The Mind is A Beautiful Thing Learn To Use It--Dr. Luciano Santini

Hello everyone, today is a day that I will talk about a few different things. How many times do you either receive or give a performance review? How many times do you feel that what you were given does not come close to your true evaluation?

I have found that so many people are so disappointed when the receive their performance review because what management feel needs improvement doe snot make sense half the time. I did a research on this subject and what I find is that most management in both for profit and non profit organizations are so out of touch from the real world that instead of giving a real performance review what they give is a ready made template.

What does this do to both the organization and to the person receiving this performance review? Well for starters it hurts the organization simply because the person will either feel great or feel like leaving the company and leaves a question in their minds: Does this manager really know what he/she is doing?

My friends this is a failing process because most of the time the leadership do not know how  to improve the persons performance unless they actually place themselves in a position to actually teach the skills needed to improve performance. 

I hear so many times that older people do not function as they should in today  world when the truth is that management focus on the issues and the age instead of actually focusing on the behaviors people show. Leaders need to focus on what the needs are and train and lead by example and give praise when they succeed.

When management sit down with a staff member and give them their review sometimes things are not understood as they were meant to be and people will assume they do understand what they heard.Often, however they fail to check for accuracy of what was stated and thus creates issues in the future. Management need to be able to expand on what they say to staff members making sure that there are no problems with what was written or explained and this is where many will fail

One other issue that I find in many organizations is that management rarely sit down with staff and ask them about any issues they may be having which may affect their jobs. Ok Ok perhaps some do but then they do not follow up and fix the problems and that can sometimes become a bigger problem because then staff will not trust anything you say. if you fix the problems staff informs you then it will show responsiveness and they to will respond to your needs when called upon.

By doing the above shows that you are not only trying to help create a better working environment but actually engaging them and creating a better working team. I have to tell you it is much better to have a team that works as one. On e thing that I always suggest to organizations and their leaders is that when you assist your staff be genuine be a real person even if it mans that you may have to lower your guard a bit.

 leaders are human too and make mistakes like everyone else, however real leaders will laugh at their own flaws and they do not play make believe because they know that it is better to be than to seem to be.

Character is accurately reflected in one’s mental attitude.

Napoleon Hill

Without a strong foundation built on positive character traits, success will not long endure. It is virtually impossible to fake good character. Phonies are quickly spotted because they haven’t the substance and determination to maintain the charade. Developing good character begins with a positive attitude. Your desire to be a good, decent, honest, considerate person must first take place in your mind. When you make the decision to become a person of character, you will also find that you are much more willing to do the right thing simply because it is the right thing to do.

The Will To Learn New Technology And Be Ready To Accept Innovation Equals Great Leadership-Dr. Luciano Santini

Here we are once again and of course I will continue to talk about leadership in this world today. In many organizations I find and have found in the past when I had to do research that every company wanted the best of the best to work for them but somehow never had the best of the best and the question I always asked them was WHY?

There answers were really not good or specific but disturbing. Some would say that it was because they were always getting the wrong people or people in general lied regarding their skill sets. I would ask again and again why? and What do you think the problems is? Again the reasons were always the same and never specific.

In order to get the best of the best for your organization you will have to take risks with some people and yes you will make mistakes but have a process in place in case you do make mistakes and of course most organizations do not have any type of process in place.

The key to acquiring the best of the best is that your leadership within the or any organizations is to have great leadership that will know who they are interviewing. The problem that I have found over and over is that leaders end up in positions not understanding their competition nor the trends on hiring which will always fail because trends are always changing as I always have said change is inevitable.

One thing that is hurting our economy is that today the need to fill positions in every industry is growing fast but the real issue is that the talent cannot be found.In order to know the trends you have to do your research and most leaders today which come from the directive/control era do not have the knowledge to do the research and the people they have working for them do not either simply because of resistance to change.

The issue is growing that most of today's leaders have no idea of what is coming. You have to learn to stay ahead of the game and look for the talent to assist specially the millennials. The millennials have the knowledge and the skills to move your company. The organizations must be able to understand that innovations are needed with every step that any company wants to take.Another issue is the that the technology available today can break and ruin a company and today's new workforce understand that and they can assist in making things right that have gone wrong.

I will say this again and again that the direct and control management styles do not fit well in today's world of Leadership or management these have to change but time after time they stay the same.Organizations like staff agencies will always tell organizations that they have the best of the best talent for them but let us be honest they have a hard time finding talent due to companies wanting the best of the best and guess what; If they are the best they do not need a head hunter or an agency to find them employment they will use technology and knowledge.

By finding smart and motivated people, you begin to change into a place where they drive themselves harder than any boss could. Excellent employees are continually raising the bar on themselves; any mediocrity will be obvious. That’s when positive attrition begins to kick in, similar to a sort of exponential “top grading” — you inevitably end up with an entire team of excellent workers.

"Bang Your Head Hard Enough ideas Will Come"-Dr. Luciano Santini

Wise persons are those who think twice before speaking once.

Napoleon Hill

Perhaps the greatest quality in a leader and the most valuable skill in building relationships is the ability to think before you speak. If you have a tendency to speak hastily in anger and regret your actions at leisure, the childhood admonition to count to ten before speaking will still serve you well. When you pause — if only for a moment — to consider the consequences, you may think better of what you were about to say. And if you must speak strongly, it’s a good idea to sugarcoat the words — just in case you have to eat them later. 

This is something that I truly believe when you have a leader that you are working with. I have seen so many so called leaders open their mouth thinking that either people do not see their incompetence or that their staff are blind to their mistakes when it comes to people. So called leaders just do not understand people in general and so they will say things in front of people like little stabs thinking that people do not understand what is happening. So -called leaders have no idea when they stick their foot in their mouth and it is pretty sad to see it happen right before your eyes.

