They say for 3 out of 10, Monday morning's are fantastic! Hard, down
right difficult might be the sentiment for the remainder. It wasn't
always this way. There was a time when love surrounded the work. Today
far too many are longing for recognition, responsibilities, reward, and
wonderfulness between the hours of 6 and 6 and that presents a problem.
This week I promised to look at the Coach of the team we created last
week. As usual, the twist lies in where we look. Shall we?
In business we (all) are part of a team. Education is business.
Government is business. Non profit initiatives are business.
Franchising is business. And in business, the difference in a team's
performance, high performing and reaching extraordinary success lies in
establishing mission-oriented goals and concentrated action towards
those goals. Reaching a consensus can be exhausting yet mandatory. With
execution at the core, let's quickly cover three steps to becoming part
of a better team.
Understand that you are the brochure, business card, logo, and/or web site that is most important. . . most seen. Craig's List [founded in 1995] started as an online calendar to alert
readers of various happenings around the San Francisco area. Today the
website receives nearly 5 billion page hits and nearly 15 million unique
visitors per month. A strong accomplishment for an organization of any
size - a phenomenal feat for one that has less than 30 employees! A brand.
Theodore Roosevelt said "the most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people." I'm amazed when I think back on some of the professional encounters I've had with so many different people with varied degrees of authority. So many were absolutely fantastic while a few were nothing short of disastrous. Honestly, some of the most fantastic relationships have been with ordinary people willing to do what they said they would do. You know, they gave you a business card and had every intention of following up despite the void of direct benefit in doing so.
Don't drain your mental reserves. On this Monday switch thought.
I promise not to keep you long. In 1965, there was a gentleman by the name of H. Naylor Fitzhugh. Fitzhugh actually had a scholarship to Harvard at the age of 16 and was one of four African Americans in the 1931 class of 1000. Fitzhugh was the first African American to earn and secure an MBA in Business from Harvard. Armed with a great deal of education and exceptional talent, Fitzhugh was forced to wrestle with a tireless opponent by the name of struggle. A brief stint at Howard University positioned Fitzhugh for the business community, which was well deserved. While at Pepsi Cola Inc., he manufactured the widely used business phrase "Target Marketing." Switch.
