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The Secret to Inspiring Others? Optimism

Peter Stark — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:54:10 +0000

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Research has conclusively shown that engaged employees are more productive and satisfied. John Maxwell, America’s noted authority on leadership, said, “An organization cannot rise above its level of leadership.” This means that leaders’ attitudes set the tone for those who follow them. Therefore, if you find that many of your employees are not motivated, it’s time to do some self-reflection. Employees will not thrive under negative leadership. Now, we don’t know anyone who would refer to themselves as negative, but people who would be considered negative often call themselves realists. These self-proclaimed realists seldom have many motivated people following them.

On the flip side, employees don’t want a Pollyanna who ignores reality and believes that despite all the evidence, everything will turn out just fine.

Whether you describe yourself as a realist or an optimist, leaders today need to be positive, self-confident, have high-expectations, take initiative, be resilient and accountable. Most employees want to work for a leader who truly believes that tomorrow is going to be even better than it was today, and is taking the necessary actions to turn those beliefs into a reality.

The following are nine keys that will help you become a more positive leader; a leader who makes even the realists excited about tomorrow.

Have belief and confidence in yourself. Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft and one of the world’s most generous philanthropists, said in a presentation, “I am an optimist. I think any tough problem can be solved.” Before describing his financial contribution and solution, Gates spent the first part of his presentation citing breakthroughs that have occurred over the last century that have either increased life spans and/or reduced the spread of disease. In every challenging, problematic, or uncertain situation, people want to hear three things from the leader:
1. A candid assessment of the problem
2. A strategy to overcome the challenge or create certainty in an uncertain situation
3. An optimistic vision of the future
Jim Stockdale, the Navy Admiral, was the highest ranking POW during the Vietnam War. After spending 7 years in the Hanoi Hilton, he was released and provided with insights into the importance of one’s belief in self. Stockdale discussed how the POW’s who survived accepted the terrible situation for what it was and had a deep belief that they would prevail in the end. Those who lost hope and belief that they would survive, lost their will to live and died.

People will not follow leaders who lack confidence in their ability to survive a negative situation and improve the condition of the organization.
Set high expectations and expect to win. The self-fulfilling prophecy is alive and well. People tend to rise to the level that others expect them to perform. If you set high expectations and then trust your people to perform, most likely you will be right. On the other hand, if you do not trust your people and micro-manage their work, you will likely be correct: you will find that people don’t function well on their own, which in turn, confirms the belief that you cannot trust people.
Practice positive self-talk. Your words will become your thoughts. Your thoughts will become your beliefs. Your beliefs will control your actions. Saying to yourself either, “There is nothing I can do in this situation,” or, “If anyone can figure this out, I can,” will determine whether you take action to improve the situation or concede defeat. As a leader, the words you choose to communicate to yourself will most likely be verbalized to the people you work with. Most people want to work with a leader who is able to verbalize a positive, can-do, winning attitude.
Hire positive people. Although leaders have a lot to do with creating an organization’s culture, it sure helps to hire people who already have a positive attitude about life. People who are self-confident, want to win, focus on multiple solutions when challenges arise and like to have fun, are a lot easier to lead than people who see the glass as perpetually half empty. As a leader, when you hire positive people, it changes your job from one of helping people be optimistic to one of not saying or doing anything to undermine your people’s optimism.

Focus on people’s strengths, not weaknesses. Great leaders know where to put their energies when working with people. They see potential in everyone and they focus on helping people identify their strengths and align talents to benefit the employee, team and organization. Research has shown that managers who focus on team member strengths received much better performance from their teams than managers who focus on weaknesses.
Express gratitude and appreciation. Great leaders give credit and praise to others in their life for work well done. They provide gratitude and appreciation both publicly and privately and they do it often. It must be noted that the praise and appreciation must be heartfelt and genuine or it will actually have the opposite impact than the desired goal.
When you encounter a negative situation or setback, outlearn your competition. Albert Einstein said, “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” Never see failure as failure, but only as an opportunity to learn how you need to do things differently. Remind yourself that although you may not be able to control others or the situation, you can control what you learn and how you will respond differently in the future.
Promote cooperation and teamwork. One of the greatest leadership turnarounds in the history of the National Football League happened to the San Francisco 49ers. What was that? The team changed leaders from Mike Singletary to Jim Harbaugh. In 2010, the 49ers win-loss record was 6 wins, 10 losses. In 2011, the 49ers logged 13 wins with only 3 losses. Mike Singletary was famous for his negative halftime rants and raves (such as an obscene gesture towards his team as a motivation ploy) as well as encouraging players to publicly call out each other’s mistakes. Even Disney’s Thumper taught most of us growing up, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all.”

