Are the Right People on Your Bus?

The people closest to you in your personal and professional lives will have a tremendous influence on who you become. As a friend of mine told me,

“I put people in my life who don’t let anything stop them.”

They have the same success mindset she does, and at her young age she has accomplished more than most people do in a lifetime. How does she do this?

Think of yourself as a bus driver and the seats behind you are occupied by those closest to you. What are you hearing from them? How do they act from day to day? How much of a priority are you to them? What actions are they doing you are proud of? What positive influence do you feel in their presence?

People you want on your bus

You are the average of the people you associate with. If you are surrounded by whiners and those who believe life is out to get them, then you become just like those people. If you spend time around people who are glad to see Mondays, are upbeat about life, and are eager to work hard to succeed, then you become more like them as well.

Make a list of 20 people currently on your bus. Family, friends, and the people you are closest to in your work environment. These are the people influencing your thinking, habits and drive to achieve. Are these the right people that will help you reach your dreams?

Off-loading your bus

Once you review who is on your bus you realize there are people there who really don’t have any business riding with you. What do you do about that? As you grow as a person you will be moving at a different pace than those around you who are not growing as fast. Eventually, you can outgrow some relationships.

As you reconnect with old high school friends through social media you will see how differently people have grown or changed over the years. Your current passengers on your bus are the same way. Are they growing with you?

Offloading passengers is tough to do. It depends on how badly you want to succeed. Making a choice to move beyond current friendships and family relationships can be a challenging and difficult process but one that is critical to your development and success. If their influence is negative, if you are a low priority, if they just don’t see the abundance of life’s opportunities, then you have no option but to let them off the bus. Either with a swiftness of a good-bye, or allowing things to gradually drift away; however, you choose, you need to make room for the right people to impact your life in a positive way.

Obviously, if you are only looking for people to give to you without you offering anything in return, your bus will be empty of the people you want to attract.

Getting the right passengers on your bus

Where you spend your leisure time, where you network, and the activities you get involved with will expose you to the average of the groups you are in. Not finding the right people? Then it’s time to find new places to connect with the right people.

Consider the people you want to be involved with then ask yourself the following questions: Where do I meet these people? How can I connect with these people? What is it about me that attracted the wrong people on the bus to begin with and what do I need to change in order to attract the right people on the bus? The answers to these questions could be the greatest decisions you make in creating greater success for yourself.

Burn the boats? First, Think About Who You are Dealing with.

In 1519 Hernan Cortes sailed to Mexico to defeat the Aztec Empire and as legend has it upon landing he burned his boats so his soldiers could not turn back and had no choice but to fight to win.

Actually, due to a translation error of the events, it appears although he actually did destroy the ships, it was not by burning them but by running them ashore. This story has been used by many a speaker to illustrate removing the option to retreat. Full steam ahead. No looking back.

You can just hear the music building, the testosterone levels increase in the room, and then…panic sets in.

Explorers in 1519 were of a different breed of human being. They expected to face danger, fight for their lives, and handle meager living conditions. Losing the boats only meant they would be forced to settle in the new land and defend what was theirs.

Today’s American worker is not that same breed of individual. Arguably, we’ve never known real hardship. We are not used to defending ourselves from danger. We are conditioned to look for the side door, just in case we need an escape. To corner your employees in an employment fight to the death will cause more to abandon ship than hunker down for the fight.

Although some versions of the story differ, historians say the soldiers knew this was the plan and it was not done as a surprise tactic. Their loyalty to their commander and the cause (and obtaining the riches the new land promised) made them willing to accept this approach.

In today’s business world, it is better to spend time building loyalty and commitment to the cause in your employees for the battles that don’t require the drastic choice of burning the boats. Remember, the soldiers following Cortes were battle-tested and ready for such options. Be sure you are a battle-tested tight-knit group before deciding you are removing all options but one; otherwise, you might be facing the “enemy” all alone.

