Moore Life Lessons

 

Coaching To Become A Game Changing Leader!

There’s lots of talk, workshops and articles written today about coaching and leadership. I’m always interested in what people are saying about coaching and leadership because I’ve been studying both all my life. The importance of leaders who coach is heightened in today’s hyper-competitive job market and rising employee dissatisfaction.

The latest research reveals that only 11%-22% of employees are passionate or fully

The ABCs Of Leadership, Always Bea Coaching!

engaged with their work, 67% of employees think about leaving their job daily, 67% of employees earning $100,000 or more annually are planning to leave their job in the next 6 months and 37% of employees are actively looking for a new job. Exit interviews long ago exposed that employees don't leave bad jobs, they leave bad bosses. This situation is getting worse and developing leaders who can coach, inspire, enlighten and empower people to help them learn, grow and improve is more important than ever. 

I recently heard an interview with Hall of Fame Football Coach Bill Parcells which explained a lot to me about my own life. The interviewer was given Bill Parcells credit for his coaching tree, the coaches that worked for him who have gone on to great head coaching careers, coaches like Bill Belichick and Mike Zimmer. He quickly cut off the interviewer and said it wasn’t so much his influence as it was the fact that he hired coach’s sons. He explained that coach’s sons were raised differently, from a very young age, all they heard about was coaching. They were exposed to inside information and got to watch how coaches worked.

The reason this resonated with me is that I am a coach’s son. I was raised to coach by a very successful High School Football Coach, and in addition, by my Mother who was an outstanding teacher. So, you see education and coaching was all I heard about growing up. I was exposed to the great coaches of the past 70 years. I was fortunate enough to hear many speak and sit in on conversations between coaches about how to coach, build teams and bring out the best in people. My earliest memory of being consciously taught about coaching goes back to when I was 9 years old, but I had already spent several years in my Dad’s coach’s office, film room, locker room and sidelines watching him coach. At the age of 9 however, my father started talking to me about what I was watching. He began to teach me to be a coach.

44 years ago, I made the choice to forego a career in sports and go into sales and business. I took all the early life lessons and my understanding about coaching into business.  I continued to study coaching and adapt and apply what I had learn to business and sales leadership. I adapted and developed programs that effective created results others were not getting. Make no mistake, business and sales coaching are different than sports coaching, in fact they are harder, and in my keynotes, workshops and coaching session I share the similarities and differences and how to become a real Business Leadership or Sales Leadership Coach. As I began speaking and coaching full time, and after my father passed away, I was blessed to have the legendary Hall of Fame Coach John Wooden spend time with me. He shared his insights and experience freely and we talked about the differences between business, life and sports coaching.

Over the years I’ve seen many great coaches speak about coaching and I’ve heard many business leaders speak about coaching in business, but I always get a sense that they are missing pieces and not connecting all the dots. I am now more aware of why I can hear these missing dots and connect them. looks like an opportunity to coach and create improvement. Improvement, that’s key to coaching. In fact, being obsessed with improvement is one of my 11 Keys To Great Coaching from my ABCs Of Leadership…Always Be Coaching! 

It’s with all that I’ve been exposed to and experienced that I developed my ABCs Of Leadership…Always Be Coaching, keynotes, workshops, leadership development programs and coaching sessions. This includes my 11 Keys to Great Coaching and I’m excited to be doing a Spotlight Session to kick of this year’s International Business Show. On Tuesday February 19, at 9:30am in South 223 I will be sharing my insights to inspire, enlighten and empower leaders to become the coaches who can attract, retain and develop the teams and talent to help them and their companies stand out and be a game changer! 

You see my normal upbringing wasn’t so normal, I was blessed to take an exceptional journey that exposed me to both sports and business coaching up close and personal. In homebuilding we’ve all hear the analogy that if you’re a hammer everything looks like a nail, well I’m a coach and to coaches everything looks like a chance to coach and create improvement. So, if you want to learn the 11 Keys To Great Coaching and always be creating improvement that leads to excellence join me at IBS 2019 and I’ll share why Bill Parcells explained that a coach’s son is just different and how you can be too and how it will change your career and improve your people and company!

