How do you start the Conversation?

Do you start with business, small talk or comment on the weather?  What about the news?   What is your opening line and how do you move the conversation the direction you want it to go?

Once the "hello's" and "how are you/how's it going" are out of the way, it's time to read the other(s) to see where they would like to go with the discussion.   The blurt of last night' sporting event or something personal leads to a number of conversations back and forth.   This is good to form a good relationship, to be open and personal, however, at what point do we move to the topic at hand?

It is like this blog.   I keep wanting to share how to start the conversation, however, all these good thoughts want to be shared first.   Does this help understand better what I am trying to demonstrate?

Has anyone mentioned how cold or how much snow we have?   Yes it certainly is cold and yes lots of snow.   Catch myself talking about this as well.   Sometimes the response I give is "Well you know it is January in Canada" implying are we surprised?   Yes it is bitterly cold and makes for a good conversation.

So who is going to move to the business topic:  you or them?

We could go on like this and talk about many random topics, keep the personal anecdotes going, learn a little more about each other.  At times too much is shared or other times a bad attempt at a joke stops the conversation.

At some point, if no one has jumped in, there is the awkward silence.   Now what?

Go for it.

"Thanks for sharing and let's move to this week' topic:   how do you start the conversation?"

Most of the time, we enjoy the small talk and move into the business conversation by being genuine and making it natural change of topic.  The key is finding the right balance before jumping into the task at hand.

How do you start the Conversation?

Empowering your Team

At what level do you empower your team to take responsibility and to make decisions?

There are successful managers who coach and nurture their team and provide different levels of autonomy.   Teams require a leader to manage overall direction based on established goals and targets.  Great leaders learn to develop strategies and adjust them to reach these goals. 

We also have leaders who use empowerment as a tool for not managing.   Managers who hide behind this philosophy are not leading their team.   This type of management style has no accountability when you leave the team alone to make all the decisions.

As our Team continues to grow, empowering them becomes more important to successfully surpass all targets.  Each team member is responsible and accountable in their respective areas.  Communication with the Team including each respective Manager is one of the keys to implementing a strong strategy.

To empower the team, set clear direction and motivate the team to achieve their goals by taking on the challenge of making some decisions along the way.  Without accountability to the team leader, most teams accomplish very little.

Who sets the Bar?

Are you setting the bar or simply following the bar "others" have set?

Being the Leader on your Team, in your Company or in your Industry means you get to set the bar.  How do you bring your Team to this level?   

If you follow, instead of lead, then you have set the bar too low.   Sure, on paper it looks successful when you surpass this lower bar, however, you and your Team know better results can be achieved.

So how do you lead and set the bar?

Go out and make it happen.  Throw away all the excuses and stop looking at the "others" to lead.  Be the Leader.  The answer is within you!   Step back and visualize where you want to be.   Now raise the bar, develop your plan of action, implement and execute.

Take a look at your Team, at your Company and at your Competitors in your Industry.   Who is leading?  If it's not you, what are you doing now to change this?

Change of Plan

Sometimes things happen resulting in a change of plan in your daily priorities.  Waking up to a few inches of water in the basement certainly did that yesterday.

It was time to move to "disaster plan recovery" mode.  Tuned out everything upon waking up and focused on getting the new set of priorities done.   Did not realize how early some stores opened and thankfully had a WetVac set-up in our basement by 6:45 am!

Actually have to give credit to Carmela who took charge of the clean-up plan and together we had everything on high ground and dried within three hours.

This included driving the kids to their bus stop since it was so cold and the bus was very late so decided to drive them both to school.  Nice way for them to start the year as the last couple of days were snow days and both were "anxious" to get back to school.

Called a number of companies to assist and received good service and empathy.   I certainly could appreciate the volumes of requests they were receiving and understood how some just could not accommodate and others put us on a waiting list.

Thanks to our Insurance Agent for some great advice and helped us with our disaster recovery plan.   The very surprising and nice gesture was when she showed up at our place, unannounced, with coffees and croissants.   She stayed for a bit and shared some more good advice and empathy.   We were very grateful for this.

It's still a work in progress and will be working from home again.   Thanks to technology our offices today can be virtually anywhere!  

Thanks to so many who offered to assist.  Thanks to the great service companies we have in WindsorEssex County who take care of you or at least provide some alternatives if they cannot assist.

The only appointment not rescheduled and by choice was attending the Chamber Business Excellence Finalist announcements and proud to report AlphaKOR is a Mid-Size Company Finalist.

Sometimes a tough day turns out to be a great day.

Way to go AlphaKORians!