Grandy

Leadership means doing a lot more than making hiring decisions, signing paychecks, and taking care of your team and your company. True leaders motivate others to take action.

When you think of leaders in your community, who comes to mind? Public officials? Civic group presidents? Pastors? These are fine choices, but many entrepreneurs don’t realize how their business acumen and leadership skills in the corporate world can be used to enhance the communities in which they live.

If you don’t already consider yourself a leader with the community, then think about this: You have the potential to be one. If you’ve ever wanted to be more civic minded, and become a leader in the private sector as well, take some time to think about these ideas.

Find a cause you’re passionate about
Believe it or not, you have the power to influence other decision-makers in your community. When an issue that’s important to you arises, write letters to politicians respectfully expressing your thoughts and ideas. Attend town hall meetings, and tell your city council why you care. Get to know these people, and make your voice heard in a kind and thoughtful manner.

Make it a family service outing
True servant leaders put others first. Is there a ministry or a nonprofit whose mission you identify with? Find one you really believe in, and give it your all. Invest your time, energy and resources into it, and you’ll have the power to make a real difference.

On top of that, make it a family affair. Giving back to the community while sharing the experience with your family can be a bonding and learning experience your kids will remember the rest of their lives.

Make things personal
There’s something special about a handwritten note in today’s culture of email and text messages — especially one that’s unexpected. If you know someone who has a tough job or just needs a reminder that they’re awesome, let them know! You’re guaranteed to become a source of inspiration in their lives. People who do things like this gain influence and respect.

Surprise people whose job it is to serve others
People who work stressful jobs serving others often don’t receive the appreciation they deserve. Let them know their work matters! Bring treats to the nurses’ station at your local hospital or to the teachers’ lounge at your neighborhood school. Drop off some pizza or sandwiches at the police department or fire station. Then, watch their faces light up when you remind them they’re respected!

So are you ready now to make a difference in your community? Leadership opportunities don’t happen just at work; they’re are all around you. All you have to do is choose one and start making a difference!

By Dave Ramsey

Football lovers are in a frenzy this time of year. The NFL and NCAA playoffs are in full swing, and the Big Game is just weeks away. While most fans focus on the players and their exploits on the field, a lot can be learned from the men on the sidelines who devise strategy and call the plays.

Successful coaches are some of the greatest leaders you’ll ever meet. Not only do they know how to break down the competition and identify weaknesses, they can motivate and inspire their teams to work together toward greatness.

Whether you’re a fan of the game or not, as an entrepreneur you can learn a lot about leadership from some of the greatest football coaches in history.

Create a positive culture
Whether you’re leading a football team or a business organization, creating a positive team culture is vital. The San Francisco 49ers went 2-14 the year before Bill Walsh was named head coach. Once Walsh took over and began to address the mental issues he believed were problematic, the 49ers underwent a dramatic transformation and won three championships in the 1980s.

Later, Coach Walsh said part of the credit for those victories and the team’s success went to the cultural changes he and his coaching staff made. He called it a leadership philosophy that had as much to do with core values, ideals, and principles as it did with blocking, tackling, and passing. It was a change in attitude.

Leading is teaching
Vince Lombardi was one of the finest leaders and winners in NFL history. As the coach of the tough 1960s Green Bay Packers, Lombardi also valued the cerebral parts of the game. “They call it coaching, but it is teaching,” he said. “You don’t just tell them [. . .], you show them the reasons.”
Compare that approach with the stereotypical loud-mouthed boss who treats his team members like four-year-olds in a daycare. Executing your assignments is necessary. But teaching the reasons behind a philosophy educates and empowers — both on and off the field.

Preparation
Tom Landry made the Dallas Cowboys into “America’s Team” during the 1970s. Landry was one of the first professional football coaches to hire a strength and conditioning coach. He was also the first to hire a quality-control coach to study game film and look for tendencies in opponents.
Now all NFL teams have specialty coaches. Landry famously said, “The will to prepare is more important than the will to succeed.”

Following a few mediocre years at Alabama, some people wondered if Bear Bryant was cut out to be a coach. Then, in the early 1970s, Bryant shook things up by throwing the “wishbone” offense at the competition. The rest is history; he led the Crimson Tide to eight SEC Championships and three national titles in a decade. Would most of us even know Bear Bryant’s name if he didn’t have the guts to make that change?