By Mike Moore

Timing...A Key To Effective Coaching

Coaching is so often about the right timing of the right words,

not just the right words. It’s planting in the right season to grow the most improvement. Leaders who coach are aware of this and masters of timing!

Just some of the coaches I learned from!

The ABCs Of Leadership...Always Be Coaching

When it comes to leadership, coaching and team building I had the distinct advantage of being raised by a coach and witnessing what coaches do in the locker room, sideline, meeting room, practice field, pregame, halftime and postgame meetings. My father also decided because of my love of sports to teach me all he knew and who and shared his tips, traits and

insights into leading, coaching and preparing people to perform to their peak. 

Being a coach’s son is a great way to grow up. It's an even better way to learn about the true value of sports and how to apply the lessons sports teaches us to our everyday lives, business, peak performance and how to become a leader. What I learned and applied to business led me to understand The ABCs of Leadership...Alway, Be, Coaching!

A coach's son gets exposed to the little things that make the difference between winning and losing in sports, business and life. The following are some of the most important lessons I learned from my father, growing up in a locker room, from other great coach's and my experience leading, teaching and coaching people using these lessons. 

Sports have always been an integral part of society. Leadership and peak performance are two of the many lessons we learn from sports that have nothing to do with the score, who won or who lost. Below I'll share 27 of the key lessons from my Locker Room Leadership Program.

My earliest memory of my father teaching me to coach began when I was 9 years old. It was a Friday night before a football game and as we entered the locker room he asked me to stop and listen...He asked me what I heard. He asked me what I felt. He asked if I felt the players were ready to play their best. It was the beginning for me of learning to prepare, lead and coach people. It was the beginning of my path to becoming who I am today. That first lesson was that leaders manage the atmosphere by coaching attitudes, emotions and the state-of-mind that produces winning results. 

I grew up in my Dad's coaching office, watching game film, on the practice field and in the locker room. I spent time with him learning to game plan and plan practices to prepare athletes to execute his plans. I watched him prepare his players to perform and was on the sidelines and heard the in-game coaching,  halftime adjustments and post game speeches which were always to get them ready...again. Then, I spent time listening to other coaches exchange ideas and heard coaches speak at coaching clinics. I am a coach's son, raised to be a coach and thankful for the lessons I learned.

The last time I spoke to legendary Major League Baseball Manager and family friend, Bobby Cox, he reminded me that I was doing what my father raised me to do...In business, rather than in sports.

My father exposed me to many of the great coaches of the past 50 years and I've learned

MY DAD, CHARLIE MOORE

from all of them. Coaches like Vince Lombardi, Bear Bryant, Tom Landry, Red Auerbauch, Don Shula, Chuck Knoll. Then I began to study coaches like Bill Walsh, Bill Belichick, Pat Riley, Phil Jackson, Tommy Lasorda, Bobby Cox, Bill Cowher, Mike Tomlinson, Pete Carroll and Jim Harbaugh. The one who influenced me the most after my father, was in my opinion the greatest coach of all time...John Wooden.

Coaches never stop coaching and my father never stop coaching me. We continued to talk and share ideas. He helped me refine my coaching insights and skills until the day he passed away. He and I talked for hours on end about how to apply what we both knew about coaching to business, leadership and management. We found that all he had taught me applied to coaching, executive leadership, sales management and salespeople. In addition, I learned something from every coach I ever played for, every person I ever worked with and every client I every consulted. Leaders keep learning so they can keep teaching.

I found that life and business are a performing art, just like sports. I also learned that people performed best when 'coached up' by a leader. I believe that sports are important to society not because of who wins or loses, but because of the lessons we can learn about peak performance, coaching, teamwork and leadership. Don't get me wrong, winning makes playing the game more fun, just as achievements make life more fun, and coaching and leadership is about preparing people to have more fun!

