Unless your business is perfectly run with no mistakes, there is some human error. Are you fully capitalizing on those mistakes? Are they new mistakes – or the same ones over and over again?

Unless you set up daily and weekly learning opportunities, your business will race along with a focus on getting the next job done, and become static. To remain aggressively profitable, you must use every opportunity for training and development.

Learning needs to be institutionalized into your daily and weekly meetings. Mistakes shift from a negative to a positive as they become viewed as an opportunity to become stronger faster.

Learning vs. Static Organizations 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

When we say “Management”, what exactly are we talking about?
What is Management, if not intervention in some event about to go south?
In that moment, when circumstances argue that the job is not going to get done, how you intervene defines you and your style of management, of which there are many.

The most effective intervention I know is to be very clear on the outcome needed, not the process, not what they need to do, just the outcome. Make the most challenging, but doable, request to the responsible person, and listen for their commitment. It’s all about the quality of their commitment!

“Management,” “Business as Usual” and “Defining Moments” is a post from: Gregory Neil Associates

Here is some evidence:
There is a great deal of trust between your staff and your customers.
Trust shows up when people working together keep their word with each other.
Another indicator is when called, your people rise up to meet the difficult challenges.
They are not afraid of hard work and making the extra effort to get the job done.
They see risk, challenge, and difficult circumstances as a welcome opportunity.

How do you know if your Leadership is working…really working? is a post from: Gregory Neil Associates

If you’re feeling stuck with certain employee’s behaviors, it’s probably because you don’t see that you have any other options. There are always options…always.

The hardest part of leadership is being responsible for the impact of your own behaviors. It’s tough for the following reasons:

• Most employees are afraid to “confront” an owner with their true thoughts, so you don’t get the feedback.
• Without that feedback, it’s tough to see your own blind spots and bad habits.
• Even if you could see them, exchanging them takes a concerted, supported effort.

To be the kind of leader that people look up to takes a big person, courage, and heart.

Your Leadership is Always Inspiring Something is a post from: Gregory Neil Associates

1. People are clear on what needs to be done – they can work smart, not just hard.
2. Accountability produces transparency – certainty of facts for informed decisions.
3. Accountability inspires a powerful and empowering team environment.

The real power is when you put all three together – focused reporting, transparency, and a continuously growing team environment – you get a recipe for unstoppable success.

3 Benefits to a Culture of Accountability is a post from: Gregory Neil Associates

Some time ago I came across a slide presentation on the Netflix business.
There are some very good thoughts I recommend you see:
# 27  -  We are a team, not a family – a professional sports team
# 38 and # 55  -  Setting the context and opportunity for people to think for themselves
# 77 and # 84  -  How to set up Context examples

To dowload and view the complete Powerpoint presentation, you can click here and scroll to the bottom right.

Take A Page From Netflix is a post from: Gregory Neil Associates

We recently returned from the 2011 Restoration Industry Association Convention and Exhibition where we spoke to a full house. We got some wonderful feedback from our audience and thank you to all that attended. For those of you who would like to read our presentation, it is now on our website. To download it, please click here.

We hope that you will find the information useful.

Trim the Fat: Organizing for Tomorrow’s Business is a post from: Gregory Neil Associates