4 Executive Reasons to make Cookies for the Team.

When was the last time you enjoyed a fresh baked cookie? Not one you bought at the local Starbucks (although, their Oatmeal Cookies are great!), one that you made with your own hands?
Better yet, when was the last time you made cookies to share with your team?

Looking back to days of childhood past, do you recall how good it felt to come home from school to fresh baked cookies and a glass of milk? If your mom wasn't the June Clever type, worry not. Take a stroll down memory lane to a time when you enjoyed sharing a scrumptious, ooey, gooey delightful treat warm from the oven. Now catch a hold of that feeling it stirred inside. Got the picture?

As leaders, you demand a lot from those around you. Your expectations for top performance are set high and while that is necessary for the business demands, what are you doing to encourage the heart of your team? What have you done lately to stir a feeling of delight in the team around you?

When you are looking to boost productivity or roll out a new project, it is key to have mind and hearts prepared to receive and move. The next time, try baking the team some homemade cookies, you might just be surprised what you get on the other side. Today we'll share just 2 of the 4 reasons to make cookies for your team. We want to set you up for success, consider these tips as two keys to your teams success.

Reason #1 - Acknowledges you notice. Just like when you were a kid and mom made you your favorite cookie, those we lead on a day to day basis want to feel that they matter. They want to feel that we appreciate the little and the big things. Nothing says 'I see you' better than a homemade cookie on a whim.

Reason #2 - Encourages the heart. Accomplishing extraordinary things in organizations is hard work. To keep hope and determination alive, leaders recognize contributions that individuals make. In every winning team, the members need to share in the rewards of their efforts, so leaders celebrate accomplishments. They make people feel like heroes. (Kouzes/Posner)

Later we will go over the remaining two reasons to make cookies for your team. If you don't have a recipe to dive into in the kitchen, just sign up here to receive two of my favorite cookie recipes, they always work for me when I am in the mood to bake.

Cross Polinating for Success- Bees Do it, How About You?

Have you found it is easier to promote other business people's services over your own? Do you find that you bumble for the words to explain fluidly what you do when you can talk for hours about the success rate of your colleagues? How do you feel about selling your services to potential clients?

Well if you answered yes to either of those questions, relax, you are not alone. Recently I watched as I talked to Coaches, Consultants, Professionals and Entrepreneurs and asked questions about how they promote their business - 4 out of every 5 people were stumbling for words. They were self conscious and nervous about "doing it right."

When asked to give a win or celebration for what they were up to in business, most couldn't find an answer. And, when asked how they felt about selling their services, nearly 100% said they didn't enjoy it - "it was the necessary evil part of doing business."

On the reverse, when the same group was asked about a colleague's services, hands down each person could celebrate and acknowledge and sell the services of their colleague with grace and ease. Astonishingly when asked the inevitable "why" the answers were just as clear. "It's easy to talk about what 'they' do, it's not me talking about me." Are you in the same boat? Can you talk about others successes better than your own?

So what to do. Well, I have come up with a solution to get beyond the centuries old challenge of selling our goods and services with confidence while earning a sustainable income. Easy, just Surround Yourself with others who can sell you and you can sell them! It's called cross pollinating and it's really simple and a lot of fun.

The strategy is simple and sweet like honey.

Imagine the power in having a group of colleagues who are evangelists for you and your business out promoting and selling on your behalf! Imagine if you had 10 evangelists and each enrolled one client contact and that 10 turned into new clients. Imagine what you could do as an evangelist for another person's business? What might that contribution look like for their business? The cycle goes on and on. They share about you, you share about them and what we have are success stories all around us.

Remember, we have the power within us to grow and prosper other people's business and they have that same power working on your side! Take the time today to identify your team of evangelists and start spreading the good news and allowing them to do the same for you.

Everyone is talking! What will you do?

Everyone is talking about it: The Credit Crunch. Recession. Falling stock prices. The doomed housing market.

If your business' budget is shrinking, you probably cannot afford to focus on talent, right? Wrong.

