January 2006 Newsletter

TEAMWORK

Hi Everyone,

Happy New Year! It’s that time again—time for making resolutions to improve various areas of your life. As you’re making your list for 2006, don’t forget about the area where you spend the vast majority of your time: your workplace.

Whether you’re the owner of the company or a brand-new employee, you can help to improve the teamwork, profitability, and “nice factor” of your workplace by practicing something I call “Who’s Your Daddy?” In my companies, Who’s Your Daddy is our system for defining and maintaining our culture. It provides a clear-cut communication strategy consisting of two simple questions: Who are you accountable to? and Who are you responsible for?

In any type of organization, everyone is accountable to somebody, and everyone is responsible for somebody else. First, you’re accountable to your boss, and it’s your job to make your boss look good. And who are you responsible for? Everybody! No matter where you fall in your organization, you have influence over other human beings. By definition, if you have influence on even one other person, you are a leader. So when we talk about who you are responsible for, obviously you’re responsible for everyone.

If that sounds like a big responsibility, don’t worry. This issue is filled with ideas to make it easy and fun!

Thanks for helping me live my fantasy of spreading this BE NICE message and giving nice people a voice.

XOXO, Winn

A BE NICE Story
Do you have a BE NICE story to share? Send it to editor@BeNiceOrElse.com. If it appears in the newsletter, you’ll receive a BE NICE T-shirt and CD!

Hi Mr. Claybaugh,

I am writing about your article, “Principles and Practices for True Leadership” on BeNiceOrELse.com.

You wrote, “The ‘old school’ of working with people taught leaders to dictate, control, manipulate, and police” and “The new school of working with people advocates a different practice, one that translates into true leadership. It calls upon every person to assume the responsibility for inspiring each other. The new school is a bit radical because it may require you to adopt a different job description, which includes the following responsibilities: inspiring people, being a coach and a cheerleader, setting a good example, and empowering people.”

I agree with you 110 percent! I learned the “new school” of leadership when I was in the U.S. Army. I learned to coach and guide my personnel and to lead by example. I coached them and motivated them to bring out their best. I constantly encouraged them to raise their standards as professionals but to never lose themselves (their own personality that makes them unique) in doing so.

Why was the army teaching this way? Well, they stress teamwork, not individualism. You can’t be a true leader unless you first learn how to be the type of team player and person that you talk about in your writings all the time. The army taught me a lot of the same values that you talk about. Being a professional, a leader, and a true team player can really make a difference in bringing out the best in ourselves and those around us.

Thanks again for the inspiration. You rock!

Manolo Munoz

Monthly Audio Message

As founder and president of the Civello Salon-Spa Group and Collega Inc. (Canada’s largest distributor of Aveda products), and former vice president of global education, artistic director, and creative consultant for the Aveda Corporation, Ray Civello has been a visionary and a pioneer in Canada’s beauty and wellness industry for over two decades. He is the owner of 14 Aveda Experience Centres, four Canadian Aveda Academy Salons, two Aveda Advanced Academies, and most recently a new Aveda Institute in Toronto.

In his role at Aveda, Civello was responsible for assembling the best team of international educators and editorial artists in the beauty industry. Listen in as he reveals the characteristics of a truly great team.

If you enjoyed this month’s audio message, you’ll love our MASTERS Audio Club. CLICK HERE for more information.

People Profile

Lauren Gartland, performance coach and president of Inspiring Champions, has served the salon industry since 1983. She has been ranked as a top sales consultant, managed a distributor sales team, and owned a distributorship in San Diego. Since founding Inspiring Champions in 1995, Lauren has impacted the lives of thousands of salon and spa professionals nationally—helping them make more money, work fewer hours, and create an extraordinary life.

Lauren’s energy and passion are contagious! She is noted as one of the most vibrant, entertaining, and recognized business trainers and performance coaches in the industry. She has a proven track record for significantly increasing service and retail sales and supporting individuals to design their “dream business.” Lauren’s life mission is to “globally change the industry one professional at a time.”

Lauren is a top-rated business speaker and a keynote trainer. She has been published in various business magazines and is a contributing coauthor in the book, Wake Up! Live the Life You Love in Beauty. In addition, Lauren is the founder and host of The Hour to Empower, a unique tele-conference program where she interviews the top legends and champions in the salon industry.

Do Something!

In any organization, it is monumentally important for staff meetings to be pleasurable experiences. If staff meetings are painful, it won’t matter how much you threaten people to attend—they won’t show up. And why should they? People will do just about anything to avoid pain.

To make your staff meetings fun, implement the Gathering Guidelines:

Sit in a circle.
There are no “problems”—only “challenges” and “opportunities.”
There’s no such thing as a “complaint”—only “suggestions” with at least two solutions.
There are no dumb questions, dumb answers, or dumb ideas.
Criticizing, teasing, put-downs, and sarcasm are the only taboos.
It’s okay to say, “I don’t know,” or “I changed my mind.”
If you don’t agree, say so and explain your thoughts.
It’s good to have a mind of your own—use it only when it matters.
Keep asking until you really understand.
Failure is not fatal.

CLICK HERE to download an expanded version of the Gathering Guidelines in a printable PDF format.

Corporate Corner
by Lauren Gartland

Have you ever wondered why geese fly in a V formation? There are several reasons, and we can learn from their example in working with our own teams.

First, as each bird flaps its wings, it creates uplift for the bird immediately following. By flying in formation, the flock adds at least 71 percent greater flying range than if each bird flew on its own. Similarly, when people are part of a team, they share a common direction and get where they’re going quicker and easier, because they’re traveling on each other’s trust and they lift each other up along the way.

Whenever a goose falls out of formation, it feels the drag and resistance of trying to go it alone and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the power of the flock. If we have as much sense as a goose, we’ll stay in formation and share our skill and knowledge with those who are headed the same way we’re going.

When the lead goose gets tired, he rotates back and another goose takes over. It pays to share leadership and take turns doing hard jobs.

The geese honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep their speed. Words of support and inspiration energize those on the front line, helping them to keep pace in spite of the day-to-day pressures and fatigue. It’s important that our honking be encouraging; otherwise, it’s just, well, honking!

Finally, when a goose gets sick or wounded and falls out, two geese fall out of formation and follow him down to help and protect him. They stay with him until he is either able to fly or until he is dead, then they launch out with another formation to catch up with their group. If we have the sense of a goose, we’ll stand by each other when things get rough.

The next time you see a formation of geese, remember that teamwork is the fuel that lets common people attain uncommon results.

CLICK HERE to learn more about creating incredible teamwork in your organization.