Eden Sunshine's BLOG

Are You A Verbal Brain Dumper?

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Are you guilty of Verbal Brain Dumping?

 

This is the process by which we communicate and train people by explaining things verbally and expecting them to get it, understand it, and replicate it based solely on your verbal communication.

 

I once read that when you train someone verbally they will only retain about 30% of what was communicated. Personally, I think that number is high.

 

If they see it only, they retain about 20%.

 

If they read it only, they retain about 10%.

 

But if they hear it, see it, read it and do it, retention goes up to over 80%.

 

Another argument for creating a system driven combined with solid training and an environment of accountability increases employee effectiveness dramatically and shortens the learning and success curve.

 

By the way, good training suggests that a person can demonstrate proficiency in the thing they were trained. How many times have you quickly explained something to someone and then were disappointed because they just didn't get it?

 

In a Level 7 Business, training includes:

1. Having people read the system
2. Having someone explain the system verbally
3. Having the individual watch as the system is being demonstrated
4. Having the individual being trained actually do it until they can demonstrate proficiency.

In this environment, which begins with having a quality, well developed, proven and documented process, a business maximizes employee performance and the success of the organization.

Leaders are Born. No. They're Made. Which is it?

We just completed our 4th Annual Level 7 Community Roundtable last Thursday and Friday. What an amazing group of businesses owners if I do say so myself. (Perhaps you will join us for this exclusive, by invitation only event next year. The first step is to participate in our upcoming Level 7 Experience however. Check it out!)

One of the questions that came up centered on the topic of leadership development within our businesses. Here are a couple of key points that the groups resolved.

1- Some people have natural leadership abilities. Others are not naturally gifted.

2- Whether gifted or not, everyone can improve upon their leadership abilities.

3- Leadership is indeed a skill or an action. And since it is a skill or action it can be learned or taught.

4- Regardless of personality and style, all leaders have 3 things in common. The have a very clear vision. They passionately and enthusiastically own it. The communicate it in a way that gets others bought into the vision; who in turn own it.

5- To the degree that a leader is able to successfully do all three, will have a direct impact on the effectiveness of their leadership.

6- The first step is to get very clear on their vision and goals. Getting clear and specific on a vision is a skill that ANYONE can develop.

7- The second step is for the leader to be honest with themselves in terms of their own commitment and passion for the vision. If they are not sold out, then don't expect others to get excited. Go back to crafting the vision before moving on. When the leader has an emotional connection to the vision, that can be very powerful.

8- The third step is to develop a strategy that will effectively, creatively and consistently communicate the vision until others get excited about it too.

I would love your comments and feedback specifically on point 8. What are some of the creative things you have done to communicate your vision and goals to others in your organizations that has resulted in enthusiastic buy in?

9- When developing leaders in our organizations, we need to guide and mentor them in the execution of steps 6-8 until they become effective leaders too.

10- There is an underlying system or process behind how to do steps 6-10 successfully. Discover that and you can begin to successfully replicate leadership development in your business over and over.

Running business on a wing and a prayer...

There are still a few spots left for tomorrow's Level 7 Experience Teleconference. Click here >>.

 

Taking the risk to start and get into business takes courage, guts and confidence. I admire that about business people. I admire their aspirations to make things better. That's what business owners do. They take an idea, a situation, a condition and look and find a way to improve upon it.

 

To me, that's admirable.

 

However, that same confidence could also lead to their demise. Over confidence could result in an unwillingness to admit or recognize our short comings.

 

Over confidence could lead us to believe we have it all together. The reality is that most businesses are just "wingin it". What does that mean?

 

When it comes right down to it most are just trying to figure out how to make their business work. Some will spend a life time, granted with some or even above average success, to ultimately reach a level of accomplishment only to get stuck. Not knowing how to get to the next level.

 

In other words, they don't really have a formula. A system. A method. A philosophy that could be replicated time and time again. In any business, at any size. It looks more like survival rather than certainty.

