What Will Be Your Leadership Epitaph?

Will you join me in imagining a quick scenario? Imagine that you’re my boss, and I’m your employee. I put in several years of work for you—five, ten, maybe even fifteen. Then I move on to something else—but then, 20 years down the road, our paths cross once more.

Maybe I’m with my wife when it happens. We’re exiting a restaurant, and I spot you waiting outside for a table, or just sitting down to enjoy your meal. I gesture to my wife. “Do you see that person over there?” I ask her. “That used to be my boss.”

“Oh really?” my wife might ask. “Was this person a good boss, or a bad boss?”

Now here’s my question for you: What am I going to say to my wife in response to this question?

Or, to cast it less hypothetically… what will your current employees be saying about you years, potentially decades down the line?

Will they remember you at all?

And if they pass you on the street, will their immediate recollections of you be fond, admiring ones—or will they be negative?

This is the concept I like to call the leadership epitaph, and it’s really pretty simple. What it boils down to is the need for leaders to think about how they’ll be remembered, and what that might mean for the way they lead their team right now.

There are a couple of different dimensions to the leadership epitaph. There is the broader sense of what your tenure as leader will ultimately mean to the company. Will you be remembered as the executive who created new jobs, expanded profits, and helped the company soar to new heights? Or will you be remembered as the person who was in charge during a period of major layoffs and losses?

But frankly, I think most employees will remember you less for the big picture stuff and more for the day to day. Do you lead by inspiring your employees—or yelling at them? Are you open to their feedback? Do you make them feel valued? Do you allow them to have their voices heard?

Do you empower your employees to be productive and happy in their work life?

These are the things your employees will remember. These are the things that will one day comprise your leadership epitaph.

So let me ask you one more thing: Are you concerned about what your employees will say about you when they pass you on the street, years from now? It’s only natural to wonder, but you can do more than that. You can think honestly and critically about your leadership style right now, and make the changes necessary to create a positive leadership epitaph.

Dr. Rick Goodman CSP is a thought leader in the world of leadership and is known as one of the most sought after team building experts in the United States and internationally.

He is famous for helping organizations, corporations, and individuals with systems and strategies that produce increased profits and productivity without having the challenges of micro managing the process. Some of Dr. Rick’s clients include AT&T, Boeing, Cavium Networks, Heineken, IBM, and Hewlett Packard.

For more information on Rick’s speaking programs, audio programs, and learning programs, contact (888) 267-6098 or Rick@rickgoodman.com, or visit www.rickgoodman.com.

The 4 Biggest Hurdles to Effective Employee Retention

Employers and HR representatives pour countless hours into each employee—grooming them, training them, investing in them, making them into integral members of the team. But sometimes, just when you turn a good employee into a superstar, that employee jumps ship, heading to a different company and leaving you back at square one.

If that’s not the most frustrating part of team leadership, it’s got to be high on the list. Of course, you probably do what you can to enhance employee retention—but sometimes that’s easier said than done, and the hurdles to proper retention are numerous.

It Starts with Hiring

The first big hurdle to employee retention is bringing on the wrong employees in the first place. Teambuilding starts with the hiring process—and if you’re recruiting employees who are a bad fit, don’t be surprised when they don’t stick around for the long haul.

Are you experiencing a lot of employee turnover? That may mean you need to go back and reflect on your hiring standards. Make sure you have clearly defined job descriptions and a clearly articulated company culture, and that you hire with both of these in mind.

Employees Want Training

Another hurdle to retention: Employees who get hired but then quickly realize that they have no clear way to advance in the company—and no clear future with your organization.

Employees want to know you’re investing in their career development; showing them that, though, can seem tricky. What’s an employer to do?

Two things, actually. One, check in with employees regularly to talk about their career goals, and to be open with them about possible avenues for advancing in the company. And two, make sure to invest in team training—a great way to show employees you care about their development.

Communication is Everything

Another hurdle to retention is lack of proper communication. Employees like to know that they have an open dialogue with the boss, or at the very least with the HR manager. It’s important that you keep those channels of dialogue open.

Having an open door policy is helpful, but one formal step you can take is to implement an annual review process and really take it seriously—a great way of showing employees that you have an ongoing interest in them.

What About Benefits?

Often, the biggest hurdle to retention is just money. You want to provide your employees with enticing benefits and competitive salaries, but sometimes the budget just doesn’t allow for it.

That’s when you have to get creative with some cost-effective employee benefits—like flexible scheduling, work-from-home options, professional development events, and more. I’ve blogged about this stuff before!

It’s not easy, boosting employee retention—but when you get a good team in place, it’s very much worth the effort.

Dr. Rick Goodman CSP is a thought leader in the world of leadership and is known as one of the most sought after team building experts in the United States and internationally.

