Management is a Skill, Leadership is a State of Mind

There is a definite difference between leaders and managers.

Think of all the great leaders you have known or read about. Their lists of achievements were legendary in their fields. They existed years ago and they still exist today. The one thread that ties them all together is, “They understand the difference between leadership and management.” They are also very good at both.

Leadership defines who you are. It is the fiber of what drives you. The core values that you believe in. When you realize this you will begin to act differently. When you understand that the weight of your words are carried by everyone in your store. You set the tone and pace of your business just by the way that you interact with your team. You will begin to develop a clear vision of what leadership should be and eventually your team will get it too.

Managing is a skill that is learned. It is a skill that is developed by on the job training. You became a manager because you understood your company. You understood the systems and were able to execute them. You were able to train others to do the same. You earned the right to manage the systems. So now you are a manager. Please do not misunderstand my point. I realize that it takes talent and dedication to become management material. The point is that managing is only half of the equation.

It is usually at this point where the lines become blurred for some. Understanding that you have to lead your people but manage your systems is tricky. This blurry area is also the number one reason that businesses have the huge turnover numbers that exist to day. When you manage your people instead of your systems you tend to stifle your staff. There is no learning but a lot of tasks are being completed. There tends to be an overall lack of respect toward the management team. There also tends to be very little retention which effectively cripples a store. Why? There are always new faces. You are spending a lot of time hiring and training when you could be spending time developing talent.

Effective leadership with your people will eliminate all of this. You decide what defines you. Then decide what will define your team. Move forward with a vision that creates excitement and opportunity. Get your people involved and learn from them. Be dedicated to an idea everyday. Be sure that everyone understands it and helps develop a store vision so they can believe in it also. When all of this is in place then you can balance it with managing the systems. Systems are designed to help move roadblocks for your people. Systems are necessary to conduct business.

Learn this our profits grow, and your people grow. You will be happier and they will love you for it.
Frosty

A leader is best when people barely know that he exists.Less good when they obey and acclaim him.Worse when they fear and despise him.Fail to honor people, and they fail to honor you.But of a good leader, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled,they will say, "We did this ourselves." -- Lao-Tzu

Get Your Elbow Off the Table

I was conducting a market visit 3 weeks ago and was speaking to a young leader about the things that really made her job more difficult than it actually had to be. The one thing that she kept saying is that she was so tired of constantly having to repeat herself to get people to do what they needed to do.

She said if that was not a problem then her life would be much easier. I asked her if it might be a matter of perception. She said that she did not know for sure how she was being perceived. It was at this point that I said "Listen I'm not asking how you think your people perceive you. What I am saying is if you change your perception your life will be much easier."

As a leader "YOU" are responsible for your people. That means that the ideas you carry with you about your people are extremely important to your success. What I mean is this. If you think that all of your staff is inadequate then that is what they are going to hear from you as you speak and interact with them and that will be what you experience. If however you feel a sense of responsibility to them then they will hear that when you interact with them. Your words will carry a much higher impact on them and they will be much more receptive to you.

I have 4 kids and all of them are awesome people. They all made excellent grades in school. They all work very hard to do their best in all that they undertake. They all try to set a good example for others. Even though I am very proud of them I remember that 3 times a day, every day, for the first 12 years of their life I to tell them "Get your elbows off the table." Then one day I did not have to say it anymore. It became important to them each in their own time. Being a leader is very much the same thing. You do not have bad people working for you. What you do have are people with their own lives to live and they are each doing the best they can with what they have.

Be patient, have faith in them and keep calm. Respect them and know that your words are working even if it is only briefly each day. Eventually it will become habit, they will understand it, and you won't have to say it anymore.

Thanks for Reading!!

Carl Frost

Sales Coaching

This is a very good explanation of Sales Coaching and its purpose. I hope you enjoy it....

