Orchestrating Success

Kelly Holmes on Networking

http://teamreferralnetwork.com

Welcome to TEAM Referral Network, where we are passionate about networking and connecting you with the right professionals to grow your business. TEAM Referral Network was created in 2002 out of La Verne, California. That first chapter has grown to hundreds of chapters across the Western United States, with plans to expand nationally and internationally. TEAM Referral Network includes weekly meetings with your chapter, training programs, business development, and most importantly, quality business relationships.

The individual chapters are at the heart of TEAM and promote an environment for regular networking, building strategic partnerships, and promoting your business on a local level. Each chapter is comprised of business owners, just like you, who desire to support and grow their businesses together. Our chapters are exclusive in nature, where only one person per business category is allowed in each chapter. Traditionally, our chapters consist of local individuals, centers of influence, business owners/entrepreneurs, and corporations who physically meet on a regular basis. However, we have recently launched our virtual chapters, which employ online conferencing technologies and apps to allow networking to happen virtually! These online business networks bring the power of TEAM Referral Network to anyone and everyone!

There is so much more to TEAM Referral Network that happens outside of our chapter meetings. Members are encouraged to meet one-on-one with other members to get to know each other on a deeper level. The entire TEAM Referral Network has access to all members with the exclusive TEAM-sponsored member’s website. These “mini” websites give added value to your brand’s online presence and search engine rankings (SEO), as well as make it even easier for prospects to find your company online. TEAM Referral Network also provides regular business development trainings, as well as our annual “Big Event”, where keynote speakers and coaches challenge you to go to the next level with your business. TEAM Referral Network helps you exponentially expand your sphere of influence and grow your business referrals.

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It’s interesting to observe in the news accounts of politics the fact that people with opposing opinions both claim to be precisely correct. Is there a danger in claiming to be right?

I observe that there is typically common ground in diverse points of view and that many people don’t know how to get that perspective lost in the debate or argument about who is right and who is wrong.

Getting unstuck often is about observing reverse polarities.

Do you wish to be great? Then begin by being. Do you desire to construct a vast and lofty fabric? Think first about the foundations of humility. The higher your structure is to be, the deeper must be its foundation. – Saint Augustine

Is It One or the Other…Or Both?

Many times in interviewing leaders about their organizational culture, performance standards, and strategy, I get the response that there’s not sufficient time to write down the plan and it’s not important anyway. The response to my question as to why it’s not important typically is, “Too much structure interferes with my creativity.”

In my discipline as a musician, I understand that creativity is unleashed when the structure is clear. In addition, it’s crucial for the performer(s) to master the techniques and the notes, to then be able to be creative.

Balance is Key

My 4th leadership principle is about Systems, “Rehearse for Success.” It’s mastering the notes that leads to excellence in performance. We don’t utilize this concept in non-musical settings. We just go directly to performance and continue playing the wrong notes, so to speak. We continue to proceed by ignoring the very things that compromise our performance and limit our results.

There’s a natural tension between form and freedom. There are many ways to interpret this dynamic. As a musician, I’m able to process information by using both sides of my brain. Those who are not musicians consider us to be right-brain thinkers without structure, when, in fact, we must learn to be creative within a very rigid structure. Music is a highly structured and organized system that’s mathematical and linear, very much like computer programming.

This podcast is part one on the topic of the reverse paradigm of form versus freedom. I invite your comments as I explore the different ways this principle plays out in the cultures we lead.

Structure and Creativity

Here are some of the parameters for unleashing creativity through structure:

1. Structure Enables Creativity: If you have ever listened to a jazz ensemble, you might not have realized that this most creative of musical performance genres is actually very structured. To a non-musician, it seems as if there is no structure and the performers just make things up. Well, not true. The chord structure, the meter, the tempo, the form, and the melody, are just a few of the things that are structured. Mastering these elements allows each performer to then improvise around this structure. This is a simultaneous right/left brain function – being creative within a structure. Getting off the chord progression, or playing too loud when it’s not your solo, are reasons for not being invited to the next performance with that ensemble. Knowing the structure allows each performer to then be creative…they don’t need to spend energy thinking about what’s already defined. This is the same principle in non-musical settings: the structure prompts and encourages active engagement.