The Decision Tree of Success or Failure

Did the leaders of Enron start out trying to lie to their investors? Did Bernie Madoff intend on defrauding those who trusted and believe in him? Did you wake up this morning intent on getting so upset in a 2pm meeting where you said things in anger that could cost you your job? No, but it happens every day.

Have you ever asked how did we get here?

Every day we are faced with infinite possibilities and hundreds of decisions. The path those decisions leads us on has us end up where we brought ourselves to. Without question there is randomness and luck involved in the decisions we face. Read Malcolm Gladwell’s excellent book Outliers on the impact fortune has on our lives.

What we do with those decisions is our choice and ultimately leads us to face the next set of choices along that path. Most of us have faced decisions to try cigarettes, alcohol, drugs, illicit activity, and to cheat, to lie, to over-indulge, we get to prioritize our lives as we decide. These become significant choices that significantly impact who we become. Each day we set our path face critical moments that propel us along.

How have the decisions you made as a teenager impacted you today?

How did your college choice change your perspective on life?

What did you decide six months ago that has you now reaping those results?

There is no one path to success or one path to ruin. We choose our own way. The critical moments occur in considering the choices you make on each decision. With each decision ask yourself, “Does this get me to where I want to go?” Whether it is personal choices or professional choices, you need to consider which direction each step takes you.

Know where you want to go.

Know the direction you want to take to reach that end point.

With each step make progress along the path of your choosing.

I often hear people wanting to experience success and they always ask, “How do I get there?” You can’t borrow another person’s playbook because it won’t fit your decisions you face. You achieve success with each step in the right direction. Choose your decision steps with the desired result in mind.

Jump on Opportunities like a Caffeinated Cricket

Have you ever watched a movie or listened to a speaker at a conference that put you to sleep? You just get numb from the uninspiring information and delivery. A bad economy will do the same thing to your business. After 18 months of recession slow down and back-stepping, business leaders can get into a malaise that feels like the numbness experienced listening to that boring speaker.

Once this habitual plodding happens, business leaders miss good opportunities because their minds are more focused on just getting through one more month instead of looking for big jump opportunities.

Ask yourself these questions:

• Is your budget for this year set with expectation of improvement or with the fear of repeating 2009?
• Do you have wiggle room to capitalize on a fresh opportunity or do you feel overwhelmed in time and financial resources; therefore, you only hope to make it through the year?
• Are you on high energy rush and expecting to have a record performance year, or are you using the same mindset you used to survive 2008 and 2009?

Opportunities for every business will be available this year. Those leaders who are looking for them will find a way to take those opportunities and turn them into long-term success. Others will be waiting on the right time to take on such new ideas, which means those business executives will go lacking while the aggressors take more market share.

Use this month to awaken your senses, get your people vibrant in their attitudes once again and grab your share of opportunities that are ripe with potential. In talking with a gentleman who owns 600 rental properties, someone asked him if he was feeling the pinch of the economy where people were not paying or he was left with open properties. He didn’t even respond to the question, he just offered a different perspective.

He said, “I’m not worried about how many open properties I have because now is the time to focus on the great opportunity to buy more properties, so I’ve been on a buying spree getting some great deals.”

Think of your perspective. Are you more focused on the negative impact the economy has had on your business, or are you focusing on the opportunities that can be grabbed while everyone is looking the other way? This is your wake up call.

Positive Emotions for Your Employees (Part 2)

As I mentioned in my last blog post, true leaders will recognize the benefits to having a consistency of these positive behaviors in the workplace, and work to find ways to create that type of positive working atmosphere. Give your employees the opportunity to experience these emotions while working for you. They will be appreciative and you will benefit as well from the improved results.

Here are six more positive emotions you will want prevalent in your workplace and the activities that surveyed results say trigger these emotions.

Happy

What makes people happy is positive relationships. Whether they are with friends, coworkers or family, people describe happy most often when they have relationships that are caring, supportive and loving.

