Get the MOJO Back

The Big Mo. Momentum. Mojo. You've either got it or you don't. Most of the time you can't really see it, but you can definitely feel it. Hard to explain, but easy to identify the teams or organizations that have it on their side. In sports, momentum or lack of momentum is easy to spot. Green Bay and Denver - have it. Cowboys and Falcons- lost it. Alabama- feeling it. Baylor athletics in general- got it.

But organizations and business teams also thrive on momentum. Many times it can be the difference between a good year and a great year.

So as we all start 2012, here are a few thoughts on how to get the Big MO back:

1. Fearlessly go after ONE big thing this year. Don't get lost trying to be all things to all people. One Big Idea. And be better at it than anyone else.

2. Keep your mission as a team crystal clear. It shouldn't change. But try sharing it with the team differently. Mix up how you communicate.

3. Shift. Even if it means moving where people sit in the office, or when meetings are "usually" held, or shaking up the typical dress code. Start fresh this year with a cultural change. It's amazing what small things like this can do to build momentum.

4. Build energy with small wins. Literally set daily goals, weekly goals, and monthly goals. Incentivize your team with small victories. Crossing the finish line and hitting a goal always is a good thing, even if it's just a small victory. Don't just rely on the one big year end goal that everyone seems to think is unreachable.

5. Celebrate early and often. Even if it's just a quick gathering in the hall to cheer for someone who hit a goal, this is incredibly important to re-establishing momentum.

6. Dream. Have a brainstorming meeting. Think outside the box.

7. Tell stories that paint a picture. Remind your team of why you do what you do through stories, pictures, video, customer feedback, emails, and customer visits. Make the impact that you're having on your customers tangible by hearing and seeing it up close.

8. Go back to the Basics. Sharpen up on your foundational skills. Make sure the core of who you are and what you do individually and organizationally is being done well. Focus.

Why I Follow You on Twitter

If you haven't joined Twitter yet, you should. It's the best way to get the most information in a timely manner that I've found. Everyone is on Twitter these days.

If you are wondering who to follow, or wondering why I follow who I follow, here are several reasons why I follow some on Twitter and not others:

1. You give me value. Maybe a great link, a quote, a stat, new website, etc.

2. You don't constantly pimp yourself. Remain humble.

3. You are generous. I see lots of retweets from you and notice you seem to care about otherss and are willing to talk about others and want to help them.

4. You make me think.

5. You make me laugh.

6. You keep me informed. I want to be ahead of the crowd when it comes to news and pertinent info.

7. You tweet in moderation. No overtweeting. A nice steady stream of tweets.

8. You provide a personal connection, and because of that, I actually want to meet you in person. Whether as an individual or organization.

9. You have a picture. Without out, no follow. Your account looks fake.

10. You are a friend. I still follow many friends who are terrible at Twitter. But I still follow them. That's what friends are for!

Are you Remarkable?

Seth Godin recently reminded me about the idea of Being REMARKABLE. What really is Remarkable? Webster's defines remarkable as "notably or conspicuously unusual; extraordinary. Worthy of notice or attention."

It's what you remember. What you talk about. What you retweet. What you share.

Normal is normal.... Normal service. Normal restaurant. Normal concert. Normal conference. Normal phone call. Normal delivery. Normal work.

Remarkable is the add on. The extra. "But what really blew me away was _______." As Seth says, remarkable is "the extra that goes in that blank, the more than what you had to do."

Being remarkable means others talk about it. They make remarks- the remark on you, a product, a service, an experience. They remember it.

It's being exceptional. Beyond the norm. Unusual.

Remarkable may cost more, add more work to the plate, require more effort, but it's worth it.

Is your organization remarkable? Your Church? Your business? Your family? You personally?

What recently "blew you away" or was "extraordinary" or "memorable" beyond the norm?

