Tag Archive for: leadership

Understand your personality to connect with others

We talk about communication all the time.  

How many times have you heard; we don’t communicate well as a company? Or my boss doesn’t listen to me. Or my wife. Or my husband. Or my kids. 

It’s over and over. 

The problem is that we don’t understand what that means. We don’t know why we can’t communicate, and it gets chalked up to “they’re just different kinds of people.” 

Which is exactly right, though slightly misstated. More specifically, people have different personality types. Understanding those broad classes of personality is the first step toward happier and more productive relationships. 

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately because it’s the topic of the SIDECAR February Fuel Tank. My guest is Dr. Tony Alessandra, an expert in this field.  

You may recognize Dr. Tony if you are active in our training programs (and you should be). His courses offer a practical approach to figuring out who you are, how to read others and how to use that information to connect with people.  

In my preparation, I ran across this information from Dr. Tony that I think sums it up pretty well.  

You can download a one-pager here to review later but I’ve included some of the information below.  

I hope it gets you excited for the Fuel Tank. I hope to see you there.  

Here are the seven areas where behavior assessments can be beneficial: 

1) Improve Hiring & Selection 

The right person in the right job is priceless. The wrong one is a nightmare waiting to happen. Accurately identify job applicants BEFORE the interview, make scientifically informed judgments and build an organization of A+ employees. 

2) Increase Sales  

Teach your sales team powerful behavior profiling skills. Empower them to identify— to your organization’s advantage— observable behaviors, then adapt their selling style to ft the customer’s buying style.  

3) Improve Customer Service  

Know in advance that your people believe in your organization and care about your customers. Better equip and train your customer support team with the invaluable communication and behavior profiling skills that pay countless dividends.  

4) Increase Productivity  

Identify with scientific accuracy the strengths and shortcomings of each employee. Create observable action plans, from the data, that maximizes your organization’s talent.  

5) Reduce Employee Turnover  

Ensure the best possible positional job “fit” for each new hire. Great fit means stronger retention rates, which lowers the costs associated with turnover.  

6) Customize Employee Training Model  

One size fits ONE, not all. Learn how each person learns best and get them back to productivity sooner. 

7) Team Building  

Know who fts with whom in advance. Create your teams based on compatible skills and traits, not just generic ideas of balance. Top-level teams are comprised of behaviorally compatible members with an optimal array of complimenting proficiencies. 

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Gratitude

It is that time of year again!  The holiday season can be a stressful time of family gatherings, cold weather, shopping, and hectic travel schedules.  All too often during the holidays, we become so preoccupied and overwhelmed with buying gifts and attending parties that we forget to stop and remember to be thankful for the abundant blessings in our lives.

When we choose to live and act from a state of gratitude, we are able to recognize and appreciate the endless blessings in our lives, and we are filled with a sense of peace and thankfulness for all we have.  Our lives suddenly become richer, fuller, and happier because we are operating from a grateful mindset.  I would like to challenge you during this holiday season (and all throughout the new year), rather than focusing on what you believe is missing from your life, try instead to embrace a perspective of gratitude.

Simply say, “Thank you.”

You may be surprised to find how much happier, calmer, and more fulfilling your holidays – and ALL of your days – become.

Happy Holidays from SIDECAR!

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Competence-Confidence-Conscientious

As a young boy, I watched my grandmother as she lay in a dark room in the middle of the day. I listened to her faint moans as she suffered with yet another piercing migraine. As I passed through her kitchen, I could see the bottles of medication lined up like soldiers ready for a war they would never win. A few years later pain hit closer to home. When I left for college my father was a proud, strong policeman, and in just two years, he had become a humbled combatant, losing the fight against rheumatoid arthritis.

How could we have all these advances in medicine, yet my family suffered with simple curable conditions? Their pain turned all of our lives inside out. I was frustrated and at times angered that nobody had a solution. Well meaning doctors could only prescribe pain relievers, not pain eliminators. These pills eventually created other conditions that led to more prescriptions and an early death for my father. So I began my search, and hundreds of books later, I realized that the disease is too weak to notice until it’s too strong to beat.

I was determined to feed this new belief. I was determined to take massive action and to become a Chiropractor. I wanted to give people a choice, chance and confidence. I shared words of encouragement, outlined logical strategies, and most importantly I gave them a place to begin.

It really doesn’t matter that our entire planet is in a health care crisis. Rising costs of medical care wipe out savings accounts and bury dreams every day. What matters to me is that people in your town need your perspective and you are the only one they may listen to.

Nothing is everything. No one person or profession has all the answers to what ails us. Yet many of the solutions are right in front of us if we can teach our people to ask the right questions. Pain can be debilitating, but failing to address its cause is devastating.

