Too many managers operate with [false] hope that things will just work out.

In contrast, great leaders courageously embrace undeniable and proven principles, while practicing intentionality, to ensure the best possible results. Pruning is one of those principles.

Pruning is as important in business as it is in agriculture when one or more of following three conditions exist:

• Deadwood: when part of the organization is no longer growing and is impeding growth around it.
• Incurable Illness: when part of the organization is sucking away an inordinate amount of scarce resources and not producing enough healthy fruit and corrective efforts don’t work.
• Superfluous Fruit: when there is too much ok fruit, but not enough great fruit. 

My father taught me about pruning with his apricot trees. It was early in the season and the apricots were small and plentiful. Just as I commented about what an incredible crop it appeared he would be having that year he asked if I would assist him in pruning the trees. 

The first task was to remove deadwood. Each year some branches die and impede the growth of other branches. These were easy to spot and, since they were already dead, easy to cut off.

The second task was to remove sick branches. He explained that sick branches only produce small and undesirable fruit while stealing nutrients from the rest of the tree. To the untrained eye it is hard to spot the sick branches and the temptation is to simply ignore them in hopes they will get better. He convinced me, however, that in order to optimize the crop it is necessary to prune them away.

The third task was to remove one third of the fruit early in its growth. This is the toughest task, because the branches are alive and healthy, and it seems counter productive to pick off every third apricot and throw it away. This part of the pruning process seems wasteful and callus.

He explained, however, that if all the fruit is left on the tree the harvest will consist of lots of small mediocre apricots. But when every third apricot is removed, also known as culling, more nutrients flow to the remaining fruit, which in turn grows larger and more flavorful. The ultimate result is a more valuable crop.

No doubt as you read the foregoing you are able to draw parallels to your own business experience.

So I need to ask, when was the last time you pruned your organization?

If it has been a while, or never, you no doubt have some dead and sick wood that needs to be cut away. Further, there is a good chance that you are seeing smaller fruit. In business this can also take the form of a build up of fat, or expense creep. 

Sometimes managers get too close to the action and need assistance from a third party to take necessary steps. If that is true of you I encourage you to seek expert assistance. 

I also highly recommend Henry Cloud’s book, Necessary Endings, in which he offers a mindset-altering method for proactively correcting the bad and the broken elements in our businesses and our personal lives. 

Cloud challenges readers to achieve the personal and professional growth they both desire and deserve—and gives crucial insight on how to make those tough decisions that are standing in the way of a more successful business and, ultimately, a better life.

According to gardenerspath.com, successful pruning can be among the most satisfying of garden tasks, because the results can be spectacular. Pruning done correctly yields abundant flowers, foliage and fruit. Pruning done incorrectly results in damaged plants, disappointment and failure! No wonder we fear the process.

Great leaders do not revel in the idea of pruning, but understand the importance. That is why they courageously act, despite the presence of fear and sorrow, to fulfill their fiduciary responsibility and achieve results.

Herb Mast is a Leadership Coach and Employee Engagement Specialist. Learn how he can assist you in implementing the principles and concepts presented here.

Everything is decaying. Nothing improves on its own.

The concept of status-quo being the maintenance of a result is a fallacy. Doing the same thing over and over will result in diminishing returns. 

Status-quo is like a pilot holding onto the controls of the plane and ignoring the impact of a head or side wind wind. To do so would never enable the pilot to reach his destination. The wind pushes the plane off course and the pilot needs to take active countermeasures to keep the plane on course.

Likewise, every plan is only valid for a very short initial period. Thereafter, every plan requires adjustments to compensate for uncontrollable variables.

The 2^nd Law of Thermodynamics states that all things are decaying, eroding, and falling apart. Nothing gets better by itself. Therefore great leaders make continual adjustments to keep their organizations headed in a positive direction.

Here are five things that leaders can do to assist them in counteracting the effects of the 2^nd Law of Thermodynamics:

• Increase general awareness: Remain open-minded and tap into the awareness of a team. This includes feedback from employee engagement surveys and good leading indicator reports that show where the organization is going.
• Increase self-awareness: Remain humble and seek feedback from trusted confidants who will speak truth into your life and hold you accountable. Don’t be closed and defensive, rather thank others for their candid feedback and welcome them to keep it coming.
• Clarify and align with your operating philosophy: Take time to define your operating philosophy and then align all of your actions accordingly. Your operating philosophy defines what you really believe and will act on, not what you hope for.
• Practice intentionality: Take action and do the little things consistently. These are the actions that are as easy to do as not do, for which the result is not always easy to measure, and therefor most people will take the path of least resistance than the path of intentionality committed to one’s philosophy.
• Own your missteps: Nobody is perfect. When you make a misstep own it, and the associated consequences, and then make the necessary adjustments to get back on a positive path. 

