Ninja Leadership Training for $39.99. Call now and we'll throw in a set of steak knives.

"One step Ninja Leadership Training programs for $39.99. Call now and we will throw in a set of steak knives for free; just pay separate shipping and handling. At the end of the 4 hour video, you will be able to Ginsu your way through any leadership problems. When you walk into a room a soft light will shine down on you, and tranquil music will fill the air. You will instantly be able to 'WOW' people with your enlightenment." You see commercials like these on television, usually on weekends, and during late night reruns of B-movies.

Well, I'm here to tell you, there is no one stop leadership training program in the world. Each program must be tailored to the needs of the student leader. A very few people are  near the pinnacle as leaders and only need a little polishing. Some have no leadership skills and need an entire program. Most people in leadership positions already possess some level of competency as a leader. These are the people who truly need custom training programs to develop their leadership skills, without wasting  time rehashing skills they already have. 

A custom made leadership training program creates a higher rate of return for your training dollar. Custom training programs are just that, custom. They assess your current skill sets and create pathways to take you to the next level. However, to save money, you can still attend a large seminar and learn all sorts of leadership techniques that are not worth the price of admission. Its your call to make. Find a certified leadership trainer or call the 1-800 number for the instant enlightenment video with steak knives. That simple decision may truly gauge your Splash on the Matrix.  

In case you didn't realize it, and some people apparently didn't, the Ninja Leadership Training was a parody to get my point across and not a real product.

Activity vs Productivity

There are stark differences between being active and being productive. In fact, you can be productive in a very short period of time. While you can stay active all day and accomplish nothing.  If you are simply running around trying to accomplish everything you are staying active. You are probably not accomplishing anything, but you are burning calories.  The key to change activity ot productivity is to set goals for yourself. If you have a task to accomplish set a time table for it to be accomplished. You may only have a few minutes a day to set aside to work on the task; but, during those few minutes you are being productive.

There are times when simply being active is good for the soul, like walking on a sunny spring day or finishing up busy work. Most of the time, we need to be productive and accomplish important tasks. It is important to know the difference between the two, and when each one is appropriate. Knowing the difference will increase you Splash on the Matrix.

Essential and Ancillary Tasks as a Leader

It is important to recognize the difference between essential and ancillary task in your job. Sometimes we focus on the secondary tasks and forget to accomplish the essential tasks that are necessary for success as a leader. Make a list that outlines all of your tasks as both an employee and leader. Next, determine the tasks that are absolutely necessary from those which are secondary. You are now in a position to prioritize your daily tasks, make long term attainable goals, and increase the overall efficiency and effectiveness of your team. Once you understand the difference between your essential tasks and ancillary tasks you make a greater Splash on the Matrix.

Using the 4 Ds to Increase Your Efficiency and Effectiveness

Saying D's are great usually garners strange looks from my clients.  Then, I explain how to use the 4 D method to increase  individual effectiveness and efficiency. The system will sound simple, but if you follow the system the results can be phenomenal for you and your team.

• Delete: Delete tasks that no longer fit the mission of the company, or are no longer worth your ROI. Don't waste your time on projects, or anything else, that no longer produce a competitive edge for your organization. Times change and you must also change; focus on the tasks and projects that set you apart and benefit your bottom line. 
• Delay: Do not confuse delay for procrastination. Just because a new project is suddenly dropped on your desk does not necessarily mean you stop everything, change gears, and start to complete the latest task. First, learn to work smarter, not harder. Look at what you have to complete and then schedule everything for a "smart time" when you can give it your full attention. Concentrate on what you need to accomplish right now. Everything will be accomplished at the appropriate time that leads to your success.
• Delegate: You do not  have to do everything yourself. Look at at everything that needs to be accomplished and determine if you are absolutely the only person who can get the task completed. Look at what your team is capable of and determine if one of your team members is better suited to handle the task. Chances are, one third of your projects can be given to others who can do just as well as you.  Give items to someone better, faster, or competent enough to do the job successfully. This will free up your time for you to excel on the tasks that you are truly the only that can handle. Delegating provides opportunities for you team to learn and grow and accomplish more with less time.
• Diminish: It may sound simple, but you don't have to reinvent the wheel with every new client. Use what you already have and create short cuts that make your life easier. Once you have templates created that cover the forms, brochures, or presentations you normally use them as master templates you can tweak for each need. You can then reuse the master template, which saves time, for you to concentrate on your core tasks rather than spending time doing redundant paperwork. If you are determine to have a new template for each customer simply add or subtract a few lines and you have created a "tailor made" product. By creating master templates, and diminishing the time you waste on meaningless tasks, you free up an extraordinary amount of time and  create a competitive advantage for yourself and your team.

This is just an overview, but use the 4 D's and see how you start to make real headway every workday. See how you and your team become successful and together you create a bigger Splash on the Matrix.  