After using all I had learned to lead, coach and manage people, I began writing, speaking, teaching and training about what I had learned that would help others prepare to perform to their peak to produce their best results. 

JOHN WOODEN

I was blessed in 1996 to have John Wooden take the time to meet with me. We spent hours discussing coaching, leadership and teaching. John graciously spent those hours at his home in Encino, California where we shared ideas about how leaders should view winning, losing, relationships and life. He opened up and shared his wisdom and insights and patiently answered all my questions. I lost my father, Charles Moore, in 1992 and John in 2010. I miss them both and feel very fortunate to have called them my mentors and coaches...I love them both.

Their influence and impact on me, and many others is their legacy and the reason they will never be forgotten. The lessons I learned from my father, John Wooden and the other great coaches have served me well and helped me serve others.

Now, I am teaching leaders, managers and coaches how to build businesses, teams and individuals that produce their best results. The following are some of the high points from my 'Locker Room Leadership Series' of workshops, seminars and coaching sessions.

• Leaders challenge people to always be learning, growing and improving, their attitudes, skills and actions, to become likable, trustworthy, experts, who are helpful, caring and courageous
• Great leadership, coaching, teaching, managing and parenting is an act of will.
• Leadership is something you do with people, not for them or to them.
• If you stop learning, growing and improving, you'll stop listening and leading.
• In a locker room, boardroom, sales office or with any group of people, if you pay attention you'll hear and feel the attitudes that need to be addressed and know when they're ready to perform.
• Peak performance is driven by Spirit (Attitude), Mind (Skill) and Body (Actions). To win in sports, business and life, they have to always be kept in that order.
• Leaders don't worry about averages or rules...They set and raise standards...The lowest form of behavior that's acceptable.
• Who you are as a coach or leader is defined by the lowest form of behavior you except.
• Leaders, like winning coaches, spend the most time with the people who need to improve the most...As long as they keep participating in their improvement.
• Leaders assign and monitor so they can coach, teach and manage to generate improvement.
• Leaders manage the air to produce a high performance atmosphere! They do this by managing attitudes, because attitudes create the behavior that produces the results.
• Leaders inspire, motivate and hold people accountable to be their best.
• The traits that separate leaders are their insight, intuition and personal touch.
• Great leaders love people...That's where their insight, intuition and personal touch comes from. Love motivates them to serve, not please people.
• Most managers and coaches sabotage the results they want by trying to manage the results they want, instead of leading by instilling the attitudes that produce the behavior that creates the results.
• When you manage people results, you’re too late to lead.
• Results, the score and winning, can’t be managed. Preparation and people's spirit, mind and body can be.
• Results come from the intentions, attitudes, skills and actions that were present long before the results.
• Winning takes care of itself when leaders help people learn, grow and improve their attitudes, skills and actions.
• Leaders lift people to accomplish beyond their own expectations through preparation.
• Treating everyone the same is the fastest way to show favoritism...It takes courage to treat each person the way they deserve to be treated…The way that's best for them.
• Leader’s help people grow and become their best by getting them to do the things they don’t want to do...People don't always like this when you're doing it.
• When you truly love people, confrontation is a great tool to improvement.
• Leaders instill a performance culture by managing people’s intentions, attitudes and dominant thoughts because they are the cause of people's behavior.
• Great leaders get uncommon results from common people by requiring them do the work to become uncommonly prepared.
• In the absence of leadership, mediocrity will take over and average is the best you can expect.
• You won't know how good a job you've done until you see how the people you've led, mentored and coached turn out...Sometimes that takes years but can last many lifetimes.

Everyday is a challenge for leaders. They are always swimming up stream, fighting mediocrity and average thinking. They have to inspire people to overcome their human nature and desire for comfort before excellence and they know this starts with them.

 By Mike Moore

Moore's Law Of Achievement

If you don't like your results, change your equation!

