Unleashing Talent

Employee engagement is one of the most common topics that I hear among leaders.  Getting employees engaged really depends on HOW you lead, build trust and execute as a company.  You can take a high performer and put them in an un-winnable environment and watch the engagement get sucked right out of them over a period of time.  Or, your top performer will quit and go somewhere else… like your competitor!

Unleashing Talent relies on leaders to be able to engage in meaningful conversations that enable their team members to contribute their talent to the organization’s needs.  Leaders need to create a clear picture of how team members will add value.  They need a process for consistent goal achievement.  Leaders and directs must be held accountable towards achieving individual and team goals.

Once a leader can unleash the talent of their workforce, they can achieve greatness and everyone will feel engaged on the team.  Just for fun, below is a video of a highly engaged employee.  I hope it makes your day.   

If you would like more information about partnering with FranklinCovey to help you increase employee engagement, contact me via email or request a meeting on the top right side of this page.  We have a variety of way we can impact your organizations productivity, execution and engagement.

In your corner,

John Vakidis

Relationship Trust and Your Behavior

As a continuation from last week’s post, please enjoy Part 2 of 3 in a series by my colleague, Dr. Todd Wangsgard.  Todd expounds on Trust and how it impacts relationships.  Enjoy!

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Leadership and Relationship Trust – Keyword: “Behavior”

(Part 2 of 3)



Actions speak louder than words.

Years ago Dr. Stephen R. Covey, author of The7 Habits of Highly Effective People, (and father to Speed of Trust author Stephen M.R. Covey) found himself teaching a workshop in Oregon where a participant related to him during a break some of the challenges he was facing due to his past indiscretions.  Dr. Covey was careful to bring out the principle that:

You can’t talk your way out of a problem you’ve behaved your way into.

Years later in his research, SMRC noted that while it is true you can’t talk your way out of a problem you’ve behaved your way into, it is true that:

You can behave your way out of a problem you’ve behaved your way into.

Once the leader establishes and continues to build personal credibility through the Four Cores (see my Part 1 blog posting, Leadership and Trust – Keyword: “Confidence”), it is critical to examine and practice the behaviors that will allow him or her to build trust in relationships with individuals – personally and professionally.

Let’s look at the headlines.

Without divulging specifics on these stories, let’s uncover what business headlines from the past few days suggest to us about the importance of trusting behaviors:

·         Fast food CEO has big plans to flip its ranking

·         Auto manufacturer changes body style to appeal to customers

·         Board of private company opens the books to dispel rumors

·         Company makes good on broken promises

Each of these speaks to the behaviors that are being demonstrated in order to build or rebuild trust. Those include at least five from SMRC’s 13 High Trust Behaviors list, such as Listen First, Get Better, Create Transparency, Confront Reality, and Right Wrongs.

Simply put, trustworthy leaders lead out when it comes to behaving in ways that builds confidence and they inspire others within their ranks to do likewise.  And just because you may have slipped and lost the trust of someone significant, it is often easier than you thought to rebuild that trust by quickly identifying the key behaviors that were/are missing and behaving your way back into the other person’s good graces.

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Join us next Friday as Dr. Wangsgard wraps up this 3-part series and discusses the power of Leadership and Team Trust.  Click here to learn more about Todd and the programs he can facilitate for your organization.

Restoring relationships through The Speed of Trust,

John Vakidis

Associate Client Partner | FranklinCovey

214.387.9960 | john.vakidis@franklincovey.com

PS - Check out our upcoming Speed of Trust event on LinkedIn!

Networking and Trust

Today I bring you a post, written by my colleague, FranklinCovey Consultant, Mark Murphy.  Mark resides in Dallas, TX and has facilitated our programs for clients all over the globe.  Mark holds a M.S. in Organizational Behavior from BYU and brings nearly 20 years of facilitation experience to his clients.

Mark provides you with great insight today to focusing on TRUST while building your network.  As you consider connecting with others in 2012, keep these thoughts in mind.  Enjoy!

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Have you heard of Paul Revere?  Have you ever heard of William Dawes?  Both men came from the same social class and had similar educational backgrounds.  Both men rode out from Boston on the night of April 18, 1775 to announce the beginning of the Revolutionary war.  Paul Revere rode north while at the same time William Dawes rode south.  They traveled through towns that were demographically similar.  But only Paul Revere raised a militia and became famous.  Why?  In a large part because of the trust developed in his relationships.

According to the Harvard Business Review article How to Build Your Network, “Paul Revere was an information broker, a person who occupies a key role in a social network by connecting disparate groups of people.  Because Revere targeted other well-connected people during his ride, his news spread widely and quickly, as explained in Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point.

The article goes on to say that “networks deliver three unique advantages: private information, access to diverse skill sets, and power.” I want to focus here on the first of the advantages--private information. 

