Executive Leadership Coaching iLead – Total Trust – Honesty

I’ve got a client that has amazing buy-in within their organisation. Average staff tenure is 10+ years and in their market they are growing at a compound rate of over 8% per year when the rest of the market is shrinking by 5%. It’s an amazing organisation.

How do they do it?

One of the keys to their success is how they share information.

We all know that information is power. So they give everyone the information and thus the power. This stops gossip about business, concerns about job security and encourages problems to be solved before they become major issues.

I’ve put together a short video on how my client does this.

You can access the video by clicking on the image below.

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Transcription Executive Leadership Coaching iLead

Here is something on the sharing of information and the level of honesty within sharing information that helps build trust within organisations.

The Trust module within the iLead executive leadership coaching program looks at how information is shared, and the way this comes out is under the heading of honesty.

Now, sharing information – I’m not talking about lying, but that naturally comes into it. What I’m talking about is the level of information that is shared.

Holding Information Back

We, as humans, all know that information is power. And because of that, we tend to hold that information back. If you’re in management, you only trickle down what it is the staff needs to know.

When you have a higher level of honesty and you want to build trust, instead of creating information and trickling down that the staff needs to know, you flip that model on its head. Every piece of information you create is open to everybody. Then you apply the classification filter.

People Fill In The Blanks On Their Own

So information is designed and produced and looks as anyone can have access to it, except this part, this part, and this part, and that gets re-classified. Why do we do that? The reason we do that is because when staff have information – enough information – they will make decisions in accordance with that information. But if there are big holes sitting in the information that you’re sharing to your staff, where the holes are, they make up information to fit in there. They start guessing, they start wondering what it’s all about. And that builds a gap in the trust. And they stop trusting you.

What do they use to build up that information? Well, they use maybe media reports, what they see going on in the economy, gossip, rumours, but most importantly, they use their own personal paranoias and their own set of beliefs.

There’s a good chance that that is going to be completely wrong within your organisation. Why? Simply because information is held high and then trickled down as opposed to starting free for everyone and then re-classifying. This is not an exercise in raising people’s classification. It’s an exercise in declassifying information down.

iLead Executive Leadership Coaching

This is just one of the steps that we look at in the Trust module in the iLead executive leadership coaching program to help your organisation produce leaders at every level who have the confidence, the ability, and the desire to make decisions to take action to help your team, your organisation achieve its organisational goals.

What I’d like you to do is below, pop in how you see the organisational information strategy within your organisation. Are you organisations that hold information up or do you filter it down? Love to continue the conversation down there.

Executive Leadership Coaching iLead – Language of Leadership – Permission to Stop

Have you ever seen a weak politician speak on TV? They just seem to dig themselves a hole and crawl into it. Every word they say makes them look weaker, and often gives away more information than they should be.

It’s funny to watch, until you realise that they are the ones running our country!

The reason this happens, is because they have not given themselves permission to stop. This is a simple, yet powerful technique that you can use TODAY in your next conversation to increase your ability to influence.

You can get all the information by clicking the image below.

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Transcription Executive Leadership Coaching iLead

Here’s a technique that will help you have greater power and greater influence when speaking.

The Language of Leadership module, part of the iLead executive leadership coaching program, is probably my favourite module of them all. And the reason for that is this is about the slight-edge techniques that you can use to be seen as someone who is influential, someone who has power.

iLead Executive Leadership Coaching: Permission To Stop

The technique is about permission to stop. Permission to stop is about how you control your message under the pressure of what you think other people want. It’s used often in job interviews or sales presentations, where the audience will be quiet when you’re speaking, you’ll finish speaking, and they’ll just remain silent.

That often will cause the speaker to speak more information, and when they deliver more information, they’ll often dig a hole for themselves, or they’ll reveal the true message that they’re hiding. The technique is permission to stop – give yourself permission to stop when you have answered the question. If your audience wants more information, they’ll ask for it. And when they ask for it, you can provide it.

Start Using Your Permission To Stop

But if you use permission to stop, you’ll stop digging those holes that you could potentially fall into and ruin your job interview or miss out on the sale.

What I’d love is below, if you could pop in comments on whether you’ve given yourself permission to stop, and what it had, the effect on you and your audience, or when you didn’t give yourself permission to stop, and what the outcome of that was.

This technique works in our executive leadership coaching.

Executive Leadership Coaching iLead – Simple Sales – It’s not about you

Alert: This is a bit of a rant!!!

As a single guy, it’s funny to watch how people go about selling themselves on a date. Most women get it wrong (I assume that men do too…I just haven’t dated any of them).

The number one rule of dating is simple. It’s interesting.

No one wants to hang out with or date someone who is boring.

But most people end up being boring on dates. Why?

The thought process goes something like this:
1. I need to be interesting on this date.
2. I need to identify what interests me.
a. Animals
b. Camping
c. Walks on the beach etc

3. Talk about that.

It seems simple enough and should work. But what if the person on the date isn’t interested in what interests you?

What happens is you don’t form a connection to see if there is a chance for a much deeper connection later on?

Unfortunately, many sales people do this as well, and it causes more sales to be lost than anything else. I’ve put together a short video to show you how to overcome this problem so you can sell more.

You can get it by clicking on the image below.

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Transcription Executive Leadership Coaching iLead

Here’s a technique about how can get people more interested in your message.

Simple Sales is the ninth module of the iLead executive leadership program and what it shows you is how to go around creating your message so when you sell it’s easier for your audience to listen.

Executive Leadership Coaching: It’s Not About You

One of the techniques is the ‘It’s Not About You’.