By Mike Moore

Being The Boss

Be courageous, it's not easy to do the right thing. It takes a large heart filled with love and genuine caring for your people. Remember love holds people accountable to be their best self and to keep improving that best self. You have been given a great responsibility to serve and care for the people who work for you. Give them your best and your business will be blessed and grow. Then you'll be given even more opportunity to care for more people. It's also important to keep in mind your business cannot improve unless your people do.

Go be the boss, someone has to lead if people are to overcome their mediocrity, come together and be part of something extraordinary! You've all seen it and been part of it in your past, now share it and help your company be that kind of place!

Last, remember they're going to challenge you because they want to see if you mean what you say. Be prepared to stand strong and remember as leaders you are the lowest form of behavior you except and tolerate.

Be your best!

By Mike Moore

Leaders Coach Attitudes, Teach Skills & Manage Actions

7 Up's To Peak Performance

Rise Up…Start and end each day with grit, determination, gratitude and a smile! Put a bounce in your step and energy in your voice!

Show Up…Arrive early and be prepared with the right intention and purpose.

Reach Up…Set high expectations and only accept your very best. Keep learning, growing and improving.

Listen Up…People will know you care about them, and trust you, if you’re listening with the intention to help, serve and do what’s best for them.

Stand Up…Be courageous! Ask the difficult questions and be willing to serve people, not please people. Be the expert by sharing your knowledge and experience to help them do what’s best for them.

Warm Up…Be helpful. People will feel what you feel and believe what you believe. Be caring, kind and courageous. Difficult situations and people require more time, courage and expertise…Be gracious and friendly but firm in your conviction to do what’s best for them.

Follow Up…Follow through! Do what you say you will do. Stay in touch and leave people knowing you care about them and are there to help them. Always do a little more than you promise…Go the extra mile!

By Mike Moore

Leaders Who Coach...Win!

How do I know that leaders who coach, win? Well, my leadership and coaching training started in 1963, at 9 years old, on a Friday night entering a locker room with my father

before a football game. You see, he was a football coach, and because of that I'd already spent time in locker rooms, on sidelines, at practices, in coach's meetings  listening to pre-game, halftime and post-game speeches, but this was different, it was the beginning of my father's conscious effort to start teaching me about leadership, coaching, building teams and winning. How did he start teaching me? He asked me what I heard and felt? Did I think the players sounded and felt like they were ready to perform to their peak? I have to say that after that night I never looked at any of my experiences the same. Spending time with my Dad and other coaches was no longer just a perk for being a coach's son, they all became classrooms to learn the science, psychology and subtleties of coaching and leadership. From that night until he passed away in 1992 we talked coaching and I've spent my life studying other great coaches and how they go about building teams and winning. Then, in 1996 I was fortunate enough to spend one-on-one time with one of the greatest coaches in history, John Wooden, talking coaching and leadership. I've been applying the lessons I learned from many great coaches to business and life ever since, along with teaching them to my employees and clients. That's were my knowledge comes from, and where my desire to keep learning started, so let's get down to talking about why leaders who coach, win and how you can too!

Excellence & The Pursuit Of Peak Performance

You'll have to have a plan to help people improve...Because companies and organizations don’t change and improve, people do!

Recent studies on workplace productivity revealed that companies whose leaders and managers engaged employees by coaching them regularly were 20% more productive and produce 20% higher customer satisfaction. In addition, workplace satisfaction improved and happiness at work become a reality...When all these line up revenue and profits improve dramatically!

A Wake-Up Call...Leadership & Coaching Are More Important Than Ever

Today, we’re in the midst off a more significant economic change than we experienced when we moved from the agricultural to industrial economies.

Globalization, demographics, cultural and technological changes are creating shifts in people’s attitudes, mindsets, lifestyles and how they view success.

This is an enormous leadership challenge because it’s affecting everyone, from leaders themselves, to employees and customers.

Leaders often suffer from economic 'Normalcy Bias’ (It hasn’t happened before so it’s not happening now!) during economic transitions.

Remember all solutions, just like all problems, are temporary. So, don’t be defensive or defend the status quo. Be prepared to keep changing to improve.

