6 Essential Traits Of A Perfect CEO

What can require more efforts and responsibilities than being a CEO of a startup? All the endeavors that struggle for success, need a talented and stress-proof Chief Executive (in fact, any business does). The obvious truth is that it takes a lot to be one. It's not a joyful pastime day after day. It's a heavy burden, a challenge that forces a person to do his/her best. There is no absolute recipe for becoming a perfect CEO, but it's quite possible to develop skills that are essential for such a title.

Apart from having tremendous communication skills, which are perhaps the foremost must-have, a perfect CEO...

...has genuine passion for work

A trivial statement? It may seem. But it's surely the passion and persistence that drive to achievements and forces to never give up, to develop an idea into something substantial, and further, successful.

...has a strategy, but is ready for changes

Business isn't static. Neither is the mobile world. Therefore it's important to have a strategy for the mobile startup's evolution. But nonetheless it's important to constantly learn while you work, to react and adapt to changes that come unexpectedly. We tend to dislike them in our comfort zone, we appreciate stability in our daily life. In the mobile business, changes may happen more frequently than in most businesses. On one hand, embracing them, a CEO opens the door to new opportunities. On the other hand, adapting to these rapid changes is a question of survival.

...makes the company client-oriented

As many people would agree, a good business website isn't company-focused - it must be customer-focused instead. The same must be the approach of the company. Its products and/or services must address to and solve problems of its customers. A great CEO drives company to the image and essence of a client-oriented one, in word and deed.

...finds the most talented and trusted people for the team

Nobody is able to become a winner without a strong and reliable team. Nobody is able to do everything on their own. As they say, be quick to fire and slow to hire. There must be right people to surround from the very beginning. The most talented, passionate, the cleverest people aren't easy to find, but it's the CEO who establishes the core of the team. This is the team that can give precious advice in case of need, and this team has experts in different areas, which valuable for the startup.

...isn't afraid of making mistakes

Motivating yourself during hard times is a real challenge. Motivating others at the same time is a challenge worth a CEO. While it's important to see into the future and assess potential threats for the company, it's impossible to make no mistakes at all. Like in everyday life, failures strengthen us, and we struggle to become better.

...is the keeper of the company's flag

As a rule, the founder of the company becomes its CEO. That is the person who has the best vision of the company, its goals and culture, the way it's supposed to develop and succeed. That is the person who maintains relationships with clients and investors, and perfectly knows how the startup's parts make up the entire mechanism. It's lonely at the top - and that's yet another challenge for CEOs. They are the keepers of the company's flag, and have no right to show weaknesses.

What else can be said? A great CEO seizes opportunities (or creates them?), and makes sure that the company holds on to its mission. Great CEOs are macro-managers, faces of the company, role models for their colleagues. We may as well mention such things as being a resolute decision-maker; having advanced abilities of sensing and evaluating risks; presence of technical skills; ability to discern and listen to good advice; always having a 'Plan B'; knowing where and how to say no. There undoubtedly are even more good qualities for a person that leads the mobile startup to prosperity. You can't be perfect, but you always go for it, and that's where you have all the chances to succeed.

Reference: mobidev

The world has lost a great leader. Nelson Mandela.

Nelson Mandela, 95:  Former South African President Nelson Mandela died Thursday at 95. Sen. Bernie Sanders said he was deeply saddened by the passing of one of the outstanding leaders of the 20th century. “In his native South Africa, he was a powerful force for good in the struggle to dismantle the terrible legacy of apartheid. Around the world, his lifelong devotion to equality and fairness serves as a lesson for all of us about the power of determination and the force of dignity.

“Like many in Vermont, I was active in the anti-apartheid movement. It was inspiring for me to be at Mandela’s presidential inauguration in 1994 and to witness first-hand a truly great figure at a pivotal point in history,” Sanders said.

Make Better Decisions: 7 Steps

Although everyone knows that success results from good decisions, few people bother to hone their decision-making skills.  The following step-by-step process will help you make decisions like a champ:

1. Set a deadline.

The opposite of decision-making is indecision. Indecision drags things out until the world does the deciding for you.  Therefore, every important decision must have a deadline, a specific time when you WILL make the decision.