It is no wonder these so called leaders have no idea how to build a team. It is difficult enough to get people to come together but it is more difficult to live with a team that does not ever come together and the so called leaders turn their face away and simply avoid the real issues. One thing i teach and train leaders to do is to continuously visualize a positive end result as a team.

The leadership must always use the 70-20-10 rule which is 70 % listening 20 % to inquire with just the right amount of advocacy of course most leaders do not know or understand what this means.One of the most important things that a leader needs to learn is to always  put other people's needs to express his or her agenda ahead of their own. The biggest issue is that most leaders care about their agenda and suggestions then other people's ideas and what they do is shut them down.

One thing that I see across the board in both private industry and non profit but mostly in government jobs and positions is that leadership are not capable of getting the job needed for success done because they are afraid to remove people who are failing to help them build success instead these that stop success and others from moving forward will be rewarded simply to get them out their hair and thus avoid the real issues.

One other thing that I find is that employee\s today are hungry for real life training that will actually teach them something. Ineffective legacy training programs are so costly and actually under serve the organization's learner's. In this scenario about 40 % of training will fail and yet knowing this organizations continue to bring in this type of training for their employees. you have to understand as a true leader that when you bring in the right kind of training and at the right time and in the correct way your staff will respond stronger.

According to Grovo.com the five most important key values most people specially the new era employees such as the millennials are as follows;

Development- meaning  Hunger for learning the correct way.

Meaning- Have training and learning that matters and will make a difference in their lives.

Autonomic- Most people hate micromanagement and micro managers.

Efficiency- Train in a way that will always show a better way and be open to new ideas and suggestions.

Transparency- As leader you need to share information so employees know and understand the why.

'We need to believe that we can lives through information and the correct way of training so people can learn what and why the changes must take place'-Dr. Luciano Santini

Generational Gaps In The World And Understanding Them

Hello to all and well here we are on another beautiful day. It is of a concern to me and would love to share this concern with the world out there. Times are changing all around us at home,work with relationships. The world is changing at a pace that most people cannot keep up.

The changes that are happening at work are of a concern due to leadership not being able to understand how to manage knowledge. You have so many generations that are going to have be able to learn from each other making difficult to understand the difference. Running an operation takes more then just having the position of power it takes more knowledge which many leadership are lacking in today's corporations.

Every generation  has made its own commotion as they start going into the workforce and what is the one thing that is common with all generations?" They say they do not get or understand us"

Let us take a look at this chart to get a better understanding of differences of the generations most organizations are involved with.

Personal and Lifestyle Characteristics by Generation

	Veterans (1922-1945)	Baby Boomers (1946-1964)	Generation X (1965-1980)	Generation Y (1981-2000)
Core Values	Respect for authority Conformers Discipline	Optimism Involvement	Skepticism Fun Informality	Realism Confidence Extreme fun Social
Family	Traditional Nuclear	Disintegrating	Latch-key kids	Merged families
Education	A dream	A birthright	A way to get there	An incredible expense
Communication Media	Rotary phones One-on-one Write a memo	Touch-tone phones Call me anytime	Cell phones Call me only at work	Internet, Email Picture phones Texting
Dealing with Money	Put it away Pay cash	Buy now, pay later	Cautious Conservative Save, save, save	Earn to spend
Work Ethics And  Values	Hard work Respect for Authority Sacrifice Duty before fun Adhere to rules	Workaholics Work efficiently Crusading causes Personal fulfillment Desire quality Question authority	Eliminate the task Self-reliance Want structure and direction Skeptical	What’s next Multitasking Tenacity Entrepreneurial Tolerant Goal oriented
Work Is…	An obligation	An exciting adventure	A difficult challenge A contract	A means to an end Fulfillment
Leadership Style	Directive Command and control	Consensual Collegial	Everyone is the same Challenge others Ask why	*TBD
Interactive Style	Individual	Team player Loves to have meetings	Entrepreneur	Participative
Communications	Formal Memo	In person	Direct Immediate	Email Voice mail
Feedback and Rewards	No news is good news Satisfaction in a job well done	Don’t appreciate it Money Title recognition	Sorry to interrupt, but how am I doing? Freedom is the best reward	Whenever I want it, at the push of a     button Meaningful work
Messages That Motivate	Your experience is respected	You are valued You are needed	Do it your way Forget the rules	You will work with other bright, creative people
Work and Family Life	Ne’er the twain shall meet	No balance Work to live	Balance	Balance

*As this group has not spent much time in the workplace, this characteristic has yet to be determined.    http://ww/fdu.edu/newspubs/magazine Winter/Spring 2005

 

I believe that the way we manage people will either make the organization stronger or break the people down and ruin the organization. I like this chart because it makes it much easier to understand where you are as a leader and gives you a guide on how to more or less manage people. However I have stated before that we are in an age where it requires constant change and just telling people and expecting them to know via directive, command or control well it is a waste of time and you will be challenged if you are this type of leader and the of course you will not like it and frustration will set in.

Have you ever thought about the impact regarding traits and biases from different generations. If leaders have a better understanding of this and the diversity they face today they will have to implement tools within their organizations to be able to adapt to the changes quickly enough to be able to compete.

As leaders move forward with the new shifts regarding generational gaps without having the tools of understanding and having the skills to implement change then you might as well hang up the gloves and look for another job because you will be so frustrated with yourself because you will be dealing with a new type of risk that come with generation gaps. 

Each person that is hired has a different background and they will affect our thoughts and behaviors and ultimately outcomes that will result the way leaders manage them.

In order to survive the changes that are coming you as a leader must understand the changes when you see them and be able to implement change and be able to implement the tools for adaptation to take place within your organization.