With Coach Jeff Earlywine
Building Block #6: Hire and Inspire The Right People
Not only do you need to be growing your leadership skills, you need to be growing your staff’s too. But you must first hire them, and how you choose them is critical.
• Assess ability – Choose team players well, according to how well their strengths and skills fit the goals and tasks of your organization.
• Choose coachable people – Coaching keeps a team synchronized, harmonized, and growing together.
• Chose (forgive me) F.A.T. people – Faithful, Available, and Trainable.
• Think “Chemistry” – Talent sticks out; chemistry is harder to see. It’s the magic ingredient of a successful business.
• Strive for balance – It is very important to balance skills and personalities in order to generate effective team success.
Building Block #7: Prepare for your day
Start your day off with the following…
Reading - The average man, upon finishing high school, will not read another book the rest of his life. That's sad because reading is the brain's best exercise. It's apparent that if you want to continue to grow personally and professionally, and if you want your brain to get stronger as you grow, you must read.
My challenge to you is to read one hour a day. It can be one 60-minute session, two 30-minute sessions, or six 10-minute sessions. If you read one hour a day at an average pace, you will have read one book in a week--that's 52 books in one year!
And if you read five books on any one subject, you can be considered a world-leading authority on that subject. So if you read one book a week for one year, you would be a world-leading authority on 10 subjects!
Exercise - If you want to be healthy, inside and out, you simply must incorporate exercise into your life. Regular physical activity is a major contributor to effective weight loss, improved physical health and emotional well-being. Research consistently shows that regular physical activity, combined with healthy eating habits and adequate water intake, is the most efficient and effective way to improve your health, control your weight and enhance your mood.
Positive Thinking - A positive attitude will…
• Make you more likeable – people will want to spend time with you
• Make life more enjoyable – you will love your life
• Make you more successful – positive thinking is like putting on your “power suit”
Building Block #8: Keep things simple
There is an old saying that I would like to change. You might have heard it put this way; K.I.S.S. – Keep It Simple Stupid. I would like to change it to be Keep It Short and Simple. Many times we make life so complicated. Most, if not all of us, carry a cell phone in our pockets all the time. And this simple act keeps us connected to everyone and everything. While we may think this keeps us under control it can make our lives more complicated and stressful. What it seems to do is just keep us tied to our schedules and in constant contact with people that don’t deserve that kind of direct access into our lives.
Building Block #9: Navigate Through Conflict
Conflict is something that can’t be seen, smelled, or tasted – but it can be felt and heard. In every home, business, and relationship conflict is inevitable. You know conflict will show its ugly head sooner or later because all of the above listed groups are made up of people. How you deal with conflict will reveal your leadership style, maturity, and experience. While people around us are running frantically in circles a leader steps to the front, seizes the opportunity and navigates the organization through the storm. It has been said, “Navigating through conflict can be learned, but it must be learned in conflict.”
I once read an article by Johnny H. Moore that revealed several facts and keys that will help you work through and benefit from conflict.
• Fact 1: Conflict is a part of the growing process. Growth itself is a form of conflict. Someone has said that conflict is “two objects trying to occupy the same space at the same time.” When we are determined to grow, whether personally or organizationally, we experience resistance (conflict). However, as we press on through the process, we learn and grow.
• Fact 2: Conflict will reveal who you are. What is in us will eventually come out when pressure is applied. Conflict can be the pressure that shows us what is really on the inside.
• Fact 3: Conflict will reveal what your team is made of. When navigating through conflict with your staff or your leaders, you will discover things that you did not know were there. Some good and some not so good. Nevertheless, it helps you as a leader know what you are dealing with and how to further develop your people for greatness.
• Fact 4: Conflict can save the organization from catastrophe. When conflict arises you become aware of things to which you were formerly blind. If you ignore conflict, it can eventually destroy the organization. However, if you recognize conflict and properly navigate through it, the organization can become stronger and grow, thus fulfilling the purpose for which it exists.
I am sure that at least one of these building blocks can be applied to your life, or the life of your organization.