2. Discover the knowns.

Informed decisions are better than shooting from the hip, so finding facts is helpful.  However, when it comes to researching a decision, there's a point of diminishing returns. When you start obsessing on minor details, it's time stop fact-finding.

3. Gather relevant inputs.

If your decision requires other people to execute that decision, you MUST get their perspective prior to making the decision.  If you skip this step, those people will not "own" the decision and therefore not execute it well.

4. Decide.

The root of the word "decide" is the Latin word for "cut off."  A decision cuts off the debate and cuts off the possibility of pursuing some other course of action.  Once you've decided, you MUST now move to executing it, or it's not a real decision.

5. Explain your reasoning.

If other people have provided their perspective (in Step 3) and are now expected to execute the decision, they are more likely to execute well if you explain why you made that decision rather than pursue other options.

6. Never second guess.

Once you've made a decision, you must not question it, or seriously listen to other people question it, until you've obtained the results of executing that decision. Doing so pollutes the execution of the decision with indecision, thereby creating inaction.

7. Observe the results.

It's only after you (and your team, if they're involved) have made an honest and focused attempt to execute the decision that you stand back and observe the results. If the results are as expected, congratulations! If not, continue to step 8.

8. Adjust the decision.

Bullheadedness makes you just as helpless as indecision but with a lot more effort.  Therefore, if you're not getting the results you expect, go back to Step 1.  Use the knowledge you've gained to hone or change your decision.

Author: GEOFFREY JAMES

21 Ways to Be a Better Leader Without Breaking a Sweat

Let's jump right in, shall we? 

1. Switch off your cell phone. Go on, you can do it. Just for one meeting.

2. Look people in the eyes. Practice doing it consistently.

3. Think. Pick an hour in the day (the week, if you're really strapped) and just think. Don't listen. Don't read. Don't talk. Don't eat. Don't drink. Just think.

4. Get out of your inbox. Twice a day is enough for most people. If it's not, for you, then you have deeper communication management problems.

5. Stop using amplifying adverbs. Every time you use words like 'very', 'fundamental', 'must-do', 'imperative', you drain their impact. Simply state what you want to say, or want done, without amplification.

6. Ask 'What can I do for you?' Many leaders fail to recognize that they can be a tremendous asset for their people - but only if they place themselves in that position.

7. Get out from behind your desk. You do know the real action is happening elsewhere, right?

8. Get comfortable with silence.

9. Know your presuppositions. Before any important meeting or discussion, jot down what presumptions, assumptions or biases you're walking in with. Note that they might be right, helpful, useful - or they may not.

10. Distrust what you trust. Not all the time. Just often enough to rethink what you take for granted.

11. Don't talk to think. Thinking out loud is confusing when the person doing the verbal processing is the leader of those who are listening ('Is this an instruction? Are we really going to do this?'). Only do it with people who know you well, or make it clear when you are 'just musing'.

12. Give positive feedback three times more often than you do. You don't do it enough, trust me.

13. Get low-level seating in your office and use it. If you have the real estate, add a round table (or a coffee table), and use it by default. Make your desk a work surface, not a communication barrier or power play.

14. Be present. You can only be in one place at a time-- so be there. Stick a pin in your palm, snap an elastic band on your wrist. Do whatever you need to give the present your full attention.

15. Ask more than you tell. Sure, there are communications that require you to be declarative, but leadership as a whole is an exercise in inquiry.

16. Show more than you demand. The leader as a role model isn't something that's talked about much right now (mostly because of the lack of such role models in many areas of life-- politics, sports, entertainment), but it's still the most powerful tool in your leadership toolkit.

17. Repeat yourself. When you literally feel nauseous at the thought of repeating what's important, others are just beginning to get it.

18. Batch crap. When you allow the prospect of dealing with dreck to get you down, you underperform. Pull together the three or four things you truly loathe the thought of doing, and get them done as early in the week as possible. You'll be amazed how well you perform the rest of the week.