Your WHY can become a powerful personal message. It’s about you teaching people to take the lead in their own play. It’s about arming them with strategies that work in the real world. We live in a high-tech medical world with amazing breakthroughs, yet many of the life-wrenching symptoms patients may be suffering with defy high-tech solutions.

Dr. Frank Sovinsky
Co-Author of the E-Myth Chiropractor and Co-founder of SIDECAR

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Stop Complaining

One of the simplest things you can do to improve your perspective and attitude — stop complaining!

Do you light up the room when you walk in or when you walk out? If your answer is the latter, I would bet that your habit of complaining has something to do with it.

As chiropractors, we deal with complaints all day long; a requirement of our job is to bring inspiration and hope with us every day in order to end needless suffering.

Here are two facts: complaining costs the US economy $250-300 billion in lost productivity and 90% of doctor visits are stress-related with the number one recorded cause of stress being coworkers and their complaining.

This should be alarming to you as a Doctor as well as a business owner! As leaders, we need to realize that everyone has their own “stuff” that they are dealing with. Part of creating a great company culture is not allowing personal or outside negativity to cross the threshold into the office. It’s as simple as this one rule, NO COMPLAINING. A negative employee can scare off every customer they speak with… for good.

Negative emotions are associated with: decreased lifespan, increased risk of heart attack and stroke, greater stress, less energy, more pain, fewer friends, and less success.

A hole in the boat sinks the entire boat, not just one part of it. Complaining cannot be allowed to have a role in any part of your business. The change needs to be instantaneous and done now. Complaining is a habit and once it gets started it’s tough to stop.

Stop complaining now before it’s too late.

Dr. SeaDr. Douglas Sea

 

 

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Increase your CONNECTIVITY to Increase your AFFLUENCE

We have received an overwhelming amount of positive feedback in regards to our last blog piece entitled, “The Landscape on the Box”. If you haven’t read that piece yet, check it out here! As promised when we left off last time, here is the checklist on how to improve your connectivity.There are eight core principles to improving your connectivity. Improving your connectivity will enhance the impact on your community, your role as a thought leader, grow your likeability, scale your business and ultimately increase the affluence in your life. The eight P’s of connectivity include: Positivity, Present, Prepared, Persistence, Press In, Pour In, Perform and Prioritize.

Positivity: Being positive is the critical first step in learning to connect with others. Your attitude determines your altitude and your gratitude determines your attitude. The level of success you achieve in life hinges on your ability to remain positive in all circumstances! You want to be the person that lights up a room when you enter it; not when you leave it! You need to commit to having positive energy and enthusiasm exuding out of you in everything you do. Commit to yourself right now to eliminate any negativity and to be positive. Some tangible things you can do to increase your positivity include smiling, dressing for success, staying well-groomed, and living out loud with purpose, passion, and discipline! In order to stay positive, you need to stop blaming others and take responsibility for everything that happens to you.  You need to remember that nothing in this world happens to you, but happens because of you! A life of affluence all starts with a positive attitude!

Present: What does it truly mean to “be present?” Nick Saban, the head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide football team is famous for his saying: “Be where your feet are.” Being present is having the discipline to wholeheartedly focus on the one thing that is in front of you. As humans, we think we can multi-task, but in reality multi-tasking is an illusion. The truth is we have a hard-enough time completing one task in front of us; let alone attempting to complete two things! Multi-tasking puts us at risk for creating substandard results in any area of our life. Developing the discipline to stay focused on the person in front of us creates connectivity.  Have you ever been talking with someone at a party who is busy looking around and seems to be only half engaged in the conversation? How did that make you feel?  Learn to live in the moment. This is a crucial point and it’s not easy. Many of us tend to worry or get stuck in our dreams. We spend way too much time living in the past or the future and not being focused on the current moment.  If you want to connect deeper with people learn the art of being present.

Prepared: In learning to connect with people it is important that you are prepared. You’ve heard the saying, “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” Be prepared by mastering your ability to communicate.  Communication mastery is vital to connecting with people and involves three components: self-awareness, recognizing others, and then being able to adapt our communication and behavior to allow us to connect with each and every human being we encounter.

Self-awareness is defined as the conscious knowledge of one’s own character, feelings, motives, and desires.  Self-awareness creates personal accountability, confidence, and clear expectations of what you need to be prepared to serve others.  Once you have a clear understanding of yourself you can prepare to start to recognize other’s unique behaviors, needs, wants, and desires.

