October 24, 11:39 am

Book deal for ‘Creating Passion-Driven Teams’

For those who’ve been wondering, “Where’s Dan?” — I’ve been happily typing away on another project.

A few weeks back I signed a book deal with Career Press to pen a book entitled “Creating Passion-Driven Teams: How to Stop Micromanaging and Motivate People to Top Performance.” 

This is exciting for me, because after coaching and training managers and management teams for nearly 20 years, I’ll be able to share what I’ve seen and taught that REALLY works.

Also, an added boost to the book: After reviewing my prelimary outline and a few sample chapters, best-selling author Gary Harpst has agreed to write the foreword for my book.  (If you haven’t done so yet, be sure to pick up Gary’s latest book, “Six Discplines Execution Revolution: Solving the One Business Problem That Makes Solving All Other Problems Easier.”)  Gary’s got great insights and is another person who can take complex issues and make them easy to understand.  His contribution will be most appreciated!

Creating Passion-Driven Teams is scheduled for a June 09 release.  I’ll post more info on how to order a copy when we’re closer to publication.

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October 8, 12:58 pm

Dan Bobinski to present Managing Through Uncertainty: Engaging Change

On November 4, Dan Bobinski will be presenting Managing Through Uncertainty: Engaging Change for the Idaho Department of Labor Employer Association (Ada County).

About the presentation, Dan says “The only thing that stays the same in business is change – and with the economy experiencing a major shakeup, every day presents new challenges and opportunities.” 

How managers adapt to the changing horizon is the difference between surviving or thriving. In other words, the tried and true may have worked well up until now, but is it the best way to continue?

Engaging change is now an item on every company’s “to do” list, and employers need those changes to work right away.  In this presentation, managers will learn why most change efforts fail, and the three things they can do to give their efforts the very best chance of succeeding.  They’ll also learn what to do to keep employees engaged and focused.

For 20 years, Dan Bobinski has worked with business owners, managers, and senior management teams, helping them find ways past workplace challenges. Don’t miss this workshop! 

The cost of this workshop (only $15) serves as a fundraiser for the Ada County Department of Labor Employers Association so the association can award scholarships.

Register by contacting Alisa Bondurant at (208) 332-3575, ext. 3545 (or email at alisa.bondurant@labor.idaho.gov),  or  Ken Wilson at (208) 332-3575 ext. 3479 (or by e-mail ken.wilson@labor.idaho.gov).

A continental breakfast is served, and the workshop is approved for CEU’s.

Location: The Meridian School District Services Center, 1303 East Central Drive in Meridian, Idaho (map) in the Salmon Room at the east end of the building.  The workshop runs from 7:30 am - 9:30 am.

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September 29, 1:11 pm

What’s happening with America’s financial collapse?

What’s the bottom line on the Wall Street bailout?  Don’t miss this MUST READ over management-issues.com. 

You also might enjoy this insightful tidbit I received in my inbox today:

Toyota and Ford decided to have an annual canoe race on the Missouri River. Both teams practiced hard to reach their peak performance before the first race, but on the big day, the Japanese won by a mile.

Ford decided to investigate the reason for the crushing defeat. A team made up of senior management was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action.

Their initial findings: The Japanese had eight people rowing and one person steering. The American team had eight people steering and one person rowing.

Feeling a deeper study was in order, Ford hired a consulting company and paid a large sum for a second opinion. Their findings were the same.

Ford’s senior management recommended their canoe team be reorganized to 4 steering supervisors, 3 steering directors, and one steering manager. They also implemented a new performance-management system that gave the one person rowing greater incentive to work harder. It was called the ‘Rowing Team Quality First Program,’ with meetings, dinners, and free pens for the rower. There was discussion of getting new a new canoe, paddles, and other equipment, plus extra vacation days for high levels of productivity during practices.

