Business Keys To Success: Being Approachable

Being approachable over my career has brought me opportunities and contacts I could never have imagined.  I attribute much of the success I have experienced and continue to experience to being approachable.  Obviously there are other important factors.  But being approachable and having the ability to connect are in the top five.

Opportunity for a better business and life constantly pass by you but opportunity won’t stop if you are not approachable.  Someone gets the promotion.  The other person doesn’t.  One person gets the sale.  The other person doesn’t.  One person is told about an opportunity to give them a competitive edge.  The other person never hears about it.

In my personal business coaching practice I encourage every client whether they are a self-employed business owner, entrepreneur, solo professional, corporate manager or executive to be approachable.
There is an interesting law at work here.  The more approachable you are the greater the opportunities personally and professionally will come your way.  I’ve never met a rich hermit.

Are The People In Your Life Approachable?

I am sure you have met people who seem cold and forbidding.  And you’ve met people who treat you like an old friend from day one.  This isn’t an issue with just high profile people.  I can look at my associations in the various organizations I belong to and tell you who is approachable and who is not.
To get a perspective on you and your life you may want to ask this question:  How approachable are the most important people in your life? When you need to ask your boss a question, is it easy or difficult?   When you need to talk to your spouse about a difficult subject, do you expect a dialogue or a fight?

Are You Approachable?

As I said, “I have never found a rich hermit.”  What about you?  Are you approachable?  You may think you are.  And, you may be surprised at how others truly see you.  I have clients who are very approachable on what I call “logic” matters.  Yet, they are distant on “emotional” matters.  And, I have clients who are just the opposite.  They are very approachable emotionally but on the logic they are distant.

Can the people closest to you talk to you about nearly anything?   Here’s a test.  When was the last time someone brought you bad news?  Or when was the last time someone strongly disagreed with your point of view on an issue?  Or confronted you with something you did wrong?  If it has been a while, you may not be a very approachable person.
 
Be Approachable

Some people treat the idea of becoming approachable as frivolous; it’s a nice thing if one can be bothered to cultivate it.  I have three online training courses that can give you insights to being more approachable among other keys and ultimately garnering more of the opportunities life has to offer.

Check out the following:

www.BusinessKeysToSuccess.com
www.WinningPersonalDevelopment.com
www.WinningCharacterTraits.com

Being approachable is a key to your success.  It is a powerful asset to have in your relational toolbox.  In the words of the famous shoe manufacturer, “Just Do It.”  Be approachable.

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Business Keys To Success: Enlarging Others

Enlarging others is an important key to success. As a young employee and ultimately business owner I was striving for success and somehow it was always painful. It turned out that I had the wrong attitude. Instead of enlarging others I was always trying to beat them in an effort to win.

I had played team and individual sports in high school and college and understood the value of team. When I started working after college, initially for large companies and eventually on my own, all that sports training had no impact.

Step 1: Enlarging Yourself

I just kept getting it wrong. In sports I always valued my teammates. Somehow at work I looked at my co-workers as competitors. They were competition for me to overcome in order to rise in the company.

With this totally self-centered attitude I was miserable. Finally I realized that as long as I was trying to beat others or hold them down, that a part of me was down there with them.

At the time, I was working for a large metropolitan newspaper, The Denver Post. I realized that if I was to rise in the company that I had to believe in my teammates, not try to keep them down. This turned out to be a critical step in enlarging myself.

Some people enlarge themselves through more online training, corporate training, business training or business courses. These are all good but there is one thing that is critical to being an enlarger. Learning without application is nothing. And the first person that the learning has to be applied to is you.

So the first step to enlarging others is that I had to enlarge myself.

Enlarging Adds Value To The Team

As I enlarged myself and became more focused on the team and what we supposed to accomplish some great things started to happen.

I was able to have truly meaningful connections with my team members. Instead of viewing them as adversaries or impediments to progress I saw them as human beings trying to do their best. I offered encouragement. I started to receive encouragement in return.

Along with the encouragement I began to know what they liked, disliked and was able to connect with them even better. As I became an enlarger an amazing thing happened. I got promoted. Six months before I thought I was at a dead end.

Enlarging Makes You More Valuable

As I went through this transformation from a team member that detracted from the team to an enlarger I started a process where I became more valuable. I wasn’t doing this just for me personally, but also because it helped others.

Not only was I connecting better which allowed me to communicate and integrate at an improved level, I was making myself better which was making me more valuable.

In my personal business coaching practice I look for opportunities to enlarge not only my clients but how my clients can become enlargers in their companies. I firmly believe that a great deal of small business success in based on the business owner’s ability to be an enlarger.