Jim Harbaugh, an eternal optimist, knows the importance of teamwork and speaking positively about his team members; even the players that fans and Singletary had publicly doubted. Knute Rockne, the great football coach said, “I have to get the most energy out of a man and have discovered that it cannot be done if he hates another man. Hate blocks energy and he isn’t up to par until he eliminates it and develops a friendly feeling (toward all of his teammates).” Harbaugh knows that when team members are fighting and undermining each other, they have started to play against each other rather than forming a team united in one purpose: beating the competition.
Have fun! Most people enjoy working in an environment that is fun. In fact, we are fond of saying that when you are doing what you love, and are having fun doing it, you are one of the privileged few who are fortunate enough to not have a ‘job.’

To be a pessimistic, realistic, or optimistic leader, the choice is yours. However, when it comes to leading an engaged, productive team, we’re betting on the optimistic leader.

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Peter Barron Stark Companies is a nationally recognized management consulting firm that specializes in employee opinion surveys, executive coaching, and leadership and employee training. Send Peter Barron Stark Companies an email at info@peterstark.com for more information about how we can help you create an organization where your employees love to come to work and your customers love to do business.

Biggest Time Wasters at Work

Peter Stark — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:00:40 +0000

Helpful tip: if you have a long to-do list today, remember that you can always bookmark this page and come back to it.

We are three weeks into 2012, and the year is off to a solid start. For many of us, we’ve made (and most likely already broken), some great resolutions for the New Year, like: “When the pace slows down, I’m finally going to take a vacation.” “When I can make time, I’m definitely going to spend more time with the family this year.” And for most of us, “If only I could save some time, I could devote more time to myself and get back into shape.”

Yep. It’s that time of year: a time for positive visions, goals and hope. While we are optimists, and hate to burst your bubble, we must tell you the truth related to time: It is impossible to make time, save time, or find time. Each of us are gifted with the exact same number of minutes to use each day: 1440, to be exact. The only way to reach our goals is to use the time we are allotted differently, or to not waste the time we have been given.

So, if we can’t give you time, we can at least expose some of the biggest time wasters in hopes that you can identify where your time is going and how you might want to use your allotted minutes differently. The time wasters that follow are in no particular order, as how we waste our time is unique and personal.

Surfing the Internet: According to a recent article by Allyson Shontell in the Business Insider War Room, 48% of employees surveyed admit to surfing the Internet for personal use. It’s fun, educational, recreational and never ending – endless information is just a click away. So many temptations!
Socializing with Co-workers: Salary.com’s fourth annual Wasting Time at Work study reveals that 64% of us waste one hour or less a day at work; 22% waste approximately 2 hours a day; and 14% admit to wasting 3 or more hours on a daily basis. Thirty-three percent of the survey respondents cited socializing with co-workers as a time waster, second only to surfing the web. However, talking/chatting with co-workers is not completely a waste of time since it builds camaraderie and it might even be considered rude to not converse.
Email Addiction: While email is a phenomenal tool for increasing communication efficiency, it’s also high on the list of the biggest time wasters, incessantly interrupting our focus and impacting productivity. We live in a hyper-connected world with the expectation of a response 24/7. Many leaders today feel overwhelmed with the number of emails that must be read on a daily basis, and continually fearful that they’ll miss something important. Wading through the 90% of non-important emails to respond to the 10% that are critical is reported as a huge waste of time.
Meetings: It seems the higher up we go on the corporate ladder, the more meetings we attend. A quick review of research indicates that as many as 42% of those surveyed cite attending meetings as a waste of time. It is estimated that 50% of all time spent in meetings is wasted. If only they would tell us ahead of time which half of the meeting would be worthwhile, we could better plan how we spend our time.
Multitasking: AKA: The buzz word of the 1990’s. Everyone likes to think that they are good at juggling multiple balls at the same time, but the truth is, we are typically most effective and productive when we focus on one thing at a time. If you’ve ever worked hard throughout the day, rushed from project to project, interruption to interruption, and then looked at your “to-do” list at 5:00 only to discover that you have not accomplished a single action on your list; congratulations, you’re most likely a multitasker.
Conducting Personal Business: In the Salary.com survey, 6.8% of the respondents admitted to conducting personal business while at work; 3.1% said they run errands during work hours; and 2.3% acknowledged that they make personal phone calls on company time. The challenge is it’s getting harder and harder to balance our individual life and responsibilities, with our work responsibilities because the lines between our personal life and business life are getting increasingly more blurred.

It’s true that we are each gifted with the same number of seconds, minutes and hours each day, but have you noticed how some people manage to use their time so much more effectively? With time, there are no re-runs, only fast forwards. As we begin the new year, take time to reflect on where you currently spend your time and where, ideally, you’d like to spend your time. Identify the time wasters that are robbing you of your full potential, and put an action plan into place to take control of your time.

