sereynolds

January 28, 2015 by sereynolds

The Top Learning Strategy Used By Leading Fortune 500 Companies

The following article appeared on Inc.com today as a part of my column, “Behind The Desk.” Look out for new columns every week!

Often in the beginning of the year we’re energized to learn new things. As an entrepreneur you have many opportunities to do this, like attending workshops or conferences.

But the strategy that I find the most effective, which you can do inside or outside a workshop or conference, is to create what I call a “mastermind.”

A mastermind is a group of approximately three to five people supporting each other in their learning. The group offers support, helps keep other members accountable, and keeps the momentum going to help build upon lessons learned or projects underway.

Think about your biggest challenge. Now imagine that today you have two or three other people dedicated to helping you work it out. They listen to your questions, they offer advice, and they help you find solutions. Then, when their problem is resolved, you turn and listen to theirs. This is the essence of a mastermind.

If all you do is attend an event or read a book, you won’t get the mileage you could if you set up a group of people who want to learn this with you and put it into practice. Set up your own mastermind to follow through. The more you follow-up on your learning, the more in-depth your learning is.

Based on a study by Edgar Dale, we remember:

10 percent of what we read
20 percent of what we hear
30 percent of what we see
50 percent of what we see and hear
70 percent of what we discuss with others
80 percent of what we personally experience
95 percent of what we teach others.

Since masterminds are all about discussing with others, cultivating our own personal experience with the subject matter, and teaching others, the information has a better chance of being applied and built upon.

I have set up leadership development programs for companies like Adobe, MetLife and Microsoft, and while many of these programs have traditional components, the mastermind strategy is the one that can accelerate your learning past the program.

Whether it’s part of your professional development learning or an independent project, you can set up a mastermind group for yourself.

First, identify two or three people from whom you get energy from and who you think you can learn from, either at your level or above.

Ask if they’re interested in setting up a meeting once a month, whether it be a phone call or in person.

For example, three saleswomen from around the world might get on the phone once a month and discuss how they’re tracking their numbers, which will keep them accountable for their tracking, and then they can discuss how they can attain their goals.

After you have set up logistics, set a regular agenda. For example, establish that once a month for two hours each person will have 40 minutes-each. Or, a mastermind can be held once a week for an hour, each person receives about 20 minutes. Another option is to set up a mastermind every other week for one hour, giving each person 10 minutes and saving time for a group discussion.

To get the most out of your meeting, acknowledge some of the hurdles you’re facing. You might have masterminds that last for just a few sessions, or you might have some that last 10 years. You get an edge if you keep focused and keep learning.

January 15, 2015 by sereynolds

Start 2015 With Your Vision In Mind: When You See Possibility, You Find Success

The following article appeared on Inc.com today as a part of my column, “Behind The Desk.” Look out for new columns every week!

Seeing possibility and finding vision means being open to surprising opportunities. To succeed with this practice, we have to consider the idea that sometimes success comes to us instead of us having to create it for ourselves.

Essentially, if your firm has decided to make its talent a priority and use that as a competitive advantage, then your as a leader must lead with intention. How do you do that? You become clear about your vision, then make sure that everyone is aligned that vision. Explain the strategy clearly for your firm, and help individual leaders create their own unique visions or goals for themselves and their team. The last step is to support and motivate them to deliver on their vision by honing in on skills like time management, planning, and so forth.

The goal is that the individual leaders are so energized and motivated by what’s in it for them and their team that they will align their strategy to move toward that achievement, and that specific achievement falls under the vision of your firm.

So when it comes to creating that initial vision, the one that drives the rest of the individual leaders in a firm, it’s important to open yourself up to possibility.

Seeing possibility looks like:

You’re in the shower and suddenly the answer to your toughest question flashes into your mind
You’re driving along the freeway and suddenly the solution to a sticky problem becomes instantly obvious
You’re thinking about an old friend and suddenly the phone rings. It’s him.

Now, imagine your vision of your life as a leader appears in the same way:

You want a specific opportunity, and suddenly that opportunity arrives.
You need a certain kind of mentor, and suddenly that mentor shows up.
You want to make a certain kind of impact, and suddenly you realize you do.

Every time something like this happens, you are experiencing the rewards of seeing possibility.

Keeping your vision in mind, ask yourself these questions:

What’s going your way?
What’s not going your way?
What do your answers suggest about what to do next?