Recognizing others requires an understanding of the different types of human behavior. We all know that no one person behaves the exact same, but we do know that there are similar behavioral styles that are universal and these styles can be studied. At SIDECAR, we utilize a tool known as the DISC Assessment that gives us a platform to learn the art of human behavior. In fact, we have an entire Communication Mastery course in our OVERDRIVE product that helps to identify everything you need to know about communicating.

Lastly, self-awareness coupled with the ability to recognize others prepares you to adapt and communicate to create connectivity. If you understand how you communicate, and understand how your target communicates, this allows you to make the necessary adaptations for the optimal level of connection.

Persistence: Woody Hayes said it best, “Paralyze resistance with persistence.” It takes persistence to become a master of connecting with people. To develop persistence you first must commit. Commit to the process that leads to increasing your connectivity. The Persistence Process in connecting with people includes getting involved in your community, serving on boards, going to different coffee shops, engaging with waiters and waitresses, serving at your school, serving at your church, nesting in local business establishments, giving value-added talks to any group that will listen to your story, and much more. Take a genuine interest in the area you live in and be a part of your community. Stop sitting idle in your office or at your home!  Persist in getting to know as many people as you can!  Engage with people!  Persist in your own mind to be more concentrated on being interested in others versus trying to be more interesting yourself. Persistence is day in and day out forever! Persistence is not a “one-off” event! Winner’s do daily what others do occasionally!

Press In: If you are going to connect with people you will need to be willing to “press in.” To press in is the concept of taking responsibility  for your half of the relationship. Pressing in requires a high level of accountability. You need to become accountable for your actions, your thoughts, your success, and your failures. You need to press in and take accountability to learn the skill set of being “contactable.”  Being contactable means that you are intentionally pressing in to widen your circle of influence.  If you want to have more impact, scale your business, and enjoy deeper relationships you’re going to have to “press in.” This will require hustle; you will have to hustle for what you want! One of the most common characteristics of successful people is their ability to hustle relentlessly. People with hustle aren’t scared of the invisible, the uncomfortable, or what could happen if they make themselves vulnerable.  Learn to press in and your ability to connect with more people will soar!

Pour In: To “pour in” requires you to serve and lead with your heart! You must be willing to give above and beyond yourself in order to enhance your connectivity. Become a servant leader in your business, your home, your church, your community and focus on what you can do for the betterment of others. The only way to truly receive is to give first, with no strings attached. I think one of the best examples of “pouring in” is when Jesus humbled himself to wash his disciples’ feet.  He didn’t have to do this based upon who He was, but He did this act as an example of what true servant leadership looks like.  So instead of seeking a “title” use Jesus’s example and pick up a “towel” instead.

Prioritize: To increase your connectivity, you are going to need to prioritize your life. For some of you, this may include adding certain things to your life that you aren’t currently doing. However, for most of you this is going to require subtracting the unnecessary things out of your life! Success is about subtracting, not adding. Unfortunately, subtracting is much harder than adding! It’s easy to pick up something new or try a quick-fix option. It’s much harder to shed something that’s been with you forever and has grown into a bad habit. The concept of essentialism teaches that to increase your impact and connectivity you must prioritize the items that you truly do well and eliminate the rest from your life completely.

Perform: Finally, we get to the connecting. Think of every opportunity you have to connect as a performance. Then, think of your performance as a dance. This time to connect with whomever may be in front of you is your time to shine! You’ve put the work in and you are prepared, now, the only thing left for you to do is dance! Put yourself out there in the best way you know how and display your talent on the grand stage. The performance is a culmination of all the previous principles. This is what you are working towards!

All these principles will allow you to connect with more people and increase your impact. They will require due diligence on your part and some areas are going to be more challenging than others. If you were inspired by any of these principles; you’ve got what it takes. Use that fire inside you to develop yourself into a master communicator and start connecting and changing more lives.

Dr. Nathan UnruhDr. Nathan Unruh, CXO SIDECAR

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There’s Just Not Enough Time!

Have you ever felt like there just wasn’t enough time in the day to accomplish everything you set out to do?

Everyone has the same amount of time. Barring any event that reduces or ends the amount of life someone experiences, time is constant.

Let’s do the math:

  • 24 hours per day
  • 168 hours per week
  • 8,760 hours per year

As long as you and I are both alive, we’ve got the same amount of time.

The Truth

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average person spends three hours per day watching T.V. Three hours per day equates to 21 hours per week. This ultimately adds up to 1,095 hours per year!

12.5% of an entire year spent watching T.V.

You may be thinking, “That’s not me, I don’t watch that much T.V.!”

What about time spent on your cell phone? Social Media, Messaging, Internet usage… Most reports done show that the average person spends around four hours per day on their phone!