As a self-employed business owner, entrepreneur, solo professional, corporate executive or individual how are others seeing you? Do they see you as an enlarger? Do you make them better than they are alone through your inspiration and contribution? Do you know what your teammates value?

There are many more pluses to being an enlarger. I learned an important lesson that has stayed with me to this day. Be an enlarger of others. When you are enlarging others the odds are in your favor that they will promote and enlarge you.

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Business Keys To Success: You Are Responsible For Your Attitudes

Life is full of surprises, and the adjustment of our attitudes is a lifelong project. Think about your destiny in business and life. It will never be determined by our complaining spirits or high expectations. In my business coaching practice and in my own life I had to come face to face with my attitudes.

For myself, self-employed business owners, entrepreneurs, solo professionals, corporate managers and all individuals our attitudes are what will determine in large part our destiny.

We Choose The Attitudes We Have Now

And it is an ongoing choice. And it surprises me, the large number of adults who fail to take responsibility for their attitudes. If they are unhappy they may something like, “I got up on the wrong side of the bed.”

If failure begins to repeat itself in their lives they often say, “I was born on the wrong side of the tracks.”

When their lives aren’t progressing while others and their family are still on the rise they may say, “Things would be different if only the birth order was different in my family.”

Whether you are running a small business or starting your own business it is a continual challenge to adjust your attitudes.

Attitudes

In all of the above examples there was one common thread. There is blame for everyone else or circumstances for their problems.

When a marriage fails they believe they married the wrong person. When someone else gets a promotion they wanted, it’s because they are in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Yes, in the words of Rose Ann, Rose Anna Danna, “It’s always something.” It’s always something except for them and their attitude.

Attitudes-A Summary

When John Maxwell talks about attitudes he has a great summary.

The pessimist complains about the wind.

The optimist expects it to change.

The leader adjusts the sails.

To be the leader in your life you must adjust your attitudes. The greatest day in your life and mine is when we take total responsibility for our attitudes. That is the day we truly grow up. When you grow up you choose to be responsible for your attitudes and how you view your circumstances.

To have small business and personal success be the leader in your life. Adjust the sails. With the right attitudes you will create the circumstances to have the business and life you desire.

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Who’s In Charge? The Case For A Job Description

A job description can be the tipping point to having a successful small business. Too often, the self-employed business owner becomes immersed in performing the business and doesn’t really know what his employees are doing and how they are doing it.

This is a recipe for disaster or a near disaster as one of my personal business coaching clients discovered. He had a small company of four employees and was ready to add a fifth. When I first started collaborating with him I asked him for a job description for each employee as well as himself.

As with most business owners he balked at having to create them. His response was, “We’re doing great. Everyone knows what they are doing.” I replied that “Yes, everyone knows what they are doing. But do you know what they are doing and are they doing it right?”

Job Description—What Are You Doing?

For those of you who have taken online training, business training or business courses you understand the importance of a job description. A job description not only defines a job but how the job is being done. A job description brings accountability to measure performance.

This last part, measuring performance is critical. Without accurate measurements, most businesses will ultimately drift into failure. Running a small business is part art or feel and part logic, the thinking.

When my client said his people knew what they were doing he was correct in one sense. They did know what they were doing. The first question was whether or not what they were doing was positioning the company to grow. Were they doing things the right way?

It turned out much to his surprise and disgust, they certainly did know what they were doing. The problem was that much of it was related to making their positions as easy as possible and they were actually detracting from the performance of the company.

Job Description—Know What You And Your Employees Are Doing

Without a job description it is hard to have any meaningful accountability. Why? The job becomes whatever and however the employee chooses to define it. And, that definition can change to suit the circumstances.

The scattered self-employed business owner is focused on everything at once which means that much gets overlooked. And, when it comes to trusting employees without a job description you are writing the formula for failure. Failure and ignorance go hand in hand.

Job Description To The Rescue

After discovering a multitude of problems because each employee had no job description this self-employed business owner embraced the process. Within two weeks each employee and himself had a job description. Yes, there was some resentment with some of the employees and ultimately two of them were let go.

But, the result was everyone knew their responsibilities, a chain of command was established freeing up the self-employed business owner’s time. Each job description brought accountability and improved performance. Also, a definitive work flow was established. Things calmed down.

And, where this business had been stuck for two years it was able to grow significantly with a solid foundation in place. The key as this owner found out is not to hire the best people. The key is to have the best process. When you have the best process you will increase the odds of having people do their best.

And, the center of the best process is to have a written job description for each employee. It created standards. Without a job description in place for each team member it is not possible to have a vibrant and long-term team.