2. Consistency: Knowing the sequence and the milestones allows all the participants to coordinate efforts. The plan identifies what activities are concurrent and which are continuous. It also identifies what activities depend on the completion of other activities. This is necessary for consistency and synergy in the group’s performance.

3. Quality: When the outcomes are specifically defined, the benchmark for quality is a measurable objective. Quality, like artistry,

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Nathan Hirsch from Free Up shares his outsourcing secrets.

Nate is the CEO of FreeeUp.com and the COO of Portlight. Nate has been an entrepreneur in the eCommerce industry since 2009 and has grown into a leading expert in the field with experience managing multi-million dollar businesses. He has extensive knowledge in creating business systems and processes, personnel management, hiring remote workers, the Amazon Marketplace, and advanced sales tactics. He is passionate about sharing his knowledge with others and has been featured on leading industry podcasts, webinars, and blogs.

Nate is determined to build FreeeUp into the top hands-on platform for hiring remote workers where thousands of businesses and remote workers are connected. If you're interested in connecting with Nate, shoot him an email at [email protected].

For more information go to https://freeeup.com

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Every human has four endowments – self awareness, conscience, independent will and creative imagination. These give us the ultimate human freedom… The power to choose, to respond, to change. – Stephen Covey

Leadership Blind Spots



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“Being listened to is so close to being loved that most people cannot tell the difference.” –David Oxberg

The Leadership Skills of The Musical Conductor

Listening is a primary skill for the Transformational Leader. My model for great leadership is based on the skills of the musical conductor, who is a great listener. Success is directly and immediately experienced as a result of effective leadership by the conductor. When the conductor does not get the desired result, then it’s time to change whatever technique or cue that’s not bringing the intended results.

The conductor knows what’s wrong because he or she is listening intently. To be able to draw out the best from the musicians, the conductor must listen to what’s going on in the room and respond appropriately.

Listening is key to understanding what’s really going on. The conductor has developed a rehearsal plan for achieving the desired results in a specific period of time, however thing happen that can’t be predicted when developing the plan. The competent leader pays attention to what’s happening and responds accordingly, just like the conductor.

Listening is an Underutilized Leadership Skill

Many leaders are not fully aware of the power of listening. Many are too busy attempting to activate their personal agendas to be aware of the necessary information available around them. The Transformational Leader builds strong leaders on teams. As in a symphony orchestra, the high-performance team is comprised of highly skilled individuals. When these highly skilled individuals function together as a unit, they must be able to fully access their individual skills and acquire an additional skill set, as well…the ability to listen and respond to others on the team. The finest orchestras in the world rehearse continuously in order to maintain the highest level of ensemble status. This is a skill set developed over time by rehearsing together.

Leadership is a Culture of High Performing Leaders - An “Ensemble”

So, why don’t business and nonprofit teams rehearse best practices? Why don’t team members learn to listen intently to what’s going on around them? It might be that the leader is setting an example of talking and listening. Leaders model, and team members receive – good or bad.

Just like a musical ensemble, the team is a reflection of the leader.

See What Others are Saying About Listening

In his blog post, “How To Listen”, Seth Godin points out that there are 4 times the amount of Google searches for speaking over the number of searches for listening. We are obsessed with speaking and lose sight of the fact that listening is at least twice as important (clue: we have 2 ears and one mouth).

In his book, Tao of Leadership, John Heider says, “But what cannot be said can be demonstrated: be silent, be conscious.” Listening is a skill that engages the whole person. Helen Kemp teaches children’s choirs the following, saying, “Body, mind, spirit, voice: it takes the whole person to sing and rejoice.” One could say similar things about leadership.

Transformation Begins with the Leader

The Transformational Leader is a fully present leader utilizing every sense and every skill. Leaders are present as a whole person.

Being fully present means that you are aware of what’s going on. Listening is the key to understanding.

Let’s be quiet and see what happens.

 

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Without Discernment, Leaders Fail

We learn, then we digest that learning; finally we discern the appropriate application of the learning.– Hugh Ballou

Leading is Applied Wisdom

I’ve just finished presenting to people this week in 5 separate groups. Some of the presentations were keynotes. Some of them were workshops or lessons. The common thread was leaders wanting to gain wisdom. Some were leading from middle management and others were CEOs. Many were early stage or startup enterprise ventures.