Herb Mast is a Leadership Coach and Employee Engagement Specialist. Learn how he can assist you in implementing the principles and concepts presented here.

Life can often seem like a maze. 

We move forward with what we believe to be a well thought through plan, just to find ourselves at a dead end. At those times we can feel stuck, especially when life’s pressures [causing cortisol to course through our vein] shut down our creative and innovative [thinking] brain (Limbic).

It is hard for a day to go by in an automotive dealership without somebody quoting the definition of insanity—usually in response to the breakdown of a process—when they get to such a dead end.

Seems that most of what is done day-in and day-out in the average dealership is similar to what has been done in the past—almost like Groundhog Day. The funny thing is how everyone is surprised when yesterday’s thinking doesn’t solve today’s problems…and the cycle continues.

Great Leaders, however, understand the importance of elevated thinking in order to solve today and tomorrow’s problems—being proactive and not just reactive. To do so they maintain an effective meeting cadence through which they tap into the minds and thoughts of their peers and followers. And, since they have invested leadership capital in past interactions, others willingly engage with them in problem solving.

How Great Leaders elevate their thinking:

• They build leadership capital by investing in others so that others gladly provide a collaborative return on that investment when needed.
• They establish an effective meeting cadence where issues can be discussed in a timely manner and solved by an expanded group.
• They don’t try to solve everything themselves, rather, they assemble a cohesive team through which brain-power is expanded.

Herb Mast is a Leadership Coach and Employee Engagement Specialist. Learn how he can assist you in implementing the principles and concepts presented here.

Being trustworthy can simply be defined as being worthy of trust.

Trustworthiness is like a credit score [creditworthiness]. You don’t start high. Rather, you start at zero and earn your way up into a trustworthy position. In other words, we need to demonstrate our worthiness of trust before others will make deposits into our trust account.

Trust, says Stephen M.R. Covey, is the very basis of the new global economy, and he shows how trust—and the speed at which it is established with clients, employees and constituents—is the essential ingredient for any high–performance, successful organization. 

For business leaders and public figures in any arena, The Speed of Trust offers an unprecedented and eminently practical look at exactly how trust functions in our every transaction and relationship—from the most personal to the broadest, most indirect interaction—and how to establish trust immediately so that you and your organization can forego the time–killing, bureaucratic check–and–balance processes so often deployed in lieu of actual trust.

Here are a few simple ways to earn a reputation of trustworthiness:

• Tell the truth, no matter how difficult it is to do so or how negatively it will reflect on you.
• Follow through on your commitments, whether overt or implied.
• Own the outcome of your decisions, whether positive or negative. Don’t make excuses. Don’t deflect to others.
• Always ensure that your actions and words align.
• Do the right thing, especially when nobody is watching.
• Speak with candor–courageously tell the kind truth when it is helpful to the other person.
• Don’t take trust for granted, nor sacrifice it for anything.

Andy Stanley led a great leadership workshop on trust and trustworthiness, which I highly recommend and, which can be accessed though the link below.

As part of this workshop he encourages teams to make six commitments: three for how team members will choose to trust each other, and three for how team members will commit to being trustworthy.

After watching the workshop with your team ask each person to complete the commitment form below. Then hold each other accountable to these commitments and observe how the communication and collaboration within your team improves.

Herb Mast is a Leadership Coach and Employee Engagement Specialist. Learn how he can assist you in implementing the principles and concepts presented here.

Thomas Edison was one of the biggest failures of his time…if not of all time…if you only look at the things he did that didn’t work. 

Take the light bulb for example. He apparently tried approximately 10,000 different approaches to make a light bulb before he found a solution that worked.

His passion and perseverance ultimately brought him to success.

And, because he persevered and invented a variety of things that ultimately worked we don’t think about his failures as negatives, but rather insights into why his inventions did not work, yet, and instead we remember him for his successes. 

So how do you define failure?

For some reason in our society there is often a negative stigma associated with failure. And, it’s often the shame associated with that stigma that causes many people to stop short of success.