How are you creating a workplace that creates happiness? What kind of relationships do employees have with each other? What type of management style do you create that people feel happy when working under your leadership? Do I believe you need to create playground work environments or hold hands and sing “We are the World” before every work day for people to be happy? Obviously not. But caring and supportive working relationships between employees and between staff and management is what makes a unified happy workforce.

Relaxed

Relaxed is a sensation I hear too frequently people have forgotten how to feel in this whirlwind pace we live in. Responses to what event elicits being relaxed overwhelming indicated people think of being at the beach. The sun, the surf and getting away to this destination are synonymous with relaxation.

I’m sure you are thinking, of course everyone enjoys going to the beach, but how can I incorporate that into my workplace. In fact, you may be thinking do I want that emotion in the workplace? Many organizations offer incentive trips and the majority of those trips involve some type of destination with sun and surf involved. What type of incentives are you offering? Do you have a travel agency as a perk to help people book relaxing vacations? Employees who truly get a time of relaxation are better prepared to handle the demands of a work day than those employees running a ragged edge of emotion and mental capacity. Burn out used to be something to be worried about years ago. Today, it seems to be the norm. Help your staff utilize their vacation time for their greatest benefit. Help them to relax.

Laughter

This is an emotion people say they do not have enough of in their lives. It is also an emotion most often shared with friends. Contrary to popular managerial belief, laughter in the workplace does not mean lack of productivity. Laughter at work is more of an indication employees are working with friends and people they enjoy spending time with. If laughter is seldom heard in the hallways of your organization, it would be wise to figure out what or who is tightening the lid down on this emotion. In the speaking business we have a saying; you only need to be funny if you want to get paid. Levity leads to learning. Shouldn’t leaders be held to the same standards? When people are laughing, they are listening and when they are listening, they are learning.

Thrilled

The survey respondents indicated that being thrilled comes from adventures and recognition. Adventures can be riding a new ride at a theme park, or visiting a location a person has never been to before, or even participating in a new project in a new way. Adventure awakens the senses and gives people a thrill when experiencing the new and different most frequently of their choosing.

People also responded they felt thrilled when they received recognition for doing something well from someone they respect. How are you consistently recognizing your staff for doing a great job? How often do you use your words to thrill your employees? How many times are you offering your employees a chance for adventure to try new directions, new projects, work with new clients? A thrilled workforce is an alive workforce ready to perform.

Satisfaction

When do people most experience the emotion of satisfaction? Satisfaction follows after an accomplishment. There is a sense of satisfaction people experience from something as simple as planting the flower bed in the springtime to as demanding as completing the Ironman triathlon. People expressed how important it is to feel satisfaction in all areas of their lives.

Jobs left unfinished, or working on tasks that have no definable conclusion prevents satisfaction from being fully experienced. As leaders, it is important to set accomplishment targets so when those targets are reached there can be a celebration and a sense of satisfaction for all involved. At the conclusion of constructing a new office building a ribbon cutting says this job has been completed, at the end of winning the World Series, there is a champagne celebration because those who have achieved great accomplishment want to celebrate great satisfaction. How do you encourage your employees to feel that type of satisfaction? When was the last time you had a champagne celebration akin to a locker room following a victorious World Series? Maybe it’s time.

Appreciation

Our survey indicates people experience appreciation when reveling in the accomplishments and skills of others. For example, few of can even attempt some of the amazing performances we witness in the Olympics as we watch with great appreciation. I know about all I could do on a halfpipe is ride a sled down the middle of it! We are surrounded by talent and skill we admire and appreciate.

Today appreciation is being replaced with criticism all too frequently. We are quick to point out the flaws without appreciating the entire winning performance. In your workplace do your employees recognize and appreciate the best workers, or do they scorn them for “making the rest of us look bad.” Leaders can add more appreciation to the work culture be focusing more on the accomplishments and great performances within the workplace as opposed to highlighting the negative.

These twelve emotions people enjoy experiencing can be brought to the workplace by the right leadership which will not only make for a more rewarding work environment for the staff, but the benefits for the employer will give everyone a better feeling about the positive progress. How do you plan on building up these emotions?