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I'm proud to announce the release of my new book, Balancing the Generations: A Leader's Guide to the Complex, Multi-Generational, 21st Century Workplace

The book examines each generation, dispels common myths, and gives leaders tools to build a more effective organization by helping them recognize and take advantage of each generation's strengths.

If you were born between 1900 and 2000 and are in the 21st Century workplace, you need to read this book!

PLANNING TO EXCEL:
STRATEGIC PLANNING THAT WORKS


Get your copy now and Plan to Excel!


Plan for success
train your leaders to lead
and help them excel!!

With all the despair
about the economic situation,
this is the time
to plan and train
for a positive future.

Plan for success
and train your managers to lead!


Are Leaders and Workers Equals?
By Bob Mason

"It amazes me that you can write an article on leadership and include words like superior and subordinate!! How do you build trust, enable and engage your team when you call them subordinate/less than equal?"

This was a comment to an article I wrote on motivation. To be honest, I have struggled for a long time to find a good way to represent the boss - worker relationship, but the correct words seem to be more related to the context than anything else. In that case subordinate was appropriate. But, all that aside, it's the second part of this comment that bears some consideration. The concept of equality has become very closely related to self-esteem; if everyone isn't treated equally, they will feel less self-worth. That's very unfortunate!

This desire for equality has led to some pretty ludicrous behaviors. For instance, consider the practice of telling everyone in the meeting they are equal participants. The facilitator tells everyone that they have an equal voice and while that guy over there may be the boss, today he or she is just another person in the room. Yea right. The only one in the room who might actually believe that is the somewhat naïve boss.

How did we get to this point? There's an old saying that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. At some point American society (this isn't always as true in other countries) decided that it really mattered what people thought of themselves, especially at a young age. While that may be true, as a society we began to focus on making people feel good about themselves at the expense of honesty and reality and, in the process, we perverted the concept of self-esteem. My favorite example is youth sports where supposedly no one is keeping score. I can assure you that while there may not be an official score keeper, there are certainly two groups of people who know exactly who's winning and losing:

Read this article...

Six Strategies for Boosting Morale
By Kevin Eikenberry

A participant from a workshop I led several years ago posed a question to me last week. While she shared more details, this is the crux of her question: "Currently low morale is my major issue. With all of the changes there were reductions to staff and responsibility changes... I appreciate any tips you can give me on building morale and improving customer service skills."

This isn`t the first time I have been asked this question (and it won`t be the last), so I gained her permission to answer her question, for the benefit of many others, in this article.

I`m not going to talk specifically about the Customer service skills portion of her question (that`s another article entirely); however, it is important in understanding the value of morale to any organization`s Customer service ability. Most would agree that if the energy and morale in an organization or team is lacking, Customers may notice and be impacted by that poor morale. While this is true, it`s hardly a phenomenon only related to customer service providers.

Morale and attitude, whether positive or negative, affects everyone`s job performance regardless of their job or department.

At this point you may be thinking... "Enough setup! I know morale is important! Now, can you tell me what I can do as a leader to change it for the better?"

I`m glad you asked. Here are six strategies that will help you do just that:

Define it first.

When you say you want "better morale" what do you really mean? Typically people can`t define or describe better morale in terms of behaviors very well. When I ask this question I often get versions of "you know what I mean" or "I`ll know it when I see it." These vague descriptions won`t do if you are serious about creating a working environment that is supportive, positive and helps people succeed. If you are serious about improving morale, start by getting crystal clear on exactly what you mean.

Get help from others.

Read this article...
UPCOMING EVENTS
  May 17, 2011 6:00PM - 8:00PM
Leading to Excel Seminar
Sandoval County SBDC
Bernalillo, NM

Sign up now!		 May 24, 2011 6:00PM - 8:00PM
Planning to Excel Seminar
Sandoval County SBDC
Bernalillo, NM

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THIS MONTH'S BOOK REVIEW:



The Leadership Book of Numbers (Volume 1)
by Theo Gilbert-Jamison and Vivian Bright

How is leadership related to service excellence? Some might consider that a rather easy question, but I'm constantly amazed at how many leaders, and even some very large industries, just don't get the connection.

In The Leadership Book of Numbers (Volume 1) Theo Gilbert-Jamison and Vivian Bright provide a very simple roadmap to help leaders connect the dots. The book contains an extensive series of short lists along with tips and techniques that will help them become more effective leaders while helping their organization in the quest for service excellence.

The authors emphasize a point that is often overlooked, to the detriment of many organizations; there must be a vision and mission as well as a clear statement of values. The leader must clearly and effectively communicate these to the organization; everyone must understand them if the organization is truly striving for excellence.

Read the entire review.
A QUESTION ON LEADERSHIP

I'd still like some more answers to the questions I asked last month.

1. What are the biggest concerns you face in your business or organization?

2. What are the biggest concerns you have with employees?

Please send me your thoughts at comments@planleadexcel.com.



  A LITTLE HUMOR

Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

If I agreed with you we'd both be wrong.

We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public.

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

The early bird might get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism. To steal from many is research.

I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.

Why do Americans choose from just two people to run for president and 50 for Miss America?

A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to skydive twice.

Some cause happiness wherever they go. Others whenever they go.

When tempted to fight fire with fire, remember that the Fire Department usually uses water.

To be sure of hitting the target, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target.

  



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RLM PLANNING AND LEADERSHIP
 PO Box 50984
Albuquerque, NM 87181-0984
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email rlm@planleadexcel.com

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