All day long, your business and your employees are managing work getting done. The more efficiently your organization executes commitments, the more money you make.
Powerful and effective execution starts with powerful management. Powerfully effective management starts with powerful speaking and listening. You will not have powerful actions without powerful speaking and management.

Speaking without power is a management style that is relying on the hope of circumstances to turn out and deliver the results, very likely accompanied by worry, fear, stress, and frustrations.

Powerful speaking as a management style wields requests for commitments in time, challenging the best execution possible. In short, more attention to work on the front end, pays big back end dividends.

Powerful Speaking and Profitable Business is a post from: Gregory Neil Associates

Part 2 – Commitment Management – Out of “the Box” and into “the Gap”

In the same way that Accountability brings focus to your business, Commitment Management brings speed of execution to your day-to-day operations. This is a tool you really want to sharpen and master, because if you do, the payoff is huge. Everyone wants work to move forward powerfully, but you can’t have powerful actions without powerful speaking. First, let’s define “the box” and “the gap.”

The Box: That place of emotional safety where you are very comfortable making commitments towards what you know you can accomplish with no risk at all. That’s “the box.”

The Gap: When you commit to actions that take you just beyond your comfort zone, (the box), into that area where most of us would rather not visit unless we have to. That’s putting yourself into the gap. Those are the promises you want to listen for, those are the promises that move action forward powerfully.

“Necessity is the Mother of Invention” can mean we won’t go there unless we have to…and when we do, we discover new skills and abilities to perform work that weren’t there before. We get more work done in less time.

Commitment management is best used to help people make promises to execute the more important day-to-day actions. The act of Committing can be described as the backbone, strength, and driving force of achievement. Think of some accomplishment that is so bold it inspires you, and you will find one or more individuals fiercely committed to that work.

Leadership Power Tools and Business Accelerators is a post from: Gregory Neil Associates

Part 1 – Accountability

Think of these next 3 posts as business power tools, or even better, business accelerators. They combat against the drift of entropy towards business as usual and mediocrity that is common to every business.

1. Accountability – Brings focus to your operations, meaning, clarifying exactly what each person is accountable for, having every task in the business held within someone’s accountabilities. Assigning metrics for each accountability to drive and challenge production, and instituting a reporting structure that allows transparency of the work being done.

A very powerful tool if used well in a reporting structure. Empowers each individual with a sharp focus on the needed outcomes rather than the process, and lays a firm foundation for team support. Essential for a healthy functional business culture. The only other option is one of command and control – which at its best is nowhere near close in inspiring productivity and effectiveness, and at its worst, frustrating and exhausting.

Leadership Power Tools and Business Accelerators is a post from: Gregory Neil Associates

You hire someone who, at that time, seems to be the best person for the position. Everyone is happy – for a while. Then, at some point there is a problem. Do you stop to ask the question – is it the new person, or is it the management style, or is it something about the business operations or culture that is driving that employee’s behavior?

It may or may not be, but if you don’t ask, you will never discover what could possibly be a blind spot. Then the common scenario runs its course. He/she stays for a few months or years, and then we start over with a new person.

When you’re at the top of your organization, it’s likely difficult to see the impact of your own personality and leadership – be brave, ask for feedback,

Classic Business Blind Spot! is a post from: Gregory Neil Associates

Leadership doesn’t live in a title; you can have leaders at any level of your business. But, do you hear “I’ll do my best,” or do you hear “I will get it done.”

There is a big difference between someone who sets a limit on how far they will go to get something done, and someone who has their eye only on the results. It’s very reasonable to do your best – how can anyone complain about that?

Results focus is far less reasonable, and more productive and satisfying to everyone. It’s a “let’s see what will happen, vs. I will make it happen” attitude.

Employee mentality will do their best – then stop, and go home at 4:30 – hoping it all works out. Leaders do whatever it takes to get the job done. Leaders posses behaviors and habits that inspire a certain attitude containing a greater strength of purpose, and they draw to themselves the resources to do what must be done.

