Just Say No

For those of us who are busy and often times find ourselves over committed, Peter Bregman recently shared some great tips on saying no.

• Be appreciative. It's almost never an insult when people make requests of you.
• Say no to the request, not the person. You're not rejecting the person, just declining his invitation. polite and kind will communicate that you aren't rejecting him.
• Explain why. The particulars of your reason for saying no make very little difference. But having a reason does.
• Be as resolute as they are pushy. Some people don't give up easily.
• Practice. Choose some easy, low-risk situations in which to practice saying no.
• Establish a pre-emptive no. We all have certain people in our lives who tend to make repeated, sometimes burdensome requests of us. In those cases, it's better to say no before the request even comes in.
• Be prepared to miss out. Some of us have a hard time saying no because we hate to miss an opportunityRemind yourself that when you're saying no to the request, you are simultaneously saying yes to something you value more than the request.
• Gather your courage. If you're someone who is used to saying yes, it will take courage to say no, especially if the person asking doesn't give up easily.

Leadership Quote of the Week

Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it’s amazing what they can accomplish.     Sam Walton

Criticism of Change

When you implement change it unfortunately seems almost inevitable that you'll be criticized. While a small portion of folks might praise you, they are the minority. Why do people criticize change? Ron Edmondson shares the five most common reasons people criticize change.

 

Confused -These people just don’t understand the change.

Conflicted – Some people object to change because they are objecting to life. They have past hurts they can’t resolve.

Care – These people simply don’t think you care.

Control – You stepped on someone’s power.

Comfort – These critics, who are the most common group, simply don’t like change.

To increase the likelihood of a successful change, consider and address these issues with your staff. 

The Positives of Procrastination

Most often we focus on the negative impact of procrastination. Here's an alternative perspective from Mary Jo Asmushe from on the upsides of procrastinating:

Less stress: When you purposefully decide to put off an action or decision, you can relax. Ask yourself if there is an urgent or immediate reason to do something right at this moment, of if you might put it off. If you think through your response, chances are that your actions will be more in keeping with your intentions as a leader. You may also find that your decisions are spot on the first time around rather than having to make careless mistakes and retract them.

Careful thought: Intentional procrastination will give you a chance to think through important actions that could make or break your leadership. Certainly, there are times when you need to react – but there are also times when it makes sense to hold off, to shut up, to put off, and to think through important decisions. When you are able to take the time, take a deep breath and think carefully about the action you want to take.

Genuine leadership: If you observe closely, you might find that the best leaders are thoughtful. You will see them asking questions of others in order to delay a decision while learning more about something before they leap. Or you might find that they will purposely state that they can’t make a decision about something right now, they need time to think about their responses. When you learn to do this, you’ll also learn to take action that is aligned with who you are as a leader.

Better actions: In the end, leaders are judged by the action they take. I’m not advocating for delaying everything or for inaction through procrastination, but for better action through deliberate procrastination. I know it sounds strange, but delay can often result in better leadership.

What If?

Three Rules for Success

What are the attributes that differentiate exceptional from mediocre organizations? Most business books focus on the behavioral aspects of successful organizations (great customer service, innovation, engaged employees, etc.) Michael Raynor amd Mumtz Ahmed have found, however, that it is often what organizations think rather than what they do that makes the difference between success and failure. In their book The Three Rules: How Exceptional Companies Think they identify three decision rules that seem to drive organizational effectiveness. They include:

1. Better Before Cheaper - Rather than focus on being low cost providers, the most successful organizations focus on the quality of their product or service. They compete on quality rather than price.

2. Revenue Before Cost - The best organizations focus their attention on generating revenue rather than cutting costs. Even if it costs more, these companies continually look to increased revenue for growth and sustainability.

3. There are No Other Rules - Regardless of what's happening internally or in the competitive environment they operate in, the best companies don't stray from the first two core beliefs.

As campgrounds where do we find ourselves on the Better-Cheaper and Revenue-Cost continuum's? Would we be better off if we focused on quality and revenue and ignored the other options?

Leadership Quote of the Week

The very essence of leadership is that you have to have a vision. It’s got to be a vision you articulate clearly and forcefully on every occasion. You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet. Reverend Theodore Hesburgh

Say Thank You

One of the most powerful things we can do as leaders is to say thank you to those we lead. Here are three ways we can improve the way we thank others:

1. Thank them for something specific they did above and beyond the call of duty.
2. Acknowledge to them the effort ( or sacrifice) they made.
3. Tell them what it personally meant to you.