19. Only use email to move around information. Your keyboard isn't a proxy for rich communication.

20. Reach down two levels. Don't build a cadre of lieutenants who get all your attention. You're leading the enterprise, not your immediate reports.

21. Be nice. Whatever reason you use to justify being a jerk, you're wrong.

Author: LES MCKEOWN

5 Things Smart Managers Know About Building Teams

In order for your company to prosper, you must figure out how to build a team that works well together. That can be a difficult task.  After all, creating a team means bringing together people with different skillsets and varied personalities to work towards a common goal--a complex undertaking.

When I look at the tactics smart managers implement, I see five common threads to how they approach team-building:

1. Play to Individual Strengths

You need to understand what each individual member's strengths are and put each person in a place to shine.

It is very rare that an employee can improve upon a deficiency, especially if that deficiency is a part of their nature. If a team member isn't good at details, they will never be good at details. You need to decide if they do the rest of their job well and if so, partner them with someone else who can help shore up their deficiency.

I hired an account manager who was excellent with customers--especially our more difficult customers--but she was not good at details. I partnered her with another team member for one final review of the documents she produced before they were sent out.

2. Encourage Transparency

Teams are a lot like families, and you need to let them work things out on their own.  When things start to go awry, bring together those who aren't getting along and make them work through their concerns. Don't let them put you in the middle of a he said/she said situation. Your primary job is to help team members understand each other better.

This approach will feel uncomfortable, but if they learn that your go-to strategy is to bring them together to work it out, they will start trying that on their own and will only involve you when absolutely necessary.

3. Establish Ground Rules 

Your team needs to know how you like to operate. I'm a solution oriented manager. I am fine with talking about problems with a project or an approach, but I insist that everyone contribute ideas for resolution. When issues arise, and they will, I don't want to get caught up in whose fault it is, or why it happened. I prefer to take time to do that at an established and appropriate time later. I am known to say, "Don't bring me a problem without a solution" and, "I don't want to know why we can't do it, I want to focus on how we can."

Other managers prefer to do root cause analysis immediately and then move forward from that point with a solution. Everyone's style is different, and it is often based on the type of work you do.  The important thing is that your team knows your preferred work style so everyone is thinking toward that same goal.

4. Let Them Know You Have Their Back

As the leader of a team, your team members must know that you have their back and that you are their greatest supporter.  I see my primary job to remove obstacles that are in my team's way and to be there to support them when issues arise with a customer or other internal groups.  When you team members know they have your unconditional support, they can move forward with confidence.

5. Provide an Incentive

Create a goal that your team can work towards--a day off at the end of the quarter, flexibility in their work schedule, or a bonus.  Realize that just as your team members have different skills, they probably respond to different incentives, so rotating through the types of incentives you provide or allowing for flexibility is key to the success of an incentive.

I always have team members who prefer time off or an experience over money.  A bonus program, while nice, doesn't have the same impact as providing an extra day off or a gift certificate to a nice restaurant. It comes back to knowing that everyone's different.

Author: ERIC V. HOLTZCLAW

The Power of "I Don't Know"

In a 2012 study on the state of marketing conducted by IBM, 52 percent of Chief Marketing Officers said that they are unprepared for the expected level of complexity over the next five years. Which only makes me wonder whether the other 48 percent were posturing, daydreaming when they answered the survey, or really think they have it all figured out.

From big data to the myriad of little dials we need to turn in managing our brands, there has never been more to do, less time in which to do it, and such a paucity of patience for poor performance.

So what’s a marketer to do? Develop more sophisticated systems and tools? Invest in new methodologies and engagement strategies? Create deeper integration between every function in their business--from IT and Finance to Customer Service and Sales?

(Yes, yes, and yes.)

But while these might be some of the functional changes required to stay competitive, I’d suggest that there is a fundamental approach that is the fountainhead from which success in this new era of marketing must truly begin. 

In brief, this approach can be captured in three simple words: “I don’t know.”

That’s right, I’d maintain that acknowledging (and for some, this might feel more like “admitting”) a lack of knowledge within and across this business function is a critical skill for marketers of all stripes. Here are a few reasons why.

