For general life skills the “Golden Rule” works very well. However, when leading others, or when trying to build a deeper relationship with others in any endeavor there is a higher level of interaction which many call “platinum.”

The “platinum” approach to leadership states, “do unto others as they want to be done unto.” This means leaders need to invest time to get to know the people they lead to understand what is most important to them.

When leaders know the people they lead well enough to know what is most important to them, and how they like to be led, leaders can adapt their style to get the most out of their team members.

The platinum approach to leadership is not a “one style fits all” leadership style, but offers a customized relationship that connects at a deeper level and allows for much greater results. This is because leaders can tap into the motivation strategies of the people they lead, and give them what they need most to be more consistently motivated and develop the skills necessary to achieve at a higher level.

A great example of this is my wife, who is a relatively private person and doesn’t like to have the spotlight shone on her. If she were recognized for an accomplishment on a stage in front of a large audience she would be extremely uncomfortable. But, get her in a one-on-one conversation and directly and specifically tell her to her face how she made a difference or how important she is to the organization she works for, it would light her up. The former would be demotivating and the latter would energize her. It’s important for her boss to understand her personality in this way to be able to get the most out of her in the most positive, supportive manner.

If you’d like even more support in becoming a better leader I encourage you to check out “The Leadership Series.” This is a new product I’ve created with Jim Smith “The Executive Happiness Coach.” Jim and I discuss 7 Essential Leadership Strategies for the 21st Century. It will officially be available on Tuesday, December 15th. All pre-orders will receive access to a Special Audio Bonus Segment “Leading The ‘Millenials” - GenY In The Workplace & What To Do With Them.” This a 50-minute discussion between Jim & I where we discuss the challenges of today’s multi-generational workforce and effectively leading and motivating the youngest generation moving into the world of work.

Teamwork never breaks down.

Teamwork never fails.

This again was proved in Saturday’s U.S. vs. England World Cup tournament opener.

Despite outstanding teamwork that allowed the stronger team from England to control the ball for 57 percent of the game, they left their opening game with a disappointing 1-1 tie.

The reason? A misplay by England goalkeeper Robert Green on a shot by Clint Dempsey of the U.S. allowed the tying goal late in the first half.

It’s plays like this that continue to reinforce my belief that breakdowns in what many consider “teamwork” rarely are the cause of achieving desired organizational performance results.

Teamwork is a buzzword in corporate america that continues to ask  employees to strive for. They strive for ways to breakdown silohs that build up due to competition over resources between divisions and departments.

Yet, these requests, proclamations and teambuilding initiatives continually fail. They fail because the focus is mis-directed.

Teamwork fails in organizations and in athletics not because people do not understand the importance of working together so that “Together Everyone Achieves More.”

Teamwork fails for three reasons:

1) The rewards and benefits of giving of oneself for the betterment of the group/team are not strongly enough aligned for the individual to do so;

2) The rewards and benefits of giving of oneself for the betterment of the group/team actually create greater competition for resources between those who are supposed to be working together to share those resources.

3) One individual on o the team “drops the ball” (or fails to perform the necessary task or assignment) as England Goalkeeper Robert Green did in attempting to protect his goal against the U.S. in their opening World Cup match yesterday;

On athletic teams, when team members fail to perform to expectations and make mistakes that cost their teammates there is usually tremendous despair on the part of the teammate who didn’t perform.

In today’s Wall St. Journal, Robert Green was quoted “It was obviously a horrible mistake, a terrible mistake,” said Mr. Green, bobbing his head incredulously after the game. He blamed neither the controversial new ball, the bounciest ever, nor the slickness of the pitch, and said his teammates left him alone after the mishap. “People don’t say anything. You know you made a mistake. You’ve got to deal with it.”

Yet, in many business situations, few individuals who fail to support their team members in situations when teamwork is required feel as though they’ve let anyone down, because many times they are performing in their own self-interests or truly have a blind spot and do not realize the negative impact of their parochialism.

If you would like to learn more about how to truly improve teamwork in your organization I want to know about it.

I’m presently working on a new White Paper titled, “The Myth of Teamwork - Why Teamwork Breaks Down and What Organizational Leaders Can Do About It.”

Click this link and order the White Paper and you will receive notification as soon as it is ready for you to download, read and begin applying to improve teamwork in your workplace.

Although I’ve never been much of a fan until recent years, the 2006 World Cup Tournament did catch my attention. As a matter of fact I believe the Finals Match between Italy and France may have been the first complete soccer match I’ve ever watched on TV.

That event stands out for the very selfish play by France’s star player Zinedane Zidane, who scored France’s only goal in the game but subsequently showed a complete lack of self-leadership by head-butting an opponent during an altercction forcing his removal from the final minutes of the game, the overtime and penalty shot phase the determined the Champion.