These days, public information is easily available through the internet and other sources.  But precisely because it is so easily accessible to so many people, public information offers much less of a competitive advantage in today’s business environment.  Private information, on the other hand, provides unique information not found in the public domain.  Private information is also, by its very nature, more subjective and less verifiable.  Therefore, its value depends on how much trust exists in the network of relationships.

Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, says of trust, “you know it when you feel it.”  In his book, The Speed of Trust, Stephen MR Covey says, “Simply put, trust means confidence.  The opposite of trust—distrust—is suspicion.  When you trust people, you have confidence in them—in their integrity and in their abilities. When you distrust people, you are suspicious of them—of their integrity, their agenda, their capabilities, or their track record.  It’s that simple.” As trust goes down, costs go up, and everything slows down.  As trust goes up, costs go down, and things happen much faster.

Could the trust accrued in his network of relationships be a factor in Paul Revere’s success?  Could that trust have something to do with the speed with which his message was accepted and acted upon?  I believe so.  Are you a Paul Revere or a William Dawes?

- Mark Murphy, FranklinCovey Consultant             

Copyright © 2011 - Mark Murphy

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Are you interested in learning how to build trust in your circle?  Consider joining us in Dallas to hear best-selling author, Stephen M.R. Covey deliver his Speed of Trust Keynote on Feb 16, 2012.

Do you want to learn more about Mark Murphy and the offerings he can facilitate for your organization?  Then follow this link to read his bio.  If you would be interested in visiting with Mark by phone, then please contact me to set up a meeting with Mark and your FranklinCovey Client Partner.

Also, keep your eyes open for more posts from Mark in 2012!  Become a member of this blog and you can make comments on our posts.

To your networking success in 2012!

Sincerely,

John Vakidis

Associate Client Partner | FranklinCovey

214.387.9960 | john.vakidis@franklincovey.com

Leading Generations in the Workplace

Today I bring you an article, written by my colleague, Senior FranklinCovey Leadership Consultant, Haydn Shaw.  Haydn is FranklinCovey’s top thought leader around the topic of Generations in the Workplace.  He is the author of Leading Across Generations FranklinCovey’s popular ½ day workshop and a book on the twelve generational sticking points coming out in early 2012. Here are a couple of comments from two business owners at an association convention in Vegas in March:

“I thought the session was about how to hand over your business to your kids.  So I was surprised when it was about how to lead an organization of different generations.  I’m not sure I would have come if I had known, but I’m glad I did.”

“It’s really made me rethink my attitudes toward the Gen Xers and Millennials.  And I realized I am running this business the way my dad did. No wonder my kids aren’t that interested in the business. I’m going to do things differently now.”

As you think about leading your teams differently in 2012, consider Haydn’s thoughts below.  Enjoy!

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The People Challenge of the Next Decade - by Haydn Shaw

Why are people surprised at the impact the generational differences are making: because we’ve not faced this before.  For the first time in history we have four generations in the workplace and five generations of customers:

Too early to name the fifth generation but they influence discretionary spending of their parents and grandparents.  (Percentages in workforce developed from Bureau of Labor Statistics data)

With nearly a quarter of the baby boomers leaving the workplace in the next four years (the recession may push it back three or four years) and being replaced by the Millennials, figuring out how to resolve

the eleven main generational conflicts is the people challenge of the next decade . . . or two. “Ninety-six percent of Baby Boomer business owners say an exit strategy is crucial to their company, but eighty-seven percent don’t actually have one.” (BusinessWeek SMALLBIZ August/September 2008). According to The American Society of Training and Development (ASTD), 76 million Americans will retire over the next two decades but only 46 million will replace them.  No wonder it’s called a war on talent. You can’t get predictable business results in these unpredictable times without dealing with the generational challenge.  It’s that simple.

Generational conflict is impacting everything we do, from how we communicate to when we want to work and how we respond to customers. If we don’t figure out generational conflict points, internally work slows down, and externally our sales and customer satisfaction scores drop.

To read the rest of Haydn’s article, click here to download the PDF file.

As Haydn mentions in his article, “Generational conflicts are inevitable and preventable. They are inevitable in all organizations, but real problems are preventable if you’ll apply these five approaches.”

Here are links to our 3 most popular Generational offerings:

·         Leading Across Generations  (½ day consultant/facilitator-led workshop)

·         Resolving Generational Conflict: Webinar (the 2-hour webinar)

·         Keynote Speech with Haydn Shaw

For more information, please contact me today.  I’ll be happy to set up a meeting with you and your regional Client Partner.

Wishing you better leadership and team synergy in 2012!

Sincerely,

John Vakidis

Associate Client Partner | FranklinCovey

214.387.9960 | john.vakidis@franklincovey.com

PS - if you want to meet Haydn in person, consider joining us in Dallas on January 17^th.  Haydn will be facilitating a condensed version of our flagship Leadership program.  Click here for details.

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