If something works really well, stick with it. But never be afraid to shoot the sacred cows within your organization. Doing something for no better reason than it’s always been done that way is the death knell for any organization. Sometimes a new direction, or an infusion of new ideas, is exactly what’s needed.

Patience is a virtue
It took Bobby Bowden nearly 30 years to win his first college football national championship in 1993. Between 1987 and 2000, his Florida State teams were dominant, never losing more than two games in a season. But what would’ve happened if Bowden had let 1976’s five-win season or a six-win campaign in 1981 get him down?

Don’t expect success overnight. Most people at the top of their professions spent 20 years working their tails off — being patient, focused and dedicated — before anyone labeled them an overnight success. In other words, there’s no such thing as an “overnight success.”

These football coaches were the best of the best. Whether they coached amateur players in college or professionals in the NFL, they learned how to get the best from their teams. If you follow their advice, you can get the best out of your team, too!

By Tom Grandy

Two years ago our van was broken into while we were at Myrtle Beach. The thief entered the van by smashing the back passenger window. Obviously we needed to have the window replaced as soon as possible. I called our insurance company and they put me in touch with the local Safelite Auto Glass replacement company. They were amazing. They were so amazing that I wrote a full length lead article on their service a couple years ago.

However, today I want to focus on my memory of the service experience nearly two years ago. I was thinking about the experience last night and tried to recall what “really stuck” with me after all this time. Three things came to mind:

• Quality of the Work – We all want quality work but at this point in America we have come to expect outstanding quality work. We may not always get it but we do expect it. In terms of my experience with Safelite, my expectations were not just met they were exceeded. However, that is not what really stuck with me two years later.

• Communication – What comes to mind about my experience is communication. Once the insurance company put me in contact with the glass company the communication was amazing! They called to see when “I” wanted to schedule the window replacement. We set a day and time and he told me they would call before arriving.

The day of the planned service they called to confirm what time the technician would be arriving. To my amazement I got a second call later in the morning, from the tech himself telling me he was about 5 minutes from our condo. The repair necessitated a follow up visit a few days later. Same communication, I received a call first thing in the morning to confirm the time and another call from the tech when he was about 5 minutes from the condo.

Two calls, two different days, with the tech arriving at the scheduled time. I was impressed! As you can tell this kind of communication is what I remembered two years later.

• The Tech Was Friendly –When a tech comes to perform work at my home, or in this case on my van, I like to watch the tech. He worked on the van for nearly an hour during which he answered all my questions … patiently. He shared about his family, having run his own business at one time, and how he coached his son’s baseball team. After two visits from the same tech I felt like we were friends even though the probability of ever seeing him again was remote at best.

So what did I remember about the visit roughly two years later? I remembered the outstanding communication and how friendly the tech was. Could that be some of what impresses other customers? Who knows but it begs the question “What kind of impression do you or your team leave with the customer?”

by Tom Grandy

This has been a fun journey. We have been taking a close look at the business practices of the highly successful Sight and Sound Theater in Lancaster, PA. We have looked at their mission statement, hiring and training practices and long range planning. Now let’s turn our attention to marketing, training for the unexpected and expansion.

Like any business, marketing is a key element. It’s really hard to sell something that the potential customer does not know exists. The theater markets everywhere possible from billboards to toll booths. Their website is amazing … check it out. However, after many years of providing top quality performances guess what happened? You got it. Referrals (word of mouth from satisfied customers) have taken over. How else can you explain the need to purchase tickets months in advance before the performance is sold out! Now I don’t have the facts to back it up but I would suspect a high percentage of the theater seats sold are sold to past satisfied customers wanting to see the next show. Hey, my wife and I are two of those people. We live in Kentucky and my sister lives in Baltimore, a couple hours from Lancaster, PA where the Sight and Sound Theater is located. We made plans in June to fly up for a visit in August which includes driving to Lancaster to attend the latest production titled Samson. Yes, we bought our August tickets in June.

Everyone reading this post is familiar with marketing at least to some extent. Most successful trades company spends a lot of money on marketing at least during the initial years in business. However, the true indicator of the quality of the products and services you offer can be easily measured by the percentage of repeat customers you have. If you are not already doing this, begin tracking your calls to determine what percentage is created by referrals through your current customer base and/or what percentage are repeat customers. If that is a significant percentage and it’s growing, that is really good fruit. If that is not the case I would strongly suggest you take a really close look at the “show” you are presenting.

