Looking Out for #2

What an exciting time! The book that I am writing is almost done!

The title is “Looking Out for #2”. The concept is simple. At one point, I was thinking about my most effective clients and discovered that a key differentiator for those organizations was the presence of a strong, effective #2 person. Your #2 is a key to the success of your business. The person you rely on when you cannot or do not have the time to attend to every bit of the business on your own. You trust and rely upon them to manage your business as if it were their own. These are the people that can:
• Think like an owner
• Model effective, healthy followership
• Understand, promote & help deliver the owner’s vision
• Manage outcomes identified as essential within the strategic plan
• Help other employees to learn, persist, succeed, & thrive
• Learn new skills
• Deal with some role ambiguity

The book will contain chapters that will help owners & CEOs understand...
• How to use a #2 to grow your business
• How to promote them from inside your business, or
• How to find them outside of your business
• What to tell them
• How to get them to “hit their numbers”
• How to reinforce them
• How to talk about their mistakes
• How to get them to think like an owner
• How to keep them

I would like to hear from others about your #2s. Please share your stories about your #2 person & their successes. If you have a story about a #2 employee that did not work out, we would all learn from that, too. I want to study, recognize and celebrate these people, as their contributions are immense, and they don’t typically look for recognition.

Thanks in advance for sending in your stories & stay tuned.

Everyday Resources

Hope this note finds you well, working smarter, & enjoying the success that you deserve.Below are four resources I recently found that are worth your review.

1) Short video on managing negative employees:

http://www.bnet.com/2422-13722_23-290285.html?promo=713&tag=nl.e713

2) Link to a clear explanation re: how to get a presence started on the business network on LinkedIn:

http://www.bnet.com/2403-13070_23-219860.html?promo=808&tag=nl.e808

3) An automated performance review system (log in & get the intro material free):

file:///Users/bruce/Desktop/Painful2Productive_land.php.html

4) Short, & very useful video re: better sales techniques:

http://blogs.bnet.com/salesmachine/?p=2739&tag=nl.e808

Hope these are of use!

Leading in a Tough Economy

Hope this post finds you all well, working smarter & effectively planning to refine your business as a result of the tougher economy. Here are links to four resources that I found to be plenty useful.

Here is a link on the topic Ways to keep customer loyalty when times are tough
http://www.salesandmarketing.com/msg/content_display/incentive/e3i040c1ac9536ad53c4d326cabd4b6c6ce

Second link: Effectively coaching your employees isn't easy. Take this test to see how your approach stacks up.
http://hbsp.ed10.net/r/1AH6/CKSDK/WL8BJM/CIBEC/LP6KR/PJ/t

Final link: Think Again: Why Good Leaders Make Bad Decisions and How to Keep It From Happening to You
http://hbsp.ed10.net/r/1AH6/CKSDK/WL8BJM/CIBEC/1ZYL7/PJ/t

Great material - happy reading!

"Have a Kleenex & Get Back to Work"

I had a very interesting conversation with the (female) head of a client's HR department. We were having breakfast with a group of #2s discussing the specific challenge of leading clever employees (bright, boundary-crossers, easily bored, can be great contributors; Goffee, R. and Gareth Jones, G. March 2007. "Leading Clever People". Harvard Business Review.).

This person told the group that she was practicing a new skill, reducing the time that some people spent in her office hoping that she would be an ear or their den mother.

She said that her new favorite phrase was "Have a kleenex & get back to work". This phrase was her new defense against time-wasters. She is a very compassionate person, and this phrase was a departure from past practice for her. I know her well enough to know that this is not bitterness or an inappropriate glib response, just a new tack to take when the issue at hand does not deserve as much time as the time-waster wants to spend on it.


For more information on the Big River Group or joining our breakfast series visit www.bigrivergroup.com and click on "Contact Us".

