ON ACCESSING MORE POWER IN GOD

Philippians 4:13. I can do all this through Him who gives me strength.  

Taking new ground in your life without upgrading your intimacy with God is like climbing a higher mountain and using that old climbing rope… Don’t fall for it. In life, we will experience many new phases of growth. Could be starting a new business career, relationship, or ministry calling; could be anything really. The problem with most new ventures is that we bring the existing intimacy we currently have with God to the new, more intense, more demanding space. A quick glance at our current relationship with God may reveal our Word time is sporadic, our conversations with God are becoming recycled, and our acuity to access and engage with the spirit of God is dull and in need of sharpening. Unfortunately when taking new territory, the idea of improving our relationship with God to match the new challenge rarely enters our minds, if at all. The result is we wind up burned out before we begin, (utilizing old software if you will for a new future.) The new thing we were so excited about becomes a burden it was never meant to be. To sustain the demands of taking new ground, we must move our spiritual disciplines and our intimacy with God to an entirely new level of commitment. We can boldly engage in any new vision or venture as long as our relationship with God is robust enough for the advance. Dean Del Sesto

The question is: Is your current intimacy with God strong enough for where you are, and will you bring it to a new level for where you’re going?

Perspective Trumps Details

In the middle of the press of details, it is hard for the CEO to hold perspective, let alone step back and gain it. In the middle of stepping back to gain perspective, it is hard to attend to demanding details.

Pinging back and forth between them--trying to keep details and perspective going in simultaneous momentum--complicates it further.

Perspective is foundational. It is unwise to delay or sacrifice its establishment or maintenance. Building and maintaining perspective is work that cannot be delegated. Shared work? Yes! Assisted by others? Definitely! Delegated? A resounding no.

Details are delegated. And let's notice this important point. Details become more efficiently handled or delegated, prioritized, sorted, even discarded as unnecessary, when perspective is well-established.

So, the best way to be detailed when details demand attention, is to set and maintain perspective, even when it does not seem to be demanding attention. Call it preventative maintenance.

Reality Sinks In: What The Marketers Say Is True

As a CEO, it's easy to be skeptical of what you hear from your marketing department. Terms like inbound marketing, messaging, search engine optimization, influencers, and the like sometimes sound like things the marketers make up. What happens when an example of all these ideas pops up in front of you and hits you right in the face? Such an example surfaced recently on Linkedin, of all places. In the CIO Group, a sales person laments that CIOs won't respond to his cold calls, unsolicited emails, and other attempts for him to reach them. The sales person can't understand why the CIO won't entertain his pitch about something that can really help them. The sales person's message is getting lost and his product's features aren't being heard. He asks for some insight to his frustrations from the CIOs in the group.

The responses from the CIOs read like a primer for marketing and sales people. One rule of today's marketing is that people do most of the research about a potential solution long before they contact a vendor for help. One CIO says exactly that; he thinks he is smart enough to know what his problems are and where to find solutions. The CIO says, “Google is a wonderful tool.” Another CIO writes, “I do my own analysis and pick vendors to elict information and quotes from.” Doesn't this sound like a great fit for content marketing?

The sheer number of sales people calling CIOs can be overwhelming. Several of the CIOs mentioned that they won't take phone calls from people and telephone numbers they don't know. One went so far as to be thankful for caller id. This reinforces the previous point; when people need something, they will try to find you. Does your website clearly display what you do? Are the influencers and thought leaders talking about you? Do your happy customers sing your praises? Are you capturing those praises on your website and in your sales materials?

A CIO writes, “Most of the mail [he receives] is repetitive from the same vendors pitching the same thing.” Marketers talk about the need for clear, differentiated value propositions. That clarity is demanded by the prospects. We should check to see if we are delivering it.

Another CIO laments the lack of research by the sales people he encounters. He says, “Do your homework. … Research my org.” “Go down the road yourself”. Marketing should create personas about typical customers that can guide these efforts. Go the next step and create something personalized for the prospect.

Finally, one CIO talks about the mismatch between the sales person's timeline and the CIO timeline. A sales person needs to meet targets now. Most CIOs are tasked with driving the strategic nature of a business. Looking out several years and across technologies can be a fundamental part of the CIO's job description. Looking for the next organizational and technological transformation and then balancing the risk can be difficult. Maybe the CIO isn't the right target for the sale. We're told to always sell high. Personas and great customer understanding focuses what we say and who we say it to.