First, name a situation in which you need some kind of answer or idea. Next, rephrase the issue into the form of a question. What do you need to know? Then, take two long and slow breaths, letting the air clear your mind. Breathe and clear your mind. After a few minutes of breathing, sit quietly and ask the question again. What ideas did you get?

When you open yourself up to possibility, to the potentiality of your vision, success comes to us instead of us having to create it for ourselves. Keep your eyes open, and be ready to act when your good fortune shows up. Because when you have a clear vision for your firm, and individual leaders within it have goals that align with that vision, you’ll find sustainable success.

December 18, 2014 by sereynolds

3 Ways To Perfect Your Leadership Strategy

The following article appeared on Inc.com today as a part of my column, “Behind The Desk.” Look out for new columns every week!

Today, effective organizations depend almost exclusively on one powerful but volatile source for their success: their talent.

Talented leaders represent the company to its clients; determine the quality of its products and services; set the tone of the organization internally; and ultimately influence the future of the company itself. Nowhere is this truer than in organizations that rely on the individual contributions of large numbers of employees to directly deliver results–salesforces, consultancies, legal firms, and financial service firms chief among them.

The problem is that most companies do a poor job of developing top talent. Top talent is an essential but underutilized source of business results.

Many companies struggle to understand how to get the most from their talent. Entrepreneurs are asking: what do talented leaders need from companies to deliver the best results? How do companies address the variable needs of a diverse population of talented leaders?

Without reliable answers to these questions, companies fail to provide their talented employees with the skills and strategies they need to continue to be successful. The answer is a particular form of leadership development uniquely suited to the needs of individuals: personal leadership, leadership of the self.

Just as companies are built on the principles of strong leadership, so do talented leaders depend on those principles to get their best results. A company needs a clear and compelling vision to inspire its employees; so too do those employees need a clear and compelling vision for themselves. Personal leadership provides the structure and support leaders need to excel.

What does personal leadership look like when adopted as a leadership development strategy?

Executive coaching.Coaching provides a personalized environment in which to design a vision and strategy for one’s own success and achievement, as well as the opportunity to work through the challenges of implementing the strategy and tracking results.

Personal development plans. The goal of personal leadership is to put individuals into the driver’s seat of their own development–a process that is supported by a plan that can be updated on an ongoing basis.

Skills training in practices and principles. Some of the core skills of personal leadership include effective prioritization, action planning, time management, garnering and leveraging feedback, and exhibiting and instilling confidence.

Companies that institute programs of personal leadership experience increased profitability, improved retention rates, improved morale, better levels of customer service, and improved performance across the organization. So for companies hoping to leverage their talent, empowering employees with programs of personal leadership is the path to better business results.

December 11, 2014 by sereynolds

7 Rules for Meetings to Implement in 2015

The following article appeared on Inc.com today as a part of my column, “Behind The Desk.” Look out for new columns on Mondays!

Searching for just the right New Year’s resolution? Lose weight, save more for retirement, live life more fully… The usual suspects may well be on your list. Or, you could resolve to make better use of your time. Then you can do all of those things and still have time left for you and the goals you’re trying to accomplish in the coming year.

Recently I heard of an executive who has mastered this skill of maximizing his time, at least in one area of his life: meetings. His newest direct report sent him a request to meet and “talk about some things.” He immediately shot her back a note with his “Rules for Meetings.”

This is what it said:

“Of course, I would be happy to meet with you. Below are my Rules for Meetings. After you’ve had a chance to read them, please let me know if/when you’d like to meet.

All meetings must be 30 minutes or less.
Please send the agenda to me before we meet.
Determine the objective for the meeting.
Identify the decision you need me to make.
Bring your recommendation on the decision with supporting evidence.”

As you can imagine, this executive kept his calendar clear of many a useless meeting with this approach. (Imagine what he could do with all that saved time!)

You might not be able to get away with that at your place of work, but are there rules you could set? Here are a few to consider. Read them all, then choose one or two you’d like to try in the year ahead.

Rule #1. Meetings last only as long as they need to. Determine the amount of a meeting time by how many people will be there and what needs to get achieved. If it’s a small group with a short-term objective, 30 minutes might be more than enough–or even 20 minutes, or 10. Let it be brief.

