Holding a Staff Meeting

In most companies it is important to hold staff meetings at some point. There are tons of reasons to hold meetings with your staff. It can be everything from a yearly refresher over company mandated items to just having a celebration of a job well done.

We recently held a staff meeting, our staff meeting was needed as to set the tone for expectations, as well as other regular items. It is good to have these meetings when you very first take over a location. The manager of the location I am currently working at never had a chance to have one of these meetings.

We held the meeting before the location opened for business so we would not be interrupted by normal operations. When you have a meeting it is great to involve as much leadership as possible to the situation. It can instill confidence in the staff that everyone is on board, and on the same page.

Although you might want every part of leadership involved, it is important to make sure that the head leader, in this case my immediate manager over the location, is leading the meeting. That way there is no cross message of what is being portrayed to the staff. The vision of what the company or location wants to happen becomes more clear.

In these meetings it can be beneficial to build openness and morale by telling everyone that their feedback and questions are encouraged, that we do not get to have these very often, etc.

We held the meeting, and got some good questions and feedback from the staff.

Keep in mind bringing food, coffee, etc to these meetings lifts spirits and can keep everyone awake in case the topic becomes dull to someone!

We provided donuts and drinks.

Think about what your staff would enjoy, what would make them happy the most and lift spirits. Even if the meeting is to deliver bad news, more than ever you need to try and keep spirits lifted among your team.
Here is a book on staff meetings I have been told is very effective in aiding them. I have not personally read the book, but have heard more than once that it contains valuable information.

Getting Feedback

Feedback is a vital tool for anyone looking to improve themselves, professionally or personally.

Feedback can be difficult to take for someone who is not accustomed to it, or someone who is not open to objectification of what they have done or presented. I had a leader/trainer once that pushed very hard the fact that feedback is a gift.

Throughout the local area of my company we still to this day say this as a truth, but also a joke. It is very true, if you take feedback in the correct light, it is very much a gift.

I interviewed for a promotion several months back, and then shortly afterwards I asked for some feedback on my interview as I did not get the promotion that I interviewed for. I was told that my interview was above average, even exceptional, but obviously there must have been something that I could improved on.

Getting second place did not land me any kind of promotion. I showed up early to the meeting, brought pen and paper, and took notes vigorously. I asked as many questions and I could to find out more information on how to improve what was spoken in the interview.

Although we discussed some items at length, the grades I got on higher scores I left alone if my supervisor did not offer feedback. My supervisor is regularly buried with work, and I know that his time is much more valuable than mine (it is not like I wasn't getting paid for this feedback, although I would have went to get it even if I was not going to get paid).

When you are getting advice or feedback, make sure that you focus more on listening than talking. You do not need to speak and show your power in this situation. It is much better to show how open and receptive you are.

This supervisor does not deal with me directly usually, there is another manager in between him and me. I still consider this supervisor my true manager/leader, because I preform on the same level as the managers above me, in some instances I preform above them. As arrogant as it sounds, it is true. I know there are definitely better managers out there than me, much more experienced, etc. However, there are also many managers out there above me by title, but far below me in skill.

I say all of that only to show that even though I might be more skilled than someone above me, if I want a promotion I still have to go forward showing that not only can I grow, but I want to, and that I am open to feedback from anyone on any level.

As a closing, remember that feedback is just that, it is not a demand that you must change whatever is asked of you. In this case I will work and focus on what was given to me in case I have to interview again someday, but sometimes we get feedback that is good to keep in mind, but does not necessarily require action of any sort.

Sometimes to understand how to take feedback it helps to learn how give feedback.
Here is a book that you might check how that may help you understand how to give feedback, and thus help you take feedback.

Bringing Positivity To A Downed Environment

In every environment you walk into, there is a possibility of having negativity filled in that environment. There is many ways you can react, or rather we can react. As humans we have a natural tendency to follow suit of what is happening. If you were to try to do anything else except join in the negativity you can be met with opposition.

When you get hit with that opposition you once again have choices. You trudge through, dragging in your non-negative attitude, lets say its being positive. If you were being positive it could be akin to dragging a boulder up the hill. At any point your boulder can start its journey back down.

If you can over come this opposition, these feelings of joy and upbeat that you bring will invade the environment. It will spread like a virus both fast and heavy. You cannot stop it once it gets going.

Although we as humans find the path of less resistant to follow suit of the norm, in this case the negativity, deep down everyone wants to be happy. If you are strong enough, and push hard you can change the entire environment. One person can give this domino effect and change everything.

Breeding happiness inside your environment will increase everything from productivity to morale. Recently I came into an environment that felt down on its luck. The location in question was behind on virtually everything. The excuses flooded in as to why. Rather than focusing on what they could tackle and improve, it was almost as if they gave up. The flood has come, rather than swimming they would just drown.

I would rather walk in and inspire happiness and joy, rather than attempting to bring it in myself. Therefore, what they had given up on, I came in and accomplished. The projects they were behind, and had set aside as never going to be finished I took on first. If you tackle the worst of the worst, the ones that they have fully given up on.