Employee and Leader Mentality is a post from: Gregory Neil Associates

It’s important to distinguish someone’s technical job skill abilities separate from their ability to work with others in a team environment. Often, I see companies that have hired someone who is very good at what they do, but throws everything and everyone around them into chaos. Is it really worth it?

Only you can decide for your own business. But, keep in mind that what’s been found in both corporate and military team making, the most successful teams do not always start out with the personnel possessing the necessary skills. They do have the passion and the drive to do what needs to be done, so hiring is critical for the right skills and behaviors. But, of the two choices, which is more important?

People can learn new skills – if they want to, and as fast as they want to. But learning new behaviors is a bit more challenging.

Identify those people who already practice the behaviors you are looking for. Then allowing employees to be themselves and make decisions about how to get the job done based on common sense and their natural inclinations, produces a far more productive environment.

Stacking the Deck in your Favor is a post from: Gregory Neil Associates

(In case you don’t know, Zappos is an extremely successful online retailer that recently merged with Amazon)

1. Deliver WOW Through Service
2. Embrace and Drive Change
3. Create Fun and A Little Weirdness
4. Be Adventurous, Creative, and Open-Minded
5. Pursue Growth and Learning
6. Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication
7. Build a Positive Team and Family Spirit
8. Do More With Less
9. Be Passionate and Determined
10. Be Humble

You’re probably wondering – can you actually make money with values like that? How could you have a serious, productive, and profitable work environment when you’re focused on being weird and having fun?

To hear what Zappos CTO, Arun Rajan has to say about this, click here.

Today’s Study: Zappos Core Values is a post from: Gregory Neil Associates

Stage 1: It really is all about you at this stage.
You do everything, wear all the hats, cover all the bases, and if you have the strength to, you move on.

Stage 2: The beginning of Control or Freedom Based Management.
You learn how to create success, hire employees, and begin to delegate. How you delegate either sets you up for even bigger problems later, or considerably easier success.

Stage 3: The beginning of where the paths can diverge dramatically.
You start to have employees who excel when they are coached and experience being held to account as empowerment; who love to play the game of business, becoming self managing and self generating; or you don’t, and you are working extra hard and long hours to compensate.

Stage 4: Raising the bar up to Team Performance – From “Me” to “We”.
You train, coach, and mentor Team Performance to be the driving force of the business. Mutual Accountability shows up – your job becomes much easier. Or, if you took a different path at Stage 2, it’s likely that real teammanship is not a possibility and therefore, getting to Stage 5 is almost impossible.

Stage 5: You set up performance challenges, continue coaching and mentoring for best performance, and plan your succession or exit strategy.

5 Stages of Success or Control – Your Choice is a post from: Gregory Neil Associates

Too often, leader’s reference the effectiveness of their speaking based on how they themselves feel or think without being responsible for how others are hearing them. “Me centered” focus of attention could be considered a kind of A.D.D. behavior.

Successful Leadership requires a behavior adjustment placing your attention almost entirely on others, specifically – your ability to listen to others. Whether you’re in front of many or in a one on one meeting, effective Leadership steers from what is happening over there with the listener(s).

If that’s where you want the action to be – commitments, execution on actions, etc., then it naturally follows that’s where we need our attention to measure the impact of our speaking. If you’re leadership isn’t getting the results you want, try a different style or message.

Leadership and A.D.D. (Attention Deficit Disorder) is a post from: Gregory Neil Associates

There is a whole range of responses you can get when asking another for a commitment. I am not speaking about what they say, I am speaking about the mood in which the commitment is delivered, but you have to listen for that.

Moods and Attitudes can vary from very low on the scale as in annoyance or obligation, or lower, all the way up to challenge, adventure, and empowerment.

To have powerful commitments that you can count on, you need to listen for what’s driving that promise behind the words you want to hear. The most powerful commitments are when there is no gap between the speaker, the speaker’s promise, and their actions. Their experience is one of “I am that I will…”, and you know they will do everything in their power to fulfill that.

What’s driving that Commitment or Promise? is a post from: Gregory Neil Associates