 

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5 Great Leadership interviews on the Catalyst Podcast

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Just another reminder about the Catalyst Podcast, which is FREE on iTunes or on the Catalyst Website. Over 150 episodes from the past 5 years, but wanted to highlight 5 recent interviews/episodes you should check out.

Again, GO TO iTunes to download all of these and more for Free.

John C. Maxwell - best-selling leadership author.

Bill Hybels - founding pastor of Willow Creek Community Church.

Jim Collins - best-selling author of Good to Great and management guru.

Marcus Buckingham - best-selling author of Now Discover Your Strengths.

Michael Hyatt - chairman of Thomas Nelson and one of the top leadership bloggers in the world.

bonus: Priscilla Shirer, Francis Chan, Joel Houston, John Piper and Jon Acuff. Just to name a few. All available for Free.

A How to for Producing Events

1. Content is king. It all starts with content. Without great speakers who can deliver, you're climbing uphill. 2. Know your audience. Aim small in terms of your audience. Be VERY specific in terms of who you are creating an experience for. Aim big, miss big. Aim small, miss small.

3. Creativity many times requires conflict, complication and frustration. Everyone wants to know how to deliver creatively. But getting there is many times a course in patience, conflict resolution, and many hours of frustration. Great ideas and creative programming is the result most of the time of healthy tension and debate over many months. It's a process.

4. Find talent everywhere. If you can't hire someone full-time, then bring em in as a consultant, or at least just for a day to bring fresh ideas and different perspective. When you live in the middle of planning and producing every day, it's good to have someone from the outside.

5. Understand the difference between producing, directing, and leading. For Catalyst, each of these roles are different people. And they require different kinds of people. (more on this later) It's important to not just have the same person filling these strategic areas, unless your event is basic and not in need of a comprehensive production team.

6. In programming, focus relentlessly on transitions. Many times producers focus so much on the speaking, or the key production parts, that they leave the transitions to chance. It's essential to have transitions that are seamless, experiential, and connect with the audience.

7. Engage all of the senses. Taste, Touch, Smell, Seeing, Hearing. Hit all of them as much as possible. Most events or experiences only focus on Seeing and Hearing. Disney is the best I've seen at this.

8. Video/screens can be one of your greatest assets, or biggest barriers. Everyone thinks that they have to do IMAG screens and lots of video elements, but anymore, if it's not HD quality and really well done, it can be a hindrance. The biggest lesson- if you are leveraging video, then invest heavily in the quality.

9. A proper balance of challenge/light/funny/serious is a good grid for the rhythm of your programming. Lots of combinations on these four options. Always build in margin through humor and intentional moments of light-heartedness. Otherwise people will check out.

10. Learn from those who are more talented, have more money, create bigger events, and know more. Regardless of industry or background, learn from those who are the experts. We're never too good or too big or too experienced to learn from someone else.

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#1 Post of 2011 - How To Lead Millenials

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#1 POST OF 2011 2o Points on Leading Millenials 

A good friend asked me the other day my thoughts on how to lead the millennial generation, basically those born after 1980. We gather thousands of leaders who fit this category on an annual basis, and most of our Catalyst staff are under the age of 30.

I have to admit- I don't always get this right. As a 100% Gen X'er, my tendency is to lean away from several of these points, and lead how I've been led over the years by Boomer and Busters. But I'm working on it....

So with that said, here you go, thoughts on leading millenials:

1. Give them freedom with their schedule. I'll admit, this one is tough for me.

2. Provide them projects, not a career. Career is just not the same anymore. They desire options. Just like free agents.

3. Create a family environment. Work, family and social are all intertwined, so make sure the work environment is experiential and family oriented. Everything is connected.

4. Cause is important. Tie in compassion and justice to the "normal." Causes and opportunities to give back are important.

5. Embrace social media. it's here to stay.

6. They are more tech savvy than any other generation ever. Technology is the norm. XBOX, iPhones, laptops, iPads are just normal. If you want a response, text first, then call. Or DM first. Or send a Facebook message. Not anti calls though.

