If you don’t have any of the following priorities in place then do not light the fuse because it will blow up in your face:

1.      Problem to be solved—at the very basic level of motivation for any change is the reality  that something  is clearly wrong and you know it needs to be fixed.  I am overweight and if I do not start an exercise program and change my diet I am going to be in serious trouble.

2.      Opportunity to be taken—sometimes doors seem to open that we were not expecting and the benefits gained far outweigh the risks involved.  A good friend offers to pay my membership in the health club for a year if I will commit to go.

3.      Crisis to be avoided—in this situation you recognize the perfect storm is brewing and if you don’t act immediately the consequences of my inaction could be catastrophic.  I have now had a heart attack and my doctor says without major change I will have another one and it will probably be fatal.

4.      Need to be met—this moves the motivation point high up on the scale because there are hurting people involved and the change process will directly benefit them.  If I am not willing to act based on what I need surely because of the people I love the most I will do whatever is necessary to be there for them.

5.      Calling to be followed—as a Christian I am called to represent Christ to the world in all that I do with my life.  If I do not take care of the body He has given me to be used in His service then I can lose my testimony and damage my effectiveness in helping other people.

These priorities also apply in our professional lives as we seek to lead the change process in the context of a company culture that tends to react after it is too late rather than respond to what should be obvious.  Leaders must be willing to cast a clear vision that the benefits of leaving the current reality behind far outweigh any pain involved in moving to a new and better place for all involved.

1.       Character—According to all the research Jim Collins has done this qualification has moved to the top of the list.  When someone has the right kind of character you will not have to worry about having to over manage them they are self motivated and will only settle for excellence in everything they do.  Talk is cheap in this area and I want someone who has demonstrated over time they have the foundation that can withstand the problems that will surely come in the future.

2.      Competency—There is no doubt that everyone you add to your team needs to be qualified to fill the positions you have available.  The more technical and specialized the skill set the more demanding you must be in this area.  However, in Collin’s research  and my own personal experience, if I find the right person I will hire them first and figure out what they are going to do later.

3.      Chemistry—The clear issue here is how well this person will fit into the team dynamic that is already in place.  I always in the interview process find a way to get a person into a casual environment so I can observe them and see who they really are unscripted.  I want people with a heavy dose of personal humility and equal amount of personal determination that do not care who gets the credit but will make sure it all gets done.

The people who are going to do great things in this new global environment are going to be the ones with the best people on their team.  There is no greater responsibility for the leader than making sure you get the right people on the bus and the wrong ones off as quickly as possible.

So how do we know if we are just filling our schedules with things to do without any serious evaluation or if those are the things that should even be done at all?  We don’t want to get to the end of our lives and look back realizing that a lot of our time was totally wasted on things that don’t really matter.

A great place to start is to evaluate how we are spending our time and our money.  Calendars can tell us a lot about our core values and priorities because they reflect the choices we are making.  No doubt some of our time is not our own to schedule but how we are spending a large percentage of it reflects what is really a priority and what is not.

Are you making time for the people and relationships that you care about the most or are they getting the leftovers at best?  If you really  want to know take the time to track how you are spending your time for at least a month.  You will be amazed how much of it is scheduled based on what appears to be urgent at the time but in the end is not really important at all.

The next big indicator of what is a priority in our lives is to look at how we are spending our finances.  If we are living beyond our means and accumulating unnecessary debt then we have a major character problem that must be addressed.

More stress is brought into marriage by this one area than almost anything else.  The only solution is again to write down a budget that includes all of your expenses and then have the discipline to post all your transactions and make necessary adjustments to live within your income.

You may think this sounds like way too much work to me and I am already busy enough.  Trust me you are already using calendars and checkbooks anyway but you may not be gaining any of the benefits of leading your life instead of just letting it happen.

There are sometimes when this is very appropriate especially where timing is extremely important and we must make decisions quickly.  However the vast majority of times our stopping them is totally inappropriate for a variety of reasons.

First of all we really do not know for sure all that they were going to say and many times they do know something we need to hear but we are too impatient to wait and listen.  We have this need to impress people with our knowledge and experience to the point we come across as rude and insensitive.

In a business environment we feel justified in cutting to the bottom line for productivity sake but we fail as leaders to see the value in allowing other people to participate in the process.  If you only see your team as a means to your predetermined end then in reality they are only attending this meeting for their information and not for their involvement.

The willingness to listen to someone regardless of the value of the information communicated is an investment in them as a person.  The agenda is no longer what can they do for me but how can I help them. 

There is a time to add value and genuinely help someone by what you know but only after they have had their opportunity to shape the conversation first.  Nobody likes someone who always thinks they know it all.  Let’s be sure we are not that someone.

When selecting team members you must have the right combination of competency and character.  You really need people who are experts in their area of responsibility that can bring great factual accurate information into the discussion.  However, the ultimate success of the team in my opinion will be even more driven by how people interact with each other showing mutual respect and humility.

I want everyone engaged and passionate about their contribution to the discussion but I do not want anyone attacking another person rather than debating their ideas.  I have found the following list to be helpful for setting the right tone:

1.       Treat each other with dignity and respect

2.      Listen for understanding

3.      Don’t take things personally; don’t mean things personally

4.      Ask, but do not assume motives

5.      Avoid degrading language; do not attack each other credibility

6.      Everyone has input, regardless of position

7.      We will not take ourselves too seriously

There is a big difference in being professional vs. being negatively personal toward another person.  We must separate their ideas and comments from who they are and even though we may disagree we always value the individual.

