple stuff out – on paper, in a note, in an email, whatever, your brain no longer has to buffer it. Your mind can just let it go, trusting the note or activity of getting it out will be enough and it will move on to other things.

In short, brain dump on paper or the white board, or whatever is best for you as often as possible. That stuff, the stuff you are juggling, really doesn’t need to be stuck inside your head chewing up your brainwidth.

Take action – do it today and feel better and be better.

The Magic of Mentoring

By

The Magic of Mentoring

Mentoring requires you to be real, but that’s not a bad thing. Mentoring is pretty easy too. At times, it’s support or a nudge forward. Sometimes it’s a point-of-view or clearing of the air to move things forward. Sometimes it’s a friend or colleague offering insight to a persons blind spot. Sometimes it’s just a conversation over lunch or dinner that jars something loose and shifts a persons thinking. Other times it’s a referral or a suggestion to speak to someone new. Sometimes it’s giving something tangible or intellectual without strings attached. Sometimes its a promise to get others involved because you know you can. Sometimes it’s working for someone else pro bono when you could charge for it. Sometimes you don’t even think about it, you just roll up your sleeves and help.

Mentoring pays it forward, moves other people, ideas and things forward, and generates good will. Plant your seeds of knowledge, kindness and interest in someone else and watch them grow. Be generous with your time, knowledge, and resources and you will live a happy and full life.

All this may sound a bit like a fortune cookie, but trust me, give yourself to others and you will get it back in abundance. Giving someone cash is a transaction, giving a person your time, knowledge, consideration, guidance, and attention is a priceless investment in someones life.

If you aren’t mentoring, you should be.

(originally posted on 409news.com by Justin McCullough – leader4hire)

Are you trying to figure out what to do next with your career?

Accomplish your best, most meaningful work.

Get the Ebook!

Organizations I've Helped: