Your Role as Chief Communication Officer: How do you rate yourself?

Today we have a guest blog from Lauren Owen:

External Communication

If you are like most leaders, you probably have a high standard for all of your company’s external client communications. Your standards might look like these:

• We respond ASAP to a client email or phone call.
• We regularly update our clients and customers with company news.
• The customer is always right! Or, at least deserving of very patient listening to his or her point of view, followed by a thoughtful response.
• We take their suggestions seriously, acknowledge them and let them know how and when they will be incorporated, or if not, why.

Internal Communication

But what about your internal communication?  If you are completely honest, you will admit that most likely there is a discrepancy between how you communicate with your clients and how you communicate with your co-workers. For example,

• Do you have the same response standards for internal emails and phone calls?
• Do you inform them of company news? Ask them for feedback? Let them know if and how you used their suggestions?
• How often is communicating with employees pushed off to the bottom of our lists, especially when you get busy or stressed?

Jim Hessler, author of Land on Your Feet, Not On Your Face: Building Your Leadership Platform, titles this leadership role: Chief Communication Officer, or CCO. Jim notes that as a leader, you set the tone and quality standards for the rest of our company. While it’s hard to measure the costs resulting from this disparity between internal and external communication standards, here’s an example of some compelling positive ramifications when one leader decided to take his role of Chief Communication Officer seriously.

One Leader’s Story

Richard Brown, General Manager of The Box Maker, headquartered in Kent, Washington, was frustrated about his inability to effectively reach his employees, who are scattered throughout two states in seven different locations.  Working with producer Lucas Mack at 4^th Ave Media, he launched a weekly internal video newsletter, Inside the Box, to spread news and information, share coworker success stories, and keep his people up-to-date on the latest happenings at the company. The results?  After just two months and twelve episodes, he notes that:

• Productivity and innovative ideas coming from employees are up significantly
• Turnover and absenteeism are both down throughout the organization; and to his immense delight,
• “For the first time I can walk through one of my plants and people actually come up to talk to me instead of avoiding me.”

Click here to view a sample of Richard’s Inside the Box video newsletter.

Call to Action:

So, how are you doing as your company’s Chief Communication Officer?

How would your employees rate you as CCO?

What’s the one thing you could put into place in the next 30 days that would have the biggest impact on your communication effectiveness?

What is the impact of doing nothing?

LAUREN OWEN:

Lauren Owen, Redpoint Succession and Leadership Coaching

Lauren works with businesses leaders who want to develop and execute succession plans, sharpen their business practices, strengthen their leadership, and create long-lasting value in their businesses. She is a certified Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered Leadership Coach. She is also a leader of the Excell Puget Sound Southend Group.

(206) 427-2856, (253) 245.3518

lauren@redpointcoaching.com

www.redpointcoaching.com

Take Advantage of the Dog Days of Summer (& Beat Your Competitors in the Fall)

Today we have a guest blog from Elizabeth Andreini:

August is generally a quiet time for business; many people’s thoughts turn to vacation and it might seem that half the people you want to contact are either getting ready to go on vacation, or already on vacation (even if they haven’t yet left the office). Several companies I’ve talked with recently have been thinking about making changes in the markets they serve. My advice, which I share with you, is this can be an ideal time to reach out and have a different type of conversation with customers and prospects to gather information to make strategic decisions on markets and products.

Maybe your business feels less focused than you would like it to be because there are so many possibilities that you aren’t sure you are focusing enough? Or have you felt that your market traction may not be as strong as it should be and wonder about the size of the market? Are there are other markets you could be expanding into, but aren’t sure where to expand for maximum results?

No matter the question, this is the ideal time when everyone’s pace is a little slower to have some deeper, more meaningful conversations.  Take a few minutes and create a list of questions you would like to research. Ask customers and key prospects for a few minutes of time over the phone, or if they are nearby offer to meet for an (iced) coffee. Interview customers and recent prospects or others who are thought leaders, listen to them talk about their problems and needs as well as wants. Analyze market segments to pursue (including the one you are currently in) and validate that problems are urgent and pervasive to know that target segments will support both current and future business.

You might be surprised at the insights you gather and the connections you make during this research process. Taking this time during the summer doldrums and you will be ready to create a plan that will help you as you come into the more active fall and winter periods – and help prepare you for an even stronger and more profitable 2015!

Consider these questions when doing your research:

1. What are some of your biggest challenges?
2. What are the biggest advantages you gain when you use our products and services?
3.  What products or services do you wish we had that we don’t?
4. If we were considering offering “test product/service” what advice would you offer us on which markets to pursue?
5. What trends are you seeing that our company should be aware of?