People's definition of success and motives for working are shifting and changing. Disengagement is one of the most serious shifts and is a challenge for leaders never before faced to this extreme.

Opening The Door To Success In The ’New Economy’

It won't be enough to just stay ahead of your competition, you’ll need to keep up with your employees and customers. The best way to do this is to stay connected, engaged and coach people to instill an ‘employee first leadership’ culture that will produce a 'customer first company’!

Don’t get caught waiting for a recovery...Instead, engage and coach people to create your new standard of success.

Good News

Even though things are changing rapidly people's human nature hasn't changed. So, what makes people happy and fulfilled really isn't different and leaders who coach can produce extraordinary results in this ’new economy'!

Engaging, Coaching & Leadership...The Keys To Improvement

The key to improving your business, and in some cases the key to your survival, will be more leadership and management engagement than at any time in the past.

Remember, the latest studies show companies who's leaders and managers increase employee engagement by doing regular coaching are 20% more productive and have 20% higher customer satisfaction.

Both these results create significant increases to revenue and profit!

Remember, human nature doesn't change just the conditions we face keep changing.

Leaders who coach are change agents who stay ahead of the changing conditions.

People still want to belong to something bigger than themselves and be a part of something extraordinary. It's a leaders job to give them that opportunity...It's your job to make it a reality!

Leaders Who Coach Always Have A Higher Purpose

Leaders who coach always have a higher purpose that brings people together and keeps people energized and focused!

People don’t want to just work for economic reasons! In fact, people are never be their best just working for money, perks or promotions.

So, Let's Talk About Coaching

Sports teaches us many lessons that can be applied to life and business…The first and most important is that it's not about really about the score, it's about learning to compete with ourselves to become our best! The second is that although we keep score and the prizes go to the winners, the winners are the ones who focus on the game not the score!

So, just like athletes, actors and musicians your employees need to perform to their peak for your business to improve…Because remember, companies don’t really improve, people do!

Since we know that even the best athletes need coaching to be their best, how much more do your employees need coaching to be their best?

Leaders Don’t Make Rules & Policies, They Set Standards

As a leader you are the lowest form of behavior you accept or tolerate!

Hold everyone accountable to meet the standards.

The best standard is to keep learning, growing and improving!

People don’t come together by chance, teams don’t win without coaches!

Leadership requires toughness and a hard edge at times if you’re going to do what’s best for people.

Always Be Coaching...The ABC’s Of Leadership

Engage, Connect, Communicate… Attitude is everything!

People won’t work like teammates unless a leader acts like a coach and holds them accountable to act like teammates.

People don't become teammates until they hold each other accountable to be their best.

Leaders who build teams are the leaders who set standards,coach attitudes, teach skills and manage actions.

Coaching is the key to individual peak performance, creating winning teams, teamwork, productivity and customer satisfaction.

Leaders and managers who coach also attract and retaining top talent by helping that talent perform to their peak.

Great Business Leaders, Like Coaches, Manage The Air

That’s right they create an atmosphere that produces good team chemistry, teamwork and superior individual effort!

Coaching is all about instilling and managing people’s attitudes, because attitudes, produce the actions, that generate the results.

Coaching is about instilling a performance culture by making learning, growing and improving, your attitudes, skills and actions, to become a likable, trustworthy expert, who's helpful, caring and courageous, everyone’s mission. In fact this is the standard great coaches set!

Happiness and workplace satisfaction grow when people are challenged to be their best while working in pursuit of worthwhile goals.

Make sure the objectives and goals are clearly communicated so they can be pursued effectively.

Leaders Who Coach Pay Attention To What Matters Most

You cannot lead from 30,000 feet…You must be connected!

People are our greatest asset…Then lead like you mean it! People before profits, isn’t just a cliche’, it’s the best way to improve profits!

Leaders who coach know people are spirit, mind and body, so they serve them in that order!

Leaders who coach must be change advocates, fully engaged, self-aware, empathetic, not perfectionists, whole life focused, curious, grateful...Coaching is an act of love!