Leadership and Followership:

“Workers whose leaders scored low in social intelligence reported emotional exhaustion at four times the rate of their colleagues who had supportive leaders”

Daniel Goleman and Richared Boyatzis

Last month our two breakfast groups spent a lot of time talking about and defining Emotional Intelligence – or EQ and how it can predict a leader’s success or lack of success. This month we decided to take that topic one step further and talk about social intelligence, Let’s face it, employees respect leaders who bring out three key emotional responses:

1) Significance

2) A feeling of community

3) A feeling of excitement

This is especially true today when companies are feeling the pinch of the economy. The “head down, fanny up” mentality will not be inspirational enough to your employees in extremely tough times. In today’s economy, smart leaders may find themselves doing a bit more handholding - and the really great leaders will look beyond their comfort zone and the monthly numbers to give their employees a much-needed pat on the back.

Does this mean that leaders need to offer an open door to the time wasters – absolutely not! But a quick “you did a great job on that project”, or “I overheard you with that angry customer – you did good work settling them down” carries a lot more weight than the company-wide email more accurately defining customer service.

After you have developed followers & followership – how do you keep everyone on track? Bruce has developed this very user-friendly planning grid (“My Job, Your Job” worksheet). Take a few minutes and chart out 3 to 5 short-term operational priorities. ID where do you want to be 3 months from now…one year from now and five years from now. Then ID the steps that you need to take today to get started on the route, the key players involved, and their deliverables over the next 90 days.

Many of Big River’s clients actually have this chart blown into a 3’ by 5’ poster and posted it in a common area or break rooms. It serves as a constant reminder of the short-term operational goals for specific departments & employees. Employees can also write ideas on the poster and take more ownership of key action steps. By embracing the research results on leadership, social intelligence and building a dedicated following, leaders are more likely to align business strategies & employee actions – a fantastic combination.

From the Other Side of the River

At the beginning of the school year – my son came home with his reading assignments: reading for 20 minutes a day would earn him a “B” – reading 30 would earn him an “A”. Being a proactive parent, I pushed to get the “A” – “But mom”, he said, “I’m happy with a “B” I want to go play with my friends”. Not exactly what every parent wants to hear, but upon further examination of his emotional intelligence, a rationalization I was quite happy with.

There is no question that successful leaders have high I.Q.s, but it has also been discovered recently that they have high emotional intelligence, or E.Q. This balance is an interesting study. How do you perceive yourself and how do others perceive you? Most importantly – how do your customers perceive you and your organization?

As many of you know, Bruce and I have sponsored a breakfast series focusing on the #2 person within our clients’ organizations. We have had lively and spirited talks on many issues – ranging from employee conflict, to followership and leadership issues. This months’ sessions were dominated by talks of emotional intelligence. How do your customers, friends and family view you? Do they feel comfortable coming to you with problems and/or advice? How do you handle resistant employees or those that just want to gossip about what others in the organization are doing wrong?

From Daniel Goleman’s book “ Emotional Intelligence, Why it can matter more than IQ” (Bantam/1995), he defines four components of EQ:

Organizing groups: This is the child on the playground who leads in deciding what everyone will play, or becomes team captain. In your organization, this is the manager who focuses on the vision of the company and decides who the key leaders will be.

Negotiating Solutions: This is the person who prevents conflicts from flaring up and excels in dealing with disputes among key players.

Personal Connection: Having empathy and connecting are key business skills. These people make good “team players”.

Social analysis: The knowledge of how others feel can lead to any easy intimacy and sense of rapport.

Back to the books - so my son may not be valedictorian – that’s ok with me. I know developing and growing his people skills is just as important.

For more information on the Big River Group or joining our breakfast series visit www.bigrivergroup.com or email Cindy at cindy@bigrivergroup.com.

Meeting AYP Goals

Hi There - I recently received the following question from one of my contacts:

Hi Bruce,
Greetings from (city). I thought I would connect with you to possibly get some resources or make connections with some AYP special education issues my school is having. Bruce, I am looking for resources or people within schools that are currently staying out of AYP or that have moved out of AYP with a very organized plan…realized I maybe looking for needle in a haystack but I'd thought I'd try. Hope your family is well and your golf game is strong.

Please join us in a on-line discussion on how your schools are dealing with these issues.