I commend people for wanting to gain knowledge. Knowledge precedes understanding which precedes wisdom. Wisdom is gained over time with experience. Failure is a learning opportunity only if the failure is unpacked, understood, and crystallized into applicable thinking.

All too often, visionaries attempt to start up a company or charity without the necessary experience or mentorship. All too often, the visionary is not a leader and invites failure without gaining the wisdom for true discernment.

There are many right answers, however, finding the next right answer for a particular situation is elusive when we are attempting to make decisions in a vacuum.

Inventors, authors, coaches, brilliant thought leaders have the ability to change lives and create better communities. Those skills are not the same skills needed for launching and sustaining a healthy, profitable enterprise.

John Maxwell says that collaboration is multiplication. I say that collaborations are discernment where wisdom is multiplied.

 

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Continuous improvement requires systematic evaluation. Continuous improvement requires unfiltered evaluation. - Anonymous

Mastering the Evaluation is a Valuable Leadership Skill

Often I interview a potential client and hear that they have a strategic plan…more often than not, it’s put away somewhere and dusty. In other conversations about creating a strategic plan, I hear the same story…we have completed the previous plan and need a new one. Both of these paradigms are very curious to me.

Once you create a strategic plan, it becomes an organic process which migrates over time. It’s really not very efficient to stop and regroup as if starting all over again. If there’s a long-term strategy, then it’s always a long-term strategy, if the leader commits to regularly evaluating the plan, revising and updating the plan, and recommitting to the plan. It’s an ongoing process and not a stop and start process.

I’ve also written about the most dysfunctional systems in organizations, and one of those is the annual review*. Instead of waiting for a full year to evaluate, set up an ongoing system of evaluation and course correction.

Set Aside Time for Evaluation

We do not set aside time to plan and evaluate. Let’s face it. We don’t do it. Most of us don’t do it. I teach this and I must still force myself to do it. Our lame excuse is that we don’t have time. We don’t have time because we haven’t defined the value for the evaluation and we haven’t defined the cost for lack of evaluation. It’s very costly to have to repeat, undo, or redo things and it’s very destructive to the morale of the people.

A tradition in strategic planning is to do a S.W.O.T. (define the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats). That’s a broken model which puts us back into the traditions that have caused us problems in the first place. It’s time to rethink evaluations.

I have used a simple model for many years. It came from my training as a meeting facilitator. It’s an efficient use of time and resources and exposes things that need attention. Simple is good.

Here are the Key Steps

First, define what you and the team are evaluating: Is it the plan? Is it the process? Is it the team? Is it the organization? Is it the skills? etc. You get the idea. If you are conducting an evaluation, then define what is being evaluated.

Next, define the protocol for team interaction. Be sure to include everyone who has information to share. Often, I include the janitor or phone receptionist in an organization because they know things that nobody else knows. It’s important to get the full picture when evaluating things. Certainly the data intake and the planning are not both appropriate for everyone in the organization, so separate the functions and invite the appropriate participants. Then define how the group will interact. Declare that the session is a safe space to speak the truth kindly. It’s important to get data and not important to blame people. Address the facts and don’t blame. This way you will get more useful and accurate information.

It’s important to separate the evaluation and the planning. The evaluation provides perspective for the planning. Allow time for gaining perspective, to think about the information, and to regroup for moving forward. Information overload and rush to implementation can both be problematic.

Here’s my simple three-step evaluation:

1) What’s Working: Or what we do well. Define the valuable skills and processes to KEEP. When making changes later, it’s important that we don’t throw out the baby with the bath water, as the old expression goes. Define the core competencies and systems that are valuable and build on those.

2) What Needs Changing: This is not a negative, a critical activity like we get when defining weaknesses in a SWOT. This is honestly identifying things that could be better or things that we might want to STOP doing.

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Envision the Future

Everybody has a dream. Only 3 out of every 100 people will actually do something about that dream by acting on the vision. Unfortunately, 9 out of 10 people attempting to launch a new enterprise, whether a business or a charity, will fail without achieving that dream.

