My wife’s department was recently “reviewed” by some peers. The result of the 2.5 day visit was a 53-page report with HUNDREDS of recommendations. None of these recommendations were prioritized, just simply listed one after another in each of ten plus categories.

After I closed my gaping jaw, I asked, “how are you supposed to prioritize all of these? They don’t give you any guidance on where to start”.

These folks give consultants a bad name. We have seen so many consultant reports over the years and most of them are spot on if you can wade through all the noise. The trouble with most of them is that, like this one, they don’t tell you where or how to start.

We see many small business owners who struggle to figure out what to do next as well. Most of them don’t have a big consultant report to wade through. They’re simply drowning in the day-to-day demands of running their business with dozens of things vying for their attention.

Over the last decade of growing our coaching business, we have pulled together a simple framework to guide the running of any organization. We apply this model to any organization we are involved with, whether it is for-profit or non-profit. We have identified the following 7 Keys to Success:

1. Vision: where will your organization be in 10 years? How much will your annual revenue be? How many employees and locations will you have? What will you be selling and who will you be selling it to? Will there be anyone else like you in the marketplace?
2. Profit Plan: most people refer to this as a “budget” which is a word we are working to get out of the business lexicon. Nobody likes being put on a budget! It’s a constricting, dusty, and tired concept. You are in business to make money. What would you like your Sales and Profit to be for the next 12 months? You’d be surprised how few small business owners can answer this simple question. Start with these broad goals first, then work to fill in the details.
3. Marketing Plan: how are all those sales you projected on the Profit Plan going to happen? Who is your Target Market? What Message do you want to deliver to them? How do you find more of them? Who will be doing what marketing activities to fill your sales pipeline?
4. Organization Plan: do you have a Functional Organization Chart broken into the 3 areas of Product/Service, Marketing/Sales, and Administration? Do you have job descriptions for those different functions and is someone assigned to each of those functions? Who should be the next hire or resource brought onto your team and why? How do you keep your team informed and engaged about the key things in your business?
5. Leadership Style (Extended DISC): one of the keys with any relationship is communication. We all have a natural behavior style that impacts how we do things and how we communicate. Each member of your team should understand their own DISC style and how to identify other people’s DISC styles to make themselves more effective.
6. 90-Day Cash Flow Forecast: do you know that your organization is going to have a positive cash balance for each of the next 90 days? You will sleep better at night if you do.
7. Presenting: how well do you Present the above six points? Can you confidently describe your business within the 3 areas of Product/Service, Marketing/Sales, and Administration? If so, you are nearly guaranteed success. If not, you are rolling the dice.

If you aren’t working on one of the 7 points above, chances are you are working on the wrong things as a business owner. So are you feeling good about how your company measures up to the above 7 Keys to Success?

Don’t worry if you don’t have it all under control. In fact, most business owners we meet have only a couple of these things in place, if any at all. If you plug every decision, challenge, opportunity, or problem into the above 7 points, you will always know what should be done next and how it will impact your organization.

Over the years we’ve had several clients claim there are “crises” going on in their businesses. These crises have included things like the loss of a major customer, a key employee leaving, or cash shortages.

Funny thing is, we (and their team) couldn’t tell by the way they responded to the so-called crisis. They’ll make any one of the following common mistakes:

1. Keeping it all to themselves: your team is there to help, let them know what’s going on. Frame the situation for your team and your proposed plan of action to resolve it. Let them know what they can do to help. Nothing creates more stress for your team than not knowing. It also generally leads to rumors spreading.
2. Disappearing: This could mean they actually leave the business either for vacation or perhaps come in late or leave early. It could also mean they hole up in their office and don’t let their team know what is going on. You need to be more visible than ever during a crisis.People should see you lead by your actions, not just hear your words that things are tough.
3. Constantly changing course: lay out a plan of attack and stick to it.
4. Giving the impression that it’s business as usual: if it’s truly a crisis, then show me by your actions. If you’ve been working 10-hour days, extend it to 12 or 14-hour days. Come in on weekends. Send your family on vacation without you. Don’t attend the kids’ soccer games.
5. Avoid conflict: this could be either internal or external conflict. The owner might avoid phone calls from upset customers and vendors or they won’t have a discussion that needs to be had with a key employee.