The next year the Japanese won by two miles. Humiliated, the American company laid off the rower for poor performance, halted development of a new canoe, sold the paddles, and canceled all investments for new equipment. The money saved was distributed to senior executives as bonuses and the next year’s racing team was out-sourced to India.

Yes, that’s fiction, but sadly, here are some real facts to think about:

FORD spent the last thirty years moving much of its production out of the US, claiming they can’t make money paying American wages.

TOYOTA spent the last thirty years building more than a dozen plants inside the United States.

The last quarter’s results? TOYOTA made $4.26 billion in profits while Ford racked up $7.8 billion in losses. 

Go figure!  Granted, the story is fiction, but it illustrates some important points.  Between that and the piece at management-issues.com, what is it that American companies are not understanding nor doing?

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September 29, 4:13 am

Five simple keys to better teambuilding

Ask any supervisor, manager, or leader what is necessary for building a solid, dedicated team, and you’re likely to get a wide range of answers. The reason? People value different aspects of teamwork. Therefore, individual preferences in teambuilding and comfort zones affect what people believe to be important.

I’m no different. But as a consultant and management skills trainer, I have the benefit of having worked with hundreds of teams over the past twenty years, across a wide spectrum of industries. That doesn’t make my opinion the last stop on the road of teambuilding wisdom, but it does afford me the opportunity to see that some very basic factors need attention across all businesses and industries.

Why do I say that? Because no matter where I’m at, whenever I ask teams what they would like from their supervisors, these same factors keep coming up.

Amazingly, these factors are surprisingly simple. So simple that it’s easy to say “no kidding – that’s automatic!” Well, obviously not, or teams wouldn’t continually be mentioning them.

Therefore, if you’re a supervisor, manager, or leader and you perceive any of these items to be obvious, don’t skim over them. It’s quite possible you think you’re providing these things, but you’re not. Or it may be that you are, but your teams aren’t seeing it. 

And guess what?  If they’re not seeing it, it’s not their problem. It’s the supervisor’s responsibility to adjust so the teams do see it.

Here are the five keys:

1. Honesty. Yes, it ought to be automatic, but teams keeps bringing it up. For teams to be committed and engaged, they want honesty from their leaders. They don’t want half-truths or feeble attempts at winging an answer. Don’t know the answer to a question? Just say so. Allow me to quote a reliable book full of wisdom: Let your yes be “yes,” and your no be “no.” Also, be up front with facts – don’t hide things. And by all means do not lie. If you do you will forever lose credibility when (not if, but when) you are found out.

2. Trust. Another “ought to be automatic” item. Yet teams regularly tell me “They put us through training on how to do certain things, but when faced with decisions, they don’t let us do what we’re trained to do. They don’t trust us!”

Ouch, people! If we spend all sorts of time hiring and training the “right” people, shouldn’t we be trusting them to do what we hired them to do? Show that we don’t trust someone and they’ll soon be doing the bare minimum, and that only when told. So much for ‘teamwork’ at that point.

3. Mutual Respect. My first mentor taught me “give what you want to get,” and that maxim fits here very well. In other words, if we want respect from our teams, we’ve got to give it. But remember, this item is coming from the teams, not me! Mutual respect involves being polite, talking with people as people (not as slaves), listening attentively, and seriously considering what our people tell us.

I could go on, but those are the basics. Here’s a helpful visual: Just because someone is “lower” than us on the organizational chart doesn’t mean we talk down to them. If I can play on something that the late advertising guru David Ogilvy once said, if we treat people like dwarfs we become a company of dwarfs. If we treat people like giants we become a company of giants.

4. Recognition. The tests have been conducted on nationwide levels, and the results are in: Communism doesn’t work. People want recognition for what they do. The key here is not to rely solely on individual recognition nor solely on team recognition. A balance is needed. Acknowledge people when they do well – and do it publicly. When the team meets or exceeds a goal or does something “as a team,” be sure to recognize the collaboration that took place to make it happen.

