Earlier in my career, I had talented people on my team who would perform excellently for a time, and then their performance would deteriorate. My approach was to look first at my own performance as their manager and to see how I potentially contributed to this deterioration.

That introspection taught me 10 things I could do to motivate my people to perform at their best:

1. Create a safe, supportive environment that builds their confidence and capabilities.
2. Empower them by delegating, and foster a sense of pride and ownership.
3. Have regular one-on-one meetings to discuss their progress and provide feedback and coaching.
4. Help them understand the big picture and their places in it. Then keep them in the loop.
5. Give them challenging but achievable goals and hold them accountable to high but realistic standards.
6. Praise frequently and reward jobs well done. Support them when they falter, and collaborate on the best course of action to get them back on track.
7. Acknowledge things you need to improve. When you make mistakes, apologize and communicate how you will fix them.
8. Solicit their feedback on how you can do a better job as their manager.
9. Be clear and consistent in words and actions.
10. Most importantly, lead by example. You are the role model.

My wife and daughter recently watched the ESPN special, The Brady 6, about the events leading up to and after the selection of Tom Brady in 2000 as the New England Patriot’s seventh quarterback. I was somewhat surprised that they would watch a one-hour football show but then realized it told an inspiring story that could appeal to everyone. I highly recommend this documentary, which chronicles Brady’s rise to the top from humble beginnings—the story of someone who became great through sweat and determination, rather than through sheer talent.

Brady was the 199^th draft pick during his senior year. With six quarterbacks picked ahead of him, he was drafted in the sixth round. He had been overlooked because physically, he had the worst combine (an athletic workout) of any quarterback likely in history. He was slow and did not jump very high. Additionally, he did not have the greatest arm and could not throw a tight spiral. In his senior year at the University of Michigan, Brady split the starting quarterback role with a newcomer, and NFL teams questioned why he lost the starting position.

As you watch the documentary, you learn that Brady outworked and out-prepared the other quarterbacks drafted that year. Except for maybe Payton Manning, he probably continues to outwork and out-prepare all NFL quarterbacks. Today, Brady holds numerous regular season and postseason records and is one of two players in NFL history with multiple NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP awards. He is now widely viewed as one of the best NFL draft picks of all time.

Tom Brady’s story shows us that hard work and preparation, more so than natural gifts, are crucial to success. He overcame the odds and excelled at something he was truly passionate about. Rather than expecting greatness to be bestowed upon him, Brady earned it through determination, dedication and drive—a lesson from which we can all learn.

I recently spoke with someone who just opened his business but has lost his confidence. He feels that his people do not respect him because of mistakes he has made and because he no longer believes in himself. He asked me:

• “Have you ever been in a situation in which you’ve lost all confidence and question whether you’re doing the right thing?”
• “Have you been in a situation in which your people don’t look up to you anymore? If so, how did you get back their respect?”
• “How did you get back your confidence?”

I, too, have experienced doubt and difficulty, as has every successful entrepreneur. All of us have had times in our careers when we have questioned our abilities and lost our confidence. These moments that test us, however, can strengthen our character and ability to lead, if we do not let them defeat us.

Experience has taught me the following lessons to weather adversity and emerge a more effective and inspiring leader:

• Lead from the front. Show by your intensity and example how to get results. Your WILL will be contagious, and your people will follow.
• Follow through on your commitments. Demonstrate integrity by doing what you say you are going to do and by excelling at it.
• Plan and prepare. Spend the weekend organizing the week so that you have more time to lead from the front.
• Be optimistic and enthusiastic—always. Take your cue from Gene Kelly’s character in the film, Singin’ in the Rain, when he says during the famous rain sequence: “From where I stand, the sun is shining all over the place.” Bring your own sunshine to the day, even if it is pouring outside.
• Be bold in every venture. Think of the advice the goddess Athens gives Odysseus in the Homer epic, The Odyssey: “You go on inside. Be bold, nothing to fear. In every venture the bold man comes off best…” Never let fear overcome your resolve to achieve your goals and win.
• Be responsible and accountable. Accept responsibility for a situation and accountability for the result or outcome—good or bad. When you make mistakes, be clear on what you will do to fix them, and then do it.

When things are not going as well as we have planned, we should remember what Jack Welch said in his book, Winning: “Whatever you will accomplish is restricted by your ability to lead others.” We measure our success by the effectiveness of our leadership, which takes hard work and skillful practice of the fundamentals.

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Exude the right energy; teams take their cue from you.
Your team feeds off your energy, so demonstrate confidence, enthusiasm, passion and vision in everything you do. Uphold clear standards and expectations while providing knowledge, coaching and guidance.

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Build a strong relationship with your team.
Determine how well you are connecting with your team. Do people feel that you care about them and have their backs? Do they feel their lives are better by being on your team? Are they engaged and motivated?

