Stop for a
moment and picture this: It’s sometime in the next year or so, and the economy
really starts rolling again (okay, it could happen). The company you work for,
while not back to where it once was, is doing well. Sales have picked up, and
everywhere you look things are looking like a near-full recovery is imminent.
The hiring freeze is no longer; you’re looking at hiring new people. Pay raises
are even back.
What makes some
people successful, and others not so? I’m mostly talking about in the business
world, although it could be in any activity. What makes some people perform so
much better than others? This is a question I’ve spent a lot of time – years,
in fact – thinking about, and studying. I get excited just thinking about it,
I’m so passionate about human performance. Okay, I may not be “normal,” but
that’s just who I am.
So, what makes some people perform better than others?
I went into a
restaurant the other day, and upon sitting down at a table a male server
strolled up – acting very cool, almost to the point of appearing to not care
whether I was there or not – and said, “Hey buddy. A beer? Iced tea?”
A recent edition of USA Today (November 6, 2009) ran an article about the consistent success of Hendrick Motorsports’ NASCAR teams. Some would say domination is a better word than consistent success, given that they are closing in on their fourth consecutive NASCAR championship (perhaps taking 1st, 2nd and 3rd). The article is titled, “Happy in the Workplace - Hendricks Motorsports’ people skills key success,” and it provides some lessons that any organization, whether in sport or the business world, can learn from.
Continue reading "Success Lessons From The World Of NASCAR" »
Get your
attention? Then listen up. Your employees are begging for feedback. They’re
craving it. They’re practically screaming for it.
Last week I
talked about how leaders, managers and coaches can be so subtle that they’re
almost invisible to the people they’re leading, managing and coaching (The Invisible Coach). That’s
not an excuse to do nothing! Not an excuse to abdicate, rather than delegate.
Not an excuse to simply wish or hope that your people do a good job and produce
the results you’re after. Not an excuse to be non-existent.
In his book, Sacred Hoops (one of my favorites), Phil
Jackson, perhaps that greatest basketball coach of all time, talks about
control. He relates the story of Bobby Knight, the college basketball coach who
commented about how he could never coach in the NBA “because the coaches don’t
have any control over the players.” Jackson’s response to this is, “How much
control do you need?”
Within a one a
week period of time I spoke to two different people who had worked as a store
manager for Starbucks. Interestingly, one said it was one of the best jobs he
had ever had, and the other said it was the worst. What do you think was the
difference?
Which do you
want to be, a problem identifier or a problem solver?
I’ve been
reading No Magic Bullet by Joe Willmore, and it’s a good book… if you want to
be a problem identifier. But if you you’re looking for a book that will
actually help you improve the performance of your organization, or the people
in it – if you want to solve a problem - look elsewhere. With a subtitle like
“7 Steps to Better Performance” I eagerly dug into this book looking to take away
specific tools and techniques that I could use. I was disappointed.
Continue reading "Problem Identifiers vs. Problem Solvers" »
I'm a performance coach, a learning junkie and professional race car driver.
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