 

Perhaps its the thrill of the unknown that we enjoy. Maybe we really like the idea, deep down, that we don't know how our efforts are going to play out. Although, I don't buy it. Most the people I know that own businesses want some certainty of success beyond their confidence in themselves or a prayer (Prayer can be powerful however).

 

If you want to stop relying on a wing and a prayer then...

 

...here are seven things every business must do to ensure continued and replicable success.

 

1- Set goals like crazy. Be intentional about everything the business does.

 

2- Measure your goals objectively. That which gets measured gets done.

 

3- Create systems so that every goal you have has a consistent, predictable way of accomplishing it no matter who is operating it.

 

4- Thread your culture on purpose. Most problems in business stem from people not knowing and understanding the key beliefs and values of the business. Businesses must be intentional about building a self sustaining culture. Otherwise the culture is dependent on the owner.

 

5- Ensure accountability. The business must be absolutely certain that people will do what they say they are going to do. EVERY TIME Period.

 

6- Make sure your business communicates effectively. This included communication from leadership through the organization, communication from employees to management, communication from employee to employee and even communication from the business to it's clients. Quality communication demystifies expectations.

 

7- Be intentional about innovation and improving performance. Don't over innovate or under innovate. Great businesses innovate and improve in areas when its relevant to do so.

 

If you want to better understand these 7 Core Business Principles - Read The Level 7 Manifesto: A Simple, Common Sense and Proven Approach to Businesses Most Complex Problems and Frustrations. Get it now >>

Working Harder is NOT the Answer!

Joe Cerino, President of HAR Adhesive Technologies, and a role model for how to implement and get results through the Level 7 System shared a conversation he had with another business owner recently.

 

He told me that this other business owner when asked what it takes to do well in a tough economy suggested, "We just work harder than everyone else."

 

Joe and I both agree that doesn't necessarily ensure success in a good or bad economy. Indeed it could be a factor. But it could also hurt you.

 

Joe, upon hearing this comment from the other owner, piped in and said, "I don't entirely agree. Before we apply hard work we have to be intentional about what we are try to achieve and be sure we are actually doing the right things."

 

That's genius Joe. And so true.

 

Working hard but without intention and doing the right things is like speeding down the highway to a destination but going the wrong way. We have to know and be exceedingly clear on the direction or results we want to produce and make sure we are doing the right work or effort to get there.

 

All the hard work in the world won't get you to where you want to be if your goals are fuzzy or you are doing things the wrong way.

 

The Level 7 System is suggests that by applying the Principle of Defining Result, which ensures the goals and direction of the business are crystal clear to everyone, and the Principle of Creating Replication, which makes sure we have the best possible method for getting the results we want, we will have the tools in place to ensure our hard work will pay off.

 

Want to find out more about The Level 7 Systems, check out The Level 7 Experience >>.

The Key to Winning is the Hand-Off

Wilson Kipketer of Denmark holds the men's world record for running 800 meters in 1:41.11. That's darn fast I say.

 

Yet the Santa Monica Track Club Men's Relay Team holds the world record for the same distance in 1:18:6. Granted each man ran 200 meters of the 800 meter race. It goes to show that a group of people working together towards a common goal can often produce a better result than one person can do on their own.

 

No one would ever deny that both Wilson and the track team are world class.

 

Both Wilson and the Track Team have the same goal; cover the distance of 800 meters as fast as possible.

 

There approaches were different. The team was able to leverage and combine talents. Walter was on his own.

 

One of the things Walter doesn't have to worry about in his race was dropping the baton. The team has to think about that. In fact, it is one of the keys to their success. If anyone drops the baton, they lose.

 

The baton pass is critical. Yes, having the right talent is important too. But all things being equal, that doesn't play into the equation. All the parties are talented. Or should I say, fast.

 

I propose that even though most businesses, unless you are a solopreneur, have team members working with them, they are dropping the baton often.

 

In business, your success as a leader and effective manager comes down to the baton hand-off. Let me put it in business terms. How well you convey information or communicate to people on your team is critical. Specifically, communicating the results you expect and how to perform their job or responsibilities the best they can is the key.

 

I have found that the simplest, most effective, reliable and proven way to improve or maximize employee performance is through quality systems.