Did we forget any other common, or not so common, time wasters? Let us know below, and what you do to combat them.

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9 Steps to Effective Problem Solving

Peter Stark — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:06:40 +0000

Every day we are each faced with problems to solve: the large problems can be intimidating and the small problems can be mind-numbing. Either way, there is no avoiding problems. You are in your leadership position, title or not, because you have the reputation for spotting and solving important problems while rallying others, and yourself, to action. However, every now and then a problem sneaks past even the best leaders and causes a stir. Where do you begin and how can you help deter the issue from becoming an even bigger problem?

The best outcomes usually come from problems that are dealt with early on. Problems can be identified in the early stages if you make it a habit to frequently ask peers and team members how things are going and what challenges, if any, they are facing. Encourage others to provide information on problems as soon as they arise. Be open to their input and suggested solutions, and thank people for bringing issues to your attention and allowing you the opportunity to address and resolve their concerns. Be sure to follow-through, or people will become reluctant to provide information as they may assume nothing will change.

Problem solving requires a high level of information about the issues and the needs of employees. This requires open communication. In order to become an effective problem solver, remember that this skill requires all parties to share control over the emerging solution. By using the following problem-solving model, you will generate a number of alternative solutions and increase the probability that the final solution will be the best one.

Step One: Define the Problem
What are the symptoms of the problem? Why is it a problem? What is the impact of the problem?

Step Two: Gather Facts, Feelings, and Opinions
What is happening? Who is involved? What is the impact of the problem? Who does it affect? What are the causes of the problem?

Step Three: Identify the Real Problem
After you gather the facts, feelings, and opinions, it is important to discover if you are working on the real problem or only a symptom of the problem. This may require restating the problem in a totally different format. Be willing to start over with the real issues if that is what it takes. Why spend valuable time trying to solve something that is not the problem in the first place?

Step Four: Generate Possible Solutions
The next step requires generating as many solutions as possible. In this stage, the goal is to generate alternatives. Avoid any judgment or evaluation of solutions at this point.

Step Five: Evaluate Alternatives
After you have generated as many alternatives as possible, you want to start deciding which alternative will be the best. Now is the time to be critical about the different alternatives. Be cautious or hesitant when everyone agrees on which alternative to take.

Step Six: Select Best Alternative
Once you have evaluated all the alternatives, you are then ready to pick the one you think will solve the problem in the best way. Most people start at Step One by defining the problem and then move right to Step Six by making a choice. If we do Steps Two through Five correctly and thoroughly, Step Six should be relatively easy.

Step Seven: Gain Approval and Support
Any time you are going to change something, you will always need to rally approval and support. Do not think that the only thing that needs to be done is to select the alternative and then implement it. The negative thinkers will come up with obstacles and possess a “show-me” attitude that must be overcome. It helps if you involve such thinkers in the beginning of the problem-solving process so they become part of the solution and not part of the problem.

Step Eight: Implement Decision
After support has been developed, you are finally ready to implement the decision.

Step Nine: Evaluate Results
If you do not have a follow-up or monitoring system in place that allows you to check results, the chances for success diminish. If people do not know how the results are being measured or that they are going to be held responsible, problem solving becomes a difficult task. When things go right, recognize success. When things go wrong, go back to Step One and start the process again.

It’s impossible to avoid all problems, but by following the above steps, you can minimize the impact of a problem and often come out of it better for having faced the challenge.

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Keep Yourself Uncomfortable

Peter Stark — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:29:59 +0000

Change Brings Discomfort – Even to Leaders

I have a challenge for you today. Take your watch off the wrist on which you normally wear it, place it on the other arm and leave it there for the rest of the day. How does this feel? Count how many times during the day you look at the arm where you normally wear your watch, only to find that it is no longer there. Even this most simple of changes is uncomfortable to fully incorporate into your life. Since you’re reading this, you probably realize how difficult change can be on a scale much larger than wrist watches.

Change is not possible without discomfort, and because of this, great leaders keep their people uncomfortable. The most successful leaders also keep themselves uncomfortable. It is the job of the leader to improve the condition of their organization or the causes for which they are working. Improving something means creating change. Whether it is improving a process, implementing a new idea, lowering costs, improving quality or taking customer service to a level that challenges just about everyone in the organization, change is uncomfortable.

Before leaders can be successful at improving organizations, they must first take a look at themselves and identify ways in which they must change. The following 6 tips will help you become more comfortable with the discomfort caused by realizing that in order to lead change, you must first be able to change yourself.