The point that I’m trying to make here is this: You have plenty of time to accomplish what you truly want to accomplish.

Television

The average person spends 12.5% of each year watching television.

Subtraction

If you are feeling pressed for time and constantly find yourself “running out”; re-examine exactly where you are allocating your time. The key to improving your efficiency and ultimately growing is through subtraction. Success is never about adding; it’s always about subtracting! Subtract anything that is not aligning you closer to your vision. Eliminate the wasteful screen time spent on TV or your cell phone.

You might be thinking, “I don’t waste time!” My response? Business does not equal productivity.

If you feel you are being efficient with your time but still don’t have enough, examine the tasks you are performing.  

A great principle that we teach at SIDECAR is the one-minute principle. This principle helps to identify exactly how much time you may be wasting in your day. Taking inventory of your time will help to expose growth areas.

Here’s some perspective: every great idea, product, event, or thing that has ever occurred on this Earth stemmed from a person who had the same amount of time that you do!

You have plenty of time. Start making the most of it.

Let’s Ride!

Dr. Nathan UnruhDr. Nathan Unruh, CXO SIDECAR

To find out more about the one-minute principle and how to apply it to your business give us a call at 1-877-727-2705.

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Teaching Your Employees the Importance of “Playing Hurt”

Instilling the concept of “Playing Hurt vs. Playing Injured” in your company culture is crucial in your ability to lead your team effectively.

How many times have you told yourself or your employees to “Rub some dirt on it!” or “Shake it off!” in the last few months?

What I hope to illustrate in today’s blog is defining the concept of “Playing Hurt vs. Playing Injured” and how you can incorporate this lesson into your company culture.

Playing Hurt

Being hurt is challenging. When you’re feeling under the weather it’s easy to head back to bed and chalk the day up as a loss. However, as the leader of your business you must come to a quick realization. Ultimately, you set the tone for your company and are directly in charge of your company’s culture.

If you have a stuffy nose or don’t feel quite right, you can still go to work. You can go to work and you can perform to the standards you’ve set for yourself and your employees. A majority of the time it comes down to your mindset. You don’t have a choice, you have a responsibility to the people you serve. This is the mindset you need to instill in your company culture.

Playing Injured

Playing Injured is a different story. If you or your employee is in rough shape and has no capability of performing the required work duties; then it’s probably not safe to come in to work. The reality of this situation is that it is rare! Encouraging a healthy lifestyle to your team will help combat the likelihood of this occurring. If an employee is constantly “injured” you may need to step in as a leader and help resolve other situations in that employee’s life.

Teaching Your Team to Play Hurt

If you’re under these people, you’re probably injured!

The Small Business Reality

99.7% of all businesses in the United States are small businesses. Your business falls into this category. A small business is going to struggle to grow if it is consistently missing 25-50% of their workforce. Understand the magnitude of missing one employee when you consistently operate with a team of less than five people.

Set the edges with your employees and lay the guidelines for what you tolerate. You can play hurt; you can’t play injured. At the end of the day it’s not about you; it’s about the team coming together to work towards your business’s vision.

When an employee is out of the office for whatever reason. Have Plan B ready to go. If that doesn’t work try Plan C. Whatever your plan may be, just get the job done. If you need to have PRN staff, a bullpen of candidates available at a moment’s notice: your spouse, kids, uncle, neighbor… Establish a pool of individuals that know what to do and can operate in your business in a bind.

 

Dr. Nathan Unruh Dr. Nathan Unruh, CXO, SIDECAR

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Spectators and Players

In your business, you can choose to be a spectator or a player. Which one are you?

I talk with a lot of doctors and business people who have elaborate plans for their future. They tell me about their great ideas and the things that they want to do. Most of the time, these plans remain just that, plans! At SIDECAR we refer to this stage as “getting ready to get ready”.

The common theme when I talk with these types of people is that they always have something to say about those in their field that are out doing things. They remind me of spectators watching an event take place. These people are riddled with opinions including things like: “Why didn’t he do this?” or “Why didn’t she see that?” They tend to think that they understand the game quite well from there vantage point.

Spectators Everywhere

I tend to find that there are a lot more spectators than there are players on the field these days. The reality of the situation is this: the players, people partaking in the event, are the ones making the difference. These people are training to win and are willing to take a position in front of the spectators, put on their best performance, take any criticism they receive, and build on it.

There are always going to be spectators. Not all spectators are bad, they are a necessity for the game to take place. However, if you find yourself thinking like a player but acting like a spectator, that’s when problems arise.

Spectators vs Players

There’s always going to be more spectators.

Which one are you?