Just as kids aren’t apt to comply with the “do as I say, not as I do philosophy,” don’t expect your team to react any differently. If you are going along “business as usual,” then so will your team. Your team needs to see changes in how you act day-to-day or else they won’t believe it.

Are you leading by example during tough times or are you going along with business as usual?

I was watching a news show the other night and a U.S. Senator was asked about the potential reform of the U.S. Tax Code. His response was appalling. He said:

“That will be complicated to unwind, so it will take some time to tackle that.”

What does that mean? It sounded to me like this Senator was only considering ways to tweak or adjust the current tax code. What about some fresh ideas?

Unfortunately the Senator is not alone. In fact, most business owners will take the same approach when trying to address a problem in their business. They will try to fix it by making changes to the current model. But some things aren’t worth the time and effort to fix. It’s often better to simply scrap the old and start fresh.

Brainstorming is not a new concept, but it is still one that is a bit nebulous to most people. The good news is there are lots of ways to brainstorm. As with most things we do in our business coaching practice, we find it best to keep things simple.

A common goal for brainstorming sessions is to come up with new ways to do things. Quite often though, we burden ourselves with the way things are currently done and we try to “fix” the current way of doing things.

So, back to our Senator and the U.S. Tax Code for a moment. Instead of focusing on how difficult it will be to change the current tax code, why didn’t he ask the following question instead:

What if we were starting from scratch?

It is such a freeing question. It takes away the burden of having to adjust what currently exists. If everyone is focused on “starting from scratch” then everyone will also be focused on the end goal.

So if you are struggling to “reinvent” something in your business (or the even the business itself), start with a couple of blank white boards and the question “What if we were starting from scratch?” You might be surprised at what you discover.

One of the most vital roles of any small business owner is to make sure you have the right people in your organization. The vast majority of the small business owners we meet, spend too much of their time mired in people situations.

There are lots of “how” questions on the people front. How do I:

- find them?
- hire them?
- train them?
- motivate them?
- pay them?
- get them to take ownership?
- fire them?
- etc.

All of these questions will eventually boil down to one big question, “How do I know if I have the right people in my organization?”

If you’ve ever read the book Good to Great by Jim Collins, then you know there are two questions to ask to help you figure out whether or not you have the right people:

1. Would you hire this person again (knowing what you know today)? AND
2. If the person came to tell you that he or she is leaving to pursue an exciting new opportunity, would you feel terribly disappointed or secretly relieved?

The first question is pretty easy and perhaps you’ve heard it before, but the second question really cuts to the heart of the issue. If your answer is “secretly relieved” with any of your people, my question to you is, why are you continuing to employ this person and what are you doing to get them off your bus (to use the Good to Great term)?

Terminating an employee is one of the most difficult and emotionally-charged duties of any small business owner. No matter how much experience you have, it’s never easy. We have found that by keeping things as simple as the two questions highlighted above, many owners can justify to themselves as well as the remaining team, why someone needs to be kicked off the bus.

One of the findings of the Good to Great research was that there wasn’t a difference in the amount of employee turnover between the good and great companies. What they did find was that the great companies get rid of the people who don’t fit faster than the good companies. In other words, the great companies are more rigorous when deciding which people to retain and which people to let go.

Nearly every small business owner we come into contact with has people who fit into the “terribly disappointed” and “secretly relieved” buckets. Quite often, the owners are surprised to find out how many folks fall into the “secretly relieved” bucket. And those people have been in those buckets for years. Usually almost since day one when they joined the company.

