Leadership isn’t always planned.  In fact, the lack of planning is the essence of our business – people development.  I am always reminded of this when we begin with a new client.  There are many things in life we plan for – education, purchases, meetings, vacations, family gatherings, conferences, holiday travel, etc.   But Leadership is just one of those areas we don’t plan for but instead wind up in the circumstance of because of factors that affect other aspects of our goals.

Not only am I continually reminded of this with the clients we serve, but also so in everyday life experience.  Labor Day and the Remembrance of September 11, 2001 have had an odd coincidence of occurrence over the past ten years, yesterday feeling the most profound to me for some inexplicable reason.  So many lives were affected, beginning in the workplace – but of course, the reverberations extend well beyond the office.  There are many tidbits of detail that continue to affect me from that day… and the days that would follow as a Manhattan resident and daily subway rider.

I watched an interview on Pierce Morgan Saturday night with Howard Lutnick, the CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, the company that’s human loss on September 11, 2001 was incomprehensible.  I don’t imagine that Mr. Lutnick ever imagined needing to LEAD in the way requirement would have it after that terrible morning.  How could he.  But motivated by forces unforeseen, a current tragedy that evoked memories of a past tragedy, circumstance, humility, and financial consequence, Mr. Lutnick led his company.  Presumably in a way he never thought of before, with motivations entirely altered from his previous way of managing.  Despite mixed feedback, Mr. Lutnick has been quite the example of leadership in an extremely challenging situation.  I just can’t even begin to imagine his changing experience of leadership over the past ten years.

It’s that time of year when we reflect, summer over, back into the grind and moving towards the close of a year – take a bit of time to think about it.

“Happiness is the full use of your powers along lines of excellence”  JFK

Until next time,

Erica & the whole ‘crew’ @ LOE Consulting

Lines of Excellence Consulting is a boutique consulting firm… bringing creative & innovative people together to make things happen.

twitter@linesexcellence

For more information and past newsletters: http://linesofexcellence.com/blog/

What does it mean to be engaged in your work and have engaged employees?  How long do you imagine employees will ‘sit’ on uncomfortable feelings about their work before taking action?  It might well be much longer than you think.

Employee engagement can be a bit like a game of Russian roulette, in the end, no one wins, and losses are enormous for all involved.  The problem is that we don’t often talk to our employees about their engagement with their work.  And if you don’t ask, they won’t tell.  Instead, employees remain focused on specific tasks and responsibilities, often times with minimum focus and commitment.  In the era of doing more with less, we need the most engaged employees and if they’re not, we need to know exactly why and… fix it!

“According to various studies, the total cost of presenteeism to U.S. employers falls anywhere between $150 billion to $250 billion each year, and those costs are on the rise as presenteeism becomes more frequent in tight economic times.”  (about.com)

Simple solution: Employee Engagement Surveys

Employee Engagement Survey’s in the most concrete & focused way:

• Drive employee development opportunities
• Create an environment where employees are encouraged to take initiative
• Drive training opportunities and assess training needs
• Influence Onboarding strategies for effective new hires
• Influence a culture of innovation & openness for creativity
• Help retain top talent by offering incentives for retention
• Address needs for Executive development and coaching
• Reduce the cost of absenteeism and presenteeism
• Reduce the preventable costs of turnover

When was the last time you and your employees were engaged?

Employee Engagement Surveys are a low-cost way to assess productivity, motivation and performance within your team.  Contact us for ideas on engagement and survey opportunities:  info@linesofexcellence.com

Ladders… bridges… symbolism today.

Many of us act as different forms of structure throughout a given day.  Whether it’s a ladder, a bridge, an electrical conduit, the list is endless.  Whatever I do, whether it’s Executive Coaching, Team Development, Organizational Consulting or Workshops, I am an instrument in some way, a bridge for the participants to get them somewhere, somehow.

I recently had a dear friend in from Los Angeles and somehow we got to talking about traveling (he’d stopped in NYC on the way back from Europe) and the variety of bridges you see throughout the world.  I was immediately jarred by the thought of my experience earlier in the year crossing the Sunshine Skyway Bridge over Tampa, the 5.5 mile length bridge.  Then I got busy online and found the Arsenal Bridge in Rock Island, Illinois that can rotate 360?.  Wow, there is such a variety. 