Great leaders view failure as part of the learning process and know that in the shadow of every great success are a multitude of failures. With regards to the light bulb they would say Edison failed 9,999 times before he succeeded.

It is no different with any endeavor, and sports provides some of the best examples. Nobody expects to score on every shot or play. The most successful take a shot or execute a play, assess the outcome, make tweaks, and make another attempt. Eventually, with persistence talent becomes a honed skill, which result in greater and greater success.

Somebody once saw a golfer get a hole in one and said that golfer was lucky. To which another person replied, “and the better you are the luckier you get!” It’s not surprising that Tour Players have a higher percentage of holes in one than amateurs. 

That is why great leaders celebrate failure. They encourage their teams to execute. And when they fall down they encourage them to get up, dust themselves off, make some adjustments, and try again. And again. And again.

But without the leader’s encouragement most players would stop short of success…quitting as failures.

It is only insanity if you keep doing the same thing over and over and expect different results. Provided you make intelligent adjustments each time you don’t succeed—and try again—it should never be considered failure, but rather fundamental activities in learning.

Challenge to leaders: How are you responding to the failed attempts of your team? If your team is not succeeding as much as you feel they should try celebrating failures [and learning] and see what happens!

Herb Mast is a Leadership Coach and Employee Engagement Specialist. Learn how he can assist you in implementing the principles and concepts presented here.

Innovation and advancement seldom occur without taking risks. That being said the biggest impediment to risk-taking is fear—fear of failure, fear of the unknown, fear of injury, fear of shame, blame, and repercussions, etc. 

Safety is not just about our physical wellbeing. It is also about our mental wellbeing. Therefore, creating a safe environment should be one of our highest priorities of leaders. Yet, it is amazing how many managers don’t give a lot of thought to the safety of their teams. In fact, in pursuit of greater [personal] gain many managers readily put their teams in harms way, which only serves to increase team fear.

Great leaders, like trapeze artists, however, understand that safety nets compel greater risk taking. One of the greatest safety nets is the vulnerability of the leader.

In 2015 Google published results from a study called Project Aristotle, which involved studying hundreds of Google’s teams to figure out why some stumbled and others soared.

Google found that the strongest teams weren’t filled with the brightest minds or the hardest workers; the #1 thing that led to team success was psychological safety.

Google also found that a team has psychological safety when its members believe they can take risks without feeling insecure or fearing embarrassment. In one case at Google, a leader by the name of Matt Sakaguchi promoted psychological safety by asking each team member to share something that others may not know about them.

Matt went first. He said, ‘‘I think one of the things most people don’t know about me is that I have Stage 4 cancer.’’ He explained that, way back in 2001, a doctor discovered a tumor in his kidney. By the time the cancer was detected, it had spread to his spine. For nearly half a decade, it had grown slowly as he underwent treatment, while continuing his work at Google. Recently, doctors had found a new, worrisome spot on a scan of his liver that was far more serious.

To read more of Google’s findings follow this link to What Google Learned From Its Quest to Build the Perfect Team as published by the New York Times Magazine.

In his organizational health model, Patrick Lencioni demonstrates that Vulnerability-based Trust is the foundation for cohesive teams.

Vulnerability creates a sense of safety between team members…and when the leader goes first in demonstrating vulnerability the rest of the team feels much safer in being vulnerable.

So, if your team does not seem to be cohesive and if you feel teamwork is lacking maybe it is because fear has hijacked your team’s sense of safety…putting them into fight, flight, and/or freeze mode. Maybe it is time for you to demonstrate greater vulnerability.

How a leader can demonstrate greater vulnerability: At the beginning of your next team meeting start by telling a story about your past that shares information about you that none of your teammates have knew before.

Herb Mast is a Leadership Coach and Employee Engagement Specialist. Learn how he can assist you in implementing the principles and concepts presented here.

When was the last time you got burned?

In medical terms, when you get burned there is a destructive process that is initiated in which tissues (eg skin) are destroyed and continue to be damaged until the burning process is counteracted/stopped. In basic first aid training they teach you the importance of putting something cold on a burn to stop the burning process.

Something similar happens, metaphorically, when our reputation takes a hit. At those times you are faced with a choice, push back with reality to “stop the burn,” or allow wrong perception to persist along with its damaging effects.