Attitude matters because when frustration is allowed to linger, it leads to indifference which causes disengagement. Coaching attitudes produces exceptional actions and extraordinary results.

Don’t Get Caught Up Watching The Scoreboard (Reacting To Results)

When you manage results you're too late to lead, you’ll only be able to manage the chaos and confusion to a mediocre end!

The score will make you relax when you're ahead and panic when your behind.

Keep the focus on learning, growing and improving everyone's peak performance!

Excellence only happens for those who are obsessed with improvement.

A leader who coaches must be a compass always pointing towards improvement. 

Watch the players, set the standards and coach the things you control and the score will take care of itself!

Nothing Improves Until People Improve...Don’t Wait, Get Started

You can get results or make excuses but you cannot have both!

Stop watching the scoreboard and start coaching.

Connect, communicate and engage by coaching attitudes, teaching skills and managing actions daily!

Find your higher purpose that'll keep you and your employees fully engaged, energized and focused!

If you believe people are your greatest asset...Then act like it, live by it, lead like they are!

Never miss a chance to build trust and the relationships that follow will make you rich!

Become a servant on a mission to get everyone learning, growing and improving, their attitudes, skills and actions, to become likable, trustworthy experts, who are helpful, caring and courageous and watch your revenue and profits improve!

My Hope For You, My Challenge To You

I hope you've had and have the mentors, coaches and leaders in your life that I’ve been blessed to have in mine. I would also challenge each owner, executive and manager to not just go to work but go to work to be a leader who coaches and mentors those they work with each day.

In The End, Leave A Legacy

Will you say I wish I had, or I'm glad I did? If you’re a leader who coaches and mentors, you'll be a leader who makes a positive difference, helps people breakthrough to become their best and you'll leave a legacy or excellence!

By Mike Moore

Leaders Attract & Retain Top Talent...Turning Managers Into Mentors

If you want to be a leader and attack top talent today you need to address three things. The world we live in, the people in the world we live in and what you need to be and do to become a positive influence to both.

THE WORLD

We live in a fast past changing world, a different world than we were born into! We all acknowledge that, but just how different is it? Why is it so different and how can we adapt

and thrive in this new world?

It’s important to understand we’re living in the transition to a 'new economy' a new way of

life really, but just how different is our world? The International Monetary Fund has now stated "This economy is beyond our knowledge and experience.” Really, it's beyond the people who have been in charge for a very long time. So, it's a brand new and in this world, it won’t be enough to stay ahead of your competition, you’ll need to keep up with your employees and customers. It’s not just a ‘new economy’ it’s actually a new socioeconomic system that makes this a radically different world to live and work in. It’s the dramatic shifts in people’s attitudes, social views and values that makes this a massive socioeconomic transition.

Why is today so different? We’ve gone through economic and social ups and downs for 100’s of years, isn’t this just another fluctuation? No, it's a transition different from anything we’ve ever experienced. We’ve never had the population, demographics, globalization, technology, virtual reality, augmented reality, 3D printing, science, healthcare and artificial Intelligence we’re faced with today. Add to these factors the 4 generations main generations of people living on the planet who seem to have deteriorating character, values and integrity. It’s really the perfect socioeconomic storm.

It’s the social shifts that really add to the challenge we all face in business. We've become a celebrity society where Boomers want to be rich, Gen X wanted change and 50% of millennials state they want to be famous and rich and now we’re about to add Gen Z. The celebrity society influence of luxury lifestyles and a reality, that isn’t a real reality, is in everyone's face everywhere they turn. 

Today's employees are faced with the possibility of more jobs changes than ever before and we’re headed to a time of more change in the next 100 months than we've experience in the last 100 years as this transition continues to develop, mature and head towards the rapid advancements in technology, science and health care. 

A transition this significant and massive will be messy and when we look back this transition will be significantly more challenging than the shift from the agriculture age to the Industrial age.