An important caveat to this rule is that some meetings are more beneficial if they are longer rather than shorter. Once you have everyone in the room at the same time, focused on a single agenda, take advantage of the opportunity. Make sure you have enough time to be productive and complete, especially for the big important things like strategizing and conceptualizing new ideas.

Rule #2: Always enter a meeting with an agenda. So many meetings start with a vague beginning and wander around from there. You can spearhead a more efficient approach by creating an agenda for the meeting. Even if you’re not the one running the meeting, your efforts will keep everyone organized. If you feel doing so may be too presumptuous or intrude on the meeting planner’s prerogative, simply make the offer ahead of the meeting (“Would you like me to gather some agenda items?”). You’ll be helpful to the meeting planner–and everyone else in the room. You’ll all be less likely to deviate from the meeting purpose, which can lead to an incomplete process and–ugh–more meetings.

Rule #3. Spell out the objective of the meeting before it’s scheduled. Some people don’t give enough time to determining a meeting objective. This step puts you in control and keeps everyone on track. Make sure that all participants are aware of the specific objective to be achieved at the meeting as soon as the meeting is announced, and include it with any additional mentions of the meeting, especially via email, to get everyone on the same page going in.

Rule #4. Know what you personally want and need. Even if you’ve already made an agenda for the main meeting, you can arm yourself with a personal agenda consisting of items that you want to be sure get covered and the decisions you need to have made. Your private agenda may be no more than a list of bullets scrawled on a sticky note, but it will ensure that no matter how the rest of the meeting goes, it will be effective and efficient for you.

Rule #5. If it’s not on the calendar, it doesn’t happen. Get in front of future meetings by planning them early–not right before deadlines that leave everyone frazzled and scrambling to get everything done. Instead of waiting for others to schedule stressful meetings during crunch time, be proactive and schedule meetings early enough in advance to maintain a productive process, even if it’s not your responsibility to do so.

Rule #6. Be thoughtful about meeting participants. We’ve all been in a meeting and questioned whether or not we truly needed to be there. Don’t let this happen to your participants! Be careful of both what meetings you attend and which people you ask to attend meetings you’re organizing. Being thoughtful about who you invite will save both them time, and you.

Always remember that you have more control over meetings than you think. Often we feel like victims–we say that the meetings are too long, not productive, or pull us away from what we need to be doing. If you get in control of your meetings, you can get control of your time. Be the one to say: “Can we keep this short?” or “I’m not sure we need so many people involved.” Take a leadership role so that the schedule manifests itself in a way that is concise and clear, which will ultimately help everyone else and make your meetings more productive.

This one step can be a major time saver for your year ahead and the start of a new commitment to making the most of your time.

December 2, 2014 by sereynolds

The 2 Types of Entrepreneurs, Which One Are You?

The following article appeared on Inc.com today as a part of my weekly column, “Behind The Desk.” Look out for new columns every Monday!

The task of the entrepreneur is to envision the future of a business and turn it into reality, in some profitable way, day after day.

The problem is that some people excel at the envisioning part but struggle mightily to turn it into reality, whereas others have no problem running the day to day operations of a business but never seem to roll it up into an inspiring vision and a bigger future.

The difference lies in the way we think. Some of us are “top down” thinkers, and some think “bottom up.” You can learn to balance both ways of thinking for better results in your business.

And you must, because this same dichotomy can be seen throughout a business. It shows up in the contrast between:

Ideas versus details
Trends versus data
Intuition versus analytics.

Of course none of these should be dichotomies at all; the wise entrepreneur learns to bring them together for a more holistic view.

Let’s define these two types of thinking and look at a few examples.

Top Down Entrepreneurs

A top-down entrepreneur starts with the big picture, then eventually turns that picture into a framework and eventually the details to make it a reality.

If an artist was a top-down thinker, she would visualize a sculpture in her mind, then consider several ways to start, and eventually begin the detailed work of sculpting.

If a web-developer was a top-down thinker, he would consider the big idea of the website and its purpose, then chunk it out into sections, and eventually fill those sections in as pages with content.

The challenge for top-down thinkers is that they can get very excited about their big ideas, but the more and more they have to chop their aspirations into practical decisions and day-to-day reality, they find themselves losing steam. In the worst cases, these entrepreneurs can be seen spinning brilliant ideas all day long but never actually getting anything done.

Bottom Up Entrepreneurs

A bottom-up entrepreneur starts with the details, then eventually see the themes in those details emerge into a framework, from which they can then expand into a big picture vision.