So let’s make sure I’m communicating effectively. I’m not suggesting that you finish reading this article, pull out a list of your employees and begin chopping heads. What I am suggesting is that you sit down with your current roster of employees and put them into “terribly disappointed” and “secretly relieved” buckets.

If you are having trouble classifying your people, ask one of your “terribly disappointed” people to help you out. Chances are they will have a pretty good feel for who fits where. The next step is to prioritize which of the “secretly relieved” folks you want to address first. Start by asking yourself the question, “If this person were no longer here, how would their duties be divided up by the current staff?”

Quite often we have found that there is an “addition by subtraction” that happens in many small businesses when it comes to these “secretly relieved” folks. Many of the “terribly disappointed” folks will pick up the slack left and many times they are more efficient without the “secretly relieved” folks around.

If you are having trouble addressing the “secretly relieved” folks, how about giving some thought to the “terribly disappointed” folks and what you are going to do when they leave you for a better opportunity. It’s just a matter of time when you hold on to the “secretly relieved” folks too long. It becomes a big de-motivator for the “terribly disappointed” folks.

So start your “bucket” list of secretly relieved and terribly disappointed so you can get started with fixing your organization.

Most people have a strong feelings about partners (whether it be in business or in life). In our unscientific survey over the years, we’ve been surprised to find that most people have negative feelings when it comes to partners in business.

In most cases those negative feelings have resulted from one bad experience with a partner in business. That seems silly to us. It’s like having a bad personal relationship with a significant other or spouse and then saying, “I’m never going to get involved in another serious relationship.”

Why let one bad experience with partners hold you back in your business life?

In our business coaching practice, approximately one-third of our clients over the years have involved partnerships/multiple owners. We’ve worked with everyone from husband and wife teams to in-laws to siblings to best friends and everything in between.

Not only have we advised these partners, but Jack and I are also partners in our business. I personally grew up around it with my parents who have run a business together for over 30 years.

So one of the questions people often have for us is, “What makes a good partner?” While I could pontificate on many items that would make a good vs. a bad partner, the basic question you should ask yourself if you have a partner is this:

Does my partner make me AND the business better?

It’s really that simple. If you can answer yes to both of those questions, then chances are you have a good partner. If not, something is definitely lacking.

How can you tell if your partner makes you and the business better? Here are a couple of things to consider. Does your partner:

- challenge you?
- hold you accountable to make sure you do what you say you’re going to do?
- listen to you (really listen to you)?
- communicate with you about the important things in your business?
- focus on what’s best for the organization and not just what’s best for him/her?
- talk about you the same way whether you’re in the room or not?
- tell you what you NEED to hear instead of what you WANT to hear?
- cover for you when the need arises?
- give you a pat on the back when deserved?
- encourage you?
- bring new ideas to the table?
- have fun?

Oh, by the way, how would your partner respond to these same questions about you? Would you be viewed as a good partner?

We contend that a business that has good partners will have more success in the long run than a business that does not have good partners or no partners at all.

We know this from personal experience, both in our business coaching practice as well as in prior companies we’ve owned.

We also see it with our business coaching clients. Even for our clients who do not have partners, one of the things they get from us is that “partner” in the business to help move them forward.

So, do you have the right partners for your business?

Many small business owners we know lament about their inability to find time to plan. Usually this comes up when they are so busy doing the work of their business that they can’t fathom being able to find more time to engage in something like planning.

We contend that much of the reason behind owners not doing proper planning is that they are not really sure how to do it. Perhaps they had some bad experiences with “planning” in a non-profit they’re involved with or maybe they used to work for someone else who spent a lot of time planning and not enough time executing that plan.

While most business owners understand and agree that it’s important to plan their business, it’s often difficult for them to figure out how to plan on a regular basis. We contend that if you as the owner of your business are not taking time to plan, then you are neglecting one of your three key roles as the owner.

Something we reinforce with all of our business coaching clients is that the job of the owner can be summed up in three words:

Plan
Direct
Control

Think about how simple it would make your life if you kept these three words in mind throughout the day. It would make it easier to figure out what you are supposed to be doing on a day-to-day basis and relieve some of the stress and confusion you may currently be feeling.