This is your organization's opportunity to think strategically ... and invest in the leaders of the future.

Business coaching has become a powerful tool in developing leadership in today’s increasingly competitive market. The research to date, strongly suggests that coaching develops executive leadership and is key in retaining an organizations major talent. The Executive coach brings a tool box of qualities which encourages and includes a genuine wish to support the executives professional advancement. The Executive in turn will learn and acquire the resources necessary to exercise his or her leadership abilities.

Essentially, coaching is about growing an individuals self leadership qualities and developing the potential to be one’s best. The practice of coaching continues to prove a fact: focused attention produces desired results.

Coaching Exercise:

1. What do you believe to be true about your organization in today's economy?
2. What can you identify as the three main obstacles that when moved, your road to success will open up?
3. How will you maneuver around them, with few casualties, while empowering your team to keep moving?
   
4. ask yourself- what strategy will produce the results I desire for myself, my team, my leaders?
5. What is my plan for building up the talent within my company?
   

The World is Conspiring Against Me!

Have you ever thought that the world is conspiring against you? Well there have been times in life and business that I have. I mean, let's be truthful here. We have all been faced with what seem to be insurmountable obstacles in our path and as we strive for direction or clarity, we can get discouraged.

We even wonder what on earth did we do to deserve ______(fill in the blank) and how are we going to get beyond it? For business owners, this can be an ongoing dance between joy and emotional turmoil, wondering what is going to happen next. The trap in getting stuck in a place like this is that we often start making decisions out of fear vs. logic. We allow our emotions to be the driver instead of our vision and plan.

Several of the clients that I have coached come to me because they are feeling stuck on the merry-go-round of discouragement and fear-filled decision making. This is a recipe for catastrophe if not addressed at the root level. The root level is what got us to that place to begin with, so we must go there to change it. To uncover what 'it' is means taking time to reflect on what has happened and reconstruct next steps so that, we don't keep recreating the same old situation. We must always remember that if we are making a decision based out of fear, it is probably the wrong decision.

So, you may be asking yourself, 'great Tammy, I get the fear piece but I still don't get the why?' Well that is an interesting question, and one that people ask all the time. "Why is this happening to me." It is in those moments that you feel the world is conspiring against you - right? I say, the world is conspiring not against you, but conspiring to make you a Success! There are no accidents in life or business. We can learn from every meeting, encounter, employee or vendor that we come in contact with. It is the way we look at those Giants or Mountains in our path that make the difference.

3 Tips for facing those Giants and moving those Mountains

1. Reflect on where you've been
   You want to pause and look backward to correct course moving forward. It also aids in noticing how those things which seemed to be obstacles weren't really in the way, they were there for my protection.
   
2. Hit is head on
   That's right, no fancy footwork will get you out of it, you have to have the courage to stand in the face of it and know beyond all knowing that you were meant for such a time and go for it. Ask yourself, How is this going to make me a success?
   
3. Record - Track - Rehearse
   This is key for future mountains (and they will show up for your success.) When we record what has been, to correct course and track our steps moving forward, it supports us staying on the path according to our plan, and lessens the fear based decision making. Now combine it with rehearsing what will be in the future - create a new picture and attach yourself to it and those giants seem much less intimidating and the mountain more like a hill.
   

We limit ourselves by allowing fear to rule our world rather than shifting the way we look at things to envision what we want and aligning our steps to follow. Vision is necessary, and showing up as we want to be seen is key.

So the next time you feel a conspiracy is mounting...take a proactive approach and shift your mindset to one that supports where you want to go. Remember, you can make change without improvement, but you can't make improvement without change.

Tammy Redmon
Executive Coach and Business Growth Strategist
Redmon & Associates - Empowering Today's Business Leaders

Stop Running!

Do you find yourself running your business so fast that you are tired and out of breath? That is a common 'drama factor' for business owners. There are no simple cures for the dis-ease that I call Working at the Speed of Whoosh. The only thing that I have found that works is similar to the same technique they teach us in elementary school, if our clothes catch on fire. Stop. Drop. Roll.