What is Sales Coaching? Today most businesses' (large and small) first exposure to 'bottom-line' coaching (other than executive coaching for senior management), is the introduction of sales coaching. Performance sales coaching is relatively easy to introduce, control and monitor, and generates immediate measurable results Coaching in sales is working on an individual basis to make step-by-step, measurable improvements to performance and motivation. Coaching can reach the parts other training methods can't. In sales coaching the coach can also share the sales manager's burden, freeing his time to achieve company targets and objectives. Meanwhile, the coach works with the team to unlock their potential, provide support and guidance to resolve issues and facilitate inter-team communication. Sales Skills Coaching:   Sales is a high skill, high demand job. Being on top in sales means having success in a balanced life without stress. Sales Skills coaching provides focused sales strategies for you and your team. It can also reveal if low sales are the result of current sales strategies and company goals that are inconsistent with one another, or if you require sales management training. An effective sales strategy comes not just from sales activities, but also from how you approach potential clients. If you want to sell consistently and increase your revenues, you may have to refine the way you engage clients throughout the entire sales process. That's where Sales Coaching also comes in. To achieve success, a sales person needs: - Advanced Selling Skills and Inner Resources. Knowing how to sell is not enough. Success comes from within. The salesperson needs to: build the internal resources to succeed; eliminate the roadblocks to success; eliminate procrastination, fear, guilt, stress and replace them with confidence and resourcefulness. Sales Training combined with Coaching can provide ways to enhance performance and maintain a balanced life. Personal Coaching: True success always includes matters of the heart and matters of the spirit. Customized coaching power sessions as you need them, either over the phone or face to face can enhance success in all parts of life. They are short, highly focused sessions ranging from fifteen minutes to one hour. Whether the problem is building a strategy or building the inner resources to be more effective, these sessions can make changes fast. Coaching sessions should be custom designed to fit your organization -- high end sales or the basics, be it: personal development to build personal resources or to eliminate roadblocks advanced goal-setting or balanced life Group Coaching: Professional sales is a high performance job. You have to be in top form to win. These group sessions get you there and help keep you there ie: at least ten - half day or one day workshops over twelve months allowing the participants to practice what they have learnt in the training and personal coaching sessions.   Some results with Sales Skills Coaching can include: Clarify sales objectives into manageable, realistic goals. Refine existing strategies and/or create new strategies. Develop new sales skills. Discuss specific challenges for individuals or an entire sales team. Eliminate unrealistic barriers that may be preventing you from success. Prioritize activities into revenue-generating activities. Remove the roadblocks to success Clarify goals that are achievable Build the confidence to win Eliminate procrastination Practice advanced selling techniques that improve your productivity Learn advanced rapport building secrets Learn the power of language The 3 Steps to establishing a successful Sales Coaching Program: People First, the organization should examine the personnel available to complete the coaching project. Coaching is much more than a series of learning sessions and requires a specific skills set as well as an experienced, credentialed team. Some of the "people" questions your organization should ask are: Does your staff have the required technical and coaching project management knowledge/skills and time to complete the project? Do you have a committed, trained and well-briefed development team with defined roles? Do you have full support from all corporate stakeholders? Process Successful coaching development requires a proven, efficient process for "resourcing" the appropriate practices and protocols. This process must include time for analysis, design, user testing, review, and revision. Without carefully designing a process that includes these and other necessary steps, you significantly decrease your chances of coaching success. Some of the "process" questions your organization should ask are: Do you have a realistic project schedule? Do you have a detailed project blueprint? Do you have a clear list of project requirements? Do you have a proven, written training development process for the key players? Parts Finally, do you have all the technical parts and pieces to make your coaching effort actually work? Successful coaching requires a complex mix of proven validated assessment instruments, coaching tools and techniques, and support back-up. Without these, the best-designed coaching program can become dead on arrival. Some of the "parts" questions that your organization should ask are: Do you have the coaching technical infrastructure to meet your coaching requirements? Do your end users/coaches have access to the necessary technical information and hardware? Does your coaching program manager and team have the necessary coaching project management and measurement tools? Is 'technical coaching support' available to the program manager and coaches? - How to be a successful Sales Coach: 1.  Put yourself in the position of each individual team member. Be prepared to see and understand the world from their      perspective 2.  Listen actively. Understand what is 'true for them', what motivates and interests them, what bores or demotivates them 3.  Be prepared to make changes to your own style and approach as a result of what you learn. 4.  Remember these three words: - respect, empathy and objectivity. Bring these to your coaching sessions - every time 5.  Book diary time and a special meeting room for each coaching session. Ensure there are no interruptions. 6.  Let the coachee do 80% of the talking, prompted by your carefully considered questions 7.  Use open questions to understand, probe, challenge and develop ideas. Use closed questions to pin down agreement and      next actions 8.  Identify specific areas for change and agree how the salesperson will modify their behaviour. 9.  Create a clear and definitive development plan to build on strengths and address developmental needs 10. Establish agreed upon metrics to measure the 3 P's: personal, professional and performance growth. -Some Case Studies in SALES PERFORMANCE using BEHAVIORAL-BASED COACHING: -Case Study 1: MidWest Finance Group The Senior Managers of the MidWest Finance Group responsible for the sales and marketing teams within the organisation were assisted in designing a coaching programme which would enable them: to adopt a 'Transformational Leadership' approach; be more 'Emotionally Literate' to the consequences of their leadership style; improve their cross functional effectiveness -as a team and individually; to develop an awareness of their team members’ behavioural style and strengths, and address areas which may be causing them to under-perform.  