Business Mentor Weekly #48 • Implement a Coaching Program

The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior
teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires. ~ William Arthur
Ward

Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds
discuss people. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

Implement This Principle: Forty percent of a leader’s time should
go into coaching staff. Time must be set aside to teach the
company’s strategic objective, core ideologies, and company vision,
while helping staff develop an understanding of departmental
objectives and how they can apply the company’s mission to tasks
they are responsible for.

To Get These Results: Teaches staff how to figure out what the right
things are to do and gives them a framework within which to accomplish
them.

Thoughts to Ponder: All your direct reports should be on your
coaching schedule. Assuming you have the right people on the bus, they
are worth the investment in time and energy.

Coaching is a two dimensional process where leaders spend time
inspiring others, helping them grow, both professionally and
personally. First they must have attainable goals set before them for
their professional and personal lives, goals and objectives they
partake in setting and realizing. Secondly, there must be an emotional
transfer of core ideologies they see as noble and worthy of acting on,
an ideology they can believe in and get on board with.

Take Action: Before getting started in a coaching program, establish
personal and professional goals you both agree to work on. Set regular
meeting dates and times you can meet at. Be consistent; do not let the
urgent get in the way of the important. Agree ahead of time to bring
clarity to every issue, to be candid and transparent. Coaching is a
marathon, not a sprint, so give the process time. As a leader,
effective coaching is a skill you must grow, both for you personally
and for the one being coached.

Next Week’s Topic: Effective Delegation

Business Mentor Weekly #49 • Effective Delegation

Surround yourself with the best people you can find, delegate
authority, and don’t interfere. ~ Ronald Reagan

The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men
to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from
meddling with them while they do it. ~ Theodore Roosevelt

No person will make a great business who wants to do it all himself
or get all the credit. ~ Andrew Carnegie

Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they
will surprise you with their ingenuity. ~ George S Patton

Implement This Principle: Effective delegation is a systematic way of
delegating the decision making process to lower levels of management.

To Get These Results: Create time for yourself through the
transformation of a single phased business to a powerhouse that
exercises the strengths and talents of the entire organization.

Thoughts to Ponder: Proper delegation means managers can use their
properly directed, creative talents to move the company along. When
delegation is coupled with a proper understanding of the decision
making process it brings with it the power to transform a single
phased business to a powerhouse that exercises the strengths and
talents of the entire organization.

Take Action: Implement a systematic delegation system which
incorporates an integrated approach to leadership best practices,
(such as Emeralds VLS.)It must allow for alignment to company
objectives, strategies and ideologies and create a framework within
which decisions can be made and the results measured.

Next Week’s Topic: Business Infrastructure

Business Mentor Weekly #50 • Business Infrastructure

in•fra•struc•ture ( n fr -str k ch r)

n.

1. An underlying base or foundation especially for an organization or
system.

Infrastructure can be defined as the basic physical and
organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or
enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to
function. ~ Wikipedia

Implement This Principle: A robust infrastructure eliminates the need
to continually invent basic support functions for the enterprise,
therefore it frees up time and other resources to be applied to
critical initiatives and objectives.

To Get These Results: Lower cost of operation, better communications
and interdepartmental cooperation at all levels of the business with
less turnover.

Thoughts to Ponder: The higher the quality of a company’s
infrastructure, the lower the cost of doing business. As a company
grows infrastructure becomes more advantageous in that it can take
advantage of economies of scale. A well designed infrastructure is
dynamic in nature, expanding to meet growth demands.

In addition, an infrastructure must:

Be scalable, able to dynamically expand to meet demand
Promote principles and concepts rather than rules and regulations
Support the basic organizational function and structure of the
enterprise
Promote the ideologies of the business
Provide a platform upon which the business can operate, expand and
grow

Take Action: Implement an infrastructure which includes:

An organizational structure chart
A chain of command
A transport mechanism which moves company ideologies, principles and
concepts down the chain of command
Control mechanisms which assure decisions are made within the
strategic framework established within the organization

Next Week’s Topic: Establish Your Personal Objectives