Crystallize your positive vision. Because you see yourself as someone who is able to lead others through change, it only makes sense that you will be leading the way in implementing the change. Also, when you have a positive vision, it will overcome the obstacles and hurdles that present themselves along the way.
Set goals. A goal is something you want to improve or accomplish, preferably written with a specific timeframe. To accomplish goals, you have to change the way in which you currently spend your time, energy and resources. This is why most diets fail. Most people are not willing to do things differently over an extended period of time because they don’t have the vision and are not willing to deal with how uncomfortable the change is to incorporate permanently into their life.
Think possibilities. Any time you think about a situation and resolve, “There is nothing more I can do,” you limit your ability to change and carve out a way to keep yourself comfortable. Instead, ask yourself something like, “What could I do to help our team take the level of service to a place that would WOW our clients?” This opens up a lot more possibilities which can create positive change.
Get excited and move. The average life expectancy for men is 75.7 and for women it is 80.8 years. Most people do not like thinking about their own death but when you realize that you are on this Earth for a limited time and the countdown is on, it makes you want to implement actions a little quicker, including accomplishing the goals on your bucket list.
Acknowledge your weakness. Everyone is really strong at something. Some can sell, others can build businesses and still others are outstanding at managing a process or efficiently completing tasks. But, everyone has weaknesses that hold them back from rising to their full potential. Understand your weaknesses and challenge yourself by pushing past them. If we only did things that we are comfortable with, we would never grow. Discomfort equals growth. When it comes to implementing change, it almost always means there is going to be a conflict somewhere… because change is uncomfortable. If you are not comfortable resolving conflict and working on your weaknesses, you won’t reach your potential. What is your weakness?
Celebrate your successes. When you incorporate new changes into your life, some are going to work successfully and some will miss the mark. Keep a list of the successful changes you make in your life, and the goals you have achieved in a place for quick reference. You are not going to be remembered in this life by the number of times that you fail, but by the number of times you succeed. Focus on your strengths and celebrate your successes.

It is difficult to get others to change if you, the leader, don’t first personally change. By following these six tips, you will find it is easier to lead others through the uncomfortable parts of change because you are the role model for what you are asking others to do.

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The Case for Introverted Leaders

Peter Stark — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:50:51 +0000

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A quick search for introvert on Thesaurus.com retrieves synonyms such as brooder, egoist, loner, self-observer, solitary and wallflower, while the synonyms for extrovert include character, gregarious person, life of the party, show-off and showboat. Neither of these references paint a completely positive or accurate picture of either preference but perpetuate the overall misconceptions floating around about introverts and extroverts.

This explains the question I have been asked on several occasions: “Can introverts make great leaders?”

My response? “Yes!” Introverts and extroverts can both make great leaders, but for introverts, leading others requires more effort towards adapting their natural style.

In a recent poll of executives who are our clients, approximately 40 percent described themselves as introverts. Are you an introvert? If you can answer “yes” to the majority of the statements listed below, there is a good chance you are an introvert:

You believe that if everyone just did their job, there would be less need to communicate and there would be no need to go to a team building session.
You would prefer to communicate by email rather than by phone or in person.
You work hard to minimize the amount of time you have to spend at social events.
You are more comfortable being with people you know well, rather than in situations where you have to hold a conversation with people you do not know.
You actually re-charge your batteries by spending time by yourself.
You believe that since you do not need a lot of praise and recognition, others should be content and not look for acknowledgement for just doing their jobs.
You do not like to speak your mind until you have listened to all of the options, both pro and con, and then have the opportunity to prepare a well thought out response.
You prefer to dig deep into an issue rather than focus on someone else’s vision. To you, depth is more important than breadth.
You prefer to work with people and in situations where people are calm, objective and there is an absence of emotion.
You really enjoy calmly analyzing challenges and solving problems that are troubling to others.

If you are a leader who is an introvert, you are in good company. Great leaders who have classified themselves as introverts include: Bill Gates; Warren Buffet; Douglas Conant, the former CEO of Campbell Soup; Mahatma Gandhi; and Abraham Lincoln.

For many people, the stereotype that you need to be an extrovert to be a great leader still exists. In a study published by USA Today, 65 percent of executives stated that they perceive introversion as a barrier to leadership, and only 6 percent said they believe introverts make better leaders. The University of Notre Dame, in an analysis of approximately 70 leadership studies, found that extroversion was a major predictor of a person’s leadership potential. Most likely, these findings are because extroverts, through their comfort of networking and their ability to build relationships, are more likely to be noticed and considered for promotions.

The reality is that there are about an equal number of introverts and extroverts at the executive level of the organization who are great leaders. What makes both extroverts and introverts great leaders is the ability to adapt their style—even when it is uncomfortable for them to do so—when that is what is needed for their people or for the situation within which they are leading.