 

I have seen businesses try to win the race without them and they NEVER perform as well as companies that use systems to ensure quality performance.

 

Handing someone a system will enable them to be the best they can be in their role in the business. And if your people perform well, then your business will win!

 

Want to be World Class? Then your job is to build a systems-driven business, made up of great systems, and make sure you get them in the hands of your people.

What are You Great at Doing?

Great businesses have high standards. It's a key differentiators in business. Setting big goals, big vision is what they do. Now don't miss understand, bigger is not necessarily better. Better is better. Great businesses, it seems, know what they are good or great at doing?

 

McDonald's is great at selecting promising new locations and ensuring return of investment for every franchise owner.

 

Starbucks is great at mass customization and creating an environment for people to hang out.

 

Zappos Shoes is great at creating an employee driven culture.

 

Wikipedia is great at ensuring quality content through collaboration and self governing accountability.

 

What is your business good at doing? What is it great at doing? What is your business potentially the best in the world (as you define your world, either industry, location, market) at doing?

 

Can you describe it? If not, then how can you do it? If you can't do it then you won't be it.

 

Tomorrow I will describe what I believe every business must resolve to be great at doing that will simplify and guarantee certain success in their organization.

 

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This One Thing Will Change Your Business and Life Forever!

Is it just me or are people in general looking for ways to simplify their businesses and lives?

 

Somehow business got real complicated. I could explain all the reasons why this phenomenon is true, but that's not really important. It just simply is...

 

I will say this however, one of the primary reasons business can be so difficult is because of the number of potential moving parts, areas of focus and aspects of business we are required to pay attention to, the incomprehensible number of methods and ways of doing things and the continual and endless barrage of frustrations and problems every business faces everyday. It's no wonder business is complicated.

 

Recognize that if we always got the results we wanted business would be easy. But when our goals and actually results don't line up with each other we have a business problem. So then we are forced to look for a solution. That's when it gets complicated. Think about it. The reason business is complicated is because we don't have an approach or specific focus or method we employ to get the results we want.  

 

Imagine you could actually categorize and discover a simple, proven and universally applicable way of handing all the above issues with the same approach and response. All of a sudden, instead of dealing with 1000 moving parts, we only have to focus on one moving part and do it really well.

 

I'll bet you are dying to know that one thing that will simplify the way you do business forever and, more importantly, get the results you are seeking and looking for consistently.

 

OK...here we go...

 

What if you accepted the idea that every breakdown, every failure, every frustration, every missed goals or objective, every people related, customer related, profit related, revenue related problem stems from one thing, the absence of a quality system that works.

 

What is you realized that every missed goal comes down to one thing; a systems problem. Then all you would need to do is work on your systems. Make your systems better. To continually improve your systems. Then your business would produce the results you desire.

 

So how do you simplify your business? Easy. Resolve that your business is going to be extraordinary at building the best possible systems to achieve optimal results.

• If you have people problems, it's a system issue.
• If you have cash flow problems, it's a system issue.
• If you are working to many hours, you have a system problem.
• If sales are down, you have a system problem. (Please don't blame the economy entirely)
• If your customers are complaining, you have a systems problem.
• If the office is a mess, you guessed it, you have a systems problem.

You and your business must continually ask these questions.

• What system or systems, or lack thereof, are impacting the results we are seeking?
• Can we objectively evaluate the performance of the system?
• How can we improve the performance of the system so we can get the results we want.

If you want to stop running around like a chicken with your heads cut off desperately looking for a way to get the results we want then simplify your life and your business and go to work on your systems.

System to Hit Your Goals Every Time!

Yesterday I wrote about the need to make course corrections in order to ensure that we don't end up in an undesirable place in our business.

 

Often we set out to achieve a goal, only to discover later that we haven't hit them. Then we wonder why. But at that points it's too late.

 

The question is then, "How do I ensure that I hit my goals every time?"

 

The process is actually rather simply, but not necessarily easy. If it were easy everyone would do it. That's why so few people are actually moving forward in their businesses and lives.