Training for the Unexpected
If you are at all familiar with the Biblical story of Noah you are aware there were a lot of animals involved. Two of all animals were on the ark and seven of the animals were used for sacrifice. Guess what? The show Noah had a lot of animals as well, over 60 to be exact. Training that number of animals to “do their part” was no small task. The animals had to have housing, food, and trainers were hired. They had a full time vet because animals are like people in the sense that they occasionally get sick. Training was unique for each animal. The birds were trained to follow a light source. The pigs followed a food chain on the floor (surprise) while others responded to sounds and/or motion. Learning the parts is one thing but performing under pressure with a live audience is another. To help de-sensitize them, the soundtrack for the play was played continuously to get them used to the music and singing.

Do you remember a professional golfer named Tiger Woods? His dad would purposely drop him golf bag during his backswing and/or make distracting sounds while he was swinging. Why? It was to train him to perform under pressure when unexpected distractions occurred. The animals were trained in a similar way. During rehearsals they were intentionally distracted until they were so used to the process that an unexpected distraction did not hinder their performance. As a side note, all customers were told NOT to turn on their cell phones. That sounded like a reasonable request but not for the reason you might expect. Remember, the birds were trained to respond to a light source. Our guide told us that during one of the performances a theater attendee turned on their cell phone which produced light. You guessed it; one of the hawks was soon in mid-flight and landed on the customers head!

We talked about training earlier but this section goes beyond basic training. This section speaks to training your staff and technicians how to react under unusual and unexpected circumstances. All professional golfers can hit any club in their bag with a yard or so of where they want it to land. However, the eventual winner of the tournament is often the golfer that made a mistake but recovered well. That is what your staff needs to be trained for. How do they act or react when things don’t go as expected. This requires unique training.

Expansion
Most successful companies grow. Some simply expand coverage from the current location while others open up new locations many miles away. By that point in a company’s history training has become standard and they know how to market to get the business. The Sight and Sound Theater is no exception. They had everything down to a system prior to even entertaining the idea of expanding to a second location. The second location ended up being in Branson, Missouri. When the season is over in Lancaster, PA the entire show is moved to Branson for the following season. Wow, what a task. That meant the all props; costumes and scenes had to be moved by truck to Branson. That also meant the all scenery had to be designed to be disassembled in order to fit into transfer trucks. The last show required 42 trucks to move everything!

So what is the lesson for our businesses? It is pretty obvious. Make sure all systems, policies, training, marketing and procedures are in place BEFORE you even think about expansion. Each new location will have its own unique challenges. If the basics are not in place it will be a disaster when the new unique problems arise.

Next month we will wrap up our journey by recapping what we have learned.

by Tom Grandy

In past posts we have taken a close look at the Mission Statement and hiring and training practices of the Sight and Sound Theater in Lancaster, PA.  This 40 year old company generates gross sales in excess of $75,000,000 each year so we are trying to glean as much as we can from how they operate.  The hope is to apply at least a few of these ideas into our own businesses.

New shows don’t happen quickly.  It typically takes 2-3 years from conception to show time.  Over the years a very specific process has been perfected.  Each show begins with an idea created by a team.  Once the team has agreed on the topic of the show they begin the storyboard process of creating the overall program.  That process is followed by building scale models of each scene.  Once approved, the models are then sent to the massive shop area where they first design the support structure (wood, steel fabrication or whatever it takes to get the job done) for each scene piece.  When the structure is created they add the foam to shape the piece followed by painting and foliage.  Most scenes are physically created in-house.  However, subcontractors are occasionally used for unique situations.

As the scene props are created they are stored on stage, back stage, under the stage (massive floor doors open allowing scenes to be changed out quickly) and even in the ceiling. This is no small task.  The stage itself is huge. The entire stage is 22,000 square feet as compared to Radio Music Hall with 10,000 square feet.  The placement of every prop is physically marked on the floor and large scenes are actually moved into place via GPS.  Anything can fail so all movement of props and scenery can be physically moved should the “system” fail.