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Be tough and consistent.
At times, you need to be tough in a relationship. Firmly holding people accountable to a high but achievable standard drives them to succeed. Teams lose confidence in leaders who appear inconsistent and allow them to become stagnant.

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Lead by example.
Your example and intensity sets the bar for the team. Your character, integrity and follow-through create trust and bind the team together.

When I entered the workforce, I sought experiences that would teach me vital skills for the future and build my confidence. Although many of my peers wanted to find jobs at companies that would carry them to retirement, I wanted to rely on myself and become a successful entrepreneur.

During the first ten years of my career, I focused on honing the skills that would make me a successful business owner. Ultimately, I learned that I needed to excel at two things: sales and relationships.

In the beginning stages of a business, the owner is usually the number-one sales person, as I was during the first five years of my commercial printing business and during all three years of my financial recruiting business. Successful entrepreneurs are savvy sales people who understand their customers’ needs and offer the most effective, compelling solutions to meet them.

Good sales people also have good people skills. Unless you want to be the only person in your business, you need to be able to work cooperatively with others and build strong relationships based on trust and respect. The more people you can successfully recruit, develop, manage and lead, the more you can accomplish and the more economic value you can generate.

The most important lesson I have learned in my career is this: Choose work experiences not for their prestige or short-term gain, but rather for their ability to equip you with the skills for success and the opportunities to practice them.

Do what you say you are going to do, when you say you will do it. Following through on your commitments demonstrates integrity, builds credibility and earns people’s trust. Follow-through is one of the building blocks of success.

Conversely, you cannot respect or count on those who do not meet their commitments. They are not the ones with whom we will have lasting relationships, nor are they the ones we think of first when there is opportunity. We should make sure that we follow through, so we can be the ones on whom people rely.

Consistent follow-through requires not only the right attitude, but also the right skills. Planning systems like FranklinCovey’s® can help you become more effective at organizing and managing important activities and events. Your focus and discipline, bolstered by such tools, can help you become adept at prioritizing and accomplishing the toughest tasks under the most challenging conditions.

There are times, however, when things may slip through the cracks. It happens to the best of us. Do not get discouraged. Just be accountable and go the extra mile not just to finish the task, but also to excel at it.

April 5 recently marked the birthday of Booker T. Washington, acclaimed African-American educator, author, political leader and civil rights pioneer. On this day, I’m reminded of his inspirational 1901 autobiography, Up From Slavery, in which he recounts his rise from early adversity to success later in life, driven by his commitment to a singular goal: getting an education.

Born into slavery in 1856, Washington spent his early years after the Emancipation in poverty working in the salt furnaces and coal mines. Determined to get an education, a 16-year old Washington arrived at the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute (now Hampton University) in 1872 with little more than the clothes on his back. The assistant principal was suspicious of his ragged appearance and asked him to sweep the recitation room as a condition of enrollment. Desiring to prove himself, Washington swept and dusted the room until it was spotless. The assistant principal was so impressed with the results that she admitted him to the Institute, where he worked his way through school and later became an instructor. He then moved on to greater distinction, culminating in his founding of the Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in 1881.

Washington’s story demonstrates the importance of embracing every challenge, no matter how difficult, to achieve our goals. With ego in check, he kept his eye on the ultimate prize to excel at each task placed before him. He carried this attitude throughout his life and became the foremost black educator and leader, working with the era’s most powerful businessmen and politicians to advance the cause of education.

Many times we must endure hardship and perform humbling tasks, but we must remember that they may be short lived in the scheme of things. Booker T. Washington’s example reminds us to focus on the big picture in pursuit of our goals. In doing so, we adopt the determination and grace needed to fulfill our greatest dreams—and potential.

Gary

Spring is a season of renewal and growth—and with that season nearly upon us – now is a perfect setting in which to reflect on our progress during the first few months of the New Year: how we’re tracking on our personal and professional goals, commitments and development plans.

At this timely moment, we’ve reached Covey’s seventh habit of effectiveness, “Sharpen the Saw.” In the spirit of reflection, it seems fitting to consider this final habit in the context of all the others before it.

“Sharpen the Saw” is a Quadrant 2 activity (important but not urgent) requiring time, initiative and pro-activity. It makes all the other habits possible when we practice self-renewal and self-improvement in four areas.

The first three are closely related to Habits 1, 2 and 3—the principles of personal vision, leadership and management. The fourth focuses on Habits 4, 5 and 6—the principles of interpersonal leadership, empathy and creative cooperation:

 Physical: Caring effectively for our physical bodies through exercise, nutrition and stress-management

Spiritual: Renewing our commitment to our core values through spiritual reading, study and meditation

Mental: Honing and expanding our minds and discipline through education, reading, visualization, planning and writing

Social/emotional: Strengthening our relationships through service, empathy, synergy and good character

Habit 7 teaches us how to maintain a balance among these dimensions so that we can reach higher levels of understanding and effectiveness in our lives and relationships. According to Covey, it's all about preserving and enhancing our most important asset—ourselves—so that we can do and be our best:

By centering our lives on correct principles and creating a balanced focus between doing and increasing our ability to do, we become empowered in the task of creating effective, useful, and peaceful lives...for ourselves, and for our posterity.