 

Step 1 - Set the goal. Obvious, but necessary. Your goal must be clear, concise, in writing and have a date.

 

Example: We will double our revenue and profit by December 2010.

 

Step 2 - Ensure that you have a methodology for measuring and tracking the goal.

 

Example: We have our financial statements that are up to date and current at all times.

 

Step 3 - Identify the systems that impact or ensure the goals. Identify the systems that are going to require innovation or improvement to achieve the goal.

 

Example: Our lead generation system is the primary driver of doubling revenue and profit. We need more leads. We also have in place a good lead conversion process that currently converts 75% of our leads. Our fulfillment systems are solid and we are managing the inflow and outflow of our money effectively.

 

Step 4 - Establish a goal for the system.

 

Example: Currently our lead generation systems provide us with 60 new, qualified leads per week. In order to hit our objectives, the system needs to produce 120 new qualified leads per week.

 

Step 5 - Innovate your system(s) to make the improvements necessarily to achieve goal.

 

Example: We have identified our primary lead generation sources and will increased our market penetration into those markets.

 

Step 6 - Set up regular checkpoints to evaluate the performance of your innovated system.

 

Example: We will review the results of our new lead generation efforts every 2 weeks.

 

Step 7 - This maybe the most important step. Take immediate action, as needed, to revise the system to ensure you are getting the results, or in this case, the number of leads your need each week to hit your sales and revenue objectives.

 

The bottom line is if you want to hit your goals, you need to take new action in order to get new results.

Dad, I Lost My Chapstick Again.

It was 15 minutes before we were leaving for school and he still wasn't ready to go. He just seemed to be pacing back and forth throughout the house.

"Kyle, dude," I said, "You've got to get ready for school."

"But Dad I can't find my Chapstick" (actually we don't use the Chapstick brand but that's what we all call it anyways).

"Kyle you've been up for 45 minutes now. What have you been doing?"

"Looking for my chapstick." He said.

"Where did you leave it?" I asked.

"Dad if I knew that it wouldn't be lost."

Dang, I thought. When did he get that smart? It was true, however.

"Well, where do you usually leave it? Don't you have place for it? Kind of like I have a place for my keys." I replied.

"No. Not really." He answered.

"Ohhhh... I feel a Blog Post coming on", I thought to myself.

Did you know that businesses are not unlike my son Kyle. They place things somewhere only to spend inordinate amounts of time looking for them later.

The average employee spends 2 hours per week, for example, looking for documents they have saved on their own desktops or computers.

Do the math. Let's say you have 10 employees averaging $15.00 per hour. That's $300.00 per week in lost productivity. That adds up to over $15,000 dollars per year.

So here is a system that you can create in less than an hour that will be potentially worth $15,000 or more to you and your business.

Figure out how you would like your documents stored on your computers. Don't just say put them on the Z: drive. Create your foldering system. Perhaps by position in the company or by business function. Either way determining your document storage protocol can take little time and dramatically increase your employee productivity.

Kyle has yet to find his Chapstick. Guess we will have to work on a system for that too.

Are You Hunting or Growing Prospects?

You should be doing both.

I know a guy, a masterful networker, very well liked. A real giver. Has a great reputation. He's been planting the seeds for his business and it's been growing steadily for several years now. But he needs more business right now.

I know another guy. A great salesmen and direct marketer. When he sets his mind to going to get a new account he gets it. He's a great hunter. Problem is he has no long term prospects for new business or even any brand recognition.

So who has got the best approach.

Of course you know the answer. Both do.

The question is what would happen if a business systematically integrates both approaches into their marketing and client acquisition strategy? You have a highly effective combination.

The farmer, the first guy, is planting seeds and building for a long term sustained food supply. Lots of work now with modest short term payoffs. But he will be well fed later.

The hunter, the second guy, is on the kill every day for a new meal. Not enough to provide for the future, but he won't be hungry today.

In business we need to focus on building a hunter and farmer marketing and business development approach.

Simple Business According to One of the Richest Men in the World

"The business schools reward difficult, complex behavior more than simple behavior, but simple behavior is more effective."

