In all great organisations, people are able to speak their minds and also share the truth with compassion. The worst organisations are those where staff consistently agrees with their bosses. If truth is not readily accepted within the organisation, discontentment will usually be the result. And when discontentment grows to hatred, no amount of team building can save the organisation.

When some of these organisations engage me to help them in their team building programs, I will usually tell them that the problem lies beneath the surface and needs them to have a heart to heart talk with their staff. Some activities just simply do not change the matters of the heart.

How do you create a work climate where truth is heard and accepted? Allow me to share a few suggestions:

1. Ask Questions And Encourage Your Staff To Do The Same

Questions should not be seen as being disobedient, intrusive or disloyal but a way of asking ourselves whether present processes work or what we do better? Great leaders use informal sessions where they ask innocent questions like: “What’s on your mind?” “Do you think it works?” “Can you help me understand?” “If you were making the decision, what would you do?” Great leaders use this to gain understanding about their staff and are not threatened when they give feedback. Once you have asked questions, encourage them to ask you back the same questions.

2. Engage Their Questions

Leaders always engage their staff when they ask questions. It is also important to acknowledge all questions as good questions. They also constantly encourage their staff by acknowledging their boldness when asking questions.

If your staff point out that things are not working out, just agree with them in humility. There is no point justifying when the end results show for themselves. Doing so will only aggravate your staff. However, it is important to all agree that once they have shared their point of view, everyone puts the matter behind them and move on.

Another useful method is to engage in a debate. Engage people in debating to and fro; allowing all to express their views. I have often been humbled by the quality of suggestions and improvements when a rigorous debate has taken place. Sometimes debates do get heated up, but it is necessary to allow them to express themselves to a certain limit. At the end of the session, all great leaders have to ensure that they have reached a solid conclusion.

3. Evaluate without pointing fingers

It is so easily to pin-point who makes the mistake. A lot of time is wasted when we start identifying which particular person made the mistake. When Philip Morris acquired 7-UP in 1978, they sold it eight years later at a loss. In one of the interviews with CEO Joe Cullman, he took personal responsibility for the loss, rather than blame his executives. In fact, he dedicated 5 pages in his book, I’m a lucky guy, to analysing how bad his decision was. It analysed the mistake, its implications and lessons. Joe went on to say that if he only listened to people who opposed his plan at that time, the disaster might have been averted. He also made sure that the media knew that it was another Joe Cullman plan that didn’t work.

He said “I will take personal responsibility for the bad decision. But we will all take responsibility for extracting the maximum learning from the tuition that they have paid.”

Conclusion

When leaders start asking questions and encouraging their staff to do the same, it is inevitable that they will start asking good questions that will steer the organisation. If we support this openness and without pointing fingers when things go wrong, we will inevitably have a group of staff that will have no fear and consistently speak the truth.

I rather surround myself with people who sharpen me and speak the truth, would you agree?

If you like this article, please subscribe to our blog by getting the Free Report on “7 Transformational Secrets to creating a Dynamic and Cohesive Team”. If you have comments, I would love to hear them. Please post them below.

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This is an inspirational video on giving our very best in achieving what we have set to do. Everytime you made a decision to change something in your life, there are always obstacles, people or even your very self that will stop you in doing what you have committed to do.

The Question is “Do You Keep Going Forward?”

If you like this video, please subscribe to our blog by getting the Free Report on “7 Transformational Secrets to creating a Dynamic and Cohesive Team”. If you have comments, I would love to hear them. Please post them below.

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In most organisations, we usually catch people making mistakes and reprimanding them for it. However, my question is “Do you catch your staff doing good?”

I recall a conversation that I had with a primary school teacher three years ago that he lamented that most schools usually punish bad behaviour in front of the entire school. However, he has yet to see students being constantly commended for their excellent behaviour. This is very important because it sets the tone to the rest of the students (and teachers as well) that this is a good example of what good behaviour is, rather than constantly focusing on bad ones. It usually seems that bad behaviours always get attention while people doing good or right are not widely acknowledged.

In work itself, we should always highlight people’s good work ethics, performance and even kindness in front of the rest of the staff. This comes in the form of verbal encouragement that is immediately dished out when you see a good behaviour. By doing it immediately, you are giving a signal that you are waiting to catch them doing good and you are quick to praise.

How To Give An Effective 90 Seconds Praise:

• Immediately give praise when a work is done well, behaviour is right or even when effort is put in. Praise need not be reserved for the best performance, anything that is good will do.
• Put your hand on the person’s back or upper arm to help them feel emotionally connected with you. You can even shake their hands to get this effect.
• Be specific on what he/she has done well.
• Tell them how you feel about it or how it has helped people around them or the organisation.
• Pause for a short while to let the words sink into their hearts.
• Thank them for their efforts and encourage them to do more of the same.

All these should take 90 seconds and I believe it will definitely brighten up their day. I used this step by step process with a group of leaders that I was training and asked them to apply it on each other. The responses I got from them were astonishing. Everyone single leader felt encouraged and some of them even commented that they never knew that the other person was paying attention to some of their good works. This process is a form of team building; use praise and encouragement to build your team.

Give your 90 seconds of praise everyday and I will guarantee that you will see a change in the attitudes of your staff.

You can also engage me to speak on this topic for your staff.