Dealing with Underperforming Staff

At some point we all as leaders have to deal with staff that are under performing. The process can be  frustrating and time consuming. Here are five best practices to keep in mind...

1. Before taking any action diagnose the problem. Is it a lack of skills, a lack of motivation, a lack of necessary resources, or some combination of these factors?

2. Make an improvement plan and stick with.  Set goals, create consequences, follow up, and celebrate success or deal appropriately with failure.

3. Let them know you're on their side. They need to understand you want and are committed to helping them succeed.

4. Document everything. Regardless of whether they improve or decline, you'll want written records to support any future decisions.

5. Know when it's time to make the tough decision.  Don't prolong the inevitable. If it's not getting better recognize and accept reality and be courageous enough to take action.  

Five Steps to Improve Critical Thinking

Misconceptions About Leadership

When we don't understand what leadership is it's hard to be a leader. John Kotter recently wrote on the Harvard Business Review blog about three common misconceptions regarding leadership. Do you or those at your campground make any of these mistakes? 

 

Mistake #1: People use the terms "management" and "leadership" interchangeably. This shows that they don't see the crucial difference between the two and the vital functions that each role plays.

Mistake #2: People use the term "leadership" to refer to the people at the very top of hierarchies. They then call the people in the layers below them in the organization "management." And then all the rest are workers, specialists, and individual contributors. This is also a mistake and very misleading.

Mistake #3: People often think of "leadership" in terms of personality characteristics, usually as something they call charisma. Since few people have great charisma, this leads logically to the conclusion that few people can provide leadership, which gets us into increasing trouble.

Leadership Quote of the week

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

Risk Taking

InTaking Smart Risks, Doug Sundheim argues that as leaders we need to make more risky decision. Not careless, but calculated, smart risks. He identifies five dangers faced by leaders who avoid risks on a long term basis:
his book

You don’t win.
You don’t grow.
You don’t create.
You lose confidence.
You don’t feel alive.

Lincoln on Negotiating

Jim Camp writes in Forbes about four lessons leaders can learn about negotiating from Steven Spielberg's new movie Lincoln. He suggests leaders can successfully negotiate with others by...

1. Having a mission and a purpose
2. Focusing and rising above the mental clutter
3. Creating a vision in those who lack it
4. Making your opponents feel comfortable

The Essence of Leadership

Leadership Failure

Tim Irwin has studied both what makes leaders succeed and what leads to their failure. In his recent book Derailed: Five Lessons Learned from Catastrophic Failures of Leadership  Irwin tells the story of six high profile leaders who suffered significant failures. From studying these and other failures, Irwin learned five key lessons about leadership failure.

1. Character trumps competence
2. Arrogance is the mother of all derailers
3. Lack of self/other awareness is a common denominator of all derailments
4. We are always who we are...especially under stress
5. Derailment is not inevitable, but without attention to development it is probable

Leadership Quote of the Week

The most dangerous leadership myth is that leaders are born-that there is a genetic factor to leadership. That’s nonsense; in fact, the opposite is true. Leaders are made rather than born. 

Warren Bennis

Patton on Leadership

As a youngster I was fortunate to spend four years living in a small town in the Eifel Mountains of Germany. On numerous occasions I visited nearby Bastogne, Belgium where the Battle of the Bulge was fought during World War II. The battle was one of the defining moments that made General George S. Patton an icon of military leadership.

While Patton was ambitious, egotistical, self centered and loved attention, he also had a reputation as a leader who cared deeply about those he led. In turn, his troops loved and performed spectacularly for him.

In his Letter of Instruction Number 1, Patton shared important guidelines for leaders in his Third Army. While written for military officers in a wartime environment, Patton's advice is just as relevant for leaders in campground settings as it was in those difficult days on the battlefields of Europe.

1. Remember that praise is more valuable than blame.
2. Use every means before and after combat to tell troops what they are going to do and what they have done.
3. Discipline is based on pride in the profession of arms, on meticulous attention to detail, and on mutual respect and confidence.
4. Officers must assert themselves by example and voice.
5. General officers must be seen in the front line during action.
6. There is a tendency for the chain of command to overload junior officers by excessive requirements in the way of training and reports.