“I Don’t Know” Creates Possibilities. It’s been said that the key to success is to never stop learning, while the key to failure is to think you know it all. Modern-day marketers need to be comfortable acknowledging their blind spots. It’s truly impossible to be an expert at everything in an area of exploding apertures, approaches, and analytics; by starting with a baseline of what is not known, exploration into untapped possibilities for the organization can begin in earnest.

“I Don’t Know” Inspires Engagement. Do you want to work with or for the person who knows everything? Or would you prefer the leader who wants everyone to use his or her talents, curiosity, and passion to help find the answer? By creating space for new data, ideas, and perspectives, “I Don’t Know” helps marketers (and businesses) get the most from their teams.

“I Don’t Know” Defends Against Complacency. Andrew Grove, former president and CEO of Intel, is famous for saying, “Only the paranoid survive.” With not just increasing information but also decreasing control in the participation age, great marketers (and leaders) need to fight against getting comfortable. It is incredibly easy to fall into patterns, particularly when the regression line is gently nudging north. As such, creating a culture of inquiry--where “I Don’t Know” (and “Let’s Find Out”) are valued--helps create constructive agitation.

“I Don’t Know” Is Just More Fun. The 2013 Gallup State of the American Workplace Report found that only 30 percent of employees are engaged and inspired at work. Yikes. By creating a culture of “I Don’t Know,” marketers help build a place where most employees want to work--where their opinion is heard, where there efforts matter, and where they can truly make a difference. In sum: Happier employees, better productivity, and superior outcomes. 

For the avoidance of doubt, if you do know something…well, then, yes, state it clearly, with confidence and conviction; let the proverbial dog run.

But to the larger theme here, in my career, the clients and marketers who got the most from their agencies and teams were the ones who were open--and dare I say, fearless--in acknowledging what they didn’t know and challenging everyone around them to relentlessly bring new data, fresh insights, and any and all ideas to the table.

But don’t take it from me. “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing,” said the enigmatic figure known as Socrates. 

So, is this idea of “I Don’t Know” relevant for you and your business? 

I don’t know; you tell me.

Resource: Inc

Wise Up: 5 Things to Study This Weekend

From social media to tech, spend this weekend boning up on some subjects to bolster your business.

As NFL season gets underway, sports fans will get to witness some of the best athletes in the world evolve. 

Every year, a select group stands out, thanks to their training and conditioning. But above all, they're constantly learning, discovering new techniques and expanding their understanding of how the game works. 

Often, the players who are already successful understand the need to broaden their knowledge. This should serve as an example to small business owners, because regardless of what you’ve achieved, if you’re not learning something new, you may be falling behind.

As the weekend draws near, here are five things you might want to study: 

Social media - It’s all the rage, yet many people don’t know how to use it to the advantage of their business. Before you dive in, do some reading on the topic or attend an event where you can compare notes with other business owners.

Leadership strategies - If you want your employees to grow and reach new goals, you have to lead them in the right direction. Find new ways to motivate. A good way of doing this is to connect with a fellow business leader you admire and pick their brain or even shadow them for a day.

Sales techniques - Regardless of your role in a company, sales is always part of business. Just because you're not meeting a monthly quota, doesn’t mean you can’t learn more about sales.

Analytics - How carefully are you measuring the ROI of every aspect of your business? Are you sure your campaigns and initiatives are working? Is your website attracting the right kind of traffic? If you don’t have an analytics background, this is a necessary area to get up to speed on.

Technology - Challenge yourself to learn a new technology that will make your business more efficient. Pick something in your business that’s a constant pain and chances are some technology can make it easier.

It’s never too late to learn a new skill, but the truth is you can’t afford to wait.

Resource: Inc.

3 Core Principles of Great Leadership

A good leader makes inspiring speeches and has exciting ideas. But a great leader takes action.

Joel Peterson, chairman of JetBlue Airways and founder of Peterson Partners and Peterson Ventures, wrote a post on LinkedIn outlining the importance of a leader's deeds, not words. Here are three of the management principles he lives by as a leader.

Act out your mission.