Recently, a telemarketer wanting to sell me roof restoration called me. I picked up the phone, “Hello,” and he started introducing himself and his company and all the awards that his company had won and how good their company was.

And I was sitting there going, “I don’t care. I don’t care about you.” The reality is I care about me.

Most people who don’t understand selling will go in to sell to you from their perspective. That’s the completely wrong perspective to start from because you care about you.

When you set your team up to sell, when you sell messages yourself, start with what’s it about for the audience. It’s not about you.

iLead Executive Leadership Coaching: Discussion

This technique is small, it’s simple, but it is very powerful, and it’s just one of the many powerful techniques that are in the Simple Sales module of the iLead executive leadership coaching program.

Below, pop in what it is that you like when people come to sell you, or what techniques you have found that grate you or rub you up the wrong way. We’ll continue this conversation about simple sales so you and your organisation and your staff can increase the power of their sales pitch.

Executive Leadership Coaching iLead – Confident Communication – Connect with stories and emotions

I’m often asked what is the best way to get people to listen to a message. This could be selling, getting staff to follow directions or a supervisor to give permission for you to start a project.

The solution is to go old school and tap into the way we have thought and communicated for thousands of years. You can get all the details on what it is here or by clicking on the image below.

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Transcript Executive Leadership Coaching iLead

Here’s a technique on how you can connect with your audience, your staff, your marketplace, in a way that will bond them, and draw them to your message. I’ll share with you in a moment.

Confident Communication is the eighth module in the iLead executive leadership program. It shows individuals how to communicate in such a way, so others want to follow. This communication might be at the front of the room, on email, telephone, across the table meeting. The way we get people to follow our message and bond with it is to elicit the emotions in what it is you’re talking about. How do we do this?

How To Connect With Your Audience: Stories And Emotion

Well, humans, we’re emotional creatures, and we will bond to emotions. Where we find the emotions is the stories that sit behind the data. If you have information to share, what is the story behind it that your audience will listen to?

Now, your stories don’t need to over the top. They don’t need to be, “I climbed Mount Everest with a Sherpa on my shoulder and a broken leg.” Those sort of stories of “I’m over the top” are great, wonderful to listen to from motivational perspective, but from an engage-your-audience perspective there’s a disconnect that happens. “I wish I was that good to climb Mount Everest.”

Sharing Stories: Keep It Simple

The stories you use need to be simple, basic, and every day. If you use a story about coming to work, I can relate to that. If you use a story about having a tough weekend or fun with the kids or whatever it happens to be, I can relate to that. When you find an appropriate story and match your data, your message, to it, it comes alive. I will remember it, and therefore I’ll bond with your message. That is what brings the emotions out.

iLead Executive Leadership Coaching

Confident Communication is just one of the modules in the iLead executive leadership coaching program. Leaders need to be able to communicate, and that’s what this whole module is about. How do they communicate in a way that an audience wants to follow?

Please pop your comments in below, of some of your favourite stories that you’ve heard from speakers, managers, your boss, customers, that you’ve remembered over the years, and why you remembered it. And I guarantee you’ll find that there’s an emotional content to it. That’s what we do in our executive leadership coaching.

Executive Leadership Coaching iLead – Buy In – Know My Name

Sorry, but this is a bit of a rant!!!

I was recently working with a very senior business leader who had over 500 people in his business unit (there were several thousands of people in the organisation).

He was complaining that no one was (apparently) reading his e-mails. He wanted to know how to change this.

This is a common problem within big organisations. Messages are sent, but no one is reading them.

I asked him if he knew the people who weren’t opening and he couldn’t name them.

And that’s the problem.

To ensure that your organisation doesn’t have the same problem, I’ve put together a short video that will give you one powerful technique to help get e-mails opened, people on board with your message and improve productivity. You can get the details  by clicking on the image below.

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Transcription Executive Leadership Coaching iLead

Here is a great technique on how you can help your staff buy into the message that you’re selling.

iLead Executive Leadership Coaching: Know My Name

The third module of the iLead executive leadership coaching program is about buy-in.

How do you get staff at all levels to buy into the message? Senior leaders have their strategies they need to get the organisation to implement. The level of success out of that strategy depends on how much the staff buy into it.

One of the easiest ways to get people to buy into your message is to know their names. Every person you manage – do you know their name?

And if the answer is yes, do you know their partner’s name, their children’s name, what they like to do on the weekend? But at basic level, you need to know the name of every person that you’re leading.

Now, I know some people are going, “I’ve got over 400 people in my organisation. That’s not possible.”

Well, don’t worry – this is not in addition to your normal job. This is your normal job.

Executive Leadership Coaching: Be A Leader

If you’re the leader and you want people to follow you, there needs to be a level of intimacy. People need to come together. And that intimacy starts with you knowing my name. If you want me to follow you, I need to know that you care about me. And that starts with knowing my name.

What the benefit of this is when you send out a group email and I see it’s from your email address, there’s a chance that if I know you know my name, I’m going to open your email. And there’s a chance that as I read your message I will hear your voice saying it to me.

If you’re the leader of a team, if you’re the leader of an organisation, of a business unit, you’re the leader, and the leader needs to know the names of the people they’re leading. Otherwise, there’s no incentive for the people to follow.

This is just one of the small techniques that are shared in the Buy-In module of the iLead executive leadership coaching program. What I want you to do is below, share with me the times where leaders, that you’ve worked for or had in your organisation, have known everybody’s name, and what it does for that individual who is known by the leader, and also for organisational success.