If an artist was a bottom-up thinker, she would enjoy the daily creation of new pieces, putting paintbrush to canvas, or creating multiple versions of a sculpture, or tinkering with different kinds of mosaics, all the time focused on the doing of the work. Over time, themes would emerge, and she would develop a framework–perhaps a series of sculptures, and eventually that series would emerge with an inspiring theme and be presented to the world as one masterpiece.

If a web-developer was a bottom-up thinker, he would draft wireframes and site maps, then bring those together into broader pages, and eventually synthesis the pieces into one cohesive whole.

The challenge for bottom-up thinkers is that they can get buried in the details of their work and forget to organize those details into frameworks and connect them to a bigger picture. Without that bigger picture, they can get lost. The danger for these entrepreneurs is that their business can become overwhelming and too much to manage, and may eventually come grinding to a halt.

How does this apply to you? Whether you are a top down or a bottom-up thinker, you need to develop at least three layers of your business:

The vision
The framework or structure
The details.

It doesn’t matter if you start at the top or the bottom; eventually you need to challenge yourself to move out of your comfort zone and make sure the whole business is complete.

Knowing which type of thinker you are can help you decide where your strengths are, what you might be missing, and how to fill in the gaps to move your business forward.

Bottom-down best practice tip: Give yourself time to experiment, but don’t forget to stop and extrapolate. Take a step back and see what you’re creating. Do you see the patterns? Can you see the long term vision that wants to emerge?

Top-down best practice tip: Discipline yourself to take your ideas all the way to completion. Choose one and think it through. Can you see how the idea can be divided into a framework or structure that makes it more concrete? Can you see in detail what it would take to make it happen?.

Remember, you can always supplement your own thinking with other people on your team. Bottom-up thinkers will need to look for a strategist. Top-down thinker will need to engage a detail-oriented team to do the work. Either way, by making sure your thinking is complete, you’re making sure your business is a success.

November 18, 2014 by sereynolds

Latest Inc Column: 3 Powerful Ways to End 2014 on a High Note

The following article appeared on Inc.com yesterday as a part of my weekly column, “Behind The Desk.” Look out for new columns every Monday!

Lately I’ve been noticing the tremendous churn happening within businesses today. New business models, big transformations, high expectations and turnover are all keeping businesspeople hopping. Keeping up with fast-paced change makes it hard to find or make time to reflect, and it’s hard to get anything done. How do you find focus, and, more importantly, be able to maintain it, in an environment of constant change?

Define your goal. It sounds simple enough, but many entrepreneurs skip this step. Decide whether it’s a big goal for the year of 2015, like doubling your revenue, or whether it’s more specific goal, like winning a proposal you’re writing today. It may be a professional goal for a work project, or even a personal goal regarding the upcoming holidays. Defining your goal will help to clear the excess noise and make it go away. Take a brief statement of what your goal or vision is, then choose a set of 3-5 priorities that can get you there. This short list will become your area of focus.

Clear space. People feel scattered and have trouble focusing because there’s a lot going on all at once. On top of ongoing changes that your business is undergoing naturally, those day-to-day interruptions just won’t go away. Your phone and your computer are next to you, biding for your attention, not to mention your clients, customers, coworkers, and family. Take control and make space. How much time do you need to finish a project? When can you make that time? What will that look like? How will you put that in the calendar? Asking yourself these questions allows you to clear out space to tackle your goal, and is crucial to clearing out the noise.

Make your calendar a part of your daily plan. In terms of maintaining your focus, you can gain traction by following those same two steps–defining your goal and clearing space–more consciously and in bigger ways, more and more often.

For example, consider the reality of a busy entrepreneur struggling to make it successfully through the end of the year. One such business owner I recently coached on this topic is a woman we’ll call Kim. Kim’s business has been thriving; she’s listed in the Inc 500 and wants this year to be her best year yet. But Kim is also a woman who travels for work, has two small children and is hosting her family holiday reunion this year. Pile on top of that her commitment to make sure Santa Claus comes for her kids and to book a family getaway for New Years. You may be wondering, is it even possible to get all that done? It is, and if anyone can do it, it’s Kim. But, in order to pull it off (and to also enjoy the ride–it is, after all, the holiday season), she will need to get focused. On a daily basis she will need to get out her calendar and organize tasks, not just at work, but for all the family events and the holiday chaos. She’ll have to ask herself: Where does shopping and Thanksgiving dinner come in? When do I book the vacation? How will I be sure my business gets the big finish I have in mind? She will need to get those tasks out of her mind into her planner. That is, she will have to clearly define her goal and make space to focus on achieving what she wants to achieve, and leading the live she wants to live.