As someone who’s often referred to as a ‘bridge’ for companies and their employees, I loved the conversation and emphasis on details and the ways in which the details of architecture, structure, and usability are relevant to the landscape of the specific environment.  The same is true of both large and small businesses.  Employee development and strategy need to be built according to the environment in which they exist.  In thinking about the type of bridge you need, understand what types of elements contribute to your company environment:

• Company culture, mission, and goals
• Playing to employee’s skills & strengths
• Action steps that improve business functions

This year I participated in a Success Academy program in New York where a variety of speakers dispelled their unique ability at being a bridge in a particular way.  I spoke about utilizing unique skills and focused on how maximizing your strengths and the strength of your company impacts those around you and ultimately impacts success.  Building relationships is essential to success and how we build relationships is very much relevant to who we are building them with, and thus, what we need to build.  The particular road followed, the particular bridge, the process taken.  Check out a segment of my presentation on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEMQmgmxkrs&feature=channel

Want more?  Let me know:  erivera@linesofexcellence.com

1. Does the candidate fit our corporate culture
2. Does their personality match those already on the team
3. How will their unique skill set combine with those of the existing team
4. Will they challenge the status quo and creatively improve performance & profit
5. Where will the fall-out occur if this isn’t a good fit
6. What if the team is unwilling to accept the new-hire
7. What kind of on-boarding will be necessary to help the new-hire succeed

These are just a few of the questions to consider, and yet, they barely skim the surface when important decisions need to be made, particularly at crucial times in business development and growth. One of the ways we can make the right decisions is to look at current successes and blunders of leaders & their teams. We’ve had quite a few excellent examples in the very recent news to evaluate:

1) Conan O’Brien lets his staff know that changes are pending, but that he’s got their back and to prove such, he’s worked a severance deal that includes over 200 of his staffers. Certainly a popular guy right about now. Would you want to bring in a ‘Conan’ to your team?

2) Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda apologizes briefly for a mistake that affects millions of cars and undoubtedly millions of dollars for the company founded by Toyoda’s grandfather. Yet, where’s the team? Fresh-on-the-scene US Toyota leaders speak out as well, but the automaker is not sending a message of unity and from the scarce and well overdue appearance of Toyoda, it seems as though it’s uncertain who is actually managing this dire problem. Would you want to bring in an ‘Akio Toyoda’ to your team?

3) John Edwards staff member goes above and beyond the call of duty (an understatement at best). At what point does leadership adversely affect the career of team members. Who really wins here?, and who are the losers? Would you want a ‘John Edwards’ leading the team and putting his staff in unthinkably awkward situations, or for that matter, would you really want an ‘Andrew Young’ on your team?

Examples to learn from… Hiring decisions are not to be taken lightly, nor made hastily.

So what can you do about it? Instead of fretting about what was supposed to happen, what you hoped would happen, consider this: monkey wrenches enable

1) Strategy evaluation
2) reorganizing
3) Creative thinking
4) Expansion of ideas
5) Opportunity for employee growth
6) New analyses of current, past and future
7) Change for some who need just that
8) Opportunity in a way previously not realized or foreseen

“Everything we do has some effect, some impact.” His Holiness The Dalai Lama

Every once in a while we find profound examples of personal and leadership development trajectories. These are great moments essential to the teachings of leadership skills, highlighting personal honesty, integrity, leading by example, motivating teams, seeing the forest through the trees, and the ability to admit when things have gone array. All leaders, and human beings for that matter, need to take a step back and evaluate their path at different points in their lives. For some, the opportunity to re-evaluate is thrust at them from an external source of tension, which appears to be the case for many executives in this current economy. At other times, a personal change occurs from within. Either way, a true transformational leader identifies and acknowledges the opportunity and seeks greater growth and transformation during these times. Case in point – Citigroup’s CEO Vikram Pandit. Here’s a leader who last February took a step back and for reasons either personal, professional, or a combination of both, determined his salary to $1.00 per year until the company was back to acceptable fiscal health. Yes, you read that correctly – one dollar annual salary, no bonus. True, I can psychically hear many of you saying ‘that doesn’t account for compensation beyond salary and bonus.’ Nonetheless, in the short term, what it does signify is a commitment and responsibility for him to Citigroup and its success. In the long term it points to a level of ethics and responsibility that needs to be at the forefront of business management. This could explain why terms like Corporate Social Responsibility and Social Entrepreneurship are getting millions of hits on google these days.

My life shattering to do list ….

• Just think about it.

Oh, and… follow me (and others) on twitter: @linesexcellence

• Managing increased workloads and decreased staff
• Maneuvering through the tangled web of mergers and acquisitions
• Making hiring decisions based on tailored assessments & effective interviewing
• Managing and encouraging a healthy work environment

Changing times require reorganization, and we’ve responded. What I hear more and more from my clients is not how to manage, but how to survive and thrive during times of uncertainty. At LOE we are working hard to provide you with the skills needed to prosper and perform at your best, and for your company to do the same.