The programme employed team and one-to-one coaching sessions. Prior to the workshops, the participants underwent individual assessment and took part in a 360 Degree Appraisal. This data help define the structure of the programme and provided benchmark information which was used to guage the results of the overall programme as well as individual changes in performance and behaviour. The programme was conducted over a twelve month period commencing with an education programme on performance coaching. All results were statisically measured and directly correlated back to bottom-line performance/productivity gains. The programme met all set goals and has since been adopted as the core platform for ongoing management and staff training development.   -Case Study 2: Premium Insurance Background: In a continually changing market, regularly evaluating and improving employee performance and productivity has become more than an administrative detail - it is now a key business strategy. Today most businesses (large and small) first exposure to 'bottom-line' coaching (other than executive coaching for senior management) is the introduction of performance coaching in their sales departments. Performance sales coaching is relatively easy to introduce, control and monitor, and generates immediate measurable results A new breed of performance coaching development systems promises to solve many of the problems of training-based review systems and support best practices that result in greater productivity and employee satisfaction. These systems lead managers through the performance review process of measuring key behavioral aspects that critically impact upon the successful execution of professional skills. Importantly, it helps them with the most difficult part of a review - putting their assessments and action plans into a development vehicle that works. This just-in-time approach via regular one-to-one or small group coaching/learning is widely regarded as more effective than traditional occasional "classroom" training. It ultimately results in greater productivity because managers become coaches as they work with employees on developing the skill sets most in need of growing. By giving managers HR expertise and coaching tools to help them track and evaluate performance, the coaching-based performance management system removes many of the barriers that have traditionally undermined the ongoing development of their people. Coaching based development programs also enable organizations to: audit their human capital base; measure operational performance to provide the platform for ongoing improvement; and gain an understanding of employee value for ongoing strategic modeling and planning Example:  Premium Insurance, a leading player in the motor insurance market, needed to improve its internal processes, skills and service levels in order to compete  effectively. Premium wanted results that would be lasting and realized quickly. Working closely to the brief as co-developed with the in-house project management team, an external Coaching Group devised an innovative approach that resulted in the complete redesign of Premium's Customer Strategy. It introduced a Sales Agent Performance Management Development schedule. The group's program of consultation with management and the agents themselves resulted in a system which automatically produced weekly agent skills reports, and which summarized individual performance on an agreed set of defined performance indicators. Team leaders and agents alike could now see on a weekly basis not only how they performed on key outcome measurements, such as sales calls handled, schedule adherence, policies sold, sales conversion rate, cross-selling of other products - but more significantly, the Team leaders could now easily identify and monitor the behavioral strengths and weaknesses of each agent in the execution of their sales skills and use this as a basis for individual behavioral coaching. The system also facilitated the introduction of a fair and motivating performance-based reward system based on the Weekly Skills Report. The experience so far with the system has been that: staff morale has improved as agents have more visibility and control over their performance; sales performance has radically improved - with average weekly sales up by 50%. -Case Study 3:  Fast-Track Pharmaceutical Sales Results Background: The pharmaceutical sales division of one of the world’s largest healthcare organizations discovered that successful sales strategies are not simply some magical mix of sales savvy and landing the right territory. Behavior-based coaching methods provided this organization with the platform to consistently achieving targeted results.  Situation The large sales force of this globally competitive pharmaceutical division faced multiple business issues, one of which was wide variance in individual sales representative, director and division management performance. Because the performance disparity was so great profitable opportunities were being bypassed because neither management, nor sales personnel were able to operate to their fullest potentials. Management wanted to know how to raise poor performance to average, how to make average performance exceptional, and how to continually develop and inspire top performers. The goal was how to create an ongoing cycle of improvement until every individual reached and sustained optimal performance levels. Behavioral-Based Coaching -Solution Implemented Assessment help pinpoint the behaviors over which reps and managers had control, and those which actually had a real impact on securing the sale and extending the sales relationship for each particular situation. A set of customized sales techniques that acknowledged such factors were established. Coaches accompanied sales reps and managers on field trips and were able to pinpoint best practices and observe customer environments. Salespeople learned to delineate and then practice those activities that added greatest value for the customer. At the same time, sales managers learned the activities that encompassed necessary coaching, development, and support of critical behaviors. After using a new set of enhanced personal skills, one sales representative stated, “I’m working just as hard, but I’m now focusing on the things that I can influence: the critical actions that drive results.” Some Results of the Behavioral-Based Coaching Program Following implementation of behavior-based coaching, this group was voted best sales division in the organization for the past two years. All groups that implemented behavior-based coaching methods improved. One division went from being 52nd out of 55 in sales of a key product, to 1st. Sales managers evolved from critics to coaches; and subsequently, culture evolved from that of subordinating to supportive. Sales representatives identified factors of control via behavior action plans and, consequently, realized influence over individual accountability. Sales representatives built action plans to sign-up Physician Assistants and Nurse Practitioners. Their plans included key behaviors, how to track progress, and the rewards for meeting their goal. The sign-up rate went from 20% to 80% within one year. Strategic selling defined customer-centric sales techniques and value-added, long-term sales/customer relationships. Territorial realities were managed with customized and thus profitable sales approaches.         -Edited Extracts from Next Generation Pharmaceutical Magazine 2008 Note: One of the first published case studies (1958) on the effect of coaching was on individual sales performance enhancement. The case study involved the coach working with the Sales Training Director and included the sales staff receiving regular group coaching sessions focusing on team building. The program objectives of higher sales, greater team motivation and reduced staff turnover were all met.