ELIZABETH ANDREINI

As the President of Accelerate Marketing, LLC, Elizabeth Andreini, is the “secret

weapon” CEOs turn to at key growth points when they need to transform marketing and

product management to grow their customer base, increase revenue & scale their

business. In addition to providing experienced executive insight and guidance, Elizabeth

often works as an interim CMO or VP to provide the hands-on leadership needed to

rearchitect marketing and product management and improve execution from the inside.

Elizabeth Andreini, founder & president of Accelerate Marketing, LLC 

206-769-3420 or elizabeth@accelerate-marketing.com

www.accelerate-marketing.com

Twitter: @acceler8mkting

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethandreini

Adding Value to Your Company

Too often, business owners and executives with whom I work, are focused solely on increasing their sales.  To do so puts your company and its value in jeopardy.  Not every customer is a good customer.  

I often turn our conversations from sales to how they can add value to their company.  Adding value to your company should be a part of your “think time”.  So, first make sure you are creating and using blocks of time to figure out strategically where you are going and then make sure you look at how you will:

• Drive Performance
• Protect yourself
• Make yourself obsolete

If you are already driving performance with Key Performance Indicators and other non-financial leading measurement tools, terrific!  Now figure our how you will perfect yourself.  Insurance is the tip of this iceberg.  Be sure to focus on getting the right structure and figure out your continuity plan.  Then, make sure that you look at your own strengths. 

Are you the only one in your company who can provide the value that you provide?  If so, what will you do if you are suddenly unable to perform, like you are taken away in a red truck! 

At the end of this month, Excell, along with other key players in the business community, are hosting over 60 CEO’s and their partners…. business partners and life partners.  We will all go to a resort, take a weekend to tackle these questions, share best practices and have some fun. 

Each year we sponsor a weekend like this because we believe it is important to have think time.  We think it is important to mix think time with executing on skills.  We think that sharing and networking, in the right environment, produces real value.  Not least and not last, we think fun should be involved.

How do you get your think time?  What is it you do to make sure this time is productive?  How disciplined are you in making this happen regularly and making it work for you?  

DOING THINGS FOR THE FIRST TIME, LIKE YOUR BUSINESS PLAN

Today, let’s talk about doing something for the first time.  Whether it is a sport, or doing a business plan, the first few times most of us do something, we are cautious... too cautious.  Why, because we have to think too much while we are doing the sport or business plan.  Thinking is a slow and often over-rated process. 

So, let’s take doing that business plan for the first time.  There are over achievers out there who want to produce a fifty page plan, after ultimate research.  What usually happens? It is studied to death.  No one steps up and owns it.  It sits on the shelf. 

The ExcellPugetSound lesson here is the first time you do something, like a business plan, start small and learn from doing.  Then go do it again. 

The secret about business plans and much of what we learn is that the learning is from trying it and seeing what you can improve upon the next time.  With business owners who have never done a plan (this includes one business at over $200M in sales), it is important to put a stake in the ground and then communicate around it.  Have a plan for collecting feedback and then do it again... only the second time, think about expanding who gets involved.  After years of planning, you will end up like one company I have worked with (probably the best annual planners I know) saying that you are still learning and improving. 

There is a second reason why the first time you do something it is about caution.  I remember being on our high school’s gymnastic team (perhaps mascot would have been a better position).  We had some really outstanding athletes and had been state champs two years running.  At the state meet that year, one of our teammates was introduced over the loudspeaker system as attempting a dismount that had never been done in a high school meet.  I still remember the words, “... for the first time in....”  My teammate pulled it off flawlessly. 

Why? Because it was not the first time he had ever done the dismount.  I watched him hundreds of times as he broke down the maneuver and did very small parts, perfecting them, and then put those together. 

What the audience at the state meet did not see is first time caution because the move had been practiced and repeated.  What many of my teammates had not experienced was all the planning that this guy did.  On the way home from school (nine months before the state meet) he talked (I was the audience) about what it would take to learn and then be ready to do this move at the state meet. 

By the time he made it to state, he had muscle memory and nine months of steadily improving results.  Now go out there and plan for how you will take advantage of the economic recovery. 

How’s Your GPS?

Today we have a guest blog from Dan Weedin:

A few weeks ago, I was driving home with my daughter on the last leg of a week-long, cross-country trip that took us 3,004 miles from her doorstep in Steubenville, OH to our doorstep in Poulsbo, WA. She was coming back home after a 7-year “tour” that resulted in a Masters degree and a job back home. We had used her GPS throughout the trip to guide us to our next destination. I turned it on this last leg home, even though I knew the way because I always like to feel this is my final “destination.”

