Workplace growth expert Cheryl Cran’s newsletter for leaders and business owners

A friend and colleague who is a master NLP teacher Lynn Robinson is teaching her popular and in high demand workshop on the 10 Principles of Success on February 22nd in Vancouver. For more information call 604 542 3008 and visit www.therobinsongroup.ca If you are a woman and an entrepreneur you will want to check out another dear friend and colleague who does a series of coach sessions to help you grow your business as an entrepreneur master coach Teresia LaRocque at www.teresia.com

It’s heeeere - Cheryl’s brand new book “The Control Freak Revolution” It is now available wherever books are sold- please buy your copy and encourage all leaders to buy their own copy. http://www.cherylcran.com/CareerPressFall07FrontList.pdf to find out more! Order on-line with Chapters www.chapters.indigo.ca or Amazon www.amazon.com

Want to hear more from Cheryl up close and personal? Sign up for her Bold Leader Blog and receive her weekly updates, musings and ideas. Go here to sign up: www.cherylcran.com/bold_leader/index.php

Dear Cheryl:
I am at my wit’s end with a particular employee, he has become sullen and talks about me behind my back. I feel that he is demoralizing the team and destroying all of my efforts to keep the team motivated and focused. I am ready to just ‘let him go’ but he is responsible for a good portion of our results. What do you suggest?

Dear Ready to Fire:
When an employee begins to exhibit bad behavior it is usually due to underlying reasons. Has something changed in his personal life? Has his job been changed? Has he been overshadowed by a growing team and is no longer the shining star? It is important to ask yourself questions as to why he might be behaving the way he is. It is likely that something has happened to
cause him to feel insecure.
Any time a leader feels that they just want their problem person to go away- they need to look at ‘coach’ first and ‘fire’ last. In today’s tough labor market it is much harder to find someone new to replace a top performer than it is to spend time and energy to work to turn a team member around and get them back on track. Have you been coaching and in touch with this person consistently? Have you provided support and training to help this person succeed? Have you changed your attitude or behavior towards this person because of personality dislikes?
I believe that ‘challenge’ employees don’t just suddenly show up, I believe they have given us subtle clues from the very beginning that we have just chosen to ignore. Arrange a face to face with him, plan your script in advance and approach him with respect and candor. Offer
him support and tell him you want to work together on a 90 day plan to improve specific areas. Make sure you follow up regularly throughout the 90 days. Watch magic happen.

“When I eventually met Mr. Right I had no idea that his first name was Always.”
Rita Rudner

January’s Article 2008- The #1 Reason Leaders Get into Trouble with their Teams

A client of mine told me she hates the word ‘leadership’ she feels great leaders are born and I believe great leaders are made. My client hates the word leadership because it doesn’t ‘say’ anything about what is being done. Her argument is that most people who call themselves leaders are really managers and at least they are ‘managing’.
My rebuttal to her was that leadership means ‘leading’ and most managers spend too much time ‘managing’ and not enough time ‘leading’ others to manage.

There are many reasons that a leader gets into trouble with their team. The leader can be lousy at multi-tasking, project management, motivating the team, time management, giving great performance reviews, dealing with difficult situations just to name a few.

The number one reason leaders get into trouble with their teams which underlies all other leadership activities is that the leader ‘assumes’ he or she knows all that there is to know about a situation or a person.

I know, I know you have heard the make an ‘ass’ of ‘u’ and ‘me’ countless times and I can assure you that you still may be doing it more than you are willing to admit.

In the example of the client I mention above she ‘assumed’ her managers were lousy leaders because they weren’t born that way. That assumption was causing her to hold limited views about the capabilities of her managers/leaders and it was causing her to
continue to need to ‘control’ their actions.

As long as we hold on to our negative assumptions about people and their performance we limit their true potential and it forces us to continue to micro-manage while suffering increased stress and the ‘why do I have to do everything’ attitude.

When we shift our assumptions to positive ones we allow for space and room for the manager to be ‘made into a leader’. The executive conceded that yes leaders could be made but not overnight and not without some intense support in the form of recognition, coaching and tools to succeed.

Don’t let the number one reason leaders get in trouble afflict you- make positive assumptions, ask lots of questions to ensure you are clear before taking action and test your assumptions by asking them outright.

Do you have a story about shifting from small to big? Send it to me info@cherylcran.com

This article may be reprinted in your company newsletter or publication as long as you use the following:
Cheryl Cran, CSP (certified speaking professional) is the author of a new book published by Career Press called, The Control Freak Revolution and 50 Ways to Lead & Love it as well as Say What You Mean- Mean What You Say. Cheryl works with top performing organizations and their leaders to help them boldly grow a workplace of choice.
Through keynotes, seminars and coaching Cheryl provides solutions and ideas for increased results.
Find out more at info@cherylcran.com