Exercising the 7 Habits on a path of continuous growth and renewal helps us become more principled, more purposeful and more productive in ways that make a positive impact not only in our lives, but also in the lives of those around us. It’s a powerful lesson and aspiration for all of us—one I hope you’ll embrace, as I do.

– Vera

The term “synergy” is often the fodder for jokes, ridiculed as corporate jargon that’s overused and abused in offices everywhere. But I hope you’ll suspend cynicism for a moment and consider the word’s intended meaning, as described in Covey’s sixth habit, “Synergize”:

“Synergy works; it's a correct principle. It is the crowning achievement of all the previous habits. It is effectiveness in an interdependent reality—it is teamwork, team building, the development of unity and creativity with other human beings.”

Jargon aside, there’s nothing more thrilling than the feeling that comes with belonging to a team that’s totally in sync, whether in sports, at work or at home. Together, we’re stronger, better, more creative and more productive. We understand and value our individual differences, strengths and perspectives and use them to create something greater and richer. We solve problems cooperatively by focusing on common goals. At our best, we find a third “win-win” alternative—a better solution than we could have ever obtained on our own. And when we just can’t agree, we compromise out of mutual respect, rather than become angry, defensive, manipulative or vindictive—the surest way to lose. Finally, we can weather the ups and downs in our relationship, having built enough trust and good in our emotional bank accounts with one another.

If you think this all sounds naïve or too good to be true, I assure you it’s not. I’ve seen it. I’ve experienced it. It’s magical when it all clicks, and everything just flows—communication, ideas, insights and opportunities. You feel powerful and empowered—as if you could accomplish anything with the people to whom you’re emotionally and intellectually connected.

All the other habits have prepared us for the sixth habit of “synergy.” Habit 6 also teaches us that just as true effectiveness lies in our relationships—where creativity is the most potent—the power of the habits lies in their “synergistic” relationships to each other. We should use them together not only to expand our effectiveness, but also to open new possibilities in every aspect of our lives.

– Vera

Aaron Rodgers, the Super Bowl MVP, is an example of the tortoise beating the hare.  Rodgers was not recruited by any Division I universities.  He had to start his college career at an obscure junior college.  Cal was recruiting a tight end at that junior college when they happened to notice Rodgers.  They gave a scholarship to both players.  But Rodgers was not the reason why they made the recruiting visit.

After a stellar career at Cal, experts predicted that Rodgers would be the first or second pick in the NFL draft.  Excruciatingly and humiliatingly, he was snubbed and dropped all the way down to the 24^th pick.  For many of us who watched this on television, it was painful to see.

Rodgers was drafted by the Green Bay Packers and had to sit on the bench behind legend, Brett Favre.  Other young quarterbacks were getting more playing time and accolades.  Rodgers was patient, diligent and hard working.  He finally got his chance when Favre was traded and a few years later, he is a Super Bowl champion.

He was not recruited out of high school, he was snubbed in the NFL draft, he had to wait patiently on the bench, but he finally got his chance and succeeded.  It is not how fast you start, but where you end up.  As Aesop fabled, “slow and steady wins the race.”

- Gary

How many of us have had days where we can’t quite see eye to eye with anyone? A fight with our spouse or kids. A confrontation with the boss or a coworker. A business deal gone sour.

In my experience, it often boils down to communication or rather, poor communication. We talk at or over each other. Or if we can’t get a word in edgewise, we bide our time to interject our opinions and tit-for-tat responses. Or in anger and frustration, we say or do things we later regret and can’t take back.

But who really wins here? No one. As Habit 4 points out, adversarial conflict without a mutually beneficial resolution can quickly become a “lose-lose” proposition and a sure way to fail.

To reach “win-win” solutions in our interpersonal relations, we should look to Covey’s fifth habit: “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.”

Habit 5 teaches us how to listen with the intent to understand, not to listen with the intent to reply. Effective listening is not simply echoing what the other person has said through the lens of our own experiences. Rather, it’s listening sincerely with our ears, eyes and heart. It’s listening with empathy to understand the other person emotionally and intellectually. Only then can we seek to be understood.

Covey uses the Greek philosophy of ethos, pathos and logos to describe the sequence for effective communication at the heart of Habit 5:

• Ethos: Establishing personal credibility, integrity and competency—character that inspires trust
• Pathos: Listening with empathy; understanding others’ feelings and points of view
• Logos: Explaining with logic and reason; considering all known facts and perceptions

Following this sequence allows us to present our ideas clearly, specifically, visually and in the context of the other person’s perspective and concerns. And in doing so, we significantly increase not only the credibility of our ideas, but also their positive influence and impact.

– Jim