Davinci Virtual

I read a book recently by David Cottrell, called Monday Morning Leadership, an informal business guide to developing leadership skills, and effectively managing teams/groups.  In the book, Cottrell introduces the reader to Jeff, a successful middle manager for a lareg corporation, who has hit a major wall in his career. Until recently, Jeff has been leading his team to sucess, and has show increased sales, quarter after quarter, for several years…Until now.  The tricks that Jeff used in the past to motivate his team and produce results no longer seem to be effective, and Jeff is overworked, overstressed, and understands that his professional and persoanl lives are at risk.

To help gain some insight into his situation, Jeff reaches out to Tony, an extremely accomplished executive, and old friend of his father’s, for advice.  Tony agrees to meet with Jeff every Monday morning for ten weeks to help him turn his situation around and get his career back on track.  During the course of these sessions, Tony imparts to Jeff the “real” secrets of leadership, through tough lessons and self-discovery.

Here are a few of the key lessons that Tony taught Jeff.  I will share more in one of my next posts, along with Tony’s “real” secret to leadership.

Lesson 1: “Getting Past Splat”

The primary message behind this lesson is understanding that as a business person, you are going to make mistakes.  Some will be small, some will be career-altering.  The key, is understanding that you can’t go back, once a decision is made (splat), you can only go forward, so take a deep breath, and devlop an action plan to “get past splat.”

Lesson 2: “Escape from Management Land”

This lesson is meant to make managers remember that there is no escape from the everyday problems that comes with being a manager.  Along with sales responsibilities, Jeff was also responsible for managing his team, hiring, firing, performance reviews, etc, and these responsibilities were dragging down the rest of his performance.  What Jeff learned from this lesson, however, was that in order to be successful, a manager must hire good people, coach everyone, and de-hire the people who are not covering their share of the load.  Jeff’s job was not to lower the bottom by adjusting and accomodating what Tony called “falling stars,” as he was doing in the past.  Instead, Jeff needed to be raising the top by recognizing and rewarding his “shining stars,” which in the end would motivate everyone on the team to excel.

Hopefully these learning lessons will help you on your journey to become a better leader.  Stay tuned for next week, when I impart some more key leadership lessons, and tell you what the “real” secret to leadership is!

The holidays can be an important time of the year for small businesses but as the holidays grow nearer, I seem to be hearing the same message from my business colleagues and partners, “how are going to get everything done by the end of the year?” Most large corporations have a scramble at the end of the year, but it is usually more controlled than small businesses, due to the wealth of resources and administrative help. Small business owners, however, are left to deal with the upcoming holiday season on their own, which can be a daunting task.

One of the easier ways to manage all of the administrative work that occurs around the holidays is to plan ahead and get started on some of the more tedious work earlier in the year, when you have a little more time. Buy your business holiday cards in the summer, for example, and have them all addressed and ready to go by November 1st. This way you won’t have to scramble at the last minute, or forget any important clients.

Another thing to keep in mind during the holiday season is that the holiday season is either an extremely busy time of year, or an extremely slow time of year. Be sure to plan ahead throughout the year before, and stock away cash reserves to make it through the season, and prepare for the upcoming spring.

Lastly, despite all of the work that needs to be done, don’t forget that it is the holiday season, and make sure you take some time for yourself and your family. That’s what makes all of the hard work worth it anyway!