Ok, do I have your attention yet? When we are running our business, and are unable to catch our breath it is commonly because our business is running us! I have designed a few tactics for the weary business owner that reinforce the proven technique Stop. Drop and Roll.

Step number one: Stop (and breathe)
We need to stop and consider what we are doing to ourselves by running. How are we taking care of our staff and client/customers if we are too busy to notice them? When we are running at a fast pace we are likely giving off the appearance of being scattered, worn and unavoidably out of control. Is that the impression you want your staff and customers to see of you? I say no.

So, how do we stop? Well the action is in the four letter word. Sit, Think, Oversee, Perform. Sit down and relax, allow your brain to unwind and just be in the moment. So that you can think of what obstacles have gotten in your way to taking better care of self. It has been said that we are to work On our business, not In it. That means to oversee the systems that you have set in place, not running every detail. Then you can truly perform to your potential as business leader, manager, CEO.


Step number two: Drop (everything)
Be willing to drop everything. (Oh, did I hear a collective gasp from the readers?) Yes, drop it. Many have become accustomed to running their business, office, team, instead of allowing their system to run the business. Micromanaging at it's finest is often disguised as "I am too busy" for a life, to exercise, to _____(fill in the blank.) When I am working with my coaching clients that are in breakdown and need to drop everything, I take them through an envisioning process that helps them to see their end-result, what they really want. Then, we fill in the details of what is getting in the way to getting to that place they envision. Most often my business clients see they are in their own way, their micromanaging the details vs. allowing the system they built to work for them. So, they drop what they are doing and replace it with a new action plan that requires less of them and more of others.


Step number three: Roll (just go with it)
By the time we get to Roll, people are typically feeling a sense of relief. That is because they've caught their breath, discovered what has gotten in their way, made a plan to responsibly work toward their goal and now it is time to just go with it. Work the plan and allow the plan to work for you. As coach, I encourage clients to set in place a review process that is date specific, so that they are not still pushing to get to 'it' and they are allowing their plan to work itself. This is very important for the roll-with-it factor, we commit to looking at our plan in the future and to assessing how it's working at a set point vs. every day. When we do that, we are less likely to keep running in circles or toward burnout.

Bottom-line, the responsibility to stop is on us, the individual. No one is making you do anything, draw a boundary for yourself, envision what you want, create a plan to get there and go for it. Stop. Drop and Roll.

Tammy Redmon
NW Coach and Business Growth Strategist
Redmon & Associates - Empowering Today's Business Leaders

See what I have going on!

This has been an interesting week. Actually, an interesting couple of weeks. I have been busy around the Sound with events and meetings, gathering ideas for my business and to share with others. But perhaps the most interesting piece is the new things that I have created. Like, a couple of new workshops, Building a Workshop 101 was launched with great reviews and I am putting the finishing touches on a new twist to creating vision boards (name is still in the works.) Most exciting, I have posted a few articles for print and should know how those go real soon! Dream come true, I am author!

The past few weeks I have been very busy building blogs, online networking profiles and my website. I invite you to check out the links on my blog to see what I have been talking about, writing about and building in the online community. I of course welcome feedback and comments, that is how we grow as human beings. Coming by first of week is another edition of DWELL In Possibility - doing well everyday living life, my E-newsletter for life, business and the pursuit of balance. Please go to my website and join in to receive your copy! I will be covering some fun topics:

SchoolHouse Rock - revisited
Doing Well Everyday Living Life
Highlight on Executive Coaching
Plus! Client Profile with special offer

Try something new this week that supports your business growth plan. It is a lot of fun, keeps the creativity juices flowing and may just introduce you to your next client.

An inquiry for today: What am I doing today that supports my business for tomorrow? (It's the sustainability quotient - consider it and write down your aha.)

Make it a great day!
Tammy Redmon
Coach and Business Growth Strategist
Redmon & Associates - Empowering Today's Business Leaders
email: tammy@redmonandassociates.com
www.redmonandassociates.com