I just finished a two-day intensive CharTec Mastermind group meeting in Chicago. My role is coach and facilitator for each of the executives. Alex Rogers, CEO of CharTec, also actively participates and mentors the group.
If you are a CharTec and ConnectWise partner, we have two openings left in the group. (Someone else is signing-up now - Alex and I can serve a total of 12 companies.) Contact us if you are interested. This is the only group Alex and I are leading.
There is a lot of power in peer input, however our meeting content is confidential. Rather than share specifically what we discussed in the group, please consider this analogy to LEADERSHIP which relates to everything my team does to serve you:
A GREAT leader is a lot like being a Master Gardener.Unfortunately, too many of us are poor gardeners. Here is a typical entrepreneurial approach to leading people using gardening as a metaphor:
1. You select a place to plant.
2. You dig a hole and prepare the soil to plant your vision.
3. You select living things and plant them carefully, initially loving them with water for life, fertilizer for food, and wood or wiring for support.
4. Then life happens.
5. You water inconsistently and in varying amounts, which damages the growth and health of your plants.
6. You fertilizer too often or too little. Too often or too much burns their roots so the plants become even more sickly. Too little stunts their growth and leaves them susceptible to disease.
7. Weeds grow as you fail to consistently maintain your garden in a manner consistent with your vision, and other living things invade your plants' space demanding attention.
8. You blame the plant for its lack of growth, failing to flower, and leaves that dirty the rest of your yard.
9. You remove some plants because you lose hope in them.
10. You start the process over again at #3, or in worse case scenarios, #1.
Everything we do in our LEADERSHIP Essentials service,MANAGEtoWIN software, and other services are designed to help you become a Master Gardener of PEOPLE. If you are ready for a game changer, then contact us to learn more.
If you want to explore this concept further on your own, then see the Meeting Idea.
P. S. If you think I should expand on this analogy, let me know.
Now let us remove the metaphor so you can gauge your leadership effectiveness. Are you a POSER Leader or a Master Gardener / GREAT Leader?
Do this alone, with your leadership team, or entire workgroup or small company. Think through this carefully. Take the time to really THINK! Here are some ideas.
1. What are the top three objectives of our business, listed in order of priority?
2. What are the top three reasons we chose to locate your business where it is, and what are the three most important aspects of our business that give it a unique value to our Clients?
3. What are the three best things we do when hiring people? What are our three greatest weaknesses? What would happen to our company if we could more consistently hire superstars?
4. What are the three most time consuming tasks we are doing instead of being the leaders we should be for our people?
5. What are we inconsistently doing as leaders that is hurting, if not killing, employee productivity? NOTE: If we are uncertain, then we really need some outside help!
6. How are our leaders being negative with employees so they forget our compliments and encouragement?
7. What are the three primary employee distractions that are contributing to their failure to meet our expectations?
8. What is the common thing we blame on employees that actually is our leaders' fault?
9. What employees have we lost or fired that could have been good if not great performers? Will we ever know? Will we ever change?
10. Is it time for a game changer? Or is our current method of leadership too much fun for the masochist in all of us?
This is the work me and my team do every day. The impact on your bottom line and peace of mind is substantial. If you want to explore how we can help - no obligation - email us for a time to talk.