As a helpful tool, we will be offering our Leaders Developing Leaders presentation again via webcast in September. Some of you have participated already in our webinars and have this presentation already, having reported how helpful it’s been in developing managerial coaching skills. Others are new to our Newsletter and are sure to experience the value of this short yet efficient presentation. It is an important time for effective managerial skills and time management. We all need to in effect manage our time and take advantage of the opportunity to enhance intellectual capital. That said, we’ve added to our team of experts at LOE and are fortunate to be working with coaches that specialize in sales training and development, business development, as well as flexible work options.

“Time and health are two precious assets that we don’t
recognize and appreciate until they have been depleted.”

– Denis Waitley

Here it is: Top 10 that we’re all guilty of. Read them & weep, or read them and make some changes now… before it’s too late and you’re left feeling angry and resentful during this ‘joyous’ time of the year.

1. Cutting out routine exercise to fit in things we really don’t want to do

2. Taking on too many tasks knowing we’re already overwhelmed

3. Not saying NO when we really want to

4. Buying shrink-wrapped lipstick (sorry guys, that one’s for the ladies)

5. Not taking a sick day when we’re sick

6. Not taking time off from work to manage the increase in holiday tasks

7. Hanging outdoor lights when we don’t have the time (but feeling compelled to do so because the neighbor’s got an outdoor musical light show this year!)

8. Not saying NO to excessiveness (excessive anything: spending, working, meetings, baking, etc)

9. Mailing holiday cards to people because they mail them to you

10. Not making donations for important causes in lieu of holiday cards or gifts

Got any ideas now? Can you take one or two, make some changes and stop undervaluing the cost of your precious time.

“A person’s worth is contingent upon who he is, not upon what he does, or how much he has. The worth of a person, or a thing, or an idea, is in being, not in doing, not in having.”
–Alice Mary Hilton

To be, or not to be: that is the question:

The temptation to spend just a little more time at night finishing up on work is just too great at times, for me and many of whom I come in contact with. It’s no coincidence that my specialty is work/life balance (WLB). I don’t come up with ‘tips and tools’ because I’ve mastered the art of WLB in my own life. What is more accurate is the fact that I too struggle with balance on a daily basis, even hourly at times! Thus, I continue to brainstorm and disseminate ideas and actions that have worked for me and my clients; hence I pass them on to you, because I am confident that we can all use some ideas to facilitate improvement and growth.

Many a time I romanticize previous years where life must have been ‘simpler;’days when cell phones, answering machines, and TiVo did not exist. And then, I am jolted into reality with images of washboards (my washing machine broke this week) and nonexistent disposable products (napkins, diapers… you get the idea). And so, I look to writers of days gone by to imagine the stress of their lives. Today I offer a translated rendition of William Shakespeare’s sentiment through Hamlet’s Soliloquy, as a tribute to how I imagine he’d speak during present day stressful times of holidays embedded in economic downturns where lack of sleep reigns.

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
To sleep: perchance to dream.
With rest we have an increase in creativity and innovation
Ay, there’s the rub;
Neurotransmitters released with sleep improve our health and memory
For in that sleep of death
For in the escape from the stress of daily life
What dreams may come
Inventiveness and originality emerge
When we have shuffled off
When we have let go of
This mortal coil,
Our stress of daily responsibilities
Must give us pause:
We are able to relax and rejuvenate
There’s the respect
There’s the freedom
That makes calamity of so
That makes it possible to manage
Long life;
Complexities of life

I don’t know about you, but everyday I’m getting sale flyers in the mail, seeing sales on TV, etc., etc. It’s certainly a time of financial concern in our current market. But, what all of these sales tell me is – people want to have a reason to get out there and continue life as usual. They don’t want to stay home feeling somber, & neither do you! You want to be sure you’re out there, progressing yourself, progressing your life, professional and personal development included! This is definitely not the time to cut back on professional development or to let the stress of your concerns fall over into your productivity and attitude at work. This is instead a time for you to take advantage of opportunities for self-development and growth.

Check out your industry organizations for learning opportunities and networking events. Make some lunch appointments with networking contacts. Whatever you do — get out there!! We’ve got a wonderful workshop next week – and… as luck would have it, we’re offering a SALE (I know… of all things) – and you don’t even need to be at the doors at 4am to take advantage of it!! Simply send an email to: info@linesofexcellence.com, with the subject “sale” & I’ll send you the link to receive 10% off the workshop. How’s that for balance.

And last, but certainly not least, I want to say THANKS! Thanks for allowing me to be a part of your growth and, in turn, helping me grow. Thanks for the referrals!, thanks for the support! & thanks for the appreciation!

Happy Thanksgiving!

P.S. The sale ends Monday, December 1st.