Leadership and Long Term Results!!!!!

Long term success in business comes from a dedication to perservere!
It comes from trial and error with a huge emphasis on learning from mistakes of the past.
Success comes from internal growth with creative cost control measures, a strong S.O.P.( standard operating procedure), a talent development plan, outside recruiting and promotion from within, good inventory control guidelines and  a fair product at a fair price with a strong lean toward customer service.
Of all these things the most effective, the most explosive, the longest lasting success comes from betting on your people.The title of this post is "Leadership and Long Term Results!!!!" The truth is that companies that are led "Bet on people." Companies that are only managed do not!

          Lets look a 2 different companies that you are very familiar with.

Before we do just let me say that I am not going to include a lot of numbers and specifics. I am only highlighting what happened to prove a point.

Best Buy (currently the #1 electronics retailer in the world) and Circuit City (once the industry leader now on the brink of disaster). If you would like to see what the investors are saying just click on the link below.
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/circuit-city-stock-plunges-losses/story.aspx?guid=%7BDB3AE05B-1188-44CA-8DA6-1F0C370B5705%7D


In the early 90's Best Buy was very much a managed company. They were opening new stores and executing their version of stack em high and sell em cheap. At the time there was very little emphasis on "leadership" but very strong emphasis on "managing." Best Buy came on troubled times and their very existence was at stake.

The company C.E.O. (Brad Anderson) understood that the old ways of doing business were over. That there had to be a clear and defining moment that Best Buy would be reborn. So what did they do?
Well first they rewrote the company S.O.P. and closed any gaps that existed. They streamlined the waste that was allowed to thrive and plowed forward.

 This time however there was a new awakening to their style. It was time to bet on their people. It was time to stress leadership over managing. The company C.E.O. knew that he had to inspire his entire company to win.

Today Best Buy is a Leader in the industry with customer satisfaction growing higher and employee turnover growing smaller. Best Buy is now producing talent that is second to none in their field. A fiercely dedicated work force and a fiercely dedicated leadership team supporting them. They are creating a Best Buy family with their employees and constantly coming up with new ways to enrich the employee experiences within their company.

Now we all know that Best Buy is a huge company and certainly has their own share of problems. I do however feel that they are fortunate to have the leadership that currently exists. They should be applauded for what they have achieved.

Best Buy will be here for many more years, and I suspect that they will continue to hold their position as the #1 electronics retailer in the world.
As long as they continue to bet on their people.
Circuit City once held the place that Best Buy currently owns. Circuit City ran into their own crisis in the later 90's to early 2000's (use any search engine for exact dates). The interesting thing is what they did about it. Like Best Buy they also cut waste and found ways to streamline some of the things they were doing. Then they had an idea that they thought was going help them tremendously. They decided to dismiss all of the sales force they had that were Top Earners (the people who could sell their products to more people than anyone else). These were also the people who understood how to serve customers quicker and more efficiently than anyone else.
What did this mean for the consumer?