A General Sales Manager relayed the following story to me that gives insight into this concept: 

A customer won a new vehicle from a local casino and came to the dealership to take delivery. In the process of doing paperwork the fleet manager, who did the entire transaction A-Z, disclosed that the odometer showed 371 miles. 

Upon seeing the odometer disclosure the customer stated, “This is bait and switch. I won a new vehicle and you’re trying to give me a used vehicle?!”

The finance manager assured the customer that this was a new vehicle and explained that the dealership had located and traded for the vehicle in order to meet the casino’s specifications in the give-away—the miles were the result of transportation from the other dealer. However, and to appease the upset customer he looked through his inventory and found a similar vehicle, with only 7 miles, albeit with tinted windows. The customer chose the second vehicle and paid the difference for the tinted windows.

During the delivery process the fleet manager explained the satisfaction survey process and asked if there was anything that would keep the customer from giving the store a perfect survey. The customer said that he knew how the survey process worked and not to worry.

To the fleet manager’s chagrin the survey came back with a score of 3.5/5 and included a comment about his “bait and switch” experience.

The fleet manager was upset, said he felt burned, and asked what he could have done different.

After investigating the entire transaction further, including calling the customer to ensure I understood the situation, I shared with the fleet manager the concept of “stopping the burn”.

We have all heard that perception is reality. And, as you know, the perception of most people is that car dealers lie, steal, and cheat. Hence, when they come to a dealership these people are suspicious, defensive, and cautious. We need to be mindful that we are not starting the relationship from a neutral position, but rather in the negative, and need to be extra sensitive to comments and/or behaviors (ours and theirs) that reveal and reinforce a false perception.

So, when the customer suggested that the fleet manager was doing the old bait and switch routine the customer was in effect inflicting a burn on the fleet manager’s dignity and character. And, because the fleet manager did not stand his ground and take offense to the false statement [stopping the burn] he was in effect admitting guilt by default. Like it or not that is the psychology of the matter. It was not surprising then that the burn continued all the way through to the survey.

This is a really important point. If we have good character and don’t lie, steal, and cheat, we should not brush past or smooth over offensive comments that attack our character. To not address these offensive comments reinforces a false perception and that becomes the other person’s reality.

The good news is that we are all endowed with brains that feel or sense when an offense has taken place, no matter how subtle it is. It is incumbent upon you to stop the burn by confidently and tactfully standing your ground and counteracting a burn on your character. Otherwise, this false perception will extend to your public reputation through negative word of mouth, negative reviews, and ‘bad’ surveys beyond the sale itself.

I am convinced that good people who are true to themselves and confidently stand their ground by defending their character will not only gain greater respect immediately (leading to more sales), but enjoy stronger customer relationships, benefit from greater advocacy, receive higher scores on surveys and avoid getting burned.

Go ahead, test my theory, although in your “gut” (limbic brain) you know that I am right.

Herb Mast is a Leadership Coach and Employee Engagement Specialist. Learn how he can assist you in implementing the principles and concepts presented here.

When asked what they believe the definition of integrity is, most people say something like: being honest…doing the right thing…acting in the same manner when somebody is not watching as when they are.

While these are all elements of integrity I believe a better working definition is needed so that leaders can more intentionally operate with integrity.

A dictionary definition for integrity is the quality or state of wholeness, congruence, alignment. In other words, integrity requires completeness, consistency, and direction—but relative to what?

To demonstrate my point I often ask people if a thief can have integrity. This usually elicits a long pause during which I suggest that a thief has integrity when they are stealing. In the same way a liar has integrity when they are lying. In other words, when somebody is being true to who they are they are operating with integrity. 

So, integrity needs to be evaluated relative to a standard. This is why I struggle when somebody talks about integrity without stating a standard against which actions and behaviors are compared. 

On its own, without stating a standard, it is meaningless to suggest integrity as a guiding principle or core value. An organization might as well talk about baseball, mom, and apple pie—things that are meaningful to many Americans, but not all and certainly not all humans—than to site integrity without a defining standard.

I suggest that the mission of the organization is that standard and that the following model depicts what operating with integrity looks like:

Great leaders provide their team with inspiration, purpose, and alignment by defining the following three elements:

• Vision: Why do we exist as an organization? (destination)
• Mission: What drives our day-by-day efforts? (journey)
• Values: Which behaviors do we consider central to our brand and differentiate us as an organization?