I was getting frustrated with the GPS as she kept telling me to take an alternate route home. I couldn’t understand it.  After all, I knew where I was going. Heck, I’d driven this stretch of highway a gazillion times.  Why would this electronic device try to take me off my own course?  In jest, I kept telling her that I was simply going to ignore her and go my own way. She had the last laugh.

Turns out the GPS had a built-in sensor for traffic. She was trying to help me avoid a huge traffic jam being caused by the start of a 3-day Independence Day weekend on the Interstate. By the time I realized my mistake, it was too late and I was stuck.

How often does that happen to us?

We think our way is the right way because we’ve done it before; we can do it best by ourselves; we don’t need any help…we’re smart. Just like I laughed off the good advice from the GPS, we also often disregard opportunities to really rapidly advance our careers and improve our lives when we don’t seek help.

Do yourself a huge favor. Find some smart GPS to guide you “home.” Executive coaches and mentors often sense those “traffic jams” that lay in wait ahead of you and can divert you to roads that lead to faster and more effective destinations. You ignore them at your own peril. I wish I had been more humble with that GPS…I would have been home faster.

Are you humble and smart enough to take the right road for your success?

Dan Weedin

Dan Weedin helps turn his clients business risk into rewards. He is able to take the abstract concepts of risk and crisis management to help business owners prepare and respond more effectively and with less time and cost to crisis. Since he doesn’t work for an insurance company or agency, he is able to act as an unbiased advocate for his clients. You can lear ore about Dan and how he can help your business on his web site at www.DanWeedin.com.

Servant Leadership: It’s not for the Faint of Heart

Today we have a guest blog from Shannon Bruce:

As business evolves and change accelerates, developing as a servant leader is vital. Servant leadership is a distinguishing factor among high performing organizations that engage cohesive and collaborative teams that leave a lasting impact, not only in productivity and profitability, but also in the way they engage and serve those they influence, both within and outside of the organization.

So what is servant leadership and what does it take to become one?

While servant leadership is a timeless concept, the phrase “servant leadership” was coined by Robert K. Greenleaf in “The Servant as Leader”, an essay that he first published in 1970. Servant leadership is a philosophy and set of practices that enriches the lives of individuals, builds better organizations and ultimately creates a more just and caring world. For more information about the essay and Robert Greenleaf’s concept,  click HERE.

In my role as an Executive Coach and Group Leader for Excell Puget Sound Kitsap, I have the opportunity to meet with Executives and CEO’s regularly. In building our group, I am seeking those who are life-long learners committed to growing and developing companies that are successful in both relationships and results. In essence, I’m looking for servant leaders who recognize the value of humility and acknowledge that receiving support and accountability from a group of like-minded peers isn’t considered weak, but is actually a sign of strength.

I had the privilege of meeting this type of leader this week. Bruce MacDonald, President and COO of Applied TechnicalSystems models servant leadership from the moment you meet him. He is a man of high integrity, warmth and humility who gets results. Leaders in his company have high regard for him, and as I network in the community, he has been recommended as a person to meet by several other leaders in Kitsap County. Bruce has made a life-long commitment to developing his skill set in this area and during our inspiring conversation, he shared the following insight with me and has given me permission to share these tips with you. This list will help you decide where your opportunities for growth are as you develop as a servant leader:

Eight Things Those You Are Privileged To Lead Have a Right to Expect From You

• To know your character.  If I follow you, will I know who you really are?  Will you deal with me with integrity?
• That you’ll take the time to explain your vision.  What’s the future and where do I fit?  Is there a place for me or will you simply “use” me?
• To never be left in isolation.  Will you be there for me?  Will you care for me?  Will you care about my needs?
• To be heard.  To whom will you listen?  When you’re busy and overloaded, will I still be heard, taken seriously and appreciated?
• To be trusted.  Can I take initiative without fear?  Will my ideas be rewarded and encouraged or will I be regarded with suspicion and distanced?
• To be given an opportunity to grow.  Will I be encouraged to be a lifelong learner?  Will my gifts be increasingly identified and expressed?  Will I be developed?
• To be held accountable.  Will I be fairly evaluated for my performance?  Will I be held to the highest standards for my life?  Will you show me how to do it better and be patient while I learn and self-correct?
• To be the object of grace.  Will I be forgiven even in the face of shortcomings, inadequacies and failure?  Will I be lead with kindness?

That’s What Followers Have a Right to Expect of You – So Don’t Let Them Down!

Servant leadership is not for the faint of heart as the list of expectations above indicate. It requires a willingness to be transparent and to take risks, to have empathy and curiosity and to communicate openly and consistently.