Although remaining introverts to the core, successful introverts learn to adapt when certain behaviors are necessary for influential leadership. If you are an introvert, the following six tips will help you in becoming an even more successful leader:

Get out of your comfort zone. If you are most comfortable being in your office responding to email, then set a goal that three times a day you are going to make the rounds. Ask each person you talk to the following questions: How are you doing? What are you working on? and What support do you need from me? The best part about asking these three questions is all you need to do is listen, possibly take notes, and take action if needed.
Connect with others. Introverts have the habit of walking by others and just hoping that no one will try to connect with them. Stop it! Start walking by others and greeting them with, “Good morning,” or ask how their day is going. When you ask a question, it is then important to stop and listen to the response. This reminds me what our 91-year-old dad has preached since we were kids, “People like you so much better when they do the talking.”
Participate in meetings. Don’t just sit in meetings looking at others (and thinking in your own mind how stupid people can be and what a complete waste of your time this really is). Get involved. Ask questions. Acknowledge people’s contributions. Ask what you can do to help the team or to help others be even more successful.
Acknowledge other people’s emotions. Recognize when people tell you what they are looking for, they most likely are feeling some emotion, whether it is pride or frustration. If someone is telling you about their family or children, acknowledge the emotion by saying something like, “You have to be really proud of what John has accomplished in sports.”
Prepare in advance. If you are going into a public setting, have your presentation/questions prepared in advance. As an introvert, the more prepared you are, the more confident you will be.
Honor people’s need to be valued and appreciated. While introverts do not have a high need to be valued and recognized, most people do, whether it is at home or at work. Don’t be like the man whose wife said, “You never tell me you love me,” to which he responded, “I did on the day we were married. If anything changes, I will let you know.” Set a goal to let three to five people know each day that you appreciate their contributions, recognize their success and are grateful that they are involved in your life.

Introvert or extrovert, your preference doesn’t determine your leadership ability. What makes you a great leader is the flexibility to adapt your behavior so that you can bring out the best in others and connect with your team members in such a way that they are motivated to follow you.

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The Beauty of Failure

Peter Stark — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 16:30:37 +0000

Sometimes, despite your best effort, things just don’t go as planned. You experience challenges, setbacks and outright failures. You look back at your life and begin to count the few failures, losing sight of your many successes. What you forget is that so many success stories have resulted from failure to accept failure as an end result. If everyone gave up at their first failure, no one would learn how to ride a bike, read or tie their shoes. Accomplished people realize that failure is just a part of the path to success. Here are few examples of famous individuals who had a taste of failure before succeeding:

J.K Rowling, famed author of the Harry Potter series was penniless, recently divorced, and a single parent when she was writing her first manuscript – on a manual typewriter. After twelve rejections, a publisher agreed to publish the book, but recommended that J.K. keep her day job, as there was no money in children’s books. When speaking to Harvard’s graduating class in 2008, she said, “You might never fail on the scale I did, but it is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all—in which case you fail by default.”
Albert Einstein didn’t speak until he was four. His teachers described him as mentally handicapped, slow and anti-social. He was expelled from school and refused entrance to the Zurich Polytechnic School. He may have been a slow starter, but he ended up winning the Nobel Prize and changing modern physics forever.
Walt Disney was fired from a newspaper because he lacked imagination. He went on to start a number of businesses that all failed, ending in bankruptcy. Not to be deterred, he kept his vision of a place where young and old could enjoy a land of delight and enchantment, despite being turned down hundreds of times for loans to finance Disneyland. He persevered, despite a succession of early failures, and the rest is history.
Orville and Wilbur Wright started a bicycle shop and began experimenting with flight. After years of hard work, experimentation and hundreds of crashes and failed prototypes, they finally created a plane that could get airborne and fly.
Michael Jordan, who might be the best basketball player of all time was cut from his high school basketball team. On the topic of failure, Michael Jordan has said, “I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to make the game winning shot, and I missed. I have failed over and over again in my life. And this is why I succeed.”

All these talented contributors who so positively changed our lives, had the same thing in common – persistence and the undying belief that through their failures they would ultimately achieve success.