Here is a little insight into what we mean with each of these three words:

1. Plan: this is the first role of the owner for a reason. If you don’t have a plan for your business, how can you tell how you are doing? If I asked you how your year was last year, how would you respond? Would you say it was good or not good simply based on growth or loss in revenue or profit? Putting together a plan helps to set the goals and the direction for the organization. That’s true whether we’re talking about a 10-year plan, a 1-year plan, or a weekly plan. Planning is where you set the goals for your organization. These goals should then be broken down into tiny steps to help you reach your goals. This becomes the execution of the plan to achieve those goals.
2. Direct: this covers how you direct your resources to achieve your plan. For most companies, the #1 resource is people. We often hear complaints from owners about difficult or poor performing people. What we often find is that the people are pretty good, they just lack good direction from above. Picture yourself as the conductor of an orchestra with all of the musicians representing your employees. Whether you like it or not, they are all looking to you for direction.
3. Control: this is how you track all the activity in your company. It is typically done through some systematic reporting. It will include such things as your financial statements and other key measurables as well as regularly scheduled meetings. For instance, if you are a retail location, you might track the amount of foot traffic by hour. If you are overseeing your sales people, you might track the number of appointments they have on a daily or weekly basis. Basically, anything and everything you can gather to give you a sense for how your business is doing.

These three simple duties should then roll down to other key people in your organization and then eventually to everyone in your organization.

Why shouldn’t everyone in your organization have a plan for what they are going to do? In the short-term, it starts with “What’s your plan today?” That daily plan should fit into a bigger picture and longer-term plan for them and the overall organization.

You as the owner should get fond of asking the following question of any of your people, “What’s your plan?” If they can confidently discuss their plan, their strategy to execute that plan, and plug it back into how it helps the overall organization, your confidence and ability to Direct and Control becomes much greater.

It all starts with the Plan. Chances are if you don’t have a Plan that you’re executing, then you’ll be very busy, but not very effective.

So while many small business owners will ask us, “How do I find time to plan?”, we’ll respond with, “How can you not find time to plan?” What could be more important to both the near-term and long-term success of your business?

Do you feel like you’re in control right now? I don’t know many people who do. So take a deep breath, and as a small business owner, take confidence in the fact that you’re one of the most adjustable people on the planet. The ones who have it tough are those folks who have a job. That’s all they really have confidence in, that they can do their job. Not that they can adapt and change with the times.

I’m on a bit of a Dave Matthews Band kick these days. I’ve been listening to their album (Big Whiskey & The Groo Grux King) on and off for the past couple of weeks. Dave has a way with words.

There are two sets of lyrics in a song called Dive In that caught my attention because they address this “out of control” feeling:

“One day do you think we’ll wake up in a world on its way to getting better
And if so, can you tell me HOW”

AND

“I have been thinking that lately the blood is increasing
The touniquet’s not keeping hold in spite of our twisting
Though we would like to believe that we are, we are not in control
Though we would love to believe”

The first set of lyrics that talks about “waking up in a world on its way to getting better,” strikes at a chord for what we hear on a daily basis from business owners. Everyone we talk with is hoping things will get better, but no one is really sure quite how that is going to happen.

It’s quite easy in times when you feel out of control to simply shut down. To over-think things to the point that you’re driven to paralysis. In tougher and more uncertain times, the last thing you want to do is become paralyzed with fear.

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed on a nearly daily basis with all the turmoil that is going on in the world. For many people, things they have taken for granted for decades are being turned upside down. And no one you talk to or listen to seems to have an answer that makes sense.

The key for you as a small business owner is to continue to plow ahead in search of answers to these questions. What you don’t want to do in these times is sit back on your heels and wait for something to happen to you. Most business owners we meet are in very strong positions to market their products and services. It’s just a matter of crafting that proper message and choosing the channel to distribute it through.