How would you rate yourself as a servant leader on a scale of 1 – 10, with “1” being not at all to “10” being I regularly and consistently show up as a servant leader each and every day without exception? What action will you take to develop your skills as a servant leader? And who will hold you accountable?

SHANNON BRUCE

Shannon Bruce, PCC is a Professional Certified Coach and current President and CEO of StoryBridge, Inc. of Kitsap County. She has been in the professional coaching industry for over 11 years working in many capacities as an Executive and Leadership Coach, Team Coach, Facilitator and Trainer. Her diverse background also includes 13 years as a CPA with Ernst & Young, Corporate & Regional Operations Management in the wholesale distribution field, and entrepreneurship launching multiple business start-ups.

Shannon considers herself a Catalyst for Culture Change who is an “out-of-the-box” thinker looking for new and life-giving ways to enhance business results and team relationships. With her corporate background and coach training, Shannon understands the needs of both “people” and “profit” to help companies produce more with less. Her true passion & mission is “going into companies” to “create communities”.

Living in Bremerton, WA with her 13-year old daughter, Shannon enjoys quality time with family and friends in addition to reading, exercising and hiking.

Creating the Hero Experience

Today we have a guest blog from Earl Bell:

While coaching Little League baseball during May of 2006, a nine year old boy taught me a very memorable lesson about the power of creating a hero experience.  On our first day of practice, I asked each player to write down what they wanted to accomplish by the end of season.  Most answers were fairly predictable; i.e. they wanted to pitch in a game, learn how to hit a baseball, etc…. but one boy wrote down; “I want to be a hero!” 

Now that was interesting…  I asked this boy what being a hero meant and he replied…  “To get a game winning hit and have everyone cheering for me!”  That’s simple, right?

Well, nearly three months later, this young boy hadn’t gotten a single hit in game.  Most ball players would have been discouraged and want to quit.  Instead, this young boy showed up each day with a smile on his face, simply glad to be playing ball with his friends and I really enjoyed having him on the team.  Fast forward to the first game of the post-season playoffs and during the top half of the last inning, our team was down by one run but had runners on 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd base with two out. Guess who comes up to bat?  Yep, you couldn’t have written a better script.

I called a time-out and walked over to home plate to ask this boy if he knew what time it was?  With a slight smirk he replied, “7:15 pm and time for a pinch-hitter?”  I said, “Nope – it’s time for you to be a hero - and it is totally going to happen, because I believe in you…“ With a whisper, I reminded him of his pre-season goal and then said, “This is your time!”  With a look of determination and an impish smile, an amazing thing happened when our little hero cranked the ball, and I mean hard, deep into left field.  When the dust settled, our hero was on 3^rd base, having driven in three runs.  Everyone was going crazy (even the other team) and the smile on this young boy’s face (and his parent’s faces too) could have lit up the sky at that very moment…  Well, guess who signed up to play baseball next year with a couple of friends?  Yep, you’re right!  So what does this have to do with business?  In a word, “EVERYTHING!”

Imagine building a business where a key business strategy was to create heroes.  Customers become repeat buyers and your advocates when they realize their hero experience (whatever that might be in delivering your product or service.)  If you aren’t creating hero experiences for customers, is this acceptable to you or instead a big business problem?

So here are my questions for you…. “What percentage of your customers or clients would say that you deliver the hero experience to them?”  If you do not know the answer, my question to you is, “why don’t you ask? What’s the harm?  My guess is that you’ll learn a few things along the way, and you’ll be glad you did…

EARL BELL

EARL BELL is the author of, Winning in Baseball and Business, Transforming Little League Principles into Major League Profits for Your Company, which provides a roadmap to success for leaders that desire to build thriving companies in a very competitive 21^stcentury business environment.  Earl believes that “everything you need to know about business, leadership and team building can be learned from Little League baseball.”

Earl conducts workshops, coaches and consults with owners, business leaders and their teams, teaching them how to dramatically reduce the time it takes to improve profitability, customer experience, employee engagement and company value, while simultaneously increasing discretionary time and reducing both stress/employee burnout.  He believes the secret to winning in baseball, business and life can be summarized in a simple formula:  Winning = Service + Humility. His motto is that Winning in Business is a Team Sport!

Earl has served in the Chief Financial Officer role for numerous companies throughout North America. His personal passion is youth sports and he has coached 28 teams since 2002.  Earl is a CPA, graduated from SU (Seattle University) with a BA in Accounting and from the MILL (Mercer Island Little League) with a Master’s in Youth Baseball.

Earl Bell can be reached at  earl@earlbell.com and 206-420-5946