Keyboard Culture Leadership Training

Do You Have Blurred Vision? Call Your Business Coach!

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 09:00:03 -0600

When was the last time you looked up and thought about something besides how long it was going to take to get to the bottom of all the paperwork on your desk?

As a business coach I help people find their business vision. When you hear “vision” you might picture a group of people in a boardroom, staring at blank sheets of paper, trying to come up with a vision or mission statement for the company. They are probably watching the clock and shifting around uncomfortably in their chairs, praying for a coffee break.

That kind of situation generates “lip-service” ideas that nobody really believes. Instead, you need a vision that fuels the passion you have for your business; a passion that is shared by employees.

Four More Reasons You Need a Business Coach

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 09:00:00 -0600

North America is in recession; many businesses will fail because they fail to weather the current instability. You may think hiring a business coach is money you can’t afford to spend. I believe you can’t afford not to hire a coach.

Here are four more things a business coach can do for you.

Networking. When you hire a business coach who specializes in your industry you get someone who knows people. New contacts increase your chances for new clients.

Find your niche. I talked last time about how a business coach can help you with your marketing plan. Are you targeting the right customers? Is there a population segment that would better suit your product? Even the best marketing plan will fail if you target the wrong customers. Your business coach can help you identify the perfect demographic for your product.

Four Reasons You Need a Business Coach

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 09:00:00 -0600

In my profession I encounter people who have been struggling along, trying to turn their businesses into a success. Most of them really drag their feet about hiring a professional like me. True, a business coach costs money but trust me, it pays off in the end.

Here are four things a business coach can do for you:

Get you organized. It’s amazing how much productivity time is lost due to lack of organization! A business coach can take your office from a disaster zone to one where the information you need is at your fingertips.

Dust off your marketing plan. Your business coach can help you assess the effectiveness of your marketing strategy. Is the targeted market getting your message or are you wasting money on the wrong type of promotion? Maybe you’re not even targeting the right demographic!

Why Hire a Business Coach?

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 09:00:00 -0600

A business coach specializes in helping a business find its strengths and weaknesses; information that is used to make it stronger.

You may be thinking, “I’ve run my own business for years. I don’t need a business coach!” If that’s the case, skip reading this article and get back to more important work.

But if you want to improve your business, read on.

Leader or Manager – Can One Person Be Both?

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 09:00:00 -0600

Managers and leaders think differently. That doesn’t mean you need a split personality to possess the traits of both. You do need some sharp self-awareness skills.

Do you have great ideas that excite people but find nothing gets very far?

Leaders like you thrive on challenge and get bored with routine. If you recognize this about yourself, you can temper that passion enough to develop some practical problem-solving strategies. Turning a good idea into a successful project requires the skills of a manager. A manager looks at available resources, comes up with a plan of action and implements it efficiently.

If you are a manager who focuses on cost analyses and inventory reports, you may not notice when employee morale is low. Even great managers need to get out of their offices everyday and mingle with the employees.

Are You a Leader or a Manager?

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 13:24:04 -0600

Do you have to be one or the other? What’s the difference?

There is a difference but truly successful people have qualities of both and can switch between leader and manager as the situation dictates.

Let’s say a report indicates that your company’s customer service performance has slipped. A manager books the conference room and sets up training “re-fresher” meetings to review company expectations with employees. A leader calls a meeting to talk to employees and motivates them to re-focus on customer service; two approaches that achieve the same outcome.

Managers are organized, goal-oriented problem solvers. A good manager analyses a situation, finds the best solution and works in that direction.

The Boss Needs Them Too!

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 09:00:00 -0600

Have you ever tried to talk to someone who wasn’t listening? For a business manager trying to make your company or team as productive and successful as possible, that can be very frustrating. And it costs money. People who don’t pay attention make mistakes.

Sometimes it’s just as important for the person in charge to listen. Maybe you’ve had a conference call with an important client and, because you were trying to “multi-task”, you weren’t sure what you had agreed to when you hung up the phone. That kind of inattention causes embarrassment and it will affect the bottom line as well.

Active listening takes patience. Work schedules can be hectic and slowing down for a minute or two to really listen isn’t easy. Why should a manager care about having active listening skills? Shouldn’t the employees just do what they are told?

Four Personality Traits of Female Business Leaders – Part 11

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 09:00:00 -0600

This is the last of my installments about personality traits for successful female business leaders.

This last component is crucial for persuasive communication. If you can’t present your information in a way that people understand and that builds confidence your project or sale will never get off the ground. It won’t matter to them how much credibility you have or how much you have in common with your audience.

3. Develop a Compelling Position. Your reasons for making changes at work or for why a client should use your services have to make sense. Any successful business leader will have the facts straight and will be able to present them in a compelling way that is easy to understand.

I’ll use President Obama as an example again.

Four Personality Traits of Female Business Leaders – Part 10

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 09:00:00 -0600

The last of the Four Personality Traits of Female Business Leaders, persuasive communication, has three components. Each of these components is effective on its own but taken together they make for an incredibly persuasive communicator. If you are a female in business you will want to keep reading!