                Warren Buffett

 

There are seven simple behaviors that work and will transform the results you get in your business and your life if you apply them.

 

Be very clear on goals and expectations in every area of the business.

Be objective when you evaluate performance.

Be intentional when it comes to developing your company culture.

Develop great systems that produce optimal results.

Establish appropriate intervals to innovate your systems and business.

Make sure you have great communication throughout your business.

Create an environment where you and your people can trust, are accountable and can count on each other.

 

Take a moment and think about these for a moment. If you consider every piece of "business advice" you have every heard or seen, they all fall under one or more of these catagories.

 

Example. I see tons of folks out there promoting "how to get more business or touting cleaver or innovative marketing techniques".

 

What are they really saying? See the list above. They are really pointing to developing and innovating better systems.

 

Another Example. You are having a difficult time dealing with some of the people in your business. How do you solve a complex problem like this one?

 

It's actually rather simple. Take the list of Level 7 Core Principles above and ask yourself the question, "Which of these areas haven't we applied effectively?"

 

It's possible you haven't established clear expections. Or you haven't developed a good company culture. Perhaps you need to work on your accountability standards.

 

Business growth and problem resolution is quiet simple when you process them through The Level 7 Core Principles.

Flexible Like Water...

“One measure of how creative you are is how you respond to changes in your circumstances and environment. How flexible are you? Consider how water adapts to its environment: evaporation, condensation, snowflake, melting, flowing, goes around rocks, fills containers, etc.”

 

As the world and our perception of it changes around us we must be creative and flexible. We must be vigilant with tracking and knowing the truth about circumstances. Not jumping to conclusions and opinions but relying on evidence and fact. We must be proactive as we evaluate performance and attainment of our goals and finally, asking the question, what systems do we need to improve to deal with the changing times.

 

By the way, one of the most important questions you could be asking right now is this… “Is our marketing message congruent with the needs or wants of our potential customers and target market.”

Super Simple Formula for Business Success!

Allow me to simplify the complexity of creating a successful business with some simple logic.

 

The goals of your organization are directly impacted by the performance of your departments.

The performance of each department is impacted by the performance of the people within those departments.

The performance of the people is directly impacted by their knowledge and experience OR the systems, processes, tools and procedures they utilize to produce the results of their position.

 

Relying on the knowledge and experience of your people to produce results makes consistently growing, replicating and improving the performance of your business very difficult. It depends on your ability to transfer or find people with ALL the right knowledge necessary to produce optimal results. People dependent environments are very difficult to ensure business success.

 

When you rely on systems to produce optimal results, it only requires that you have well developed processes and people that are trained and willing to follow the system. It is far easier to improve a system than transferring random knowledge into people’s head.

 

Consider the last time you trained or explained something to an employee only to later find that they were still doing it wrong. Consider also the number of times that you have had to repeat instructions to the same person or had to re-train different people on the same information only to have them doing it differently and not producing optimal results.

 

Systems driven environments work consistently and maximize the likelihood of business success.

 

So applying this simple logic, if you want to ensure that you reach your company goals, your business must work on and improve your systems and become a systems driven business.

Micromanagement versus Innovation

Employees hate to be micromanagement. Just ask any of them.

Employers hate it when their people don't produce results. Just ask any of them.

Now assuming you, as a business owner or manager, are not simply abdicating and putting up with poor performance and results, you are probably having regular conversations with your people to figure out HOW to get better performance and results.

The conversation often sounds like, "tell me what is happening with this...?" or "Explain what is going on with this client...?"

Believe it or not, to most employees this feels like micromanagement. To a manager, we are just trying to figure out how to fix the problem.

The end result is this method of managing "tactically" doesn't work. The solution to the problem is only temporary and specific to the circumstances in the moment. You never arrive at any permanent solution.

Granted, you might solve the problem or produce the result for that situation, but nobody really learns anything. And the solution is never scalable and rarely replicatable.

A more effective and strategic approach requires implementation of three of The Level Seven Core Principles.

#1- Apply the Principle of Defining Results and ask the question, "What is the ultimate outcome we want to accomplish?"So let's pretend you have a sales person that isn't getting enough appointments through their networking efforts.