The Champion Leadership lesson from that World Cup came down to that incident and showed a lack of emotional intelligence and self-leadership. In business emotions play a regular part of our individual and team success as I’ve seen many leaders show a complete disregard for managing their emotions, to the detriment of their business relationships.

But, today the World Cup starts fresh. All 32-teams will be applying my “3 Strategies of Champion Organizations” as they get started. The team that will come out on top will be the team that most effectively implements and executes those three stratgies most consistently.

The “3 Strategies” are:

1. A Compelling Vision & Strategy
2. Performance Management Accountability Systems
3. Leadership & Teamwork Developed Throughout

To learn what to look for regarding the “3 Strategies of Champion Organizations” as we together watch the World Cup Football Championship unfold over the next few weeks, download the free White Paper here .

As we move into the holiday season which starts with the “Thanksgiving” holiday this Thursday, it got me thinking about how great leaders show genuine appreciation for the efforts of those they lead and create situations to recognize those efforts in special ways that connect with their followers.

A little “thanks” goes a long way, as long as it is specific and genuine. Well-done shows of appreciation by managers and leaders can improve employee morale and motivation. They can also go a long way towards replacing the need to continually throw salary raises and bonuses at employees in the hope of improving their morale and motivation.

Studies continue to show that in lieu of appreciation and feeling valued in the workplace employees pine for higher wages, bonuses and benefits, which creates an entitlement mentality and wealthier unhappy and unappreciated employees.

In the spirit of the Thanksgiving Holiday spend time in the next few days working on and implementing one or both of these ideas:

1. Invest a few minutes each day to write down a couple of specific things you appreciate about each of the people on your team. Then, invest just one-two minutes with each individual person to share what you wrote in a face-to-face conversation.
2. In your next staff meeting, open it up by going around the table one person at a time and share “one-thing” you appreciate about each individual on your team (the public show of appreciation will have a huge impact on the overall morale of your team and create a collective and contagious positive feeling).
3. Write a hand-written “Thank You” note expressing your gratitude for the contributions your team member has made. Again, here, be specific as to what it is the team member does to contribute to the effort. Handwritten notes are a lost art in this day of e-mail and text messaging and I guarantee will have a huge impact.

One caveat that I can not stress enough. Your comments must be specific to the individual and not just generic praise. By specific I mean pointing out a specific incident in detail, or a specific achievement that made a difference to the team, the company or helped you as a leader do something different or better.

For example:
“Jim, I don’t know if you realize how big a help it was and what a difference it made last week when you went out of your way to help Steve prepare for his presentation to XYZ Company. I don’t think we would have gotten that contract without the insights you were able to provide to Steve. Thank you for taking the initiative to go the extra mile when you recognized the need.”

Have fun with it and enjoy the process by noticing the reactions and feedback, both verbal and non-verbal, you receive after doing these. If you do, I believe it will become addicting to you and contagious for your organization and will easily begin to improve the performance of your team.

In the realm of leadership and developing an organization with high morale and motivation the strategy of “do as I say, not as I do” is a loser.

The highest value a leader can bring to an organization is “congruency.” Congruency is “walking the talk,” “doing what is expected of others,” and being an examplary role model for the espoused values and behaviors that build the foundation of championship organizations.

My mentor, Alan Weiss, The Million Dollar Consultant, said in a workshop once that people “follow what they see in the halls, not what is written on the walls.”

People follow people they respect. People respect people with integrity. Leaders gain integrity by being the role model and modeling the behavior they expect from those they lead. Its virtually impossible for leaders to hold others accountable to expected values and behaviors when they themselves blatantly violate those values.

Therefore, its time to do a self-assessment.

As a leader are you showing up consistently as you expect others to show up?
Are you fulfilling the values and behaviors to which the organization proclaims its commitment?
How could you be better at leading yourself first? If you were, what message would it send to the rest of your team?

One area I’ve found in which leaders fall short of leading themselves first is procrastination.  Two of my present clients came to me to help them fix the challenges they were facing in their business because they themselves had procrastinated on key issues. Their inability to stop procrastinating caused low morale, and low employee engagement throughout their organizations. As simple as it sounds they needed help to end procrastination.
If this is a challenge for you and others in your company, you may want to download a couple of free chapters and an exercise from my End Procrastination NOW! System, available free at this link.

A few minutes into an exercise in which I asked the students to list people whom they knew that they believed were great leaders, James raised his hand to ask a question. When I recognized him, he asked, “can I put ‘me’?

To which I said, “James, that is an outstanding question and one I’m glad you asked because that may be the most important lesson I am going to teach tonight. Yes, you should put ‘me’ on your list because if you want to be a great leader you must believe you are a great leader.”

