Welcome to the 101 new subscribers who joined in May 07.

Last month I mentioned my new web site (this one - www.greatmanagement.org). A number of you have asked me if I really mean it when I say it will be FREE. Believe me, it will be. My new web site will have 100's of different articles and interviews from successful authors, managers, leaders, entrepreneurs. I've got some great articles and contributors including Peter Thompson, Bob Proctor, Jon Gordon, Ken Blanchard, Sean McPheat, Michael Raynor....nearly 100 top authors. And remember all FREE. You will have the latest management, leadership and career boosting techniques and tips all in one place. This is going to be unique and exclusive and you will have access to so much information - all from one web site.

Thanks for all your emails on the topics you would like to see covered. By far the most popular topic was 'Public Speaking'. So there will be a specific category on Public Speaking.

Please let me know if there are other topics you would like included.

I will be going live at the end of this month, so be quick with your topic suggestions.

I also attended the European Customer Management World Conference in London in May. I had the great pleasure of meeting Ken Blanchard, Sir Steve Redgrave and Kenichi Ohmae. I intend to share with you, over the coming weeks, all the tips and techniques I learnt from these 'masters'.

Last month I mentioned about my new Management Development Program and how I am now mentoring 2 individuals - a new manager and an experienced leader with 10 years management experience.

Just thought I would share with you some of the topics the new manager (John - made up name for confidentiality) and I have covered.

Back in April, John was the first individual to join my new Management Development Programme. John had recently been promoted and was told to ‘lead the staff’.

In my experience, organisations do not provide new managers with a lot of support. In most cases, you are promoted, left alone and it is your responsibility to get on with the job and acquire the new skills necessary. It is up to you to learn the new skills on the job. You can go and read 1 or 2 of the 1000’s of management books available (which are often based on theory and sometimes not even proven!!).

It can be quite scary being a new manager. A first-time assignment as a manager is perhaps one of the most challenging an employee faces. Who do you turn to when you want some help and guidance? Asking for training and development may raise questions over your suitability for the role in the first place. John does not feel comfortable in asking for help within his company and, therefore, joined my Management Development Programme.

In the last couple of months, we have been concentrating on John getting to know his team and his stakeholders.

What is the service his team provide? Why do they exist? Who are the key customers? What do the customers expect? What issues are in existence? What is the team morale like? Based on these questions (and others) we have then agreed a plan of action which we will work on together to implement.

Whenever I start a new management role, no matter what level, I always start by talking to the staff. This is where you get all the most appropriate and relevant information.

Who are Johns’ stakeholders? Who are his customers? We have been using my unique Relationship Builder Framework™ to ensure we ‘pick’ the most valuable stakeholders and ensure we use them specifically for John’s benefit. What do his stakeholders expect from him? What does John want from his stakeholders? What are the right questions to ask the stakeholders?

Using the Relationship Builder Framework™, John now has a Stakeholder plan in place.

Some simple proven techniques have already had a direct, positive impact on John’s brand and respectfulness. Already, John’s team morale has improved, he has received some excellent customer feedback and he is managing his stakeholders (rather than the other way round).

John’s confidence in his own abilities and role has rocketed by having someone to turn to, ask for help and advice, and immediately see positive results. What is even better is that no one knows he is being mentored - other than John and I. His staff, boss or peers do not know – they just think he is a natural manager. Those first impressions are going to make all the difference in his career.

Let's pretend you have a goal.

Let's say you want to double your salary or generate extra income so that you can purchase the latest sports car.

O.K.

What I want you to do is very simple. I want you to get up in the morning, grab a piece of paper and a pen.

On the top of that paper, write down your objective. In this case, you want to generate extra income so that you can purchase the latest sports car.

Then, write down 20 ideas, 20 ways you can get that extra income.

Let's say your first idea is to have a ‘spring clean’ and sell all your unwanted stuff on eBay; your second idea is to go and ask your boss for a raise; your third idea to look at all your outgoings to see what you can stop…….

Just write down whatever you can think of.

Don't spend too much time thinking about it; just write down whatever comes to mind.

Now, the next morning, do the same thing. Write down your goal again: My goal is to generate extra income so that I can purchase the latest sports car.

Then jot down 20 new ideas or ways you can do this.

Do this for 5 days, and at the end of those 5 days, you will have 100 ideas.

Now, will they all be good?

No.

But will you get some great ideas?

Yes. I'll bet you come up with a lot more useful ideas you can implement just by completing this simple, ten-minute exercise every day.

Now, if you can't come up with 20 ideas, don't stress, just come up with as many as you can.

Come up with 10, come up with five. Don't judge your ideas, don't think any idea you come up with is stupid; just write down whatever pops into your head.

Now, if you can't come up with any ideas, you probably need to do some research.

This task should be simple.

Don't just sit there. Jump online and start researching for ideas.

You need more input, more data coming into your brain so you can come up with more ideas.

So get out there and go get it!

You don't know what you don't know.

Try this exercise with other ideas. 20 ways to improve your time management; 20 ways to double your sales. This is a very powerful exercise. Take the time and I guarantee you will benefit from it.

Remember, it's just ten short minutes of your day.

Anyone can do that.

Go on try it!

How many times have you heard individuals say “I don’t have time to do that”? Hundreds? I meet individuals every day who say “I don’t have time to:

‘write that report’
‘have discussions with my staff’
‘take on anything else’
‘play golf’
‘cut the grass’
‘wash the car’

You hear it all the time, don’t you? I bet you say it. I know I do sometimes.

Well, in my experience and in the majority of cases, it is not “I don’t have time”, it is more like “it’s not a priority” or “I would rather do this instead”, or they don’t have the passion for the task.

Let me share a story.

Our family dog (Border Collie), Sam is now 11 years old and was recently diagnosed with diabetes. We’ve had Sam since he was 6 weeks old so he is a member of the family – we all love him. He is a wonderful dog. In all the 11 years he has not been a problem. Us pet owners love our pets, don’t we?

Back to Sam’s illness. As a result of the diabetes, we were instructed to inject him twice a day with insulin for the rest of his life. Not a problem but we had to get his sugar levels down otherwise he may go blind. We were told diabetes is very hard to control and boy were they right. Not only did we have to inject him twice a day, he had to have his food every 12 hours and he had to have walks every 12 hours. Diabetes is controlled by diet, insulin and exercise. You have to get all three in balance to reduce the sugar levels. The vet said it could take months. It did and Sam did go blind. He coped well – other senses taking over.

Last week he had an operation to overcome his blindness and now he can see again and he is back to ‘normal’. The vet was over 50 miles away – my wife and I were making two trips a week.

So why am I telling you all this. Well we found the time to cater for Sam. He was a priority. We were passionate about making him well again.
I still was running my business alongside finding time for Sam. I just worked longer into the evenings. I love my business and I will always find time to run it. I just might not have time ‘to cut the grass’. (I loath cutting the grass by the way – not a passion, always find something else to do!!).

So next time you hear yourself saying “I don’t have time” it might be because you are not passionate about what you have to do or you have other priorities. If you are passionate, you will find the time.

See my ‘passionate’ article here:

http://www.greatmanagement.org/articles/3/1/Great-Career-You-Gotta-Have-Passion/Page1.html

"It is possible to be busy - very busy - without being very effective"

Stephen R Covey

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andrew@greatmanagement.org

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