An ineffective conversation might be: "Tell me about the call you to made to Mr. Jones today, what happened?" This is tactical troubleshooting. Then you proceed by telling the sales person what they SHOULD have said.

Rather, you ask the question, "What is the desired result?" Answer: To maximize the conversation of our prospecting calls.

#2 - Apply the Principle of Knowing What's True. Determine what the actual results are, objectively.

I might assume that the employee needs help in an area, but upon further investigation of the numbers discover that they are getting appointments with 50% of the people they talk with. I need to consider whether or not I am happy with those results before I jump in and attempt to fix something that may or may not be broken.

A good manager, knows the truth before acting.

#3 - Apply the Principle of Creating Replication. If you determine that the results, based on objective evaluation, are not up to par, then focus on the SYSTEM.

Ask yourself the question, do we have a system that ensures that our people are maximizing the conversion of calls to prospects? If not, rather than tactically solving the problem, work on the system. Test it. Then implement it.

In the end, the work you do with your people won't feel like micromanagement, because it's not. It is focused on system performance improvement and innovation and most employees are happy to participate in improving results and innovating.

A Key Fundamental Business Question.

I think John Wooden is great. For those of you who are not familiar with him he is probably the most successful basketball coach in NCAA history. Click here to check out his stats.

 

One of the many keys to his success is to stick with the basics.

 

He worried little about the competition. “Play your own game”, he would say, “and do your very best. You can’t control what others do”.

 

Don’t get fancy. Do the basics well. His teams focused on fundamentals. When a player was having a difficult time shooting from outside, he would have him practice layups and gradual work back up to outside shooting. We has a master of doing the most important things well.

 

The same is true about business. You must do the right things well, or exceedingly well. The challenge is that there are a thousand different ideas about what those right things are. Some would argue marketing, some people development, some fulfillment, some money management. All of which are important.

 

Fact is you must do all those things well in order to build an extraordinary business. So the questions is how do you do all those things well.

 

The Level Seven System suggests that everything you do is a system. If you improve the system then you improve the business. If you become systems driven, then all those areas I mentioned before get addressed and ultimately work at maximum effectiveness and efficiency.

 

Back to basics I say and consider the fundamental and potentially business transforming question, “How do we create a fully systems driven business?”

 

Sold! Getting Your People to Buy in to Your Goals.

We just finished the Level Seven Arizona Community Roundtable last Friday. The Community Roundtable is a quarterly event where businesses that are in the process of implementing The Level Seven System get together for a day to brainstorm, problem solve and innovate. Many breakthroughs are made through the process because the conversations are so focused and utilize the Level Seven Language and Way of Thinking to drive our solutions.

One of the big question that came up last Friday was “How to Get Our Employees to Buy in to Our Vision and Direction of the Company”. Several hours on the conversation lead to the framework of what is likely to be a very productive system.

1- The Owner or leadership of the business, applying the Level Seven Principle of Defining Results, must have his or her vision and goals for the business written out in a clear, communicable and understandable format. This applied to things like the vision for the business, core values, annual or long term goals and objectives and more.

 

2- They must install a system, applying the Level Seven Principle of Conveying Information and the Principle of Creating Replication, that regularly and consistently communicates the vision or goals of the company. One time dialogs or hanging a mission statement on the wall won't cut it.

 

3- They must regularly evaluate, utilizing the Level Seven Principle of Knowing What's True, how the system is working. Our group determined that there are several methods to evaluate if the employees of the company are buying in to the vision and goals.

 

One of the ways you will know is simply by observing changes in the language and conversations people are having independently in the business. Are they using terms and language from your vision and goals? If yes, then your system is beginning to work.

 

4- Finally, using the Level Seven Principle of Improving Performance, the business must regularly review and look for ways to improve the system. It was determined that we can't keep saying the same thing over and over in the same way and expect people to continue to pay attention. We must always be looking for new ways to get and keep our employees attention.

 

Apply this system and approach and soon you will find you wont be the only one in the business who understands and is committed to the goals of the organization.