Win Archives • Living to Lead

The Leader in the Mirror

June 20, 2018 By Dave Ferguson 1 Comment

Many years ago, a mentor of mine gave me a book titled The Man in the Mirror by Patrick Morley. I still have that book, and every two or three years, I take it with me to the beach and reread it.

As I read it this last time, I looked at it from a leader’s viewpoint. It inspired me to create a list of five questions we as leaders need to be asking ourselves on a regular basis.

Here are those five questions. Will you look in the mirror with me?

1. How often am I communicating the company’s vision to my team?

If I asked your team what the vision is, how many different answers would I get?

I did this recently at an organization with whom I was working. Of the 120 people in the room, only one person got close to the actual written vision of the company.

Most had no idea what the vision was.

If this is the case where you are, how can you expect people to follow you? The fact is, they don’t know where you are taking them.

Connecting to you is one thing. Connecting to you and the vision is what your goal should be.

Are your people connecting with both you and the vision?

2. What are the priorities in my business?

Do you regularly outline these for your team? Do everyone’s activities connect to the vision?

If you can narrow down activities for everyone, and keep them focused on WIN (What’s Important Now), you will have a more productive, effective, and efficient team.

Most people I talk with tell me they need better time management. But help your team with priority management, and everyone wins!

3. How am I really spending my time?

You set the example for WINning by following the What’s Important Now formula – by working the vision and priority management.

What is your team really seeing in your example?

In my work with leaders, we often go through some exercises to truly see where they are spending time. It is normally an eye-opening exercise for them, as many realize they allow unexpected events, day-to-day challenges, and personal responsibilities take up much of their time. Left unchallenged, these can pull them away from leading towards the vision.

4. What does my feedback look like?

Ask yourself: “Do I give my team timely, constructive, and to-the-point feedback?”

If you have the right people on your team, they want to be coached and developed. They don’t want to wait for the annual review process to hear how they can improve. They are looking for immediate feedback so they can adjust course accordingly.

If you are worrying about being “liked” by them, waiting until year-end may not get you there. If you wait until year-end, you most definitely won’t be “liked.”

5. Am I open to feedback?

I will always recommend that leaders engage with a coach, but internally, who are you open to receiving feedback from? If you aren’t asking for feedback from several levels, you are missing out on some growth opportunities. If you read my recent article on blind spots, you have seen some of what could be holding you back.

Regardless of whether you are a leader in the corporate world, small business, or in a business of your own, taking this journey of five questions on a regular basis adds value to you, your team, your relationships, and more.

Dave Ferguson is “The Leaders’ Coach”, an internationally recognized executive leadership coach, speaker, facilitator, and author. Are you interested in talking to Dave about coaching or having Dave speak to inspire and motivate your team? “ASK COACH DAVE” at 704-907-0171 or at Dave@AskCoachDave.com.

Give Yourself the Gift of Good Health

December 26, 2013 By Dave Ferguson 1 Comment

I have one more gift for you this year! Each year, late in the month of December and over much of January, many people approach me and ask for advice on fitness, diet, and overall health. As we all know, many people start of each year with some health resolutions. While I am primarily a business coach, I do quite a bit of life coaching along the way. While today’s topic may appear to be a non-business subject, don’t be fooled. Just as business people read this column to assist in their business, there is no reason why health shouldn’t be just as important. Your health is absolutely critical to not only your personal success but also to the overall success of your business, whether you are a business owner, or not.

Today, record numbers of people are losing their lives to cancer, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, stress and more. The latest statistic I could find on diabetes is a staggering one. It states that, “one in three children born today will contract diabetes, primarily due to obesity, which is caused mainly by poor diet and lack of exercise.” In addition, the “highly acidic” lifestyles many of us live, which creates massive amounts of toxins in our bodies, is thought by many to be the leading cause of cancer. Can we effectively run a business when we are living lifestyles that destine us for these diseases?

Regardless of the physical or emotional shape we are in, we can always improve it. With good physical health comes energy, which is vital to our success. All the experts tell us that if we truly want to make a change in our life we should find a mentor to help us. In essence, we should find someone who has already made the changes we want to make and model them. Today, if you’ll let me, I’d like to be your mentor for physical health. Without going into too much detail (I save that for my one-on-one clients) I want you to know that this past year I let “things” get in the way, and I lost control of my diet and didn’t take good care of myself physically. I’m taking steps I will discuss with you today to get back on a healthy track. You will not believe the amount of energy and creativity you’ll gain by practicing these habits. I’m excited!

1. Reduce the amount of these you put in your body:

Processed Fats and Oils: Cooking fats makes them unusable and toxic to the body, resulting in acidic and disease bearing conditions.
Animal Flesh: This is the leading source of saturated fat and cholesterol and a big cause of heart disease. Watch the red meat!
Dairy Products: These are also a leading source of saturated fat and cholesterol. They are extremely fatty and one of the most destructive things we can put in our systems. As a former cheese lover, I can tell you this was personally a very challenging change to make, until I really looked at the flip-side.