Are you a player or are you a spectator? Are you willing to put your best foot forward and take action even though you may not have all the details worked out? Players are constantly training and improving so when it comes time to hit the field they are ready. Players understand that regardless of how well trained they are, during the performance unforeseeable things can take place and require adaptation. The more the player trains the better he or she will be at handling the unforeseeable circumstances.

The spectator has a pretty cushy job. He gets to sit in a spot way up high where he can see it all, snack on some popcorn, and proclaim his opinion to all those around him.

If you desire to be a player, lose the mindset and work ethic of a spectator.

A coach once told me, “Players make plays, players win games.”

Dr. Nathan UnruhDr. Nathan Unruh, CXO SIDECAR

 

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Work vs. Hustle

You can recapture the joy in your business and life by learning the difference between “working” and “hustling”. 

I love basketball. I started playing when I was a child and continued through college. The game has always been a passion of mine. Even though my playing days are over I still hold a tremendous appreciation for the nuances of the game. Extraordinary games of basketball always showcase great coaching, teamwork, and talent. To this day, it’s hard for me to turn away from a collegiate matchup between two historic powerhouses.

One of the things you’ll notice about the big-time games is the amount of hustle that each team displays. Whether it’s sprinting down the court or diving on the floor for loose balls, the amount of hustle displayed is unbelievable. Watching an entire team execute on their goals with high levels of hustle is a beautiful thing.

The Meaning of Hustle

“Hustle” has been a buzzword in the entrepreneurial business world for a while now. What exactly does it mean? What is “hustle”? How does it differ from “work”? The basketball players are all “working” to achieve a common goal, but are they all “hustling”, too?

In basketball, the word “hustle” is most commonly used to describe a play of extraordinary effort. If a player goes the extra mile they are commended for great “hustle”. However, ask any great player about “hustle” and they rarely even acknowledge it. Usually, the response will be along the lines of “I’m just doing my job”. You see, the player doesn’t view the extra effort as extraordinary at all. To the outside world, it appears as an obvious case of exceptional effort; something that can be pointed to and labeled as “hustle”. To the player, it’s merely a by-product of the love of the game.

The Difference Between Work and Hustle

At some point in our lives, all of us have had to “work”. It may have been doing chores as a child, or studying for a class you weren’t particularly interested in during your schooling. You might have not developed and possessed your vision, yet. If you did, the acts of work you were performing may not have been aligned with your vision. Ultimately, your vision dictates the difference between working and hustling. You know when you’re “working”. Whatever it is you are doing isn’t aligned with your vision and odds are it’s taxing you! When you’re “working” you are busy with tasks, but never actually getting anything done. When you’re “hustling” you are executing and able to accomplish things that matter and contribute to your success. You are energized and every time you execute on something it gives you a boost to continue to pursue your vision.

So, are you “working” or are you “hustling”? If all your effort and time is devoted to an ultimate goal and aligned with your vision, then you’re “hustling”. If people are starting to take notice of your extraordinary effort and results, you’re “hustling”. If you’re not focused and are simply completing task after task, you’re “working”.

“Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.” 

– Abraham Lincoln 

Understand the nuances of this concept. The basketball player doesn’t have to think about giving extra effort before he or she jumps into the stands for the ball. In their mind, anyone in that same position would do the exact same thing. You can’t continue to waste your time “working” and just start calling it “hustling”. Everything you do day in and day out has to be aligned with your vision. You’re wasting your life if you don’t.

Stop working. Start hustling.

Dr. Nathan UnruhDr. Nathan Unruh, CXO SIDECAR

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Dominate vs. Compete

Dominate vs. Compete… What’s the difference? Similar words; but, understanding the details will help you take steps towards accomplishing your goals espanolfarmacia.net. 

Dominate

To dominate you must have a commanding influence and exercise control. In order to dominate, you or your service must be the most important or conspicuous. To dominate means to be in a commanding position. Domination requires mastery, and it requires that you and your business offer more. To dominate means that you are in a league all by yourself. Your only competition is you!

Compete

To compete you must strive to gain or win something by defeating or establishing superiority over others who are trying to do the same. To compete means that you participate, try to keep up with, keep pace with, be in the same league, come near to or come close, and/or compare yourself with the other competitors.

The difference

To compete means spending time looking over your shoulder at your competition. To compete means doing the same things that everyone else is doing and just trying to get a little ahead of the next guy. To dominate means to press forward looking straight ahead giving it all you’ve got. To dominate means to race against yourself and consistently push past your “limits”.

When you begin to dominate people will ask how you operate at the level you do. Trust us, it’s a fun question to answer!

Dominate, and abundance is yours!  

Dr. Nathan UnruhDr. Nathan Unruh, CXO SIDECAR

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