The people who used to be the mediocre to low performers, were now your seasoned staff.
They were and still are, the employees that now are supposed to help you. They are supposedly the experts "with all of the advice." You, however, are constantly left with the incorrect product. Better yet you may or may not get the most up to date information about the specific product you are looking for. You will leave feeling your needs are unmet and that you were serviced by someone who was less than interested in helping you.

Somehow, somewhere, there was a C.E.O.(Phil Schoonover) who thought this was a good idea............. So was it?... After they did this they did manage to keep afloat and run a few more years ............. Until just recently................They again found themselves in trouble. So what did they do about it..........That's right....., it worked so well the first time, they again decided to eliminate the top earners on their sales floor.
Look at their last stock reporting. Better yet look at their stock price. With this kind of limited vision Circuit City will be lucky to survive.

I think that the message here is simple..........You can manage through and survive the short term, but without strong leadership you will fail!!

Thanks for reading
Frosty

"You have to enable and empower people to make decisions independent of you. As I've learned, each person on a team is an extension of your leadership; if they feel empowered by you they will magnify your power to lead. Trust is a great force multiplier."

-- Tom Ridge

This post was originally written 2 years before Circuit City closed its stores....I decided to republish it because there is still value in its message....

What did he REALLY want???

What is it that you want out of your current job? If it’s more money then write it down. If it’s a promotion then write it down. It only matters to you what this is. Other’s might be curious about you and you them, but in the end it really only matters to you.

It can be anything, you just need to know and be aware of what it truly is.
Some of you already have a very clear idea about what you want. Do you have this written down somewhere? Do you have a plan to get there?
 What we are talking about will get you anywhere you really want to be, but the first step is being very clear with yourself about what you really want.
Example: My son Joseph won 1st place at the national level in Skills USA/CNC machining in 2008.
He went to technical school for three years and secured a great job with better than average pay for a high school student. He was set...or so we thought.
He loved what he was doing, but all the while he also had a little voice whispering about another dream   tucked way back inside of himself. His true dream job, which was to be a comic book illustrator,was so remote a vision that he could not even say it to himself, much less say it out loud.
Joe has never taken an art class other than something basic in the 10th grade. He had no professional skill, just a passion for that type of artwork and story,and his own raw talent.
 So one day, Joe told me that he was unhappy at his job. Even though he was very successful, he  couldn't see himself doing this type of work for the rest of his life.I have always told my children "do what you really want to do and be the best at it." At this point he was still hesitant to admit what he really wanted.  I explained that clarity around what we really want can take  time to develop. Some of us are lucky and know exactly what we want.We then become free to  move to the next step of acquiring it. The rest of us must engage in a daily process of  conversing with ourselves to gain understanding and clarity before we can move forward.
Joe knew what he did not want and this is the first step. He began his journey by reading books like Mind Power into the 21st Century, Think and Grow Rich and Jack Canfield's Success Principals. All of these books were accessible to him since they happen to be laying around  my house 24/7.

The first thing Joe did was admit out loud what he really truly wanted to do. He said " I want to be a comic book artist." Then came all of the reasons why this probably couldn't happen, like...no formal education in art, no connections, no extra money to pursue this, on and on.
This is what the mind does: It tries to help us by giving us what it thinks we want. Joe now had the task of telling his mind what he truly wanted on a consistent daily basis so it could help him acquire it.
He had to manually change the script that was going on inside of himself.
The first step was to write it down.
He kept this piece of paper in his wallet so he could see it every single day, every time he opened his wallet. He also took it out and looked at it at night and in the morning. His mind stopped giving him reasons why his dream would not work and started suggesting resources to help him.
I can proudly say that Joe is now a professional comic book illustrator with a signed contract for royalties with a great company. He is pursuing his dream and getting paid for it. This process from the beginning, when he started to question himself to the end result of that signed contract took about 7 months.

The time frame doesn't actually matter. Time is relevant to you and only you.
The point is: If you really want something, Decide what it is and write it down, then look at it every single day so your mind can begin to understand what you truly desire.
Then you can begin to watch really interesting things start to happen!