2. Drastically reduce or eliminate your dependence and consumption of these acid additions:

Sugar (there are 14 teaspoons of sugar in one can of soda)
Alcohol
Nicotine
Caffeine
Drugs

3. Eat a diet that consists of water rich foods:

This should be about 70% of what we put in our mouths.
We should also drink half our body weight in ounces of water per day.

4. Make Aerobic training a priority:

At a minimum of 30 minutes, 4 days per week.
Heart rate should be between 70 and 80% of your maximum heart rate.

5. Include supplements in your daily plan: I will gladly discuss the many options with anyone who contacts me.

6. Exercise daily.That’s right every day. All you need is 25 minutes per day. A mix of strength and cardio exercises is recommended.

While making these changes in your lifestyle are difficult, I can tell you from personal experience, that you will indulge in life much more when you have the energy, vibrancy, and clearness that these healthy habits afford you. You will think, act, and feel at a different level, and your business will follow. Join me! If you need any assistance or if I can answer any questions for you, please do not hesitate to email or call me.

I will close with a quote from the great Zig Ziglar: “Discipline yourself to do the things you need to do when you need to do them, and the day will come when you will be able to do the things you want to do when you want to do them!”

Happy Holidays, and Awesome Health!

Dial Up the RPMs!

December 18, 2013 By Dave Ferguson Leave a Comment

Over the past several weeks, we have discussed making changes in our goal and planning processes, getting rid of resolutions, being progress oriented, and finally, how to decide what’s important now (WIN). First, I have to ask you, “Are you committed to creating goals that will be ‘musts’ for you next year, and not just ‘shoulds’?”

I think I heard a resounding “yes”, that’s great! So, now that you are onboard, let’s get down to the business of how you actually create your goals and plans.

First, I’d like to talk with you about getting and staying focused on what’s really important to you. You probably know what you want, but do you really understand why you want it? Do you build a plan to achieve your wants or do you just wish for them? Review your WINs and decide if they are “shoulds” or truly “musts” for you. Once you commit to a handful of “musts”, let’s move on.

I recommend you use a simple plan I call RPM
(Result, Purpose, Methodology).

Identify the RESULT you want.

Regardless of whether you want to double sales or cut your weight in half, you have to identify and spell it out. I highly recommend you do this on paper. So, let’s say your company’s sales last year were 3 million dollars. If the result you want for the coming year is to increase sales by 20%, then your target number is 3.6 million. That is the minimum result you want. Or let’s say you want to increase the number of days and intensity you exercise. The result you might want is exercising five days a week for at least an hour each day. This is the minimum result you want.

Take a few minutes and write down five results you want this year.

Identify the PURPOSE Behind the Desired Result

Okay, now that you have those five results written down, you’ll need to define the purpose behind wanting to achieve these results. Answer this question for all of your results. Why do I want to achieve this result? Do I want to increase sales 20% to increase profits? Or, do I want to do it so I can use the extra capital to buy out a competitor? Do I want to increase my exercise to lose weight, or do I want to be able to compete in a triathlon?

Take a few minutes and write down your purpose for each of your results.

Identify the METHODOLOGY You Will Use to Succeed

You know the results you want and they each have an accompanying purpose, so we can call them actual goals. Congratulations!

Now we need a plan to accomplish them. What methodology will you use to succeed?

I suggest you have at least five steps to accomplish each goal.

So let’s break one down.

Result: Increase Sales 20%

Purpose: To increase overall profitability

Methodology:

Meet with sales staff and set specific goals with each sales person. I recommend you build in some extra in case you have to let a low-performer go during the year.
Build a plan to target your current customer base to go deeper and sell them more.
Build a plan to target new sales prospects.
Hold each salesperson accountable to the plan (weekly, monthly, and quarterly).
Create monthly sales contests with incentives to the leaders.
Hold yourself accountable to the overall results. (Here’s where you may need a coach.)

If you truly put the time and energy into developing goals, strategies, and action plans…you’re about a third of the way there. Execution is always the biggest challenge. If I can help you and/or your team, let’s talk. No excuses! Have a great week.

6 Critical Tactics for Your Business

December 11, 2013 By Dave Ferguson 2 Comments

In today’s crazy and often unpredictable economy, it’s easy for us to lose track of what is most important to our business. We too often get caught up in the day-to-day clutter and distractions (email, voicemail, cell phones, etc.) that must be re-directed, re-focused, and re-oriented continually. Our employees are no exception. As a leader, you need to share your focus and vision for your business with your employees. If you ignore this critical focus, the possibility of wasting energy, time, talent and resources on trivial matters will keep them from attaining the company’s vision and its mission-critical priorities. Can you afford that?

You probably have heard it said that managers do things right, and leaders do the right things. The first statement speaks to efficiency, and the latter refers to effectiveness. It is easy to be busy but hard to work on the right things. You as a leader should focus on doing the right things – those things that matter most to the success of your department or organization. In short, to be effective, you must drive the focus of the organization. You must channel your time, talent, energy and resources into making an earnest effort to focus on the key priorities and goals of your organization. Keep your focus by constantly asking yourself, “What’s important now?” (something I call WIN).