Sounds tough, has been tough, will be tough but you know the saying, 'When the going gets tough, the tough get going'! Change has always been the only constant but today it's happening so fast it's producing more insecurity, anxiety, worry and earthen the average person can handle. And that is the point, this transition requires people to keep up by become lifelong learners who embrace the idea of continual growth and improvement. 

I have good news, there's great opportunity for any business that's tough enough to get going by giving people purpose, by challenging them to be their best and helping people learn, grow and improve to face this new world. The business leaders that accept the challenge will be those standing tall, attracting and retaining top talent, talent that will help them reap huge personal rewards, impact many lives and increase profits!

THE PEOPLE

Understanding people's mindsets gives you the insights to start being a positive influence. Most people are suffering from ‘Economic & Social Normalcy Bias’, it hasn’t happen before so it can’t happen now. The arrogance or denial that results from this causes them to fight to maintain a status quo or go back to a better time. This causes people to keep doing what made them successful or comfortable in the past. This plan won't end well since we cannot stop the rapid change we are experiencing. Past success and comfort are the greatest enemy to present and future success because they keep us from embracing today's changes and taking new actions. Frankly most business owners and executives are comfortable because they’ve worked hard for years to get comfortable. So your first challenge is to accept that it's time to be uncomfortable if you want to grow and improve. Is also important to remember you're either getting better or you're getting worse, there's no maintaining the status quo.

What's about all the articles, studies and talk about the millennials and aging boomers?

Let's take a closer look at the generations. What’s the difference between the generations? Not as much as what most people think! With all the change that's happening our human nature hasn't changed and all 3 generations seem to suffer from deteriorating values, integrity and character which infects and influences each other! 

It's in out nature to seek comfort and make excuses so in this way we are the same. Our future success depends on the same thing it always has, self-discipline, the ability to face and do the things we don't want to, to get the things that are best for us. We were all created to be extraordinary but wired to be mediocre until someone inspires, motivates and coaches us to be our best. That's why leaders who coach, inspire and motivate win! Today however mediocrity is king, standards have been lowered and leadership is more important than ever before! 

You will need to understand that you will not lead a group of all passionate, motivated individuals. The majority of people will be average and your job will be to get 10%-20% above average behavior form these average people.  Don't stop looking for extraordinary people but know that when you hire them they will either move up in your organization or out to better  themselves and you will always be working to improve the average people they leave behind.

The truth about any group of people is that that are full of average people just trying to be comfortable and get by. The vast majority of people are busy looking for the easiest way, not the best way, and your challenge is to help them overcome their nature that drives them to be average.

The good news is that for any organization to be extraordinary they only need people to be slightly above average, because a group of slightly above average people pulling together produce exceptional results. The more important issue is how do you inspire average people? The answer...Give them purpose!

BEING A POSITIVE INFLUENCE

A leader armed with the acceptance that things are truly different, change will keep occurring at light speed and people will always seek to be comfortable and be average, if not given a purpose that inspires them to overcome their nature, is ready to become the positive influence and difference maker that can succeed in the new world. 

If you are going to be the employer of choice, attract and retain top talent, you must accept

that you are first and foremost in the people development business. You will not improve your company, you can only improve your people. You are in the people development business or you're working way out of business!

A great place to start changing the way you hire, train, coach and develop your people is to remember people's #1 reason for leaving their job...Their boss! It's time to lead and turn your managers into mentors. Training falls far short of what's needed to inspire and motivate people. Coaching, which happens daily and starts by instilling and addressing attitudes, monists and people's emotional intelligence is the key to attracting and retaining top talent. 

So take an honest look, make a list and make sure there are great reasons why people would want to work for you? What is our personal brand, your influence? Do you give people a purpose higher than themselves or just having a job? Ask yourself, "Am I the leader you’d want to follow? 

Then, you can begin to ask your people to answer the question, "Are you the followers they'd want to lead?"

Studies reveal that people perform best when working for a purpose. The best purpose a

business can have is to make a positive difference in people's lives, not just give them a job! You need a higher purpose that inspires, motivates and brings people together. Helping people be their best is a purpose that creates a performance culture in your business and helps hold people accountable to perform at their peak. To do this owners, executives and managers need to be engaged, connected and an active communicators who coach attitudes, teach skills and manage action to hold people accountable to be their best. You need to love your people enough to get the best out of them!