The fear of failure is a profound force limiting many people from reaching their full potential. Of course, there are valid reasons for fearing failure. We live in uncertain times: We are still reeling from the recession; markets are unpredictable; job security is a thing of the past and countless other worries tell us to “play it safe.” But, playing it safe, while insulating you from failure, will surely limit your potential for success. Yet to fail big, like all of our previously listed heroes, is the hallmark of success. To maximize your potential for success, read on for some tips on how to overcome your fear of failure:

Put Things into Perspective: Despite caution and best efforts, failure sometimes happens. Don’t dwell on the past and what happened. Will it matter a week from now, a month from now, next year? Acknowledge that failure is part of the learning curve and look forward, not backward. Looking back and dwelling on your failure sucks your energy. Instead, look forward to what will be and figure out what you will do differently to create a successful outcome. It’s the looking forward and taking action what will energize you and beat back your fear of failure, which is immobilizing.
Identify what You Learned and Take Action: Every failure is an opportunity to learn, even if it is just to identify what doesn’t work. Ask yourself, “What did I learn?” and “What should I do differently next time?” Don’t be afraid to try again. Quitting and accepting the failure will not only prevent you from reaching your goal or dream, it will demoralize you, limiting your ability to take risks in the future. Instead, keep wrestling with the problem. Each time you tackle it in the future, you’ll learn more. Try a different approach. Take baby steps, but keep on trying.
Research Alternatives: It’s often not fear of failure that limits our potential, but fear of the unknown. We procrastinate taking action because of all the “what ifs.” Get rid of the unknown. It’s never been easier to do research and identify your alternatives. Play out a “worst case” scenario and identify the pros and cons of each solution or approach. Have a contingency plan. That way, when things don’t go well, you can say, “I thought that might happen. Here’s what I’ll try next.” As you research alternatives, you will find that while some of your fears may be valid, some may actually not be that rational. Knock down the fear by filling the unknown void with facts.
Hang Out with Positive People: To up your chances of success and increase your tolerance for failure, hang out with successful people and find out their secrets for success. Most will tell you that they didn’t become overnight successes; that their success was the result of persistence, hard work and picking themselves again and again after multiple failures. Most successful people will share freely and can be a great source of support and inspiration for you.
Remain Optimistic: Create a positive, compelling vision, get excited and then go for what you want. Don’t miss opportunities and reaching your full potential because of being held back by fear of failure. Reflect on all your past successes and believe in yourself. Tell yourself, “I can do this” and then be steadfast in taking actions that will get you closer to your goal. Keep your eye on the target and understand that achieving great success is usually the end product of surviving equally spectacular failure.

Life is short. You don’t get many opportunities for “do overs.” As we start the new year, don’t let fear of failure limit your full potential for success. Seize the moment to create all the success you deserve in life. We will be cheering you on from the sidelines!

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Local Focus Pays Off for Arizona State Credit Union

Peter Stark — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 19:48:26 +0000

By Paul Stull, senior vice president, strategy and brand, Arizona State Credit Union, Phoenix.

In October 2011, Arizona State Credit Union received its highest monthly membership growth in more than a decade. We did it by focusing on local roots. We’ve been monitoring consumer sentiment for some time and knew there was a strong preference to buy local. Even big chain grocery stores feature locally produced products. It was clear this was a trend that could serve credit unions well. We created a campaign featuring television, radio and newspaper ads around the values of being part of a credit union. That campaign was running when Bank of America announced in infamous debit card fee, so we benefited from already having a positive message out there.

Continue reading original article from Credit Union Magazine for more about their strategy.

10 Steps Toward Balance

Peter Stark — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 22:11:47 +0000

By Jake Weyer of FenderBender.com

Creating a symbiotic relationship between work and the rest of a life can be a challenge, to say the least, especially in a small repair facility that is dependent on the owner’s regular involvement.

When there’s money to be made, backing away from the daily grind can feel impossible—and some operators are perfectly happy (or perfectly resigned) to that kind of lifestyle. There is no universal definition of work-life-balance; it could be described as finding a way to accomplish your goals both at work and at home while maintaining an overall sense of happiness. WorkLifeBalance.com, a company that offers training and support programs on the subject, describes work-life balance as “achievement and enjoyment every day, both on and off the job.”

No matter how you describe work-life balance, one thing is clear: If you can’t find a balance between work and life that works for you, the stress of that situation can lead to slumping business performance, conflicts at home and numerous other issues.

That’s why management consultant Peter Barron Stark has worked with Fix Auto, ABRA Auto Body & Glass and other collision repair companies on this very issue. Stark, president of Peter Barron Stark Companies, has spent two decades helping organizations build stronger work cultures.

How I Went from Being a Boss to a Leader

Peter Stark — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 17:39:08 +0000

From the December 2011 Quest for Leadership Excellence Newsletter (sign up)

Are you a leader or are you the boss, supervisor, manager, director, general manager, vice president or president of a group of people?

What’s the difference?

Supervisors, managers, directors, vice presidents and CEOs all have a title and a place on the organizational chart that gives them permission to tell a group of people what needs to be done. A leader may or may not have a title, but they always have a relationship where people make a conscious decision to follow them.