When they began to see the projects, the dead ones, getting accomplished in the face of all of the excuses they had made, they gained hope. One by one I was approached, and asked how they could help, as they wanted the projects to get done also, but did not know how. Rather than continually going down the slope of "whoa is me, we can't do xyz" they took at much more positive spin on it. Rather than these projects cannot be done, they started to think in terms of "okay, it is possible....now how do we accomplish it?".

That willingness and openness is all that is needed to accomplish the impossible. When you get into an environment like this, look for any and every opportunity to make the most impact, the quickest.

Sometimes to bring in your positivity you need to come in as a leader, this book gives some good information on how to become a leader without a specific title.

The Impact We Have On Others

As a leader, manager, or person with subordinates, we effect other peoples lives. We effect their lives both professionally and personally. Sometimes we can forget the impact we leave on others, good or bad.

When I was moved to a different physical location inside my company there was mass change needed. The subordinates below me were...well as we put it "the kids got to play rather than work". Some of these kids were trainable, mold-able, others needed to be disposed of, or as we call it "promoted to customer".

There were many reasons for this need, everything from the condition of the location to the power that was instilled in the "kids" in a way that put fear into management. Management was management for a reason, they were the ones appointed in charge. Subordinates should not have so much power that it strikes fear into management. I do not seek a tyrannical way, but it should come with respect.

I began by raising standards to an above average, but acceptable level. One by one the ones who wanted to play, and not work fell off. Natural selection at its best, at least for work ethic. The rest who refused to step away on their own, and refused to back down from their power trip over the management team was to be disposed of as well. You see, although it is actually hard to get fired from my company, it is not hard to get rid of someone if you have a need for it.

Fast forward almost three years. One such individual that I had gotten rid of from that swirl of negativity in that location had moved to another location. Although I felt she would be better separated from the company, a member of management at another location felt that they could take them on their team to help them become better.

I moved to this location where this subordinate I had originally planned to dispose of moved to. A fate that neither of us thought would ever happen. I had a much larger impact on this individual than I had expected. Leading up to my arrival this individual was trembling front to back, they began raising their own personal standards for the location to the ones I had instilled while they were with me before.

Although I never intended to make this individual fear me, this individual was one of the main causes of some of the swirl of negativity and fear that the other location had suffered. My impact of letting them know that was unacceptable had been instilled deep in them. At the new location this was not something they carried over. The management did not fear this individual when they came to the new location.

Sometimes it is hard to put this kind of tremble into another human. Though they will always blame me for what happened to them, I made them into a better subordinate. They treat their management team with more respect, challenge less, and focus more on team building.

I hope to have this impact on more individuals to make them better members of my company, hopefully in the future without leaving such a deep imprint on them of fear. Treat your people with respect, but never lower your standards. Your standards are what raises up your company, your profit, and your paycheck.

I found this book on Amazon with over 100 reviews, rated at 4.5 out of 5 stars. I like the summation of it, and have added it to my "To-Read" list. If you want some more info, check it out!

Returning to Professional Status, and Reclaiming my Name

While sifting through the enormous amount of information available to me on Real Estate, more than one recurring theme came about, however one that I will talk about in this post is the fact that money is important.

To be financially free I needed to make more money, and make it in multiple ways. As Grant Cardone talks about regularly, I needed to start "building my pipeline", and even though you build multiple flows of income, you can never forget or neglect the main water source.

My main water source was/is my corporate job. My name has been known over the course of my eleven years, by many people in power. I accomplished this in several different ways, as I talk about in my book "Build Yourself, Build Your Career - A Different Approach to Promotions". However the last few years as I was trying to leave my company, for a programming job.

As you can imagine the name I once had as one of the most talented, respectable people in my position had vanished(maybe not the talented part, that part is hard to destroy while your still doing good work). Manager after manager tried to convince me to stay, and I would always fain away from what they would say. I'm sure I was spitting negativity half of the time, and as we know, this does nothing good for anyone...especially ones name. Eventually God convinced me to stay, one I could not ultimately argue with.

I called for, or rather asked for, I suppose "calling for" inclines that I commanded it, and obviously someone in my position should never try to do that, a meeting with the person in charge that would be the decision maker on my promotion.

We spoke at length, and I made my stance to return to my attempt at a promotion. I needed a promotion, the fact that I was topped out on my pay was one of the reasons. A promotion would bump me up into another bracket, and this would allow me to attack my pipelines harder, faster. I could grow a Real Estate empire on my current salary, but it would take more time than I wanted. To hit a plan of being financially free in 9 years required more money.

Over the next several months I re-established my name in our area. Re-establishing my name and my ridiculous talent driven mind, allowed me to be up above everyone else. I directly asked the person in charge of my potential promotion, "I need you to tell me what I need to do to be at the top of your list. I do not want to compete, I want to be your top and only choice.". This is a heavy power move, it catches most uppers off guard. Being so direct shows that you are confident, know how good you perform. It also shows that you are willing to do whatever is asked. You raise yourself up as powerful while staying humble.

Remember, being confident is not a bad thing. Some will call you cocky, full of yourself, but that says more about them than it does you. If they think you are arrogant...really...whats it to them, you don't directly impact their life, let them think what they'll think anyways.