You can do the same. Have no fear: you’ll have a pleasant Thanksgiving dinner. You’ll enjoy the holidays. You’ll make your year-end goal. But you don’t need to think about it all at once.

Take a moment now to define your present goal. What’s the goal you want to focus on right now? How can you clear space to devote your attention to that goal right now? Where else can you clear some space to work toward it and meet your goal? Repeat the questions at different times and for different goals, and you will find that scattered, unfocused feeling goes away. You’ll be left feeling clear and confident about your ability to enjoy–and meet your goals–throughout the end of the year.

November 11, 2014 by sereynolds

The 5 Steps to Strategic Thinking That Really Matter: My Latest INC Column

The following article appeared on Inc.com yesterday as a part of my weekly column, “Behind The Desk.” Look out for new columns every Monday!

I’ve been having an ongoing conversation with two or three executives lately that struck me as somewhat surprising. As an executive coach, I am also tasked with helping executives be more strategic. But finally this week someone asked me straight up: “What is strategic thinking?”

This executive happens to be a C-level leader, so I knew he was strategic in the eyes of the company, but what he didn’t know was how to cultivate a strategic mindset. What does it look like to be more strategic? What does it sound like? What does one do?

Whether you’re a small business owner, an entrepreneur, or a CEO at a Fortune 500 company, strategic thinking is a skill that matters, even though getting into the practice of changing your way of thinking might seem daunting.

Strategic thinking is really about aligning to the ultimate vision of the company’s goal, or of a personal goal. That requires good old fashioned thought. The way you go about connecting vision and goals will vary based on your personal preferences: the way you think, the way you process, the way you learn.

If you’re ready to start thinking more strategically, consider the following five steps for getting in the right frame of mind, where the ideas can flow and your brilliance comes alive.

Align to your vision. When you’re clear about what you want, you’re able to describe it in vivid detail. You know a little something about what it will take to get there and how it will feel to arrive. You connect to an inner source of inspiration that will call you forth and compel you to achieve a powerful new vision. As a leader or entrepreneur, thinking of the “big picture” allows you to pick out meaningful trends from your surroundings and hone in on what your potential is and how that potential aligns with your ultimate vision.

Ask questions. Now that you’ve connected with what your vision or goal is, it’s time to start asking yourself the right questions. “What is my vision or goal? What do I have to do to get there?”

Give it some thought. There are three approaches to this. The first is the analytical approach. Write the answers down to the questions you asked yourself in step two, and be as detailed as possible. This approach serves those who are thinkers and need clarity. The second approach is the collaborative approach. For those who are more socially minded and thrive on brainstorming, set up a meeting and get others involved in discussing matters of strategy. You invite many coworkers with varied areas of expertise and ask whatever your big questions are, like, how to become more visible in the marketplace, or how to transform your business model to be lighter and leaner, and so on. The last approach is a meditative approach. This helps individuals who are not trying to “figure things out,” necessarily, but rather want to clear some space and become quiet enough to hear their intuition. One of the busiest executives I know, who works in the frenetic pace of high-tech Silicon Valley, gets his breakthrough insights sitting quietly on the back deck at sunrise. Any of these approaches can work–the main thing is that you carve out the time to think, however that ends up looking for you.

Plan. Creating your “plan” means identifying your action items, both short-term and long-term, that will help you reach your goal. For you, it might take the form of something as complex and involved as a company-wide strategic plan, something smaller scale like a project plan, or simply just a checklist for you get things done. In planning, you use the clarity and focus you’ve gained in step one and put it into a practical course of action..

Diagram. There’s one more important step you can take when you are engaging in strategic thinking, and that’s to think without words. Diagramming, mindmapping, brainstorming, drawing pictures, mocking up graphs and charts–all of these forms of “thinking” stimulate your creativity and can break you out of the box. For visual thinkers and creative thinkers, this step can make the planning part of the process less painful. For more linear and analytical types, this approach can really shake loose the ideas when you get stuck.