Hot Stoves...A Model for Discipline

A simple but effective way to think about effective disciple is by picturing a hot stove. Both the stove and effective discipline share four characteristics.

1. Advanced Warning - Like a red hot burner signals danger, it should be obvious to staff what behaviors will result in disciplinary action. 

2. Immediacy - Touching a hot stove immediately results in getting burned. Effective discipline deals with negative behavior as quickly as possible.

3. Impartiality - Regardless of who you are, touching the hot stove has the same negative results. The same should be true of effective discipline.

4. Consistency - The hot burner on a stove delivers the same results time after time. Good discipline is also consistent time after time.

GROW Model of Coaching

Being a Leader of Influence

Writing recently on LinkedIn, Dr. Travis Bradberry from TalentSmart identified nine habits found in leaders who are influential. They include:

1. They think for themselves - They form their opinions carefully using facts rather fads, what's trending or what's most popular.

2. They graciously interrupt - They regularly ask "Why?" and "Why not?"

3. They inspire conversation - They challenge others to explore new ideas and to think differently.

4. They leverage their networks - They add value to others by providing advice and know-how.

5. They focus only on what matters - They hone-in on the important and ignore the trivial.

6. They welcome disagreement - They are more about the end result rather than being right.

7. They are proactive - They don't wait, they anticipate and act.

8. They respond rather than react - They respond with a result in mind rather than being driven by emotion.

9. They believe - They believe in themselves and in the power of other people.

Leadership Quote of the Week

A leader is one who sees more than others see, who sees farther than others see and who sees before others see.  Leroy Eimes, author and leadership expert

Understand Who You Serve

Perhaps no organization is better at understanding those they serve than Disney. At Disney collecting and analyzing data to understand their guests is called Guestology.  Disney's Guestology data includes both demographics and psychographics. While demographic data like ages, family size, hometown, etc. are important, it's the psychographic data that really helps Disney create their magic.

Disney breaks it psychographic data in four parts, called compass points. They include needs, wants, stereotypes and emotions. Disney is constantly asking itself:

- What do guests need?
- What do guests want?
- What stereotypes or preconceived notions do they bring with them?
- What emotions do they experience?

What impact would it have on your campground if you asked these questions about your campers?  How could you use this type of psychographic data to better serve them?

The Vital Few

The Pareto Principle says that 80% of our results come from 20% of our activities. The principle, also known as 80/20 rule or "the law of the vital few" has proven remarkably accurate since economist Vilfredo Pareto first identified it in 1896.

As a leader 80% of our impact comes from a "vital few" 20% of our interactions with our staff.  The same goes for our interactions with campers. There are those few moments when what we do makes a big difference.

Stephen Covey in his book 7 Habits of Highly Successful People suggests we need to focus on "putting first things first."  These are the 20% activities that have significant leverage in impacting those we lead and our organizations. They are the "Not Urgent But Important" tasks that Covey suggests are critical to being effective as a leader.

How do we identify these critical activities that lead to big results?  Covey suggests the following types of activities are the "vital few" that offer a high payoff for the investment of our time.

• Planning
• Prevention 
• Relationship building
• Recognizing new opportunities
• Planning 
• Personal rest & recreation 

According to Covey, investing in these types of activities results in vision, perspective, balance, control and few crises. 

Ten Common Mistakes in Giving Feedback

Where's Your Leadership Spot?

Max Levchin who cofounded what became PayPal takes an interesting approach to leading his current organization. Like most of us who lead organizations he spends several hours a day in his office doing very focused work. Each day, however, he also tries to spend several hours sitting on a bench across from the bathrooms his staff use. Why this location?

Levchin believes his job as CEO is to "get other people to do their best work in service of a shared goal." In order to do this he needs to connect with people, not just through e-mails and in meetings, but on-on-one. From his bench outside the restroom, Levchin can connect with virtually of of his staff who at some point in time pass by. For some it is a quick "how are you doing" while in other cases there are longer conversations with a staff member who joins him on the bench. By being on the bench, Levchin makes himself accessible to everyone regardless of position. Anyone who works in his company can have a "I wanted to tell you" or "I wanted to ask you" moment with the CEO.