He is famous for helping organizations, corporations, and individuals with systems and strategies that produce increased profits and productivity without having the challenges of micro managing the process. Some of Dr. Rick’s clients include AT&T, Boeing, Cavium Networks, Heineken, IBM, and Hewlett Packard.

For more information on Rick’s speaking programs, audio programs, and learning programs, contact (888) 267-6098 or Rick@rickgoodman.com, or visit www.rickgoodman.com.

Don’t Forget to Affirm Your Virtual Employees!

More and more frequently, teams are spread out across the city, the state, even the world; rather than having your full team working out of the same office, you may have “virtual” or “remote” employees working from the comfort of their own homes.

There’s been a lot of ink spilled to celebrate the advantages of having a remote workforce; I won’t go into that here, except to affirm that for many businesses, the option to work virtually can create a more flexible and robust workforce.

Having virtual teams brings its own set of challenges, though. For instance, how do you ensure that employees are engaged when you don’t see those employees in the office every day?

And how do you offer affirmation to an employee when the only time you lay eyes on said employee is at the annual holiday party?

Simple Gestures to Affirm Virtual Team Members

To keep your virtual employees engaged—and to ensure they feel appreciated—you’ll need to make a special effort. Some small but significant ways to do this include:

Schedule some face time. E-mail is alright, and even texting can be fine for simple yes-or-no questions. But it’s also important to have some face time with virtual employees—to be able to look each other in the eyes and have a moment of meaningful connection. Thankfully, there are plenty of technologies that make this possible—including Skype and, naturally, FaceTime.

Make a point to check on your employees regularly. Add it to your weekly schedule or your Google calendar. Reach out to your virtual employees weekly, even if just to ask if they’re okay and to thank them for their work. Don’t let virtual employees feel forgotten or alone. Remind them regularly that they are key members of your team.

Make sure virtual employees are part of team meetings. Get them on Skype or on speaker phone, or use a virtual meeting platform to ensure that all employees are engaged.

Include virtual employees in the collaboration process. Remote workers may be solitary, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have the itch to be part of the team or to brainstorm with other employees. Actively include them in collaboration, and make sure you provide online collaboration resources, like Dropbox.

Give virtual employees chances to grow. Schedule time for them to either come to the office for team trainings, or allow them to attend some virtual conferences or webinars. Make it clear that, even though they work remotely, you care about giving them opportunities to develop.

Be deliberate in including your virtual team members—because that’s the only way to get them engaged.

Dr. Rick Goodman CSP is a thought leader in the world of leadership and is known as one of the most sought after team building experts in the United States and internationally.

He is famous for helping organizations, corporations, and individuals with systems and strategies that produce increased profits and productivity without having the challenges of micro managing the process. Some of Dr. Rick’s clients include AT&T, Boeing, Cavium Networks, Heineken, IBM, and Hewlett Packard.

For more information on Rick’s speaking programs, audio programs, and learning programs, contact (888) 267-6098 or Rick@rickgoodman.com, or visit www.rickgoodman.com.

Are You Focused on the 10 Percenter?s?

Are you focused on the 10 Percenter's in your life?

You know these people they are the type that would win the winning lottery ticket and still complain about paying taxes. They generally see the cup as half empty and always focus on the trivial instead of the big picture!

You know some of these people maybe even intimately. Some of them are your ex spouses or significant others, some of them are your in-laws or your brothers or sisters and some of them are your colleagues, your boss and your children.

So why do we focus on the few instead of the masses?

When I was actively practicing chiropractic I may have had 100 patients come to my office in a day and 99 of them were thrilled with the service that we provided and one would complain and leave and tell us that they would never come back again! At that time in my life I would focus and obsess about that one client who prevented me from hearing and receiving the love that my other patients were giving me.

How many of you out there have experienced the same scenario in your lives?

Today I was doing my workout in Marco Island Florida. Since there is no boardwalk to skate on things can get a little dicey on the open road even with the speed limit set at 35 mph. I decided to skate against incoming traffic in order to see the cars coming at me and for them in turn to see me. This was a perfect test for my 10 percent rule.

With two oncoming lanes which cars would kindly move over to the open lane and which ones would come directly at me. Also what would my reaction be either way? The good news is that I am happy to be alive and well to report my results and here is how it went on my eight-mile trek!

With just about 200 cars total passing and coming at me only 2 did not move our 10 Percenter's! One happened early on so I decided to salute the drivers and give them a thumbs up in advance of our approaching each other and The Results Were AMAZING!

The driver either smiled, gave me the thumbs up back or saluted! Only two people threw their arms up in disgust and we have to figure that they are in the family of 10 Percenter’s.

The Good News is that it is currently 9:30 am on Saturday July 2, 2011 I got my workout in and made almost 200 people smile!

Have a Safe Holiday!