As you formulate goals, strategies, and action plans for the coming year, I strongly suggest you focus your team’s attention and concentration on these six primary areas:

1. Satisfying your customers/clients.
Your team should know clearly that you expect a culture whereby your team falls in love with its customers and their wants/needs. You are in business to attract, delight, and retain customers in a profitable manner….period.

2. Becoming outcome driven; expecting results, not excuses.
Develop a corporate climate that expects achievement and not just activity. Be a leader who admires thinking and planning. Be a leader who demands effectiveness and rewards it more than efficiency. It is critical you understand that one of the most important jobs you have is establishing a performance and a goal-oriented environment; then hold employees accountable to it.

3. Learning and continuous improvement.
If your people and systems aren’t improving, your company won’t improve! You must champion an investment and dedication to employee learning. Commit to your employees that you want them to continually learn and improve what they do and how they do it. I’m amazed today at the number of companies that have stopped investing in the continuing education and training of their employees. Crazy!!

4. Maintaining and driving profits.
Lead an offensive, not defensive strategy for success. Don’t forget profits! Remember both top line and bottom line growth. Replace high-maintenance/low revenue customers with low-maintenance/high revenue customers. Watch all your margins, and try to improve them where you can. Now is not the time to reduce your value.

5. Letting them know you are in it for the long run.
Don’t be short-term oriented. Make sure everyone knows you’re in it for the long run. If you have a short-term business mentality, you can’t expect employees to think the other way. Business is a marathon, not a sprint. Pace yourself in 2014, and you will cross the line ahead of the pack.

6. Having fun!

Finally, focus on making your business fun. Celebrate progress and reward your employees for superior results. Make coming to work a meaningful event. If you can master this one, you’ll reduce one of the biggest expenses associated with operating a business…turnover.

If you incorporate these six critical tactics into your business plan and continually focus on “What’s Important Now”, you should be in the WIN column in 2014.

Have a great week! Next week we’ll start adding some RPM’s to your plans. Stay tuned!

WIN!

October 23, 2013 By Dave Ferguson Leave a Comment

In today’s crazy and often unpredictable economy, it’s easy for us as leaders to lose track of what is most important to our business. We too often get caught up in the day-to-day clutter and distractions (email, voicemail, cell phones, etc.) that must be re-directed, re-focused, and re-oriented continually. Our employees are no exception. As a leader, you need to share your focus and vision for your business with your employees. If you ignore this critical focus, the possibility of wasting energy, time, talent and resources on trivial matters will keep them from attaining the company’s vision and its mission-critical priorities.

You probably have heard it said that managers do things right and leaders do the right things. The first statement speaks to efficiency and the latter refers to effectiveness.

It is easy to be busy but hard to work on the right things. You as a leader should focus on doing the right things – those things that matter most to the success of your department or organization. In short, to be effective, you must drive the focus of the organization. You must channel your time, talent, energy and resources into making an earnest effort to focus on the key priorities and goals of your organization.

Keep your focus by constantly asking yourself,
“What’s Important Now?” (something I call WIN).

As you formulate goals, strategies, and action plans, I strongly suggest you focus your team’s attention and concentration on these six primary areas:

1. Satisfying your customers/clients. Your team should know clearly that you expect a culture whereby your team falls in love with its customers and their wants/needs. You are in business to attract, delight, and retain customers in a profitable manner…period.

2. Becoming outcome driven; expecting results, not excuses. Develop a corporate climate that expects achievement and not just activity. Be a leader who admires thinking and planning. Be a leader who demands effectiveness and rewards it more than efficiency. It is critical you understand that one of the most important jobs you have is establishing a performance and a goal-oriented environment; then hold employees accountable to it.

3. Learning and continuous improvement.If your people and systems aren’t improving, your company won’t improve! You must champion an investment and dedication to employee learning. Commit to your employees that you want them to continually learn and improve what they do and how they do it. I’m amazed today at the number of companies that have stopped investing in the continuing education and training of their employees. Crazy!!

4. Maintaining and driving profits. Lead an offensive, not defensive strategy for success. Don’t forget profits! Remember both top line and bottom line growth. Replace high-maintenance/low revenue customers with low-maintenance/high revenue customers. Watch all your margins and try to improve them where you can. Now is not the time to reduce your value.

5. Letting them know you are in it for the long run. Don’t be short-term oriented. Make sure everyone knows you’re in it for the long run. If you have a short-term business mentality, you can’t expect employees to think the other way. Business is a marathon, not a sprint. Pace yourself and you will cross the line ahead of the pack.

6. Having fun! Finally, focus on making your business fun. Celebrate progress and reward your employees for superior results. Make coming to work a meaningful event. If you can master this one, you’ll reduce one of the biggest expenses associated with leading a business…turnover.

If you incorporate these six critical tactics into your business plan and continually focus on “What’s Important Now”, you will consistently WIN!

So, “What’s Important Now” for you or your business and what are you doing to “WIN”? Leave me a comment below on what you are doing to WIN! Don’t be shy, I enjoy reading all the comments. Thanks and have a great week!

The Leader in the Mirror

Here are those five questions. Will you look in the mirror with me?

1. How often am I communicating the company’s vision to my team?