Peterson says that successful companies act out their mission statement every day. Your company won't fulfill its goals by posting its mission on the walls, and you won't keep your employees motivated in the longterm with just a great speech. As a leader, your actions are what's important. "When companies 'walk their talk' by investing in team members' capabilities, they're likely to inspire both loyalty and commitment," Peterson writes.

Invest in people over product.

An innovative product will help your company get ahead, but without employees who are committed and without customers who trust you, your product will go nowhere. "Great businesses aren't built on products or services--they're built on the people who create and use them," Peterson writes. It's important to invest in your employees' growth and character, as well as your customers' happiness and satisfaction.

Make meaning the endgame.

Your employees need to believe they have meaning and feel like they are working for a greater good. Making money should never be your company's "ultimate endgame," Peterson warns. Successful CEOs rally their troops behind a mission. "If people don't believe their work has meaning, they'll either lose heart or find work elsewhere--at great cost to the companies that can't keep them engaged," he writes.

Resource: Inc.

How to Spot a Great Leader in Four Easy Steps

Leadership can be an incredibly hard concept to define and an even harder quality to learn. There are some who argue that great leaders are born but I have always believed that you can learn and develop the necessary skills through hard work and experience.

Not all of us can be leaders, and there are plenty of people who are happy not to be, but it would be foolish to think that leadership is an easy skill to master. The really top people in any field, whether it be business, politics or sport, are constantly examining their performance and most important of all looking at ways to improve and keep standards high.

Here are four signs of what truly marks out the great leaders from the rest of the field.

Confidence

First and foremost a good leader has to have confidence in themselves and their ability. As a decision maker or chief executive you should never forget that all the people you manage are constantly looking to you for inspiration and guidance and setting an example is a major part of the job description. There is of course a very big difference between confidence and arrogance, and it is important not to cross that line. But you have to ask yourself the question: if you do not have confidence in yourself then how can you ever expect others to place their trust in you?

Intuition

Some may call this intelligence or even good luck, but I prefer the term intuition. Knowing what course of action to take in any given situation is a great skill to be able to draw on. The ability to react in the right way to changing circumstances is something that usually comes with many years of experience. But those who are just setting out on the journey to becoming leaders can learn very quickly by following the example of people around them who have proven track records.

Decisiveness

Speaking from personal experience, it is when times get tough that the best leaders are able to show their true qualities and mettle. It is easy to lead when things are going well and a business is running smoothly. However, the true test of leadership is when an unexpected crisis rears its head. When my first business Alexander Mann started feeling the effects of the recession back in the early 90’s, it came as a real shock. However I knew that in situations like that, staff are looking for reassurance and someone who looks unsure and indecisive is also going to come across as weak. I came in one morning, called everyone together and explained the situation in very stark terms. I then told them the actions we were going to take to try and rectify things. I am not suggesting making reckless decisions without thinking – but every step you take should have an decisive air about it.

Empathy

The so-called soft skills of management are sometimes overlooked in business and management manuals but I have always seen them as a crucial part of the job. You can have the best product or service and can spend thousand of pounds on things like marketing, but businesses are built on the quality and motivation of the people within. Any good manager needs to be able to understand what makes their people tick and what motivates them. This also helps to build staff loyalty which is a crucial element of running a business. The best leaders are usually the ones who have a good grasp of human nature and behavior.

Author: James Caan

Who am I?

Which one I am?

1. Think & Do
2. Think & Not Do
3. Not Think & Do
4. Not Think & Not Do

How about you?

Who are you?

4 Unique Working Styles: What's Yours?

To get more out of your team, first figure out how your employees (and you) work best--and then assign tasks accordingly.

There is nothing more frustrating than listening to people haggle over different definitions of what constitutes "work." Catty conversations about who's working harder, who's working smarter, or who's not working at all are more about judging others than solving inefficiencies.

I'd like to steer you away from this all-or-nothing dialogue ("I work all the time and you never work") to a more robust conversation about what work really is. And, in the process, help you to appreciate not only your own unique working style, but also the working style of others on your team.