Strategy is a plan of action or policy designed to achieve a major or overall aim. When we’re talking about strategic thinking we’re really talking about what we need to achieve, and how to do it. Instead of barreling through a to-do list, especially when we’re short on time already, try re-framing the way in which you approach the execution of your goal.

Ready to start? Choose a time to devote exclusively to strategic thinking. Make it within a week or two, at a time and place where you won’t be interrupted. Give yourself the chance to daydream about the future you’re trying to create, and then implement one or two of these approaches to strategic thinking. Then watch for the breakthrough. You may be only one or two hours away from the that makes you not just more strategic, but more successful.

November 4, 2014 by sereynolds

Self-promotional Tips Entrepreneurs Should Avoid: My First Inc Column

The following article is appeared on Inc.com yesterday as my first column. Looks out for my columns every Monday!

How many times have you received a newsletter or heard a marketing pitch and recoiled with an uninspired, “Ick?” We can spot an insincere, self-promotional message from a mile away–and yet, as entrepreneurs wanting to communicate our message, we may be sending those same “icky” messages out, sometimes without even realizing the long-term negative affect it can have.

You can promote yourself in a way that engages others and draws them to you. When you do, you will stand out in the crowd, as well as grow your business.

You likely know many of the common tips for how to promote yourself and get noticed, but you also need to know what self-promotional strategies to avoid.

Don’t ask for business when you’re desperate. The time to promote yourself is when your business is doing well, not as a last resort. Every entrepreneur has been there–when times are tough and new business seems hard to come by. The key is to trick yourself into residing in a more confident place by getting into the right mindset. Even if things are going wrong and you’re desperate for business, take the time to ground yourself, meditate on your successes so far and those yet to come, and get clarity on what you’re trying to create in your business. Remember who you are and who your clients are. There will be plenty of business coming your way. There always is.

The key to self-promotion that works is to come from a place of confidence so you’re not asking for business from a place of fear. Moving to a place of trust and confidence will represent you in a better light and is more likely to get you the kind of business you want.

Don’t be a toddler. If you’re a parent you’ve been there–you’re at the store and your child innocently asks for a piece of candy. So you say maybe. Then they ask again. And then again, until finally, unable to withstand the whining, you say no! Entrepreneurs–and all of us, really–turn into toddlers when we don’t’ get what we want. Sometimes we believe that if we ask enough times we’ll get the “yes.” The truth is you may ask your way into a no. The lesson here is that asking again isn’t going to help.

As an entrepreneur you have a vision in mind for yourself. If you’re a business owner, it could be a vision for new partnerships or clients. If you’re part of a bigger firm, it may be asking for promotions, raises, or better opportunities. You can keep your vision in mind and work towards it with intention, but without asking so often that you turn people off.

The trick is to show instead of tell.

If you want a new title, don’t say you deserve it. Instead, actually deserve it. The way to get noticed is to become invaluable so that other people can’t overlook you, showing that you deserve it intrinsically. For example, if you’re a consultant, don’t tell people you’re a fantastic consultant and they should hire you; instead, actually provide valuable advice and guidance to a prospective client so they can see you in action. If you’re a salesperson, don’t tell people how great your product is and implore them to buy it; look for opportunities to show them your product in action in a situation in which they genuinely need your product. If you work for a bigger firm and want new responsibilities you want, don’t tell someone you want that certain responsibility, just take it on. Deliver on a project, and express interest by directly engaging in the effort and asking good questions to move the project forward

Don’t let your self-promotion stand for itself. Don’t let the only thing people remember you for be your self-promotion. Instead, provide value.

I once attended a full-day workshop designed to help entrepreneurs set up a successful business, but it turned out to be 95 percent self-promotional, putting emphasis on what the sponsoring company had to offer rather than what attendees could take away. I thought to myself, “I spent an entire day here, and what have I really gotten?” Entrepreneurs who are too self-promotional either consciously or unconsciously design events, communications, newsletters and client meetings that can be viewed on the receiving end as pure marketing events–and nothing will lose a client faster.

Shift the emphasis off yourself and onto to your clients. What do they need from you? What do they want to hear? What help do they need? By listening to your audience and trusting that your commitment to them will pay off, you will set yourself apart. Your audience will see you as a trusted advisor who can truly help them. You will steer clear of irritating self-promotion and find yourself in a much better place–a healthy, long-standing, profitable relationship with your clients.