Further, to operate with integrity a leader must ask:

• How clearly is the mission understood by the team? (Congruence—Consistency)
• How completely is it embraced? (Wholeness—Completeness)
• How consistently is it being executed? (Alignment—Direction)

Recommended reading:

Integrity: The Courage to Meet the Demands of Reality 

Dr. Henry Cloud: There are three essentials for success. The first two, craft or skill competencies and relationship building skills, are common knowledge; smart, talented people are a dime a dozen. What makes the difference is having the character not to screw it up. How many times have you seen someone whose personhood got in the way of their success? 

Herb Mast is a Leadership Coach and Employee Engagement Specialist. Learn how he can assist you in implementing the principles and concepts presented here.

I have often heard that longevity in the car business is directly proportional to production divided by toxicity. In layman’s terms this suggests that as long as you produce you will be tolerated. 

What a sad and shortsighted mindset. 

The only world in which this may work is a world where employee engagement and customer retention aren’t important. Otherwise, no amount of individual production is sufficient to outweigh the detrimental impact toxic people have on others. 

Then why are toxic people tolerated?

Aside from the reality that most people [are wusses who] try to avoid conflict, I think the metaphor of an iceberg gives insight. Even toxic people have some redeeming qualities, although usually only short term, which represent the part of the iceberg above the water line. These redeeming qualities are highly desirable (especially when in the form of production) albeit deceptive as managers hope to get them without the downside. Unfortunately, the toxic part, often subtle and unseen [below the water line] causes much greater damage. 

Smart people learn from their own experiences, while wise people learn from the experiences of others. We simply need to trust that coming in contact with an iceberg [toxic people] will never end well and instead we must steer clear. 

Unfortunately, too many managers take a short-term approach in tolerating toxic producers—believing they can play with fire without getting burned—largely due to the way their own pay plans are structured. The allure of toxic producers is often too strong, just like the allure of unearned windfall gains. 

That is why leaders define [and maintain] guiding principles for their organizations—principles that are not to be compromised—to help managers make better choices with day-to-day behaviors that are toxic. Further, great leaders are courageous in not hiring potentially toxic people and in dealing with toxic habits when observed. 

The next time you consider tolerating a toxic person ask yourself how long you would tolerate a diffuser in the middle of the room filled with poison. Rather, eliminate the poisons and fill your diffusers with positivity and watch your team flourish.

Herb Mast is a Leadership Coach and Employee Engagement Specialist. Learn how he can assist you in implementing the principles and concepts presented here.

For leaders speaking candidly is essential to maintaining a high level of personal energy.  For teams speaking candidly is essential to seeing reality more clearly.

According to the Conscious Leadership Group, research reveals that 97% of people admit to outright lying.

Speaking candidly, however, is not just about telling the truth (getting facts straight), although that is a very important component, it’s also about revealing, and not concealing, thoughts, feelings, and sensations.

In order for a leader and a team to see things clearly it is important that everybody speaks candidly with each other. The reality, however, is that most people only practice selective candor—they withhold or conceal—usually out of fear. Unfortunately, withholding typically leads to individuals withdrawing and ultimately projecting and teams not tapping into the strengths and energy of team members.

In healthy organizations leaders speak candidly and reveal their thoughts (head), feelings (heart), and sensations (gut). Through candid conversations everybody becomes more aware, inaccurate perceptions are clarified, and the team sees reality more clearly—leading to better decision-making, more cohesive teams, and higher energy/engagement of the individuals.

Steps to becoming a more candid organization:

• Agree as a team that everybody will speak candidly with each other without defensiveness, judgment, or retaliation. Unless everybody on the team is committed to candor the team runs the risk of getting hurt, being rejected and misunderstood. It is also important that the main leader goes first and demonstrates candor so that others will feel safe in doing the same.
• Speak unarguably with truthfulness, openness, and awareness. Arguable statements suggest something is true or right (e.g. “The new sales manager is not the right person for our organization.”), while unarguable statements are framed in the form of thoughts, feelings, and sensations (e.g. “I fear that the new sales manager may not be aligned with the values of our organization. Each time we talk about his plan I get a queasy feeling in my stomach and I feel he is withholding important details.”)
• Practice deep listening: With your head to the words used, with your heart to the emotions expressed, and with your gut to identify core needs.

For more insights into the powerful practice of speaking candidly click these links:

Herb Mast is a Leadership Coach and Employee Engagement Specialist. Learn how he can assist you in implementing the principles and concepts presented here.