Open Mind Policy

Think about your mentors, those people who have helped you and your career along the way. They found somewhere deep inside to motivate your strengths and help you realize your goals. They didn't make it about them, they didn't impart their goals on you. They pushed you to be a better you.

Malcolm Gladwell opines in his book Outliers there is no such thing as a self-made person. Those who have come before us have afforded us opportunities to succeed. None of us does this alone no matter how it may appear. Marcus Buckingham reminds us that we need to stop working on our weaknesses and focus solely on our strengths.

Imagine an organization where your good work is encouraged and your shortcomings are turned into prospects for others on the team who thrive where you may not.

Asking the Right Questions

How are you preparing your team for success and leadership? Is it a collaborative atmosphere or one of fear? Are strengths celebrated more than weaknesses highlighted? Does everyone have a clear vision on culture and objectives? Is your mind open to their opinions and ideas?

Balance and fairness look good on a well crafted business plan but in the heat of the battle, they can be tough to maintain. But they must remain top priorities because without them, you will be left with managers and bosses while leadership will be accidental at best. Success will left up to guesswork.

If you are in a lead position, make time for your people or watch the very thing you are working to build begin to crumble. Leadership is not on an organizational chart or an email signature.

It resides within every member of your team
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Purpose Derives Courage

Life is a challenging experience and none of us is immune. Nick Vujicic was born without arms and legs and he runs faster and farther than most of us. Nick shares his feelings about fear and purpose. 

No excuses! Watch this!


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Kneale Mann | People + Priority = Profit

We are Outliers and Mentors

Think about your mentors, those people who have helped you and your career along the way. They found somewhere deep inside to motivate your strengths and help you realize your goals. They didn't make it about them, they didn't impart their goals on you. They pushed you to be a better you.

Malcolm Gladwell opines in his book Outliers there is no such thing as a self-made person. Those who have come before us have afforded us opportunities to succeed. None of us does this alone no matter how it may appear. Marcus Buckingham reminds us that we need to stop working on our weaknesses and focus solely on our strengths.

Imagine an organization where your good work is encouraged and your shortcomings are turned into prospects for others on the team who thrive where you may not.

Asking the Right Questions

How are you preparing your team for success and leadership? Is it a collaborative atmosphere or one of fear? Are strengths celebrated more than weaknesses highlighted? Does everyone have a clear vision on culture and objectives? Is your mind open to their opinions and ideas?

Balance and fairness look good on a well crafted business plan but in the heat of the battle, they can be tough to maintain. But they must remain top priorities because without them, you will be left with managers and bosses while leadership will be accidental at best. Success will left up to guesswork. If you are in a lead position, make time for your people or watch the very thing you are working to build begin to crumble.

Leadership is not on an organizational chart or an email signature. It resides within every member of your team, so maintain an open-mind policy.

The results will astound you.
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Kneale Mann | Leadership Strategist, consultant, writer, speaker, executive coach facilitating performance growth with leaders, management, and teams.

webster

Culture vs Revenue

Like change, good culture sounds great in theory but is not easy to execute. Culture is defined as the manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively. It has also been described as the conditions suitable for growth. This goes well beyond dress code and office accouterments.

The number one reason people leave a company is because of how they are treated by their immediate direct report. Strategy is key to any successful business but so is healthy culture. Which do you think wins in a street fight? Which seeps into every crevice of a company? Which is the more critical to the bottom line?

Your Internal Supply Chain

In a recent Harvard Business Review article entitled Are You Creating Disgruntled Employees?, Joseph Folkman outlines six key elements which will help you improve the culture in your company. Those are; encourage me, trust me, take an interest in me, keep me in the loop, be honest with me, and connect with me.

Poor culture kills companies but hides in full view as leadership point to other issues as culprits. If you want more revenue and market share, why not try encouragement, trust, interest, openness, honesty or connection?

Yeah, that'd be great.