As an entrepreneur, you have something valuable to offer. Your talent is enough to impress your customers and draw them in. Trust your results and look for opportunities to help. Today, reflect for a moment on the promotions you have planned. Choose just one of the techniques above and experiment! See how it changes your results.

You can also connect with Joelle on Twitter and Facebook, she’d love to hear from you!

October 30, 2014 by sereynolds

A Great Leadership Development Strategy: Marathon Training With Your Colleagues

This past week, an editor from the New York Post contacted me to let me know that she was going to run a story on those training for the New York Marathon with their colleagues or bosses. They were interested in how this dynamic might translate to the workplace. As a runner myself, I was happy to lend them some insight.

The truth is that any group activity that involves a specific goal and employs both leadership and teamwork is a great way to form a deeper bond with those you work with – running especially! This is what I told the Post:

This deeper relationship is common, says executive coach Joelle Jay, author of “The Inner Edge.” “Their walls come down when people have the time and opportunity to connect on a personal level with running or walking or on a long car ride,” she says.

Jay adds that marathoners’ contagious attitudes can even inspire their non-running colleagues to take up the sport — like vice president Melissa Sgaglione and senior account executive Max Puro did at their company.

It’s also important to note that there should be a way to include those who didn’t participate in the run. Those not running can still participate in other ways, such as cheering at the finish line, handing out water or holding up encouraging signs at different mile markers along the way, or even making team shirts. A post-marathon briefing, where the experience and stories can be shared, can bring other coworkers up to speed and help them feel in the loop and part of the team.

You can read the full article from the New York Post here.

You can also connect with Joelle on Twitter and Facebook, she’d love to hear from you!

October 23, 2014 by sereynolds

4 Secrets Top Managers Utilize to Revolutionize Their Team

The following article is one that I wrote that recently appeared int he Fall issue of Management Today Magazine. You can download a digital version here.

Managers used to have it easy. They could tell people what to do and expect it to be done. Need a report due Monday morning? Employees will simply have to work all weekend. Need an underperforming employee to shape up? Shake a few fists and demand a better product.

Well, no more. Today’s employees want more than that. They want respect. They want a life.

As an executive coach working with senior leaders in Fortune 500 companies I have seen it many times: managers living in the past, fantasizing that what they say, goes. Today’s managers need to find new ways to relate to their employees that put them in control of their own careers.

Moving from a command-and-control style of management to one that empowers employees can virtually revolutionize a team.

Ask employees what their vision is. For decades, business leaders have been refining the visions of their companies and aligning employees to that vision. Today’s employees question why they should care. After all, what’s in it for them? Managers can tap into the enthusiasm of employees better by asking what their visions are for success. A salesperson may be acceptable at meeting quota, but he will come alive if he connects his quotas to his personal dreams of, say, taking on a leadership role in the company.

When employees understand how what’s best for the company aligns to their personal goals, they work with a sense of purpose, which is far more effective.

Leverage the strengths of each individual. Employees don’t want to be someone they’re not anymore. A job in which they have can’t be themselves can feel like a prison. A vice president I once worked with was so downtrodden due to the CEO’s insistence on a detailed, highly structured style that she almost left the company. This manager’s vivid imagination and creative mind needed to break free. Instead of losing this talented leader, the CEO was able to see the strengths of this VP and give her the latitude to do things her way. She was newly inspired and brought ideas and innovations to the company that dramatically improved its success.

Find out what your employees’ strengths are – how they perform naturally well, and how they prefer to work. Not only will your employees feel happier and build a sense of their personal value, you will get a better work product.

Know what your employees value, and value it too. Believe it or not, your deliverables are not the most important thing in your employees’ lives. Employees have families, hobbies, and service projects they care about. They are invested in making a difference with their lives. If you can connect with employees by asking them what’s important to them, they will tap into the strength of their values and bring a stronger sense of self to work.

Coach, don’t preach. Finally, break the habit of barking orders and telling people what to do. Coach them instead. Ask them what they need to be successful, and pose questions to help them find their own answers. You will find them to be more creative and resourceful when they know they are seen as capable leaders who can be trusted to learn what they need to learn to excel.

Ultimately, the way to revolutionize a team is to see the team as made up of individuals, just like you – with dreams and desires, valuable talents they want to use, ideals they care about, and the potential to learn. Managers who treat their workers don’t just have employees; they bring new leaders to life.

You can also connect with Joelle on Twitter and Facebook, she’d love to hear from you!