The lyrics about the “blood flow increasing” and the “tourniquet not keeping hold” brings visions of what’s been going on in the U.S. Banking industry over the past 18 months. No matter what the owners of these financial institutions try (and now what the U.S. Government is trying) nothing seems to be working to get the money flowing again (especially to small business owners).

The U.S. Government has taken some unprecedented steps to try to “fix” the current financial markets, but so far I’m not hearing anyone saying how that strategy is working so well on Main Street. This again goes back to the concept of being in control and wanting to believe we’re in control.

So how does all this boil down to your business? The first key is finding things that you can control and influence and focusing on those items first. For instance, while you cannot control someone making a decision to buy your products or services, you can control many things in your business when it comes to customers, including:

1. Your Marketing: this includes everything from which Target markets you will focus on to the Message that you deliver to that market to the Channels you utilize to deliver that Message. Your first job as the business owner is to help make sure that qualified prospective customers know about and come into contact with your business. It can be in-person, on the phone, walking into your location, sending you an email, etc.
2. Your Sales Techniques: this covers everything from the initial contact with your business to becoming a repeat customer. So, starting with the initial contact, how are people greeted when calling on the phone? Does the person answering the phone sound happy to be there or annoyed that the phone continues to ring? How long does it take your organization to respond to email or web site inquiries? How is someone greeted upon first entering your location? Are they greeted with a warm and inviting smile where they feel welcomed? When current customers contact your business, are they responded to quickly or do days and/or weeks go by before someone gets back to them? If you and your staff have no selling system and have never been trained in sales before, now might be a good time to start getting those systems and that training in place.
3. Performance of Your Products/Services: one thing we assume with most of our business coaching clients is that their respective products & services have a demand in the market. Usually they’ve been in business for several years or decades. What is good to do though is to make sure that your products and services are constantly being maintained and improved so your customers will continue to buy from you.

Again, the key here is to focus on what you can control, and not waste time and energy worrying about something over which you have no control. If you spend too much time focusing on things you can’t control, chances are you’ll be out of business sooner vs. later because your competition is focusing on what they can control.

So, how do you get comfortable when you realize you’re not in control? You have to have the confidence that you can adjust. If you don’t have confidence in yourself and your ability to adjust, then you’ll never have the confidence you’ll need to be successful.

One of the constants with any successful person you study is how often they change. Everybody changes and grows (whether they want to or not). So embrace the change. Make sure you’re the one who is making the choice to change instead of having it forced upon you by someone outside your business.

When you feel “out of control” the best thing to do is refocus on the things that you can control. The items I’ve highlighted above are just a few of the things you can control. Your attitude is something each of us can control. Like it or not, you choose every day you wake up what attitude you’ll bring to that day. Why not make it a positive and productive one? You may find out you feel more in control!

A great clarifying question to figure out if you Trust someone or if they Trust you is to ask, “Am I comfortable introducing this person to someone else and are they comfortable introducing me?”

At the end of the day, that’s what it all boils down to. And the answer to that question will be different depending on the person. For instance, I’d be comfortable introducing my partner Jack to anyone I Know, Like, and Trust (“KLT”).

On the other hand, there are folks in my Rotary Club who I would only be comfortable introducing to certain people. It’s not that I don’t Trust them. It’s just that the level of Trust I have with them is different from what I have with Jack.

So why is that and how do I maintain and/or increase the level of Trust I have with people?

Two of the best ways we have found to build and maintain Trust are:

Spend Time, and
Help

Since Jack and I spend a lot of time together and we help each other on a daily basis, we have a very high level of Trust. Certain folks in my Rotary Club I will see only once in a while and we haven’t done anything to help each other, so our resulting level of Trust is pretty low.

So what does it mean to Spend Time with somebody or to Help them? Let me give you a few simple examples.

