Leveraging an Inspirational Speaker for Personal Growth

One of the ways TEC promotes the growth of its members is with high-caliber inspirational speakers. From regular TEC group meetings to the annual Inspirational Leadership event, TEC provides ample opportunities to network and learn from inspiring leaders from across the nation.

Following these events, TEC members return to their organizations with new insights, ideas and passions. However, sometimes it is difficult to translate everything you’ve learned to your employees and the post-event excitement can fizzle out in a matter of days without implementing or sharing any initial ideas.

Below are a few ways to help you get the most out of inspirational speaking events.

Invite a friend. Whether it’s another member of your organization or a mentor, hearing from an inspirational speaker with someone who is familiar with you and your company will allow you to share ideas and receive personalized feedback. Schedule a check-in with your guest in the weeks following the presentation to digest the information and help hold yourself accountable to implementing any initial ideas.

Write it down. Taking notes during a presentation is valuable to trigger your thoughts later. Revisit your notes shortly after the event and organize your thoughts while they’re still fresh in your mind. Share your notes and insights with your team in an informal meeting or written summary to evaluate which points resonate with them to encourage team participation and adoption of new changes.

In your experience, what strategies have succeeded to get the most out of a keynote speaker? How do you maintain your passion and excitement following an event? 

People sell products, not the other way around

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Whether you’re a small business owner or the CEO of a large corporation, you understand the key to outselling the competition and satisfying your customer is with a high quality product. Especially in today’s economy, consumers and companies are tightening their wallets yet still expect the same level of quality and customer service. While the product is what they buy, a strong relationship and personal connection with people is what keeps them from shopping around.

As leaders, you must recognize this and provide your employees with the tools necessary to build bonds with and maintain your customers.

Create community and trust. When employees identify themselves with your company, they make great brand ambassadors that share a glimpse of your company’s culture and values with each person they meet. To foster this positive perception, work to hire employees who have both the needed professional experience and possess values similar to that of your company.

Share information across all disciplines. Each one of your employees is the face of your organization, not just the sales team, and each has the opportunity and capability to go the extra mile to build external relationships. You never know whom your employees will meet in their daily life and your next referral could come from anyone, in any department. Equip everyone in your organization with the tools they need to accurately describe and “sell” your services by providing company updates to all employees via regular meetings or an internal newsletter.

How have you added to your employee’s tool kit so they can better represent your organization? What is the most challenging aspect of creating employee brand ambassadors?

Coaching 101: How to build a successful team

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As members of TEC, leaders are exposed to best practices in business, utilize work and personal experience to mentor others and gain valuable insights in order to inspire others. TEC members and Chairs invest their time developing these skills so their organizations and groups can succeed.

But what really makes a team successful? Newseek Magazine states very simply that winning teams win because they have the best players and a coach who knows how to make the sum greater than the parts. Seems easy enough. Using this simple sports analogy, and considering a few of the points shared in the article, below are three important aspects to build a winning team.

Pick your roster. While its high-scoring talent may categorize a successful team, if the individual’s personality doesn’t mesh well with the team, it’s a recipe for disaster. As a leader, you must recognize that no matter how much experience you have mentoring others or how much personal time you invest in an individual’s development, you can’t change behavior and personality. Evaluate each team member and choose those that align best with your company’s values and culture over those with the most experience.

Share your playbook. On a sports team, each member knows exactly what their position is and what they’re responsible for. It is important to let your team members know where they stand and what they need to work on to ensure the team succeeds. Also, make sure your game plan is transparent. By knowing and understanding the competition, your vision for the future, or your weakness in the marketplace, your team members will have a greater sense of how their individual efforts impact the larger picture.

Foster trust. On the court, if a team doesn’t trust each other, players are hesitant, afraid to make mistakes and don’t perform to their full potential. It’s the same in the workplace. Trust between a team creates an environment of idea sharing, risk taking and innovation because team members feel confident their ideas are supported. The first step in creating trust within a team begins with an honest leader. By being sincere in your communications, your team will learn to communicate honestly with each other. Continue to build up trust by celebrating successes often and acknowledge what and who worked well to promote continued success.

What is the first thing you consider when building your team? In your experience, what coaching techniques have helped, or hindered, your team’s achievements?

Handling Changes to Command with Grace, Part 2: Leaving with poise

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In last week's blog post we discussed how to prepare for higher positions within your organization and how it affects those around you. The same can be said when leaving a position of leadership.

There are many factors to think about when deciding to leave a company. Whether it’s for relocation, a greater opportunity or a better fit, quitting your job is about what’s best for you and your career. However, others are obviously affected.

Before you make the big announcement, there are necessary steps to take to ensure your transition out is seamless for those around you.

Stay positive. As a leader, you are looked up to in your organization. A positive attitude is just as important before your announcement as afterward. If your behavior is obviously different in the weeks and months leading up to your leave, your team will notice. Following the news, your colleagues will want to know details about the decision. It is best to keep it brief and speak positively of the opportunity.

Lead the transition. Be proactive in finding a replacement whether it’s working with your internal team or assisting with the hiring process. Share as much information, documents, tips and tricks as you can with your team so that they can efficiently carry out the work instead of overwhelming them after you leave.

Maintain relationships. Strong business relationships are critical to a strong leader. While it can be difficult to see the long term in an uncomfortable or difficult parting situation, avoid portraying any negative emotions or feedback. After you leave, those you worked keep in touch with closely with and managed. You can still be a mentor to others and may even offer a better perspective when not directly affiliated with the same company.

Leaving any position is difficult to do and when in a position of leadership, your actions are monitored more carefully. What is a mistake you’ve seen leaders do when leaving? In your experience, what is the most important thing to keep in mind?

Handling Changes to Command with Grace, Part 1: Promoting within

In a recent article about Proctor & Gamble’s “Build from Within” program, it describes that succession planning is built into the company’s culture by methodically tracking and measuring the development of its leaders. Not a small feat for a company of more than 125,000 employees.

No matter how large or small the organization, succession planning is a key element in the success of a  future CEO. While your company’s executive board plans for its next leader, you should prepare yourself for the top at the same time. Below are a few tips to help an inside leader take the wheel with grace.

Prepare for the Role
As an inside hire, you already have access as to what works at your company and how to best fit into the CEO role. Be proactive in gaining the experience necessary to prove you’re the best fit. Utilize the support of your mentors and seek opportunities, such as projects that broaden your scope of duties, so that when the time comes to fill a vacancy, your skill set will come to mind. Putting a transition plan down on paper ahead of time will help you check off new responsibilities you want to add to your resume. 

Define the Boundaries
When you accept a promotion to CEO, some of your old team members may continue to come to you with old duties.  Be sure to set clear boundaries between where your old responsibilities end and your new ones begin.  Use guided direction (or just hit the “forward” button) to re-route any communications that are misappropriated to your desk. Be mindful now that your words carry more authority and take extra precautions in your communications immediately after your promotion. Remember, your responsibilities have changed but your relationships are still valuable.

Set Limits
With any new position of leadership, there may be things you would like to tweak to improve a process or idea. Take it slow and think strategically about the best way to make improvements over the long term. Similarly, with a new set of expectations being placed upon you, it may be hard as a CEO to feel as if you can ever truly leave your work at the office.  Even though this is often the reality, there are daily things you can do, like structure your calendar to incorporate downtime, to ease into your new position.

What challenges have you faced entering a new position of leadership? What is your advice to future leaders preparing to continue your company’s success?