Dr Rick

Dr. Rick Goodman speaks from real -Life experiences and achieves great results! Dr Rick’s newest book Living a Championship Life "A Game Plan for Success" has been widely acclaimed since its release.

Dr. Rick Goodman is a professional speaker and author who will give your audience specific tools and systems that get great results. Dr. Rick also works with organizations that want to Develop Great Leaders "Through Excellence in Communication and Team Building". For more information on Rick's speaking programs Consulting Programs and Training programs contact (888) 267-6098 or Rick@DrRickGoodman.com or on the web at www.DrRickGoodman.com

Ceasar Salad and Leadership

The Art of Creating A Successful Team

The quality of your office is going to be determined by the quality of the team that assists you in providing health care to your patients. There are a number of things that she can do in order to build and strengthen your health care team.

People do business with people who they like, who are like them it is important that we understand this concept. It is more important than ever before, that there is a positive chemistry among your staff members. The more your staff members enjoy working with each other, the better care your patients will receive.

So here are three things you can do right away, in order to build and create a successful team that is ready to assist you in providing health care to your patients.

1: You must have regular staff meetings. Although most people don’t like to be in meetings they’re important in order to set goals, solve problems and get everybody on the same page.

2: Design group activities that involve all staff members in a setting other than your office. Make it fun! This will not only help team members bond with each other. It should also help them bond with you

3: Constantly catch your team members doing the right thing and let them know how much you appreciate it. Then tell the rest of the staff members, what a great job that person did and be specific. Everyone wants Love, Appreciation and : Respect, if you give them those three things you will have a group of highly motivated quality staff members on your team.

Dr. Rick Goodman speaks from real -Life experiences and achieves great results! Dr Rick’s newest book Living a Championship Life “A Game Plan for Success” has been widely acclaimed since its release.

Dr. Rick Goodman is a professional speaker and author who will give your audience specific tools and systems that get great results. Dr. Rick also works with organizations that want to Develop Great Leaders “Through Excellence in Communication and Team Building”. For more information on Rick’s speaking programs Consulting Programs and Training programs contact (888) 267-6097

How to Create a Successful Team

The quality of your office is going to be determined by the quality of the team that assists you in providing health care to your patients. There are a number of things that she can do in order to build and strengthen your health care team.

People do business with people who do like, who are like them if we understand this concept. It is more important than ever before, that there is a positive chemistry among your staff members. The more your staff members enjoy working with each other better care your patients will receive.

So here are three things you can do right away, in order to build and create a successful team that is ready to assist you in providing health care to your patients.

1: You must have regular staff meetings. Although most people don't like to be in meetings they're important in order to set goals, solve problems and get everybody on the same page.

2: Design group activities that involve all staff members in a setting other than your office. Make it fun! This will not only help team members bond with each other. It should also help them bond with you

3: Constantly catch your team members doing the right thing and let them know how much you appreciate it. Then tell the rest of the staff members, what a great job that person did and be specific. Everyone wants Love, Appreciation and Respect, if you give them those three things you will have a group of highly motivated quality staff members on your team.

Dr. Rick Goodman speaks from real -Life experiences and achieves great results! Rick is the author of Living a Championship Life "A Game Plan for Success" http://livingachampionshiplife.com/ which has been widely acclaimed since its release.

Rick has worked with companies of all sizes-from small businesses and entrepreneurial startups to Fortune 500 companies His high-energy content rich keynotes, seminars and workshops are designed for associations and firms of all sizes that want to maximize their potential.

For more information on Rick’s keynote speaking programs, audio programs and training programs go to http://www.dr.rickgoodman.com/ or call 888-267-6098

Preparing Your Team To Succeed

In order to prepare your team to succeed. It is important that you have systems in place that are designed for simplicity's speed and efficiency. Your team is only going to be as good as the coach and therefore it's very important that your staff understands the office systems and why they're in place.

It's important to design systems in your office as if you were going to open up five more offices. Everything must feel touch and taste the same way. Your staff should be able to go from one office to another and the systems in each office should already be in place so there is no need for further training.

It's important for you analyze your systems and ask yourself the following questions:

1: Can my staff members go to any of my satellite offices and function without having to be trained?

If your answer is yes then your systems can be duplicated.

2: Does my staff understand what the weekly monthly and yearly goals are for our practice and do I cover that in our weekly staff meetings?

If your answer to this is No your team will be unprepared to assist you in achieving your goals.

It was once said "No plan is a plan to fail". In order to prepare your team to succeed it is imperative that you have systems in place that will assist your staff in helping you to reach your goals and they have to understand what those goals are.

Dr. Rick Goodman is a professional speaker who works with organizations that want to Develop Great Leaders “Through Excellence in Communication and Team Building”. For more information on Rick’s speaking programs, Audio Programs and learning programs contact (888) 267-6098 or Rick@drrickgoodman.com (www.drrickgoodman.com)