5. Support. Quite simply, without support, teams will struggle in maintaining their foundation. They need to know that when they are given objectives and are working toward them, they’ll have moral and financial support as they get the job done. Withhold those it will be difficult for the team to remain solid.

It’s not exhaustive, but these five ingredients help build a solid team. Do you manage teams? Why not conduct a thorough, introspective inventory and look for ways to improve? Chances are you teams will notice the difference – and you will, too.

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September 26, 2:39 pm

Does positive thinking really get results?

The idea that “positive thinking” can affect our lives for the better has been gaining momentum over the past 80 years, and even more so with the recent release of “The Secret,” a book by Rhonda Byrne. Does the concept work? I dare say it does—within reason.

Despite the nay-sayers, facts are facts: Magnetic Resonance Imaging has shown us that different thoughts have different waves and forms. But even without scientific evidence, if we walk up to someone in a bad mood we can usually sense it. And we can sense when people are in good moods, too. On that simple observation alone, I think it’s safe to say that our thoughts have an influence on our surroundings.

But can positive thoughts bring us positive results? I believe so.

A technique advocated in positive thinking is visualizing an expected end-result. Here’s why this works:

When we put mental pictures of these expectations into our brains, the difference between expectation and reality nudges our minds to look for way to make those pictures part of our real life – to reconcile the differences.

Pictures are powerful, because the human mind often thinks and communicates in pictures; words are simply codes that we agree on to communicate those pictures.

For example, if I say “think of a red car,” it won’t take long before an image of a red car pops into your mind. The car could by any make or model, but it will be red. By focusing on what you want (let’s say a red car), you are giving your mind an image of an expected end-result.

And think about the last time you bought a new (or used) car.  Almost instantly you noticed all the other cars just like it. This illustrates the magic of your brain tuning itself so it’s aligned with the pictures you’ve placed inside it. 

So, if you can picture what you want — and the clearer the picture, the better — the more likely your brain is to notice the conditions necessary to make your thinking your reality.  Although “The Secret” is somewhat extreme, I believe the underlying premise has much merit.

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September 16, 11:39 pm

Got Change?

I’m not talking about the loose quarters and dimes in your pocket or purse — I’m talking about things being different — or about to be different — at your place of work.

We just finished some quick and easy informative slide shows (complete with interactive questions) to help you or your staff understand the dynamics of change, plus things you can do to accommodate it and make it easier to deal with.

And — we’re making these lessons available for free for a limited time. Each lesson takes only about five-to-seven minutes to complete, and there are four lessons in all.

Here are the links — let me know if you’d like more info on this material.

Engaging Change: Lesson 1
Engaging Change: Lesson 2
Engaging Change: Lesson 3
Engaging Change: Lesson 4

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September 4, 4:32 am

Thoughts on Success - Part III

This is the 3rd (and final) installment in a short series highlighting success literature I think everyone should read. Part I was a short review of Jack Canfield’s and Janet Switzer’s book, The Success Principles. Yesterday’s installment (Part II) focused on Success Is Not an Accident: Change Your Choices; Change Your Life, by Tommy Newberry.

Today I’m going to recommend The Law of Success in Sixteen Lessons by Napoleon Hill.  Yes, this is the same guy who gave us Think and Grow Rich, the all-time best seller in the field of success books.

In The Law of Success, Hill gives us a much meatier version of the success principles taught in Think and Grow Rich. It’s a longer read, but the principles are reinforced with more examples, so there are more “sticking points” that help you remember (and therefore apply) the concepts.

Fans of The Secret (by Rhonda Byrne) will find Hill’s book to have a very practical approach to the same basic material (pretty cool, considering Hill wrote this book in 1917).

Like I said up front in Part I, the material in these three books is not exhaustive, but I think together they give you 97 percent of what you need to know to achieve success.

I imagine if you got copies of these books and passed them around at work, you would see some amazing things start to happen. In fact, that’s my challenge to you.  Let me know how it goes.

By the way, feel free to add your comments about any of the books I’ve mentioned — or recommend another!

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