Is there a place at campground that can be your leadership spot? Where can you hangout where you're accessible to everyone at campground, both campers and staff?  How can you set up our schedule to spend some time each day in this spot connecting with those that pass by?

Leadership Quote of the Week

"When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it." Henry Ford

Don't Ignore the MIddle

In most organizations, including campgrounds, outstanding performers make up about 25% of the staff while poor performers account for another 25%. In the middle are the other 50%. These are the staff members who day after day diligently go about their work and consistently meet the campground's expectation. Occasionally they excel and occasionally they disappoint but for the most part they do what is asked of them.

As a leader it's easy to get caught up in focusing on the top and bottom 25% and to ignore the middle 50%. The top 25% stand out and are easy to notice. The bottom 25% demand our attention as we repeatedly are forced to deal with the consequences of their poor performance. Those who quietly do what needs to be done, day in and day out, are easy to forget.

Why do we as campground leaders need to focus on the folks in the middle?

1. They are the people who make the campground run.

2. They have the greatest potential for growth.

3. Investing in the middle produces more top performers and what campground couldn't use more great staff.

4. Raising the level of performance in the middle has the most leverage in raising the overall performance of the campground.

Do the Worst First

On most of our daily to-do lists there is a task or two we dread. It may be an uncomfortable conversation or phone call that needs to happen. It may be a boring task that we just can't get excited about.

Unfortunately the mental fatigue and unneeded stress of procrastinating take a toll. It has a negative emotional and physical impact. It reduces our effectiveness in doing the tasks we choose to do instead. In addition, as time passes, the task may become harder as the situation goes unresolved.

We can increase our effectiveness as leaders if we choose each day to do what's hardest first. Look over your to do list and make what you're dreading the first thing you tackle. Reduce your stress by doing what you're avoiding. Get it over with and move on.

It's Always the Leader

Becoming a Better Leader

Jack Zenger, CEO of one of the world's largest leadership development organizations, recently reported the results of research on leaders who made dramatic improvements in their leadership. Here are the behaviors these leaders used to turn around their performance.

• They improved their communication effectiveness.
• They made an effort to share their knowledge and expertise more widely. 
• They began to encourage others to do more and to be better. 
• They developed a broader perspective. 
• They recognized they were role models and needed to set a good example. 
• They began to champion their team's new ideas. 
• They learned to recognize when change was needed. 
• They improved their ability to inspire and motivate others. 
• They began to encourage cooperation rather than competition.

Leadership Quote of the Week

There is only one way to avoid criticism;

do nothing, 

say nothing, 

and be nothing. 

Aristotle

Culture Trumps Strategy

"Culture trumps strategy" has become a popular axiom in today's management literature. The belief is that having a strong, intentional organizational culture is more important to success than pursuing the right strategy.  The best organizations are not those who always make the right strategic decisions. The best organizations are those that are made up of staff who share a commitment to a common set of goals and embrace the same core values.

How do you create a strong organizational culture in your campground?

1. Identify and articulate what your organizations believes. Have a clear, written mission and core values.

2. Hire staff who buy into your mission and embrace your core values. Make values an important component of your selection process. If one of your values is putting the needs of guests first, hire staff members who value serving others and are willing to put the needs of others before their own.

3. Integrate teaching your mission and values into every aspect of staff training. Every topic in staff training should be linked to your mission and values. Teach not only what to do, but why it's done a particular way at your campground.

4. Lead by modeling your mission and values. If you want it to be part of your organizational culture, it must be part of how you and your leadership team lead your staff.

Identifying Problem Staff

Sometimes it can be tough to spot problem staff members. While some staff members engage in negative behavior that is obvious, there are others in whom problem behavior is more subtle. Jeff Haden writing in Inc. suggests four red flags that might suggest a staff member may be a problem.

1. Staff members who act above it all.

2. Staff members who lord their experience over others.

3. Staff members who gossip.

4. Staff members who rush to grab credit.

Develop People or Die

When Things Get Tough

As a leader we'll all run into tough times. Not matter how well we plan, organize and lead, things happen. Circumstances change and unexpected problems occur. How do we endure through these tough times? Inc.com columnist Amy Morin suggest four things to tell yourself when dealing with tough times.