1. Building Credibility. If employees or clients feel you don’t know what you’re talking about they will tune you out. People become managers for a variety of reasons; dumb luck, personal connections, they bought the store and because they can do the job.

Truly successful female business leaders keep their position because they have expertise and they have spent time building credibility.

A credible person is prepared and knows what they are talking about. Preparation also involves predicting possible objections and having believable answers.

Four Personality Traits of Female Business Leaders – Part 9

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 09:00:00 -0600

For the last while I’ve been telling you about some personality traits that were identified in a survey as most important for successful female business leaders to possess. Today I’m talking about the art of persuasion.

According to the Caliper survey I mentioned in Part 1 of this series, females have to be more persuasive because they lack the physical presence of most men. That doesn’t mean that men impose their ideas on people, men can be very persuasive too. Women just have to be better to get the same results.

Effective female business leaders use persuasion to communicate in a way that inspires and motivates. Employees are happy to cooperate to get the job done and customers enjoy being a client. Persuasive leaders build trust by being honest.

Being persuasive should not be perceived as a sales job; people hate that! It makes them feel they are being tricked.

Four Personality Traits of Female Business Leaders – Part 8

Sun, 15 Feb 2009 09:00:00 -0600

Managers who aren’t really on-board think inclusive leadership is limited to a suggestion box by the photocopier. A smart female business leader knows there’s more to it than that. Good inclusive leadership programs begin with the manager being prepared to give up some control.

Yikes! Job security often seems to revolve around insecurity and the feeling that you must be incompetent if you turn to others for help. That’s not what inclusive leadership is about and insecurity is one personality trait you don’t want to have. You must approach it confident enough in your position that you can be open to ideas from others. That confidence might be another personality trait you want to cultivate in yourself.

Successful female business leaders give employees a say in final decisions. That is a big step and perhaps the pinnacle of a good inclusive leadership program. Sometimes just offering alternatives for the employees to choose from will reap the same benefits as having them come up with the alternatives themselves; motivation and job satisfaction grow. Some areas that you might allow employees to make decisions about include work schedules and budgeting for supplies and equipment.

Four Personality Traits of Female Business Leaders – Part 7

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 09:00:00 -0600

Would it surprise you to learn that most people find it difficult to work as part of a group? We’re talking about inclusive leadership as a personality trait shared by successful female business leaders. Inclusive leadership means you work with your employees as a team. To be effective any team has to learn to work together while taking advantage of individual strengths.

Training is the key to putting together a team that will make any female business leader proud. There are two areas on which training should focus; collaborative decision making skills and company or industry specific expertise.

Attempts at collaborative decision making often result in conflict because individuals have different ideas and goals. The group needs to be taught the “rules”, such as defining the problem, brainstorming ideas, and picking the best solution. A smart female business leader knows the time spent learning these skills will pay off; your employees will enjoy the chance to improve their own personality traits!

Four Personality Traits of Female Business Leaders – Part 6

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 09:00:00 -0600

We’re talking about how inclusive leadership as a personality trait will encourage and influence employee participation. A smart female business leader will benefit from incorporating this technique into her repertoire of tools.

And speaking of personality traits, it seems to be human nature to resist change, especially if it’s change we don’t understand. Long-term employees may resist because they’ve seen things come and go before and believe that this is just a fad too. Your role as the boss is to take the lead. If you’re consistent and genuine your employees will take their cues from you.

Female business leaders who use inclusive leadership excel at sharing information. And this doesn’t mean standing at a podium in the conference room. A formal meeting like that has its place but a boss who wants employee trust and respect will talk to them, face-to-face, in their offices and around the water cooler. Having an open office door policy is a good idea too. Encourage people to ask questions and openly discuss what is going on in the company.

Four Personality Traits of Female Business Leaders – Part 5

Sun, 08 Feb 2009 09:00:00 -0600

Call it inclusive leadership, participatory management or inclusive decision making; it’s a leadership style and a personality trait that involves everyone in finding solutions to a problem. And, according to the study I mentioned in the first installment of this series, this is one of the strengths of successful female leaders.

How many of you dread company meetings?

Four Personality Traits of Female Business Leaders – Part 4

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 09:00:00 -0600

Last time we were talking about the importance of assertiveness for success as a business leader. Anyone wanting to be a leader but lacking confidence and assertiveness skills will not be able to stand up for their interests.

Let’s get back to those steps for assertiveness.

Step 3 – Pay attention to how you say things.

In Step One I talked about how you need to be clear about what you want to say. How you say it is just as important. How you say something has an effect on how the person receiving the message responds to you. An assertive communicator will start sentences with “I feel” rather than “you should”. This keeps the focus on the problem at hand without pointing fingers and laying blame. If the person you are talking to feels they are being “attacked” they will not listen to what it is you are trying to say.

Step 4 – Take responsibility for your part in the problem.