Keith Ferrazzi in his great book Never Eat Alone says that good follow up alone elevates you above 95% of your peers in every area of your life.  In his opinion it is the absolute key to success in any field.

In the area of networking he makes sure that he makes contact with any new person he meets within twelve to twenty-four hours after they have initially met.  He says why go to all the trouble of meeting new people if you’re not going to work on making them a part of your life?

This same discipline applies to phone conversations and meetings where commitments have been make for some future action.  It is extremely important to get all assignments down in writing and distribution made for all involved giving what is expected, who is responsible and when the project should be completed.

Many times great decisions have been made only to see the idea or project fail not because of poor initial planning but simply not paying attention to all the details involved in implementation.  Creativity alone can produce a lot of excitement but follow up alone is what produces sustainable excellence.

The people you meet part of this development applies to all of life.  There is great wisdom in finding people who know more than you do about your area of expertise or interest and asking them for a meeting so that you can learn all that you can from someone who has already been where you want to go.  Every year you should have a list of at least ten new individuals that are successful and willing to invest in your life.

Please do not limit this to your professional life because you can find people everywhere who are great spouses or parents or involved in church and community work.  Some of the greatest connections I have ever made were in the normal flow of life because I was always looking for someone who could teach me something.

In the area of reading I have found that for every ten books that I read on a particular subject I will find at least one that will permanently change my life for good.  These become the books that you read at least once a year just to remind yourself of all the truths that you need to make sure you are applying in your life.

One of the disciplines I have developed over the years is that I will write the power statements or great quotes on the inside flyleaf of every good book so that I can always go back for a quick review.  If you will set a goal of at least one new book a month to start you will be amazed by how much your life will change because as you read your capacity to understand and develop new skills will be exponentially multiplied.

I am sure if this quote were made today it would include some reference to the incredible amount of information on the web.  Today you can read blogs and watch videos by some of the greatest communicators on life’s most challenging subjects whenever you want and usually without any cost but your time.

All learning that enhances personal development is an investment in your future that will give you an incredible return on your investment.

In both situations the people assigned to dealing with the problem made promises they did not keep.  For example setting pickup times and assuring you that if they did not call it would be ready, status updates that did not happen and the approach let’s just try this and I am sure it will work when they really did not have a clue about what to do.

Here is the interesting part at least for my situation.  With both companies only because of my pushing I was eventually given to a supervisor to help me resolve hour’s worth of wasted time and finally fix the problems. 

When I communicated with these new people they had a much better attitude and brought product knowledge that the front line people did not know.  They did simple things like returning my calls on time and then committed to do whatever it took to resolve my issues.

Here is my question?  Why not set the bar for all of the front line people in your organization at the same level where the supervisors were operating either in technical training, people skills or the authority to make it happen.

You will never convince me that it is cost effective for any company to pay less than qualified people to take hours of their time and your customers offending people that will probably never come back unless they get the slim chance to talk with their boss.

The front lines of your organization where interaction takes place with the people who are experiencing what you have to offer will always be the place where you want to make the best impression.  If you’re weakest and newest team members are given these roles thinking they will grow into the job eventually the problem will solve itself because you will not have any more customers to deal with.

As someone who has counseled many couples with marriage problems a clear majority of the time financial problems are near top of the list.  When couples do not take the time to develop budgets that reflect their mutual priorities in life then they eventually grow emotionally distant because they are trying to find happiness in things rather than relationships.

In a very real sense when we consistently have a lifestyle that is supported by debt rather than income we are living a lie.  Whether it’s the clothes we wear, the car we drive or the home we live in, the bottom line is we are trying to meet a real need in the wrong way.

The only way we can maintain our integrity as a believer is to make sure when we have to acquire debt that we clearly have the means to pay it back within a reasonable time period.  When we fail to pay our bills on time and in full we damage our testimony as a Christian and lost people see absolutely no difference in our values than the rest of the world.

God tells us clearly in His word that if we cannot be trusted with material things then we surely cannot be trusted with the deeper and more important spiritual truths in life.  He promised to meet our basic needs but we must all come to the place of answering the question: How much is enough?

The ability to gain wealth according to scripture comes from God.  He expects us to use that ability wisely and yes meet our needs but more than that have plenty left over to share with those who do not have enough food or water to make it another day.

Based on his thorough teams research there are five major stages that lead to failure:

1.       Hubris Born of Success:  This stage kicks in when people become arrogant, regarding success virtually as an entitlement, and they lose sight of the true underlying factors that created success in the first place.

2.      Undisciplined Pursuit of More:  Companies in this stage stray from the disciplined creativity that led them to greatness in the first place, making undisciplined leaps into areas where they cannot be great or growing faster than they can achieve with excellence, or both.

3.      Denial of Risk and Peril:  At this stage leaders discount negative data, amplify positive data and start to blame external factors for setbacks rather than accept responsibility.

4.      Grasping for Salvation:  The sharp decline now becomes visible to all and the common saviors include a charismatic visionary leader, a bold but untested strategy, a radical transformation, a dramatic cultural revolution, a hoped-for blockbuster product or maybe game changing acquisition.

5.      Capitulation to Irrelevance or Death:  At this stage accumulated setbacks and expensive false starts erode financial strength and individual spirit to such an extent that leaders abandon all hope of building a great future.

All companies go through ups and downs but if you are willing to admit your mistakes and make the necessary changes early then this death spiral cannot only be overcome it can be avoided entirely.