If you like this article, please subscribe to our blog by getting the Free Report on “7 Transformational Secrets to creating a Dynamic and Cohesive Team”. If you have comments, I would love to hear them. Please post them below.

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Recently I had the privilege to attend a Resilient Leadership Seminar in Singapore and there were a few great speakers there. Allow me to share with you in humility what I have gleaned from the great minds of three people:

1. Samuel Lock, MD of Clarion Consultants
2. Professor Chow Gan Moog, Head of Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National University of Singapore
3. Boyd Au, Founding Member of Public Listed Singapore Company, Enzer Corporation.

On providing Effective Leadership:

Here are the DOs:
• Do the best and right thing for the organisation and not for self gain.
• Dare to Dream and communicate your vision to others.
• Provide Exemplary Leadership- Integrity, Caring for others and a Willingness to sacrifice. 
• Admit mistakes when I am wrong and sincerely apologise for it.
• Take responsibility when things go wrong and credit others when things go well.

Here are the DON’Ts:
• Lead decisively. Do not lead from behind the line.
• Be Willing to be misunderstood and do not feel sorry for yourself.
• Don’t be a YES man. Disagree reasonably without being disagreeable.

Kenneth’s comments: A leader has to lead from the front. I am actually dismayed when I hear leaders asking more from their employees when they have not lived up the standards they have set. Even simple things like coming on time for work and meetings, if the leader cannot fulfil the requirements, he/she has no right to ask from their staff. Leaders have to be integral in everything they say and do, this is so that their followers will know that they mean what they say and say what they mean.

Another major point highlighted is that a leader should give credit to others when things go well and take responsibility when things fail. This is an act of humility that lifts our team higher that the leader itself; I feel that this is a fine example of servant leadership.

On creating a Strong Vision:

“A leadership has to have a clear mental picture of what is the future state of the organisation. It is a definite goal about what you see in 10 years time… It not only has to be clear, but it has to be consistently articulated and pursued.” Boyd Au

Kenneth’s comments: A compelling vision is constantly important for leaders to rally their troops. It has to be exciting and yet realistic. I personally feel that the leader’s main role is to constantly provide clarity of vision and a strong will to pursue it. Most organisations fail because they have not remained true to the vision that first created the organisation.

My challenge to you: As a leader, what is my organisation’s vision and how is it clearly translated to all levels of the staff? Am I constantly leading from the front and provide exemplary conduct for my staff to follow? 

If you like this article, please subscribe to our blog by getting the Free Report on “7 Transformational Secrets to creating a Dynamic and Cohesive Team”. If you have comments, I would love to hear them. Please post them below.

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Recently I had the opportunity to talk with an individual on how she really liked to pay alot of money to attend high powered seminars. Almost every year she will spend thousands upon thousands of dollars in attending one seminar after another. While I truly believe in investing thousands in my own education (and have done so every year), my question is “When is it when one goes too far?”

My concern is that I will feel emotionally charged up for that short moment and only to find myself back to square one again.

Have you been a Seminar junkie before? Would you like to share your experience and thoughts on this? Could you recommend how one person could avoid being a Seminar Junkie?

Please Add Your Comments by clicking on the words below this post.

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Most people tend to give up on making New Year’s Resolution simply because they claim they do not work. Below are some sure ways to totally sink your New Year’s Resolutions (if you have made any).

1. Create a Total Lack Of Clarity in What You Want

Just make statements such as “I want to be more successful”, “I want more customers” or even “I want more money”. Unsuccessful people tend to make generalized statements about what they want. One big problem is that they will never know whether they have reached it or not. Successful People tend to be very specific in what they want- “Success to me means that I want to get on track to exercising regularly 3 times a week on every Monday, Wednesday and Friday night at 9pm” or “I want to see my customer base increase 8% this year”. They tend to print many copies of their resolutions and pint them up in areas most visible. This goes with the saying, “Out of sight, out of mind.”

2. Create Unrealistic Expectations With No Milestone Planning

One typical example is a weight lost expectation: I want to lose 13.2 pounds (or 6 kg) this quarter. Or another: I want to increase my income by 5 times. They do so without doing anything different from last year. If you want to increase your income by 5-fold, what you are currently doing has to change and starting creating new strategies for it. Creating milestones are also important in helping you keep track where you are in your goal. Whole year goals should be mixed with quarterly goals so that you know where you are going and can celebrate when you achieve them along the way. Celebration is an important aspect of getting results.

3. Do Not Come Up With A Plan To Achieve It

Dreams are great, and most of the time the first thing to achieve your dreams is to wake up! Unsuccessful people tend to just WANT things or results. They may not want to put in a plan to specify how they intend to achieve results. As the saying goes, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Successful people usually have a plan (may not be the perfect plan) that will ensure that they will draw closer to the desired results. They know that plans can change according to the situations and remain flexible.

4. They Do Not Share Their Intentions With Other People

From my experience, most people believe that we should just keep our resolutions quiet and ensure that others do not know about it. This is so that when one fails, no one will know. However, if you intend to achieve it, shout it out and ensure that your best friends, colleagues or even (gasp!) family members know about it. When you put yourself on the line, you tend to achieve it. This is because there are people around you reminding you of what you have said!

So… what are you waiting for? Can you share with me your plans?

If you like this article, please subscribe to our blog by getting the Free Report on “7 Transformational Secrets to creating a Dynamic and Cohesive Team”. If you have comments, I would love to hear them. Please post them below.

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