As the old saying goes, “from the mouths of babes…”

Do you believe you are a great leader?

You may feel uncomfortable proclaiming yourself a great leader as being braggadocious, or feel you just don’t have the experience to make such a claim.

Get over it!

To become a great leader you must believe you have great leadership tendencies within you, and you do. Own it, take responsibility for it, and look for ways to develop the outstanding leader within.

Believing you are an emerging great leader will give you the empetus to take the steps necessary to develop the skills necessary.

Champion Leadership Tip #2 - Exercise:

Before you move on to the next task of the day upon completing reading this post, write down three experiences you have had in your life that are positive references that you either, a) are a great leader, or b) have the potential to be a great leader.

Subscribe to the “Champion Leadership Tips” Here and be notified via e-mail each time a new one is posted.

In preparing for a leadership keynote address I was asked to deliver recently at a regional martial arts school I decided I needed a definition that rang true for me.

I sat down this week to craft my own and in reviewing not just my 27 years in business, 20 years in minor league professional baseball management, and now 10 years studying business success and successful leadership I reflected on the role those I respect as the best leaders I’ve experienced in my life played in making me who I am today.

What I realized was they inspired me to go for something that I was not even aware of was something I could enjoy achieving or being a part of. They usually did so by being a role model in how they went after the same or similar thing. Additionally, they took responsibility for their role in inspiring me to go for it and continued to me by coaching and guiding me to perform at the level necessary to achieve success at it.

Based on my experiences as identified above, here’s what I came up with:

“Inspiring others to do something they ordinarilly would not do, and/or coaching them to perform at an even higher level than they ordinarilly would perform, if left on their own.”

What do you think? Does it ring true for you? What would you add or change about it? Or, what is your definition of leadership and what specific references do you have that have directed you to define leadership in the way you do?
I look forward to your comments and contributions.

(you can find a complete list of my Weekly Champion Leadership Tips here, beginning Monday, October 26, 2009)

Today, with regards to customer service I experienced something completely new, different and most importantly - exceptional and memorable

The company is one of the largest and most prestigious CPA firms in the Hudson Valley Region of New York - Vanacore, DeBenedictus, DiGovanni and Weddell.

After the “Director of First Impressions” greeted me from behind her open window at the reception counter, she promptly called my party to let him know I had arrived, she handed me a menu of beverages. This menu was presented to me as if it were a wine list at a fine restaurant. The options included soft drinks, coffee, tea, sparkling water, and regular water. I chose plain water.

A few moments later she walked out to the waiting area and handed me a real glass full of water. Usually I am proferred a paper or plastic cup, or a coffee mug with water. This was an impressive drinking glass.

In my business consulting I encourage my clients to focus on the “fundamentals” to achieve market differentiation. In football they call it “blocking and tackling,” in ice hockey its skating and stickhandling, in basketball its the free-throws and blocking out under the basket. Every sport has them and all businesses have them.

My musical hero Bruce Springsteen wrote a song a long time ago which is rarely, if ever played, called “It’s the Little Things That Count.” It relates to personal relationships but is just as pertinent in the business setting.

So, today, my vote for a “Champion Business” goes to Vanacore, DeBenedictus, DiGovanni and Weddell based in Newburgh, NY for the presentation of a beverage “menu” to its guests, offered by their “Director of First Impressions.” Great job!

What are the “little things” in your business that for little or no cost and little additional effort, you could easily raise the bar on the impression you make on your clients, prospects and competitors? Pick one today and start working on it.

ABSOLUTELY!

I couldn’t agree more.

As many of you know my coaching practice began by helping business owners breakthrough the habit of procrastination. I continue to do workshops where I get uncomfortable, squirming in the seats of business owners and CEOs when the subject of procrastination is broached.

Why are CEOs “wusses” and what do they procrastinate on? You’d be surprised to learn a myriad of things, including as Lencioni points out confronting behavior issues that negatively impact individual and organizational performance. Other procrastination items include marketing, sales, accounts receivables, delivering bad news to employees and customers, and the list can go on.

Not to be flip here but one of the big issues CEOs procrastinate on is the procrastination of their employees. Instead of confronting performance issues, they hope they get better, they hope they get better, they hope they get better. Then, they blow wreaking havoc on the individual and ripple affects are felt throughout the organization impacting the culture for months, if not years.

Here are some resources with more specific articles on some of these issues, if you want to learn more and go a little deeper into this issue. Thank you to Mr. Lencioni for bringing the issue to the fore, I’ll do my part to help CEOs build the skills they need to more positively influence individual and organizational performance and improve workplace morale:

Manage Workplace Conflict to Improve Employee Morale

Stop Procrastination Before It Kills Your Business