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Business Keys To Success: Self-Discipline

The road to success and ultimately more happiness is paved with self-discipline. Author H. Jackson Brown Jr. said, “Talent without discipline is like an octopus on roller skates. There’s plenty of movement, but you never know if it’s going to be forward, backwards, or sideways.” If you know you have talent, and you’ve seen a lot of motion—but little concrete results—you may lack self-discipline. The road to small business success, or any success for that matter and happiness is paved with self-discipline.

Self-discipline-Sort Out Your Priorities

What two or three areas of your life are vital to your success? Write them down, along with the disciplines that you must develop to keep growing and improving in those areas. Develop the disciplines and more importantly develop an action plan with concrete steps that you must apply whether it is daily or weekly. Plan how they are going to become part of your life.

Self-discipline-List the Reasons

What are the benefits of practicing the disciplines you just listed? Starting something new is not easy. Without a positive vision of the benefits it is more challenging to follow through. Post these benefits somewhere where you will see them daily. In my personal business coaching practice I have observed the importance of constant visualization of what we want to accomplish and how it gives impetus to making it a reality.

Self-discipline—Get Rid of Excuses

Whether you are a self-employed business owner, entrepreneur, solo professional or corporate manager or executive all of us come up with excuses as to why we are not getting things done. To eliminate the roadblocks to developing your new disciplines write down the reasons as to why you may not be able to follow through with them. Read through them. And then dismiss them as the excuses they are.

Here’s the hard part. Even if a reason seems legitimate, find a solution to overcome it. Don’t leave yourself any reasons to quit. Remember that a discipline is the bridge between a thought and an action. Only when you have the discipline to act do you have the power to achieve your dreams.
There is a nursery in Canada that displays this sign on their wall: “The best time to plant a tree is twenty-five years ago…..The second best time is today.” Plant the tree of self-discipline in your life today.

About Author :

First things first, I like to have fun with people and what I do. I am a personal business coach.Yes, I have received training and been coaching since 1983. I have gone through and continue to happily go through more personal development.

Personal development and its quest for personal growth, more often than not, are the missing links in the chain of business and personal success.As Warren Buffett once said, “Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get.”

For more information please visit : http://www.businesskeystosuccess.com

Keys To Success: Competency Part 2

To summarize the first post on competency as one of the keys to success we discussed several points.

1. Competency is the ability to do something well and to do it consistently.
2. Competency is measured by others capacity to depend on you.
3. Competency is about focusing yourself in your strengths.
4. Competency is mastering the details and getting things 100 percent right.

Let’s look at competency a little further….

Competency: Consistency

In the last post I pointed out that whether you are a self-employed business owner, entrepreneur, solo professional or individual competency is about dependability. You may have all the ability in the world, but if you are not dependable your gifts and talents will be wasted.

Competency whether you are seeking in your life or in small business growth is about consistency. Consistency is developed by doing the ordinary things extraordinarily well.

In fact, when you do the ordinary things extraordinarily well in your organization and life, it allows you to have more time to use your gifts and talents.

Competency: Focus

To demonstrate consistent competency, as we have just pointed out, you must be consistent. Focus is the fuel that drives consistency.

Have your day and life set up for focus. Set up your day to focus on the things you do very well. And, the things that aren’t fun…..allot time for them but don’t mix them, if at all possible, into your time when you are doing the things you enjoy and do well.

Competency: Details

Details are very important. No one says when a product or job doesn’t meet expectation that it was great that it was 95% right. No. That last 5% determines success or failure.

And, I can promise you from my personal coaching practice that it is paying attention to the details in the last 5% that will take you across the finish line and to having a winning product or service.

Competency: Putting It All Together—Implementation

What is generally the most difficult part of any job? It is implementation. Therefore, give it greater attention. You may have a great product but without precise instructions the customer may never get the maximum value.

Or, you have an excellent service but the customer doesn’t realize the full value of what he is receiving because it was never made clear to him.

Implementation is a key to competency or the perception of competency. Get others together who are part of your process. Or, if you are a solo professional ask questions of other to improve your implementation.

Process determines outcome. Create a great process around your product or service. When you do you will increase your odds of achieving a high level of competency and the success you desire.

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Hope

During the darkest moments of World War II Prime Minister Winston Churchill was asked what was the greatest weapon his country possessed? Immediately Churchill said, “England’s greatest weapon has always been—hope.”

Hope is one the most powerful and energizing words in the English language. It is something that gives us the power to keep going in the toughest of times.

Be a bringer of hope to others today.

See more at: www.businesskeystosuccess.com/blog/hope

About Author :

First things first, I like to have fun with people and what I do. I am a personal business coach.Yes, I have received training and been coaching since 1983. I have gone through and continue to happily go through more personal development.Personal development and its quest for personal growth, more often than not, are the missing links in the chain of business and personal success.As Warren Buffett once said, “Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get.”

For more information please visit : http://www.businesskeystosuccess.com