I am currently in what I consider to be the leadership training capital of the world, Kauai, Hawaii.  Now why would I make such a bizarre claim when we all know that leadership is being studied in corporate offices, major universities and on Wall Street every day?  My reasons are simple.  In Hawaii there is one word that sums up what leadership should be.  That word is ”Aloha.”

This is a place where people and businesses choose to bring their presence (alo) and a breath of life (ha) to every encounter and to the products and services they provide.  They chose to “share” part of themselves in serving a meal, fixing an elevator, building a road, creating a software program and more.  In return, they create an incredible experience for their customers and buyers. 

This simple word provides leaders with a road-map to getting our work on track today and every day.  Have we brought the full presence of who and what we are to the work?  Have we put our full breath into our efforts or are we holding back? Are we making the product we build or the service we give the real essence of who we are and what we stand for? 

When the people we work with feel these two things from their leaders or managers,  our full breath and our true essence they respond in kind.  New ideas flood into the workplace, a sense of creativity and ease surround tackling the challenges of the day, and the pride in the outcomes is the fuel for the next day’s efforts.

When our clients and customers feel this Aloha spirit, they too want to work with you again.  Returning for the real presence that your service or product brings to them.  They also want the life your create for them in your product or service because you have brought your true essence to them and shared it freely.

I am currently at the Marriott Kauai Beach Club and you could easily say I am just influenced by the sun, the surf, the palm trees, soft breezes and chirping birds.  (Are you imagining all of this yet?)  All of those things are wonderful by themselves.  However, my experience in my stay here is magnified ten fold because of the Aloha that greets me in every encounter.  The housekeeper, concierge, waiter, grounds-person, security, and so on will always pass along an “aloha” and follow that up with just what it means.  I am blown away, when I ask a simple question and get not only a good answer, but so much more.  They bring their presence to our encounters and share freely.  You can actually feel the breath of life in their work with each other by the smiles, not just for the tourists, but their colleagues, who I suspect are friends as well.

Experience leaders know how to bring “aloha” to their workplace every day.  May you be one of them.

Aloha!

Experience leadership is a phrase that you have heard in the past associated with people having or getting experience in order to be good leaders.  I would like to contend that in the future however,  there will be new meaning for this phrase and one that you need to pay close attention to as you choose who will be promoted to lead in your organization.

Right now our country, the USA, is trying to elect someone who will create the experience we want in our lives, living in our homes, villages and cities, and doing our work.  As we look at the candidates we have to ask ourselves the question, “what is the experience they have created for the people around them in their other leadership roles?”  What a leader does, with even one person working for them gives us an idea about all their values, strategies and tactics to handle challenge and growth.  An experience leader who creates an good experience for the person assigned to the task usually ends up with a sound outcome and results that move things in the right direction.

So the question on the table is, who are the leaders in your organization that will allow it to be a place that attracts and retains the best people for your mission and strategy?  Are they leaders who know and understand and will be more attuned to what is happening for each person?  Will they will note that with so many different generations in the workplace, what is working with one group may in fact be creating a totally different experience for another?  Then will they move to create good experiences for both?  Will they will be aware that an experience in one division may create a totally different and not as productive experience in another?  As an experience leader, will they will encourage their managers to try different things?

Experience leadership is about understanding the multi-faceted approach that will become the cornerstone of businesses in the next decade.  Moving away from from “for one and all” to encouraging the creation of “different strokes” for differing people and areas of responsibility.

One of the best ways I saw this manifested many years ago was when a call center offered each of its clients a different pay plan for the agents that would serve them.  This allowed them to create an “experience” in each unit around gain-sharing, bonuses, hourly rate increases, etc.   The leaders of this organization understood that they experience that each unit created correlated to the service of each customer.  The organization had long term employees, ecstatic clients who in turn had happy customers.

When I fly an airline I can see that the experience of the agents, flight attendants and pilots is most likely based on the experience that has been created by their leaders.  There are vast differences in my experience from one to the other  and I wonder about the leaders who create such a far reaching impact by the experience of how they work with the people who report to them.

The question that will be critical to the promotion of anyone who will lead an area or even manager one person will be, “What experience are you capable of creating?”  With strong experience leadership an organization will be able to address the differences in the workforce, the differences in the divisions of their organization and most importantly, the future.

To find out more about integrating experience leadership into your organization check with me about a “Leadership Mastermind” for your group at barbara@letsplaymore.com.

Read more about experience leadership looks like in the on-boarding process.

Today more than ever we are challenged to be good leaders, ethical managers and all around perfect employees.  It’s never easy.  There are quirks and personalities to contend with.  There are two to twenty different opinions on how things should be done and to top it all off, there are the demands of the business that make even listening hard some times. One of the things that I have found in most successful leaders is the way they KEEP IT SIMPLE.  To that end, here are a  few simple tips for you today that will make all of this just a little bit easier;

1. Smile - right now while you read this.  Notice your heart rate drop a point or two.  The heart rate of the people around you will drop as well.

2. Get up, go out the door and tell someone, anyone they are doing a good job, (with real meaning).  Say no more and just come back to your work.  Your mind is clearer and your colleague that you just appreciated is clearer as well.

3.  Listen - just walk around to five people, ask and then listen to what is on their minds today.  You will feel more informed, they will feel more empowered to get things done.

4.  Decide anything that has been lingering out there and needs a decision now.  You will feel better for having started the action and your colleagues will be anxious to make it happen.

5.  Learn, something, anything that will make you a better leader today.  Ask one person how you can improve and then work on that for the week.   You will get better and everyone you lead will be better for it.

6. Start a Leadership MasterMind Group in Your Company today with my help.  Just call 303-984-9271 and we will get you on your way.