Spending Time with someone can simply mean sharing a meal or a cup of coffee. It could mean sharing a hobby or extracurricular activity that you each enjoy (e.g. hunting, snowboarding, visiting a museum, golfing, etc.). Or it could be getting involved in the leadership or on the board of a service organization or a local non-profit that you both enjoy.

Chances are the reason you Know and Like someone is because you have a common interest or bond. So Spend Time with them on a regular basis doing one of those activities. At the very least you both have to eat right?!

Help can be as simple as listening to someone when they need someone to talk to about things. It could also mean introducing your KLT folks to each other. Why? Because chances are your KLT folks can help each other. But they have to Know each other first. Help also means saying “yes” when one of your KLT folks asks for your help. And doing it with a smile!

So what are you doing to build and maintain Trust on a daily, weekly, monthly, annual basis? If you’re not focused on this, you should be. It’s the #1 driver of success in your business.

If you want your business to get more referrals, it boils down to answering 2 simple questions:

1. Who should I ask for referrals?
2. How should I ask for referrals?

Let’s address the “Who” question first. In order for someone to refer you/your business, you’ll need the following three things:

Know
Like
Trust

Before someone will refer you, they have to Know that you exist. What are you doing to continually increase the number of people who Know you?

Next, chances are someone has to Like you/your business to refer you. Unless your product or service is so unique and can really solve someone’s problem, I’m guessing you aren’t being referred by too many people who don’t Like you. What are you doing to move those folks who Know you into the Like column?

Last, but certainly not least, you typically Trust the person you are referring. Trust can be defined in a multitude of ways, but it basically means that you believe that they can not only do the job well, but they won’t be a bozo when doing it and thus reflect poorly on you. Once somebody Knows and Likes you, what are you doing to move them into the bucket of people who Trust you?

So, if it’s as simple as getting the people who Know, Like, and Trust (“KLT”) you to refer you, why is it often so hard to get more referrals?

That’s where the “How” question comes in. In our experience of working with and owning small businesses, the number one source of new business (no matter the industry) is referrals/word-of-mouth. Yet, many businesses have no formalized strategy or system for “How” to ask for referrals.

Here are a couple of things to keep in mind when asking for referrals from your KLT list:

1. Ask for Help: this is a key word when engaging your KLT list. People who KLT you want to “help” you. Many people don’t necessarily want to “refer” you, but they do like to help. So if you’re one of those people who has trouble asking for help, get over yourself and just ask. No one I’ve met who is successful has done it by themselves. You won’t be any different.
2. Make It Easy: what I mean by this is don’t make your KLT person work too hard to figure out who they should introduce you to. It is your job to put in the upfront time and work to narrow down your list of targets. This could be an actual list of companies and/or people you’d like to meet or it could be more broadly focused characteristics of the type of people you’d like to meet. For instance, for our business coaching, we’re looking to meet owners of companies that have 1-25 employees. That’s pretty broad. So we’ll break it into smaller groups. Underneath the umbrella of business owners with 1-25 employees, we’d like to meet those owners who have partners in their business (either family or non-family). This helps to narrow down the focus for our KLT person.
3. Don’t Try To Sell Your Stuff: now this may be counter-intuitive to some people. Keep in mind that your main purpose of getting introduced to someone from a KLT person is for you to get to Know that new person and begin to form a relationship with that new person. If as part of getting to Know that new person, an opportunity is created for them to buy your products or services, they will let you know. They’ll ask you, you won’t need to ask them.
4. Make Contact Quickly: when one of your KLT people goes out of their way to make an introduction to someone for you, be sure to contact that new person within 24 hours. That way it’s still fresh in their minds and your call will be warmly received.
5. Keep Your KLT Person in the Loop: this is one area where many people fall short and a big reason why they don’t receive more referrals. Once you’ve made contact with the new person, be sure to keep your KLT person informed. If you have scheduled a meeting with the person they introduced you to, let them know about the meeting and then after the meeting takes place, be sure to give them an update for how the meeting went. Don’t make them chase you down to see if you ever connected with their contact. And be sure to say thanks!