 

What’s the difference? It’s having a plan and surrounding yourself with a competent team to implement that plan. The first priority, however is equipping yourself for the journey. Develop your skills to lead, implement the plan, and build the right team. And, by the way, equip yourself to build the income that you deserve with this enterprise.

 

I have been glued to the television every night for the Rio 2016 Olympics and have been massively impressed with our American athletes! They are highly skilled, masterfully trained, and consequently highly successful. Each successful athlete has a very competent coach.

Take Action

This is the same for professional athletes, actors, musicians, and business professionals. They all have a coach and train for success. We would never consider running a 26.2 mile marathon without training our bodies and minds for the task. Then why do we even consider starting and running a business or charity without having a coach and a content specialist mentor? That’s why over 90% fail…they lack the ability to lead the enterprise, as defined in the D & B research in 1995.

There’s an alternative. I have coaches, therefore I do what I teach.

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Hugh Ballou Interviews Dave Lucas about his Misfit Entrepreneur concepts and systems.

The Interview Transcript

Ep 53, Interview with Dave Lukas

Hugh Ballou: Dave Lukas has this podcast called the Misfit Entrepreneur. Dave, you and I met virtually, and we are getting acquainted. What I have seen so far is quite impressive. Say a little bit about your background and your business, and then about this podcast, this Misfit Entrepreneur. Talk about yourself and your background and what the inspiration was for launching this great podcast you have.

Dave Lukas: Thanks, all good stuff. Thanks for having me, and thanks everyone for tuning in. A little bit about my background just so you guys know. I have always ben an entrepreneur, ever since I was a kid. Like most people, I did the lawn thing, but I did a direct sales business at my college and took it to another business after college that I brought to Columbus, Ohio, where I live now. I split time between Columbus and San Diego. I am in the health and wellness arena. I did that for a year. Then I had this crazy idea. I either wanted to run or own a Fortune 500 someday. So early 20s, right? Everything you can accomplish. I got to get up from the ground floor with one of these and really understand it.

One of the best places to do that is on the sales side of things. If you look at a lot of CEOs, a lot of them are salespeople. Sales is a skill that no matter who you are in life and no matter what you do, you really need to understand and utilize. One of the things I talk about when I do speeches is that sales is one of the most innate, natural abilities we all have. If you have a spouse or a significant other, you sold yourself to them, and they sold themselves to you. It’s something that we do naturally. We don’t think of it to be more deliberate at it.

I went to school essentially. I worked for a top 50 training program, Fortune 500. Spent a number of years there. Had a lot of success. I was Rep of the Year and all that in my early days. Then I became a turnaround manager and a trainer nationally for all of their rookies. During that time, I continued my entrepreneurial efforts. I continued to invest. I continued to build up other businesses. When you are successful in sales, that gives you autonomy, which allowed me to do that.

One of those companies I invested in and helped to guide and mentor in my free time was a company called Grass Technologies. It was a very unique company in the data intelligence space in the travel industry. Anything can be learned. That is one thing I learned. Going from where I was and going to the travel sector is a completely different world. We grew that business from basically nothing to- Nowadays I spend a lot of time there, and it is my largest business. Inc 5000 multi-year winner. We do business in over 100 countries. It’s been a lot of fun. We have that.

I do some other things, where I teach and speak and train. I work in the investment side of things, and I am part of a small hedge fund. Then I started this podcast. It’s called the Misfit Entrepreneur. Being an entrepreneur, that makes sense. People are like, “Oh yeah, you’re an entrepreneur. You started a podcast to learn the unique traits of entrepreneurs.” The reason I did it is not what most people think. The reason I did it came about three years ago when my wife and I went to China to adopt our daughter. We adopted our daughter, and we get home, and she is 18 months old at that time. In my youth, I spent a lot of my extra time, weekends and evenings, learning. I trained with Zig Ziglar, God rest his soul; Brian Tracy, who wrote the cover quote for my bestselling book; and Tony Robbins, all of these guys, billionaires and millionaires. I spent about five years spending every waking moment that I had learning from these people. That is how that book came about.

Fast forward multiple years later, and I have this 18-month-old. I am a dad now.

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See Carmine Denisco’s website at http://inventorslaunchpad.com