Leadership Branding in a 3 Minute Scene

It may seem like a cliché to say Hollywood creates great movies that stir people’s emotions, but creating a realistic leadership brand requires the same ingenuity to create a fascination with you as a person and leader. In one 3 minute segment in the movie “Crimson Tide” you can see and feel an entire Ivy League course on leadership branding. The scene stars out with the crew of the USS Alabama lining the dock in a rain storm. There is a crisis in Russia and the Alabama has been called by the government to protect the millions of Americans, this is both the suspense of the situation and call to action rolled up into one. Then the captain ties himself to the crew, aligning them with his own personal brand. By saying the only thing he asks of his crew is for them to Keep Up with him, yet another call to action. Then,  he ties himself and the crew to the ship. By stating to the Chief Petty Officer, in front of the crew, the ship has a proud name, representing a proud people, from a outstanding state, from the finest country in the world. Then to top it off says “GO-Bama” as the crew replies, “Roll Tide”. Now everyone and everything is innately connected, ship, crew, and captain in call to action for a life or death struggle to save America.

From a branding standpoint, it is more than a great scene. It is more than a call to action. It is a scene that ties the actors and viewers into the story. From the initial fascination with the characters people choose sides on which leader is right and which one is wrong.  It delves into changing demographics and organizational paradigms, old versus new, authoritarian leadership verses inclusive leadership. But even further it creates the image that people want to be a part of something larger than them. A reason to sacrifice themselves if need be for the greater good. Ultimately, you a sucked into the leadership brands of the Captain and his Executive Officer.

As a leader you have a brand that you created over time and are judged by through every encounter you have with your employees. What is your brand? Are you able to tie the mission of your organization in with the job responsibilities of the people you supervise? Without giving a speech, written by a highly paid writer, and based solely, on your actions do you create your own call to action? Do people believe you have the knowledge and skills required for you to be successful? On a daily basis, do you create a vision of where you wish to take your team and inspire them to willingly follow you?

 If your team is motivated by you, and your actions on a daily basis, to accomplish things that they would not believe they could accomplish then you have created a brand that is truly remarkable and rare. Without a doubt, you will make a huge Splash on the Matrix.  

Actually Embracing "Out of the Box Thinking"

It sometimes amazes me to hear organizations that say they believe in out of the box thinking; then, after being hired to consult with managers I am told out of the box thinking will get you fired. Part of the problem is the economy and organizations wanting to stick with things that are proven to work  In other instances, organizations wish they could actually implement out of the box thinking but are to afraid to take the first step.

Well, peoples ideas that get trapped in an organization that is  unwilling, or unable, to act is sometimes a god send for the rest of us. The people with both vision and courage will eventually get fed up and leave. They go out and start their own business.  Those are the people who don’t just think out of the box but build whole new industries. These are the people who use their creativity to build businesses that create the boxes most people are supposed to think outside of. These are the companies that are truly collaborative and build new tools and products that people spend enormous amounts of money to possess. Then other companies say they should have either listened to the guy before he left, or which they had someone that thought outside of the box like that.

Just think, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Henry Kiser, Bill Gates, and Steve Jobs would have never made it as mid level managers. They had too much drive and intellect to be kept down by any organization which only played lip service to out of the box thinking.  A great organizational leader once said, “The people who scream the loudest usually leave and go on to make great things happen.”  If you wish to create great organizations, and a competitive edge, you can no longer play lip service to the notion of out of the box thinking. You must actually embrace it and be willing to take the risks to receive great rewards. Once, as an organization, out of the box thinking is embraced, and actively implemented, the culture will begin to transform into a high performance organization. The sky will be the limit as to what the organization can accomplish. Eventually your organization will be building the boxes the competition will be trying to think their way out of. As a leader, embracing out of the box thinking will create a bigger Splash on the Matrix, which will resonate through out your entire industry.

"Sometimes the Best Plans Fail"

Like the story says, “sometimes the best plans fail”.  As leaders, we strive for success and sometimes we declare through our own bravado, “failure is not an option”. Well, the reality is failure may not be an option but becomes a reality cracking you in the forehead.  Once failure happens you can only dust yourself off and find out what happened to your fool proof plan. Don’t get angry, it only slows you down from analyzing what happened.  

 Here are a few steps:

·        Analyze what went wrong. Maybe it was a great idea and the timing was off. Sometimes success also happens through outside circumstances and not related careful planning.

·        Discuss with your team what was learned. You will learn different perspectives for what went right and wrong, and then be better prepared for the next time.

·        Decide what to do differently. It may not be as simple as reinforcing what you did right or wrong. By examining your failure you may have to completely change course.

·        Reaffirm your faith in your team and their individual abilities. You should confront the issues that need to be addressed, but reassure your team that failure only makes inevitable success more sweat.

·        Spotlight individual accomplishments. Especially if you are trying something new your team members have had to stretch and grow. Even if that one project failed, someone on your team probably learned a new skill or improved their abilities.

When you stop being angry at the situation, and analyze failure as a cause and effect relationship you begin to grow and improve. As you improve you create a greater Splash on the Matrix. Together, you will be on the cutting edge of success.

