What keeps you up at night boss?

Hello Contagious leaders!

Usually sales people ask the "what keeps you up at night?" question of a leader who has decision making authority. The unfortunate answer is that most leaders don't know what keeps them up at night, but they know what all the little things are that keep them from leading all day long.

It's a common question... with an uncommon and widely varied answer. This question was mentioned to me again this week and I thought I would share my two cents with you. It isn't what keeps a leader up at night that is so important, it is more than that. It is what keeps a leader from doing what their true role is that's the problem. It is the management stuff, the day to day fire drills, the time in the day that never seems to be enough and the coaching that should happen but doesn't seem to. Those are the problems that could be solved and would benefit both employees and leaders if they were solved.

Stay Contagious!
Monica

Maybe in our quest to become a Contagious Leader... one who provides real remedies for real people... we could work less on what "keeps up at night" and more on what keeps us from being a better leader all day long.

Leadership Begins With You!

When we talk about leadership, we usually are talking about leading others, however, the truth of the matter is that if we are unable to lead ourselves, we have no business leading other people.

Leading yourself, for Contagious Leaders, means the following:
1. Believe for yourself what you are saying to others
2. Apply to yourself those skill sets and mind sets that you are asking others to follow or use
3. Moderate your own self talk
4. Watch the ratio of those things you take professionally versus those you take personally
5. Be as fascinated by your own mistakes as the mistakes of others sometimes frustrate you

And now for the moment of truth, being a Contagious Leader isn't about just giving advice, giving direction, or sharing wisdom for the purpose of helping others be better... it is about taking your own advice, giving yourself good direction and regularly gaining more wisdom.

Sometimes we have to focus as much or more on ourselves in order to be there for those that we lead, when they need us...

Stay Contagious!
Monica

Insights into Incentives

Modified from a fantastic book that has more to do with leadership than you might think... "Make it Stick" by Chip and Dan Heath, this insight into how incentives might be designed and responded to is powerful!

'Imagine that a company offers its employees a $1,000 bonus if they met certain performance targets. There are three different ways of presenting the bonus to the employees:
1. Think of what $1,000 means: a down payment on a new car or that new home improvement you've been wanting to make.
2. Think of the increased security of having that $1,000 in your bank account for a rainy day.
3. Think of what the $1,000 means: the company recognizes how important you are to its overall performance. It doesn't spend good money for nothing.

When people are asked which positioning would appeal to them personally, most of them say No. 3. ... Here's the twist though: when people are asked which is the best positioning for other people, they rank No. 1 mos followed by No. 2. That is, we are motivated by self-esteem, but others are motivated by down payments. This SINGLE insight explains almost everything about the way incentives are structured in most large organizations.'

Thanks Chip and Dan Heath for explaining how Contagious Leaders might want to re-think their incentive plans. Are you postioning the benefits of your company with a focus on how they (employees) might receive them or how you might like to receive them?

Stay Contagious!