Kneale Mann

office space

The Soul of Leadership

While the U.S. is embroiled in election chatter, it’s interesting to watch the topic of leadership being tossed around like a pawn on a chess board. Many claim they are uniquely qualified to lead so let’s dig a little deeper into what it all means.

Think about your mentors, those people who have helped in your life and career along the way. They found somewhere deep inside you to motivate your strengths and help you realize your goals. These aren’t people who did your work for you but pushed you to do your work better in your way. You may have in turn become a mentor for others which brings tremendous satisfaction.

What Leadership Means

Leading without a title is the suggestion of Robin Sharma or as a mentor once said to me; "do the work and the gig will follow". Tony Robbins says we need to be armed with the strategies to accomplish our goals while getting out of own way. Most of us nod our head in agreement but we’re often left wondering how to actually do that.

Malcolm Gladwell opines there is no such thing as a self-made person. Generations past have afforded us opportunities to succeed. None of us does this alone not matter how it may appear. While Marcus Buckingham reminds us that we need to stop working on our weaknesses and focus solely on our strengths. Imagine an organization where your good work is encouraged and your shortcomings turned into prospects for others on the team who thrive where you may not.

Important Leadership Element

Envision your company as a family unit. How are you preparing your team for success and leadership? Is it a collaborative atmosphere or one of fear? Are strengths celebrated more than weaknesses highlighted? Does everyone have a clear vision on culture and objectives?

Balance and fairness look good on a well crafted business plan but in the heat of the battle, they can be tough to maintain. But they must remain top priorities because without it, you will be left with managers and bosses while leadership will be accidental at best. If you are in a lead position, make time for your people or watch the very thing you are working to build begin to crumble.

Instead of "lead, follow, or get out of the way", how about we all lead and see how that goes?

Kneale Mann

image credits: thechessworld

Building Business | Most Important Ingredient

What Do You Think?

Years ago I worked for a company that asked all of its employees for their opinion. The results were startling. The number one grievance was management’s inability to deal with non-performance. Yes they notice when you fail to deal with issues.


Good enough is not good enough, that will do is worse than don't bother. You need your people to be the best at what they do and it's up to management to create an atmosphere for them to shine. If you think you can shortcut this, call the local sand company and get them to deliver enough to bury your entire body.

Fix What's Broke

If you are in a management position and you are not dealing with these issues, everyone is aware. If you don’t think they are, you are fooling no one but yourself. This was well documented by Malcolm Gladwell in The Tipping Point and the chapter Broken Window.

If you don't care, why should they care?

One person is late for a meeting and the boss does nothing about it. Suddenly half the room is late for meetings, dress code rules aren't followed, customers receive sub-par service and profits shrink.

The average person spends 2,000 hours a year at work. If those are enjoyable hours, no one is counting. If they are miserable, time stands still.

What’s the solution?

Creating experiences are the best way to get everyone involved. If it is an atmosphere of encouragement and teamwork, you will see a remarkable difference in morale and productivity.

Who wants to grind it out at work and deal with passive aggressive behavior? We are healing from the worst economic crisis in seven decades, it’s time to get creative and devise ways for us to enjoy the process better.

The most important ingredient in building a business is people.

Without good people, your great ideas may just jangle around your gray matter trying to find a place to land. Remove a solid creative team and the battles will be tougher to win. A company void of a collaborative environment is primed to fail.

If you are like me and consult business, it is important to build a collaborative network of people in and out of clients' companies. I don't know about you, but I want to work with people who want to make a difference and inspire others. If you're not interested in that type of working environment, I wish you well in your future endeavors.

One Works. One Does Not.

Have you ever wondered how one business thrives with fewer resources while another well-financed company can’t seem to find success? You need resources but without encouraged people good luck to you.

Will you deal with non-performance and encourage creative ideas or will you shake your head in disbelief when your ideas aren’t magically turned in to success?

@knealemann
marketing and social media strategy

image credit: sciaf.org.uk