1. This has happened before.
2. Failure is the path to success.
3. This won't matter nearly as much in five years.
4. I live according to my values.

Leadership Quote of the Week

The most powerful leadership tool you have is your own personal example.  John Wooden

Habits of Disruptive Organizations

There is a great deal of discussion these days about disruption. There is talk about disruptive technology, disruptive ideas and disruptive products. What is disruption? In the context of today's organizations, disruption is a concept or idea that fundamentally changes the status quo. They are ideas that not just challenge, but shatter long held assumptions.

Think about what Amazon did for selling books or what Uber has done for local transportation. Both companies completely changed the market by challenging the assumptions of how things are done.

Faisal Hoque author of Everything Connects: How to Transform and Lead in the Age of Creativity, Innovation and Sustainability suggests five attributes of organizations that disrupt the status quo.

1. They relentlessly pursue the truth
2. They guide others through chaos
3. They're decisive
4. They break the rules and write new ones - but always explain why
5. They thrive on uncertainty

What are some of the unwritten assumptions you and your organization hold to be true? Have you ever explored what would happen if they weren't true? Are there things you could do to challenge the status quo? Could you be disruptive?

The Importance of Consistentcy

Recent research published on-line by the Academy of Management Journal indicates that consistency is a key trait employees are looking for.  Employees were asked if they preferred a manager who is sometimes fair and sometimes unfair or someone who is consistently unfair. The majority of employees preferred the consistent manager, even if they were unfair.

"Intuitively, you would think the more fairness you get, the better," said Fadel Matta, a researcher at Michigan State University and the lead author of the paper, said in an interview. "But that's not what we demonstrated. It's better if supervisors are a consistent jerk than if they're fair sometimes and not fair other times. People want to know what they can expect when they come into work. A lot of it centers around this issue of uncertainty," Matta said. "This notion of knowing what to expect -- even if it's bad -- is better than not knowing what to expect at work."

How consistent are you as a leader? Does your staff know what to expect from you, in both good times and bad?  Is there a predictability to your leadership that they can adapt to? 

Improving Staff Recognition

As leaders we know that recognizing the positive efforts of our staff are important. Unfortunately too often our attempts at recognition go unappreciated and have limited impact. Scott Mautz, author of Make It Matter: How Managers Can Motivate by Creating Meaning offers the following suggestions for making recognition more meaningful:

Personalize recognition so that you don't trivialize it. Adapt the recognition the the needs and preferences of the individual staff member. 

Get everyone involved. Recognition doesn't have to be from just you as the leader. Recognition from other staff members and guests can be powerful. 

Be frequent but not frivolous. Take regular opportunities for recognition but make sure what you're recognizing really matters. 

Celebrate both the first downs and touchdowns. Certainly celebrate the big accomplishments but don't forget the little victories along the way. 

Deliberate the delivery. How you deliver recognition can be just as important as the recognition itself.

Change These Phrases...Change Your Life

Do the words and phrases we use impact our achievement? Professor Bernard Roth from Stanford and author of The Achievement Habit suggests five phrases that we can change...

Instead of "But" use "And" - But changes neutral statement into negative statements. 

Instead of saying "Have To" say "Want To" - Have to implies me must rather than we choose. 

Instead of "Can’t" use "Won’t" - Can't implies it's impossible. Almost everything is possible in the right circumstances. 

Instead of saying "I’m Afraid To" say "I’d Like To" - Be positive and forward looking. 

Instead of "Help" use "Assist" - Help often is associated with can't. Assist means I can, I just need a little direction/support

Staying Calm Under Pressure

Leading a campground can be stressful. Very stressful! Between campers, our staff and the challenges of managing often aging facilities and infrastructure there is no shortage of triggers to set off our emotions. Research, however, shows that the ability of leaders to remain calm under pressure is linked to positive performance. 

Dr. Travis Bradberry, the author of the bestselling book, Emotional Intelligence 2.0 suggests ten strategies successful people use to stay calm under pressure

#1: They Appreciate What They Have

#2: They Avoid Asking “What If?”

#3: They Stay Positive

#4: They Disconnect

#5: They Limit Their Caffeine Intake

#6: They Sleep

#7: They Squash Negative Self-Talk

#8: They Reframe Their Perspective

#9: They Breathe

#10: They Use Their Support System