As my thinking has developed over the years, and after perusing many, many personality tests, I believe that there are four basic working styles: Doing, Leading, Loving, and Learning.

The best teams have a balance of all four styles. And the best organizations have many well-balanced teams who are confident in their working style and understand the necessity of divergent types or work. So, what's your style?

Doing

Doers execute. They come alive when tasks are complete, lists are checked, or projects are tackled. They typically have intense focus and are detailed in their efforts.

Doers are usually so focused, however, they may forget to look up and communicate whatthey're doing. Doers also tend to dive into work with little forethought. They believe that everyone should "Shoot, Fire, Aim" and tend to devalue the important work of planning.

Leading 

Leaders create the vision and inspire others to believe in it. You can't help but listen to, admire, and follow the Leaders. Without Leaders, we would be spinning in a hamster wheel with no real vision.

Leaders can be detached from others, not completely understanding all that goes into executing their vision. Because they're out in front, they sometimes forget to check in with the people following them. 

Loving

Lovers are relationship-builders. Believing that we're stronger together, they thrive in harmony and work hard to manage relationships and build consensus.

People strong in the Loving working style are sensitive and empathic. They have an unconscious finger on the pulse of every other person on the team. If you want to know how others on your team are really feeling, ask the Lover.

But Lovers can suck at follow through and more detail-oriented work. Left to their own devices, they can out-empathize anyone and make people feel great, but not provide "tangible" work.

Learning 

Learners are the researchers. These engineer types love learning and meticulously understanding the nuances of a problem.

They are deliberate, disciplined, and tend to think more strategically than most people.

Without others, however, Learners wouldn't get much done. In order to execute their best-laid plans, they need a team ready to act. Their strategy is only as good as the problems they actually solve--not in theory, but in reality.

Theologian Howard Thurman says, "Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive."

So, let's get over the notion that all work looks one way. It does not. Nor should it. You need many people doing many things to accomplish many goals.

Everyone has unique strengths that become super-charged once they're aligned with other people's strengths. Rather than critique someone who you believe "isn't working," make sure you're living out your unique contribution in a powerful and sustainable way. Just do what makes you come alive.
Resource: inc 

5 Essential Skills for Successful Coaching

A big part of coaching is being a good listener--and not everyone knows how to be one.

As we argued in one of our previous columns, coaching has become an essential component of leadership in the work place.

Pragmatic leaders--those interested in the practical aspects of execution--understand that the key to success is enhancing the capacity, competence, and skills of those they work with. They appreciate that they have to be there for the people they lead. They have to be more than directors, supervisors, or even visionaries. They have to be partners--genuine partners. They understand that success is embedded in the accomplishments of those they work with.

As such, pragmatic leaders grasp the critical importance of coaching. They are aware that the coaching partnership is highly dependent on how they interact with those they lead. Nothing is more important than how they listen, take in, reflect, question, and give feedback in the context of the coaching dialogue.

Successful pragmatic leaders are aware of the five key rules that are essential to a coaching dialogue. They are:

1. Listen with Curiosity

When we speak about listening with curiosity, we're talking about conveying a genuine interest in what others are saying. This is of particular value in the coaching dialogue. All too often we listen with impatience and a lack of attentiveness, which in turn hampers dialogue. We are focused on our next argument or our own agenda. Be genuinely curious. Don’t do all the talking, and keep interruptions to a minimum.  Pace the conversation, and don’t be afraid to keep it focused and on-target.

2. Take in What You Hear

Sometimes you can project all the necessary nonverbal cues to give the other person a sense that you're listening with curiosity, but you could still not be taking in any information. While projecting a sense of curiosity, don't forget to absorb and register what is being said. You need to hear the words, read the gestures, and take in the thoughts, ideas, and emotions of the other party. To take in what you hear, you need to pace the conversation and put yourself in the shoes of the other party.

3. Reflect with Accuracy

Reflecting back with accuracy shows the person you’re really listening and confirms that you have digested the right information. It also allows the person to hear back what he or she has said and to check within him or herself: Is it exactly what he or she meant to say?