Think about KLT as 3 separate buckets or bars on a bar chart. Let’s say you Know 1,000 people. Chances are, only about 75% of those people you Know, actually Like you. So now we’re down to 750 people. Of those people who Know and Like you, chances are probably only about 10% – 15% actually Trust you. Which brings us to about 100 people who KLT you/your business.

While those 100 people who KLT you may be enough to get your business off the ground, chances are they are not enough to grow and sustain your business by themselves. So you and your business need to constantly be filling up your Know bucket and consistently and consciously moving them from K to L to T.

So what are you and your business doing to grow those three buckets? It all starts with growing your K bucket. Click here to check out a posting where I provide some suggestions for how to grow your K list.

I recently attended a retreat for a year-long leadership program I’m participating in called Leadership Lorain County. There are 45 people in my class. We walked in Wednesday afternoon as strangers for the most part. We left Friday as a team who knew and respected each other.

So if 45 of us could do this over the course of just under 48 hours, why do most business owners we speak with have trouble getting their employees on the same page?

There were a couple of things we did during the retreat that I believe really helped in building trust and respect early on. Here they are in order:

1. What’s Your Name: one of the biggest road blocks to creating bonding and rapport with a new group of people is getting to know everyone’s names. So instead of using name tags, we played the Name Circle game on the first night after dinner. In less than an hour, we not only knew each other’s names, we also had a sense for each person’s personality, we supported and started to trust each other, and many people had gotten out of their comfort zones. Here’s how the Name Circle game works. Everyone sits in a circle facing inward so everyone can see everyone else’s face. The person who starts uses an adjective that describes them and starts with the same letter as their first name (e.g. I was “Affable Adam”). The second person has to repeat the first person’s “nickname” and first name and then make one up for themselves. The third person has to repeat the first two people’s nicknames and first names and then make up one of their own, and so on. So the last person (in our case it was “Red Rick”) had to repeat the other 44 nicknames and first names. It was pretty cool to be a part of this!
2. What’s Your Style: we spent about 4 hours over the course of two days getting to know our personality styles through an assessment and a workshop. I’m a big believe in understanding as much as you can about your personal style. It helps you in so many ways. It basically makes you more effective in any situation (assuming you want to do your best in a given situation). So if you don’t understand and appreciate your own style, you certainly won’t be trying to figure out the styles of the rest of your team, your customers, your family, or anyone else. And you’ll just go through your world pretty much being your natural self all the time and wondering why everyone else can’t just simply be more like you! We use DISC with our business coaching clients.
3. What’s Your Bag: we were given the following homework assignment about two weeks prior to our retreat:

“Your assignment is to organize a bag that is a visual representation of your personality. Inside we would like you to consider including items that represent the following:
- A peak experience or moment.
- Something you have accomplished that you are proud of.
- Representation of your hopes and dreams.
- Something that gives you joy.
- Anything else that you want to share that will provide a unique glimpse of who you are and what is important to you.”

And, oh yeah, they asked us to keep our presentation to three minutes. While everyone took longer than 3 minutes, we accomplished the goal of “realizing and appreciating what we all have in common and the rich diversity in the collection of people.” How diverse is your organization of people?
4. Ropes Course: this is where we finished the retreat. What a great way to finish it off! We had to do four team exercises. Each was progressively more difficult and required more time and planning. Each exercise had a time limit and required all team members to participate in and complete the task. Because we had been through steps 1-3 above, we were able to better operate as a team and accomplish all four activities within the given timeframes. Each activity saw different people stand up to lead the way. It also saw each of us display an often unrecognized leadership skill: knowing “when” and “how” to follow someone else who articulates a good plan.

These are just a couple of ideas for what can be done to help create and build your team. What sorts of things do you do within your organization to build your team?

Fellow business coach Dennis Willis is also a member of my class and he posted his thoughts on what a great networking opportunity this is for him in this blog posting.