7. Lead each person uniquely. Don't create standards or rules that apply to everyone. Customize your approach. (I'll admit, this one is difficult too!)

8. Make authenticity and honesty the standard for your corporate culture. Millenials are cynical at their core, and don't trust someone just because they are in charge.

9. Millenials are not as interested in "climbing the corporate ladder." But instead more concerned about making a difference and leaving their mark.

10. Give them opportunities early with major responsibility. They don't want to wait their turn. Want to make a difference now. And will find an outlet for influence and responsibility somewhere else if you don't give it to them. Empower them early and often.

11. All about the larger win, not the personal small gain. Young leaders in general have an abundance mentality instead of scarcity mentality.

12. Partnering and collaboration are important. Not interested in drawing lines. Collaboration is the new currency, along with generosity.

13. Not about working for a personality. Not interested in laboring long hours to build a temporal kingdom for one person. But will work their guts out for a cause and vision bigger than themselves.

14. Deeply desire mentoring, learning and discipleship. Many older leaders think millenials aren't interested in generational wisdom transfer. Not true at all. Younger leaders are hungry for mentoring and discipleship, so build it into your organizational environment.

15. Coach them and encourage them. They want to gain wisdom through experience. Come alongside them don't just tell them what to do.

16. Create opportunities for quality time- individually and corporately. They want to be led by example, and not just by words.

17. Hold them accountable. They want to be held accountable by those who are living it out. Measure them and give them constant feedback.

18. They've been exposed to just about everything, so the sky is the limit in their minds. Older leaders have to understand younger leaders have a much broader and global perspective, which makes wowing Millenials much more difficult.

19. Recognize their values, not just their strengths. It ain't just about the skillz baby. Don't use them without truly knowing them.

20. Provide a system that creates stability. Clear expectations with the freedom to succeed, and providing stability on the emotional, financial, and organizational side.

Thanks to the Catalyst team and our band of millenials for their input and advice on these points. James Wilson, Julianne Graves, Sabrina Esposito, Alyssa Raymer, Stan Johnson, and Ansley Lawhead. You guys provided great insight!

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Top Posts of 2011 Countdown #2 - Rules for Young Leaders on Gaining Credibility

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Top Posts of 2011- #2 Rules for Young Leaders on Gaining Credibility

C = T  x  (E  + E). Credibility = Time (times) Experience + Expertise.

To give some context, here are some thoughts on how to best gain credibility now:

1. Listen. Simple enough.

2. Write it down. Record it. Put it in a moleskine or evernote or on your iPhone. But be just short of annoying on capturing things you hear and watch and are part of. You'll find that writing something down automatically makes it a priority.

3. Find those who are smarter than you, and latch on. Learn from them. Ask questions. Be a learner.

4. Become an expert NOW, even before you need to be. That way when it's your turn to come off the bench you are ready. When you are asked for your opinion or involvement, give it or do it.

5. Self awareness and self identity. Know who you are. You are young- deal with it. Don’t think you know more than you really do, or have more experience than you really do.

6. Demonstrate your ability to collaborate and be a team player. Reality is, most of us work in a team environment, so you have to show your ability to get along with others in making things happen. The Lone Ranger and Han Solo aren't ideal.

7. Stay focused, but broad. Those who have the most credibility no longer are just experts in one area. You need to be a generalist.

8. Learn how to follow. And follow really well. It will position you for authority later.

9. Faithful with little, faithful with much. No matter what the task or assignment, whether how important or how minuscule, GET it DONE. Work really hard. Be a hustler. Accomplish getting coffee or making copies or working on spreadsheets or filing papers like it's the most important assignment ever. Demonstrate in the small and unimportant tasks the characteristics you will still have with the large and important tasks.

10. Humble and Hungry. Be known as the team member who will always get it done and is completely trustworthy. Show up early. Leave your ego at the door. Do your work with excellence. Volunteer for the tough assignments that no one else wants.

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