This is only a short perspective on how much marketing and sales have been changed because of technology. The days of smilin' and dialin' simply don't work any longer, as hopefully the person on Linkedin has learned. A good marketing and sales audit could help you understand where your efforts are today.

Healthy Tension

Discussions around company culture tend to focus on values and behavior.   These are the outward indications of the mores, conduct and attitudes of its leaders and employees.  Much energy can be spent on defining, communicating and policing these behaviors.  This is how a company “walks the talk”. What about the internal motivators that elicit the behaviors that develop culture?  In particular, how do you promote a “healthy tension” –the balance between energy and stress that motivates people towards company goals in a way that reflects its values?

This topic came up in a member One2One the other day.  His challenge was a creating a sense of urgency—a spirit that induces performance but does not create paralyzing stress.  How do you incent employees to focus on goal achievement with enthusiasm, especially when numbers are down and goals are not being met?

Our realization was that it starts at the top, meaning the owner or CEO.

Pressure is inherent in running a business.  Allocating resources, focusing on production and profits, investing in human and physical capital, launching a new line, etc. all create stress.  How you react to that pressure is obvious and imitated by the people who report to and follow you.  Many times the behaviors that we dislike or admire in others are a reflection of our own being.

Aside from the effects on our own health and well-being, we must be aware of how our behavior affects those around us and develop into the culture of the company.  Remember, Values + Behaviors = Culture.  Many times we think we are handling stress well but our persona gives off a different message.

On the negative side our reaction to stress can manifest as despair, denial, wishful-thinking or paralysis which results in under-performance.  When channeled positively, it results in inspiration, motivation and hope which results in high-performance.  This is when the concept of “leader as coach” comes into play.  Ask yourself how you maintain a healthy internal tension that is credible and motivating to others.

A Convene team is a great and safe place to ask those questions, surrounded by peers who will give you honest feedback because they genuinely care for your personal and company success without a bias or personal stake in the results.  How would that enhance your business and personal performance?

“Knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance proven character, and proven character hope, and hope does not disappoint.”  Romans 5:3-5

Culture is Fried Bread

Many years ago I have the wonderful privilege of working with a dynamic and wonderful lady named Mamie McCullough (http://www.mamie.com).  She and I worked together at the Zig Ziglar Corporation. She was a powerful speaker with great lessons through her stories. One such story as she told it was about a “rich” kid that she knew, who invited her over for breakfast to have French Toast. Growing up poor Mamie looked forward to such a wonderful delight coming all the way from France! To her dismay however, when she goes home she told her mama, “it’s nothing more than fried bread!” So to all of you that are confused or concerned about building a strong company culture, relax its just fried bread!

Based on my experience working with many great companies with strong cultures is that it’s not that complicated but it does take work. I think there are several key elements in building your company’s culture.

I believe that these elements are Vision, Mission, Values and Execution. These elements must be supported by a strong leader or leadership team. Culture is nothing more than acting on a compelling vision, with a strong mission. The execution must be planned and intentional with values as the anchor day to day activities. Leaders must lead and inspire their employee’s to live the mission through these values and not wavier.

In order for a vision to be embraced it must be a shared vision. Is your vision clear? Do other understand the role they play in the vision and mission? Do they fully understand by supporting the companies’ vision and mission they can realize their own? A large part of leadership, in my opinion, is the ability to clearly articulate a vision and inspire other to follow.

Values are the guiding principles that serve to guide all members of the organization in their day to day actions and activities. Values often considered are; integrity, service, quality, loyalty and excellence, take time to identify yours.

Culture is nothing more than acting on the vision with your values to guide you on a day in, day out basis. Leadership teams must provide the necessary tools to complete the vision, offer support and training where necessary. Great leaders must remain true to the vision and live by the same values they expect from others.

God’s people have a great culture, we have a vision for eternity, we have clearly defined values (Galatians 5:22, Exodus 20:1-17). Jesus shared His vision for us in so many ways, whether it be to love one another, to share the good news, or simply love God and serve Him completely!