When did you realize you are a leader and not just a boss? For me, it happened in 1985. Between 1981 and 1990, I co-owned Photomation West, a commercial printing company. We had 17 employees and specialized in printing high quality brochures and fliers. I was 27-years-old and because I had no technical expertise in printing, everyone on the operational side of the business had very little respect for me. To be blunt, no one listened to me and seldom did people do what I asked them to do…even though I was the owner. If I wanted something done, I had to go ask my business partner – Paul Cartwright, who, to this day, remains one of my great friends – to go tell the people in operations what I needed them to do. You might be asking, “What value did Peter bring to the business?” I was an expert in sales, marketing, developing and bringing new clients into our company.

My moment of enlightenment came one rainy day in March, 1985 when I went to the back of the shop and told Frank, our lead Heidelberg pressman, what job I wanted him to run first that day. This was a simple request coming from the person who owned the company. When I went to the back of the shop two hours later, I found out that Frank had his own priorities for the day and was printing a different job. I was livid. I stormed off to my business partner, Paul, with one goal: fire Frank. Paul is a wise man who always did the right thing when it came to leadership. Paul stopped me and said “Before we go fire Frank, who is the best Heidelberg pressman we have ever had,” he went on to add that Frank can print a lot better drunk on the job than most people can sober, “I want you to think about a few questions.” Paul asked me the following:

Have you ever asked Frank for his opinion about the best order in which to run the jobs?
Have you ever told Frank he is doing a great job and you really appreciate him and are grateful he is on our team?
Have you ever told Frank you care about his personal and professional success?
Have you ever asked Frank about what we could do as owners to make the operational part of our company even more efficient and profitable?
Have you even thought about asking people questions, rather than telling them your orders when you have absolutely zero expertise in their areas of influence?

I could have said, “Paul, this is great feedback and all of these questions are really good. I need to think about it and get back to you with a new leadership development action plan tomorrow.” I did not respond like that. I was pissed. This was confirmation that, not only did I have a forty year printing pressman veteran who did not respect me as the owner, my own co-owner did not respect me as the owner. My immediate thought was to quit. Pull the trigger on our auction clause and enter into a buy sell agreement. I did not do that. Like most times in my life when things go really wrong, I ask myself a simple question, “What if it’s me?” What if Frank and Paul are both right and I don’t deserve or have not earned that level of respect?

I realized the answer to every one of Paul’s questions was “no.” The old adage that no one cares how much you know or what your position is until they know how much you care is so true. The day I started to ask for Frank’s opinion and recognizing his contributions to the success of our Company was the same day that Frank started to come to me and ask for my opinion and what he could do to help me better achieve our goals.

There is one more story I need to share about Frank that, in 1989, helped define who I am as a leader. Frank was an efficiency guru. To be even more efficient, he bypassed the safety stops on our state of the art Heidelberg press. This allowed him to lift up the safety cage and have access to the rollers without stopping the press. With 40 years of experience, I felt he must know what he was doing. Maybe it was even an industry standard for the greatest of pressman. But, in my mind and heart, I knew the safety stops were there for a reason.

One night, after everyone had gone home, I was in my office and Frank was finishing up a job. I heard Frank scream for help and found him with his arm caught up to his elbow in the press. Frank coached me on how to pop rollers out of this press so we could free his arm. When I popped the last roller, he literally dropped to the ground. The next morning, Frank showed up with a black and blue arm that looked like it had been through a rolling pin. I went out to the pressroom and told Frank to sit down with me on the side of the press. For four years, I had built up a relationship with Frank by valuing his opinion and asking him great questions. This time, I had a short speech. I said, “Frank, last night you really scared me. Because I care about you and love you for who you are and what you have done for our business, I am now telling you this. If you don’t fix the bypass on the safety cage before you start work this morning you can’t work here.” He looked at me and said, “It’s already done.”

My lesson: leadership is a balance. Doing the right thing is not easy, especially when you know the people you lead may not agree with your decision. When I saw the safety cage had been jeri-rigged, I knew it was not right but I did not want to resort back to my old ways of telling. In this case, it was the right thing to do. Frank and I were both lucky the only damage was a black and blue, flattened arm. If I had not been there, it could have easily been a much graver situation.

Leadership is a relationship that is built over time. Most likely, you are reading this blog because you have a title and a place on the organizational chart. Our quest for you is that not only you have a title, but you have the skills to build a relationship where people all around you are highly motivated to follow you in the direction you want to lead.

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Managing a Team of Different Personalities

Peter Stark — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:00:46 +0000

“He’s so driven and absolutely clueless as to how he comes across.”

“She is overly sensitive and takes everything so personally.”

“He might be able to solve the problem, but by the time he comes up with a solution, we’ll be out of business.”

In our consulting business, we routinely hear comments like those above, typically followed by: “He (or she) just doesn’t fit here. This person is not a good match for our culture.”