You can reflect back by:

a. Paraphrasing Restate the essence of what you heard in your own words, or repeat what you heard using the same words the other party used.

b. Summarizing When you hear a lot of information, you may want to summarize the main message into short and concise sentences. When people have conversations, sometimes information doesn't emerge in an orderly way. You want to help your protégés focus on what seem to be their most important issues.

c. Repeating meaningful words When you repeat meaningful words, you let the other person know that you heard what is really important to them. It enables them to sense that you're listening and understanding them.

4. Questioning for Exploration

Asking questions extends the conversation and allows for a more proactive dialogue. Ask open-ended questions that allow more exploration to occur. By asking open ended questions, you give your protégés an opportunity to find answers within themselves.

When protégés discover the answers for themselves, it empowers them. When you question for exploration, you reinforce in their minds that you believe in them and that their opinions, knowledge, and experience are worthwhile. You build their confidence.

5. Provide Feedback for Development

Feedback is often thought of as being inherently critical, but that need not be the case. Successful coaches are careful and discriminating about how they employ feedback, knowing that poor or incomplete feedback could stifle their protégés or even cause feelings of inadequacy in them. The successful coach avoids the common mistake of using feedback as a vehicle for asserting expertise. Unclear, arrogant, or dismissive feedback can drive your protégés into defensiveness and destroy the trust so critical to your relationship.
When providing feedback, coaches should strive to make it clear, make it relevant, make it non-evaluative, make it helpful, and make it positive.

If you listen, reflect, question, and provide the right feedback, you can easily build trust in the coaching relationship.

Resource: inc

5 Ways to Build a Better Team

These tips will help you build teams that deliver better results for your company and your customers.

The only way to move mountains for your business is by leveraging the collective brainpower (and, sometimes, muscle power) of a group of employees. But it can't just be any old group. To truly move mountains, you need to build your teams wisely.

Here are five ways to turn a ho-hum team into one that's engaged, productive, and consistently getting results:

1. Get the Right People on Board 
Not necessarily the smartest people, nor the people with the thickest resumes -- you want the right people for the particular team you’re putting together. If, for example, you’re working on a new internal process for tracking customer orders, then be sure you’ve got some of your top salespeople on the team, not just your accounting or shipping staff. Your salespeople are the ones who know your customers best and who understand the pain your customers feel when orders are delayed or lost.

2. Delegate Real Authority
There’s been a lot of talk in recent years about the need to empower employees and to get them engaged in their work, but the truth of the matter is that in many organizations, true empowerment is still just talk, not action. Research clearly shows that empowered employees are happier, they’re more creative, they’re more effective, and they produce more than their unempowered colleagues. So when you give a team an assignment, make sure they have the authority they need to complete it. 

3. Shake Things Up
If you’re only seeing familiar faces in all of your meetings, it’s a sure sign that you need to shake things up. Jumpstart your teams by pulling together diverse groups of people drawn from different parts of your organization. Former Walt Disney Company vice chairman Roy Disney told this story about his famous uncle Walt: "There’s an old story about Walt from the early days when we were making short subjects -- really just a collection of gags. Every week, Walt had a gag contest and everybody was free to enter -- the winner got $5, which was a lot of money during the Depression. And who kept winning, week after week? The janitor. You see, it’s not about who’s the boss. It’s about who’s got the best ideas."

4. Get Out of the Office
Instead of meeting in the same old tired conference room, drinking the same old tired coffee and eating the same old tired donuts, take your meetings on the road. Meet in a courtyard outside of your building, a local park or Starbucks. Better yet, meet at a key customer’s facility and work with them collaboratively on a problem of mutual interest.

5. Celebrate Your Successes
When your team accomplishes the goals you set for it, then take some time to celebrate. Encourage members of the team to create awards for one another, and set a small budget to pay for inexpensive mementos of the occasion -- such as coffee mugs or T-shirts with your company logo -- to hand out at the final team meeting to each team member, along with your sincere thanks.

Employee teams are an extremely powerful and important tool for getting the most out of the most important resource you have: your human resource. But effective teams don’t just happen by themselves. The time you put into building great teams now will be rewarded many times over down the line.

Resource: inc