Walk The Talk #1

WALK THE TALKGoals are for the future; values are for now.
Goals are set; values are lived. Goals change;
values are rocks that you can count on.

-- Sheldon BowlesYou never know when a moment and a
few sincere words can have an impact on a life.

-- Zig ZiglarToday’s Topic:   Let Them Know How They’re Doing
 
It’s been said that “feedback is the breakfast of champions.” Well, if that’s true, then a lot of employees out there are going hungry. And it’s time they got fed!
 
Ask any group of people how often they receive detailed feedback on their performance at work and it’s not unusual to hear: “Only at annual review time…or if I really screw up bad.” And that’s truly unfortunate. It’s unfair for those team members who are left in the dark, and it’s yet another self-inflicted wound by leaders who are blowing opportunities to help their people achieve and succeed.
 
The more employees know how they stack up against your expectations, the easier it is for them to keep their performance on track.
 
That’s why providing specific, detailed feedback needs to be an ongoing process rather than a once-a-year “event.” Failure to do that makes about as much sense as a professional sports coach telling his or her players: “I’ll let you know how you’re doing with those plays at the end of the season.” Not only would that be a ridiculous thing for a
coach to do, it would also be CAREER LIMITING!
 
Today’s lesson is from Start Right, Stay Right...LEAD Right.  Every leader's straight talk guide to success on the job.
Why does the thrill of soaring have to begin with the fear of falling?
-- Mother EagleYou can’t teach someone to smile, you can’t teach someone to want to serve, you can’t teach personality. What you can do, however, is hire people who have those qualities and then teach them about your products and culture.
 
With clever life lessons that are sure to make you think, You Can’t Send a Duck to Eagle School captures this fundamental truth of leadership. Today I’m sharing with you a delightful movie, based on the book, that will bring a smile to your face while demonstrating how one great idea can change your life forever!
 
The road to success is not always a road. -- Mac Anderson

If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven played music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.
-- Martin Luther King, JrIn all things, be willing to listen to people around you. None of us is really smart enough to go it alone.  -- John ClendeninWe can't do really big things every day.  If we're really serious about walking the talk all the time, we have to focus on the small stuff.  Let the journey begin. --Eric Harvey & Al LuciaI think we all have a little voice inside us that will guide us… if we shut out all the noise and clutter from our lives and listen to that voice, it will tell us the right thing to do. -- Christopher ReeveWords to live by are just words… unless you actually live by them.
-- Eric Harvey and Steve VenturaIt is time for us all to stand and cheer for the doer, the achiever -- the one who recognizes the challenge and does something about it.  -- Vince LombardiExcerpted from What It Takes To Be Number One
Running a football team is no different than running a business. Results are the bottom line. What running any organization comes down to is the consequences that are brought about by your leadership. The absence of positive results render your leadership a failure. Bookstores are full of books regarding the debate about organizational structure: hierarchical or flat, central or decentralized, and everything in between. Yet it’s not structure, but results, that make a leader. Leadership isn’t a position, it’s a process that produces the desired results. If you don’t produce results, if you don’t execute – you’re not a leader.

Leaders get paid for results, not for being right. Results come from mistakes – being wrong – and leaders must possess Coach Lombardi’s mental toughness to handle mistakes, take accountability for them, and quickly abandon efforts that fail to produce results.

If you are right all the time you aren’t taking enough risks. Results require a willingness to act, even if you are unsure of what lies ahead. And, almost always, you will be unsure. Only through risk and action can you take your organization to the next level.

Results, specific and measurable, come from having a clear vision, defining what improvement and adaptation look like
and having a beginning and an end in mind. Results come from knowing what you are achieving today and having a clear, specific strategy for closing the gap between today’s reality and your vision for tomorrow. When you wake up, seek the courage and strength to do the right thing. Decide that this will be another day in which you… Walk The Talk. -- Eric Harvey and Steve VenturaNo, I don’t understand my husband’s theory of relativity. But I know my husband, and I know he can be trusted. -- Elsa EinsteinWe have committed the Golden Rule to memory. Let us now commit it to life. -- Edwin MarkhamEarn the right to expect others to keep their word by keeping yours.
-- Steve VenturaReal integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not.-- Oprah WinfreyToday’s Topic: The Responsibility of Being Our Leader
 
Even though we work for an organization, you are our leader. We don’t follow the company’s mission statement, senior management memos, annual reports, or what the stock market watchers say about us as much as we follow you. And, like it or not, you’re not only our leader but also a large part of our career success. Our job happiness depends on our relationship with you.
 
Please don’t take this lightly. Sometimes we lie awake nights worrying about you and how you feel about things. We wonder why you pass us in the hall without even acknowledging our presence. We wonder why you take some of us behind closed doors while leaving others outside. As our leader, you influence all of us!
 
Believe it or not, we DO understand that leadership isn’t easy. We watch every day and see you assume incredible responsibilities. You’re accountable for your actions and for our actions, plus all the fiscal requirements, employee problems, feedback, training, technology changes, hiring, de-hiring, communicating, staff development, prioritizing, eliminating unnecessary bureaucracy, and much more. Your job is tough. But it is the job you chose.
 
What we ask of you is to accept responsibility for being the very best at your job so we can be the best at our jobs.
 
When you became a manager, supervisor, or team leader, the game changed. You’re now held to a higher level of accountability than before. In fact, everything you do is exaggerated; you are under a magnifying glass. And when you’re down, we’re down. When you’re up, we’re up. You set the tone…you shape the environment in which we can be
successful.
 
Because of this, we expect more from you than from anyone else in our organization. And we need you to lead us without excuses.
 
The leadership you display and the decisions that you make contribute more to our success than all other factors combined. 

Everything you do counts.  Make it count!
I’m not concerned with your liking or disliking me…all I ask is that you respect me as a human being.-- Jackie RobinsonLeaders don’t force people to follow – they invite them on a journey.
-- Charles S. LauerExcerpted from Walk the TalkA Poem of POSSIBILITIES

If every person walked the talk,
Can you imagine how it would be?
A world filled with good intentions
That all became reality.

We could count on one another,
And coexist respectfully.
There would be no broken promises,
And no hypocrisy.

We’d have no problem spotting heroes,
They’d be everywhere to see.
Just by looking in the mirror,
We all would find integrity.

If everybody did what’s right,
Most rules we wouldn’t need.
Conscience, trust, and common sense
Would be the things that we’d all heed.

There would be no hurtful actions
In the news that we would read.
Only story, after story
Of yet another noble deed.

And when it came to raising children
With young characters to mold and feed,
The best lessons they could ever learn
Would come by merely following our lead.

If each of us behaved beliefs
There’d be little cause for fear.
All actions would be honorable,
Our values would be clear.

Just by watching what it is we DO,
One could tell what we hold dear.
For our principles would be acts you see,
Not merely words you hear.

It’s a challenging task to Walk the Talk
Every hour, day, and year.
And we ALL can do a better job,
Let’s start RIGHT NOW…RIGHT HERE!