Often, when probing further, it becomes apparent that the team member being described is a square peg in a round whole when it comes to this organization. He or she just doesn’t think or act the same way as the majority of the rest of the team, which makes him or her stand out as being different.

Often this person is perceived to be a roadblock in terms of effectively contributing to the success of the team and organization. In other words, this person’s way of thinking, or approach to work, is radically different than that of the majority of the other team members.

Although the different approach may be challenging for some team members, it is important to remember that in building a highly effective team, different is good.

There are hundreds of different instruments to define/analyze behavioral and communication styles. To keep it simple, we’ve just assigned simple descriptive words to talk about some of the more challenging behaviors displayed by different team members.

Here are some tips on how to interact with different or difficult team members.

Style: Driver (Red)
Primary Driver Focus: Task Orientation . . . Get it done
Motto: “My Way or the Highway”

Gifts Brought to the Team	Challenges
Fast paced, driven behavior	Burnout; other team members can’t keep up
Task oriented; continual focus on getting it done	Done so quickly, it may not be right and need to be redone, ultimately taking more time
Focused on big picture	Not process oriented; misses details; makes errors
Self-confident	Can be seen as arrogant when confidence is overdone
Comfortable taking risks	Risks can be costly to the team or organization
Competitive	Can compete with other team members , rather than what’s best for the team/organization
Decisive	Decisions made don’t always reflect careful analysis of the root cause of the problem; bad decisions can be costly and detrimental to the team

Tips for dealing with the Driver team member:

Give recognition to their accomplishments. Drivers thrive on acknowledgment of their successes.
Don’t tell them. We are fond of saying, “You can tell a driver, but not much.” Don’t try. Instead, ask questions that allow them to discover things.
Be time efficient; don’t waste their time.
Be organized and concise.
Provide viable alternatives as solutions to problems and let them pick the best alternative.
Keep your relationship business-like.

Style: Amiable (Blue)
Primary focus: Relationships . . . how we feel about working together
Motto: “Can’t we all just get along?”

Gifts Brought to the Team	Challenges
Caring and empathetic	Can make decisions that are emotional and not reflective of what’s best for the team or organization
Great listener	Will listen to anyone; can be at the expense of productivity
Supportive, high concern for others	When overdone, can enable others
Sensitive	Gets hurt and takes things personally
Comfortable taking risks	Risks can be costly to the team or organization
Competitive	Can compete with other team members rather than working towards what’s best for the team/organization
Shares personal feelings	Can be taken advantage of when personal information is used against the Amiables

Tips for dealing with Amiable team members:

Don’t view an emotional response as being unprofessional. For Amiables, it is often just their first response. Help them move beyond the emotion to make good business decisions.
Try to be understanding and supportive of their feelings.
When you disagree, don’t debate facts and logic. You might approach a challenge this way, “I am sensing that we are not in agreement. Let’s talk about what you are feeling.”
Show Amiables that you are actively listening, even when the conversation seems to stray from business to a personal conversation. Acknowledge what is being said, then reroute the conversation back to business.
Avoid conflict, but do hold Amiables accountable to meeting agreed upon deadlines.

Style: Analyzer (Green)
Primary Focus: Process – How We do Things
Motto: “Do it right the first time”

Gifts Brought to the Team	Challenges
Independent, autonomous	Can move in a different direction than the rest of the team and lose sight of the end game
Precise	May spend too much time on unimportant details
Detailed	May provide too much detail; other team members may see excess information as a data dump
Organized, thorough	Can get bogged down in minutia and lose sight of the end result
Curious	Has a high need to make sure that all factors are thoroughly researched and considered before coming to closure or making a decision
Well researched	Takes time; may slow down other team members
Disciplined	Can’t skip steps in the process

Tips for dealing with the Analyzer team member:

Get them involved in projects early on. Don’t exclude them because you think you’ll be more time efficient. Analyzers see things at a much deeper level than other team members. You need their contribution.
Give them all the facts up front. Then, tell them what you need from them, but not how they should accomplish the work. For a Green, the process is critical. Tell them what you need, but not how to do it.
Be specific about time frames for work to be completed. Hold them accountable to meeting the deadlines.
Respect and value the Analyzer’s contribution. Look for opportunities to provide meaningful recognition.

Although it may feel good in the short run to hire people just like you, in the long run, cloning yourself will spell disaster for your team. Ultimately, the way to build a highly effective team is to consciously think about hiring, developing and retaining different or diverse thinkers and doers. Remember, great leaders treat team members the way they want to be treated, even when they are different. When it comes to building a successful team, different is good.

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We are a nationally recognized management consulting firm that specializes in employee engagement surveys, coaching, and training. Send Peter Barron Stark Companies an email at info@peterstark.com for more information about how we can help you create an organization where your employees love to come to work and your customers love to do business.