You need to turn your managers into mentors! Leaders and managers who mentor and coach attract and retain top talent because they stand out and make your company the employer of choice.

Great leaders have always been committed to helping people learn, grow and improve. In fact, if your people aren't learning, growing and improving, you aren't leading. You may be running a business, but how long can it run on the backs of average people when average people keep lowering the bar?

You need to define who you are as a company? If a corporation is an individual then give it a personality, character and values that inspire people, attract people and makes people proud to be a part of. Do you have a company 'To Be List’? Who do you want your company to be? How do you expect your people to behave. If everyone knows who you are, you'll attract those like you and give them a compass to stay on course. You can also recruit using your 'To Be List' to set expectation for future employee coaching, development and behavior.

Next make sure you have set clear standards and communicate them to everyone. Remember a standard is the lowest form of behavior you will tolerate and not ever lower. These standards can be used when recruiting to establish your expectations. Standards are also the key to instilling a performance culture where people hold each other accountable. Oh, by the way, if you aren't prepared to hold people accountable to meet the standards, don't bother doing anything, just wait and prepare for the end of your business, because it's coming sooner than you think. High standards and accountability attract top talent and chases away those trying to hide,et by and be mediocre. Low standards chases away top talent and attract the mediocre.

What should you be looking for in your people? You should be recruiting people with high emotional intelligence who posses a growth mindset, not a fixed mindset. Recruiting instead of waiting until you are desperate is an important element attracting top talent. So is how you interview and test. So if you really want to be the best, build an organization that performs to is peak you have to invest in recruiting, testing, training, coaching and you need it to be a priority because it is the best way to increase your efficiency and productivity.

Make sure you have people who are responsible to always be recruiting. If you want good people you have to be obsessed with pursuing them and developing them. We've heard that people are our most important asset for decades and watched as not must was done to prove anyone really believed that. If you're ready to accept that as fact, then take actions that prove it. It requires resources and money, but will produce the best return on investment you make. So make sure your have a budget for recruiting and people development. Then take action to improve your people. Be active at job fairs, veterans organizations, start internships, be visible at colleges and business organizations and start looking  or the other industries that you can recruit people from. You need to build a deep bench by never continuously  recruiting! This will also help you have the strength to hold people accountable to meet your standards. It will give you the courage to raise those standards and watch people begin to take more pride in their work and company.

Once you know who you are and who you’re looking for you can effectively promote your company and personal brand by creating a social media presence that will be a positive influence on your existing employees and prospective employees of  all generations.

This new world we talked about presents us with a great opportunity. One that can produce extraordinary rewards. We have to remember though, easy doesn't ever produce excellence, it's always the result of doing the hard stuff, and leading people, managing people and getting the best out of people isn't easy, it's just worth the effort!

Today your people matter more than ever before because the average person’s standards have fallen so low and that makes mediocrity more dangerous than ever before.

The challenges you face today demands that you build a company made up of people with above average attitudes who give an exceptional effort everyday. These will be people with high emotional intelligence and a growth mindset. When you do, they’ll take your company a level up to serve your customers needs before they even know they have them. One of the greatest challenges of the 'new economy’ it to be able to provide information before it's common knowledge. To provide creative ideas to solve the unforeseen problems your customers face. You need people who can think one step ahead of your customers, not just respond to them and you won’t just hire these types of people you'll need to hire right and then continue to develop them. It’s not about training as much as it is about ongoing coaching that generates continuous individual and group development. 

Today, you're either all in to help people be their best or you're on your way to being average and then extinct. So if you're in, start controlling the two things within your power, people’s attitudes and effort! Commit to spend the time, money and resources to create a performance culture in your business that moves average people a level up and produces peak performers who excel in this new world we live in. I promise you that your ROI on the time and money invested will be off the charts!