Confrontation or Criticism

Confrontation is not a negative but rather a positive approach to negative events. Don’t confuse Confrontation and Criticism. Confrontation deals with issues and missed opportunities and directly effects the team’s ability to succeed. It is usually specific, such as you missed a specified target date for project completion. Criticism deals with individual attitude and perceived personal flaws. It tends to be more general in nature. As a leader you must understand the difference between the two.

When a team member makes you angry, first look at their behavior and then judge your own emotions. Are you planning to confront a specific issue, or you going to criticize a perceived flaw in their character?  The answer to that question; and how you handle the issue, either positively or negatively, impacts your ability to be a true leader. Overall, it confirms or tarnished your leadership Brand and determines the Slash you make on the Matrix.  

"Nothing But Rock Bottom"

While driving down the road, I recently saw a bumper sticker that said “Nothing But Rock Bottom”.  I still don’t know the context of the sticker, a band or a way of life.  But it many people feel the same way right now with a downturned economy. Many people are simply feeling they have hit rock bottom and can’t go any further.

Well, the good news is when you hit rock bottom you have no place to go but up! When you feel you have hit the bottom simply stop resisting and take a break.  Fighting the inevitable wears you out! It is time to rest, rethink, recommit, and get back on track.  Take time for introspection to realize how you got to rock bottom in the first place. Where did the train derail? Perhaps you were on the wrong path all along.

It’s time to change things, and get you back onto the road of success. Is it time to learn a new skill?  . If you are afraid of the future, and making changes in your life, it’s time for you to take the first baby step. Time rolls on and things do change, so get use to it. Embrace Change! You are at rock bottom so something has to change, right?  

See what interest you and start to build those skills. You may have had the wrong job all along and even knew your job did not make you happy. Well, now it is time to get a job that fulfills you in new field. Maybe it is time for a move. If you always wanted to live someplace else, guess what, it’s time to get in the car and move. Making any change can only improve your situation. Make a long term plan that is different from the one you currently have. Pick a date in the future and shoot to be back on track by then.  Now, reverse plan and map out the steps from the end to the beginning that get you there. You may realize through your backwards planning you may need more time to accomplish those long term goals. You may be able to move the date up. Be realistic. On that date you may still not be at the point you had hoped, but I know you will be higher than rock bottom. Even so, you can look back and see how far you have come and know you will make it. Take today to rest, tomorrow you make your plan, and on the third day you start. Pick one goal a day and do your best to accomplish it towards your final destination.   

Use the Intangibles of Your Organization to Successfully Recruit

What makes people want to come to work in your organization? Is it the culture, location, benefit package that has then clamoring to join your organization? If you recruit using your benefit package or salary scales what happens when they necessarily change? Can  you always afford to pay more than the other guy? How about your benefit package in the wake of the changing health care laws?

Don't recruit with the tangibles, recruit with the intangibles. Honestly, show how your organizations culture is superior to your competitions. If it isn't explain, how you are building a team that's culture will surpass that of your competition. They can join the Under Dog scratching and clawing to defeat the competition to come out on top. Or try, working at your organization will provide greater opportunities for grow and develop faster that anywhere else.  Examine your organization from top to bottom and develop a list of intangibles that set you apart and use them as your recruiting tool. If you truly are different, the intangibles will speak for themselves.

Female Firefighters: Demonstrate True Pioneer Spirit

I recently met with an fire chief in the area. During the meeting the topic of females in the fire profession came up. For many organizations, there are only a handful of female firefighters at most. Imagine being the female who goes to work everyday knowing she is entering a male dominated profession.

Law enforcement faced the challenge of integrating females into the profession many years ago, and in some cases still struggle with the issue. These female firefighters are the new pioneers of today. They have the same job responsibilities of their male counterparts, but have to work harder to trail blazed  the path for those females to follow. In many older stations, the buildings were not constructed with separate bathrooms or bunk spaces for men and woman. Besides the issues of building construction, they must still live and work within the male dominated fire culture. At what point is a joke or comment cross the line from being funny to harassment?  How does a female stand up for herself as a person without being labeled a derogatory comment? These issues, and many more will eventually be worked out. As society, and demographics of the workforce, changes more woman will enter the fire profession. The woman who work in the profession today are true pioneers with the grit of the woman who walked across the great plains in the 19th century. The are creating the path for the future and have earned the right to be called "Professional Firefighter" 

Changing the work culture one success at at time.

If you do not believe your organization is special why do you care who gets hired? Lets face it, you spend most of your day at work; therefore, you have a vested interest to make it as fulfilling as possible. If you are not a supervisor pick one thing each day to improve upon, that is your goal. If you are a supervisor, pick one thing you would like to improve upon. Once you have accomplished that goal move on to the next one. As you improve the people around you will catch on and they will improve. This is called improving from the bottom up. The same principle applies to the organizational culture around you. If people are negative, challenge them to improve one thing. Negative people do not start out that way, they become negative after they feel that they have failed over a period of time.Help them improve one thing and then another and watch what happens. Your working culture will slowly improve and your work environment will improve in kinds.