While the scenes are being manufactured (within the same physical building where the play is going on) costumes are meticulously being designed and created.  No detail is spared.  It typically takes 24 man hours to create one beard!  Each individual hair is hand placed to create the proper affect.  Since each actor will change costumes multiple times during the show, some as quickly as 15 seconds, everything must be in its place. The typical show has 300 to 1,000 costumes so each costume has a specific place to be hung, each beard has its own box, and every microphone has an assigned shelf with pre-determined settings.  Can you imagine what would happen if just one actor could not find their costume in the middle of a production?  Any one of several actors may be playing the role on any particular day so everyone MUST know exactly where all the props are located.  Personal responsibility is critical when it comes to taking care of costumes and props or the show will not go on as scheduled and therefore will not exceed the customers’ expectations.

Yes, it truly is an amazing process as it unfolds.  So what parallels are there between the long range planning utilized by the Sight and Sound Theater and your business?

First, creating the perfect customer experience requires a lot of detailed planning.  It’s not simply a matter of the phone ringing and sending a tech to fix the equipment.  Anyone can do that.  Like the theater, the customer experience a company desires to deliver must be planned in detail long before the show begins. Every aspect needs to be considered including backup plans should things not go as planned.  All the pieces must fit together properly from what the CSR says on the phone to how the money is collected.  You will remember the costumes, beards and microphones all had specific places they were stored because a different actor might play the part tomorrow.  Do you see any similarities when it comes to your techs handling inventory and/or placing items in tool storage?  What will happen if the tech can’t find the tool John used yesterday?  What if the truck doesn’t start or the needed parts are not on the truck?  If all pieces are not readily available the show will not go on as scheduled and the customer will not receive what they expected and paid for!  Not only will the customer be disappointed but the inefficiencies mentioned above will most likely cut into, if not totally erase, the profitability of the job.

We know why the Mission Statement is so critical to your company and we have discussed the hiring and training necessary to build the right team.  We just discussed the value, indeed the need, for long range planning.  In the next post, we are going to turn our attention to marketing and training for the unexpectedand how expansion takes place.

By Dave Ramsey

We’ve all heard the phrase “born leader.” Well, I’ve got news for you. No one is born a leader. Things like that don’t just happen. They’re the result of choices and conscious decisions. I have visited new parents at the hospital many times, and the baby is always announced “It’s a girl,” or “It’s a boy.” Never have I heard, “Look, it’s a leader!”

I’ve studied leadership and its underlying principles ever since I founded my company over 20 years ago. To be honest, I was terrible when I started. I made so many dumb mistakes it’s a wonder things didn’t fall apart right out of the gate. But now, I’m a great leader, surrounded by world class leaders and world class talent. This didn’t happen by chance or coincidence.

Leaders Grow 
I’m convinced that one of the reasons I’ve developed as a leader is that I’ve spent thousands of hours reading and studying. I’ve also had lots and lots of experiences — both good and bad — to reach the point I’m at today. Part of this education and learning process meant I had to realize that I didn’t know everything. It also meant I had to take the time to examine my mistakes, learn from them and be humble enough to admit when I’d screwed up.

Do you get what I’m saying? Leadership can be learned. Being a great leader takes much more than just talent and desire. You have to be the kind of leader people want to follow. You have to be the one who gets the best out of those around you, and makes them passionate about their jobs. 
Business and leadership great John Maxwell has a name for this concept. He calls it “The Law of the Lid.” As the leader, you are the lid. And your organization can’t grow beyond your leadership capabilities. The good news is, through education and self-examination, you can become the kind of leader who isn’t a lid on his organization. The choice is yours!

Grow Your Team Intelligently 
Great leaders also realize they are nothing without the people around them. You can have the greatest ideas and business acumen on the planet, but without an awesome team to back you up you’re going nowhere. It’s vital to take your time when adding new team members, no matter how much you need someone. It costs a lot less, both in terms of time and money, to find the right person for the job the first time.

Communication Is Key 
Finally, make communication a top priority in 2015. The failure to communicate things in a timely, detailed manner is one of the surest ways to instill frustration and even anger in your team. Great leaders intentionally create and encourage a culture of open communication from top to bottom within their companies. And the effects on morale, creativity and productivity are amazing!

Don’t feel bad if you see areas for improvement in yourself after reading this. Stuff like this doesn’t just occur. You’re not a born leader any more than you’re a born football player, actor or musician. You may start with a gift, but you have to make a choice to work your tail off if you want to develop that gift to its fullest potential!