by Shari Harley

The news is riddled with stories of organizations in which CEO’s allowed fraudulent practices to go on with no intervention. Are these leaders guilty of fraud? Or negligence? I’d say neither. They’re victims of pervasive insulation that is the norm is almost every organization world-wide. In most organizations the most senior people get the least information of all.

No one wants to tell her boss that a division is losing money or that customers are unhappy. Instead of speaking up, employees ‘protect’ senior leaders from bad news, putting on a front that everything is fine. Or are employees really protecting themselves?

Most senior leaders aren’t typically guilty of fraud or negligence. Rather, they’re guilty of not creating an environment in which people will tell them the truth.

Despite telling employees that risk taking and failures are acceptable, employees don’t believe it. It doesn’t feel safe to fail. And thus it isn’t safe to tell the truth. Leaders need to create an environment in which it is not only acceptable to report bad news, but it’s embraced. The question is how.

We tend to get what we ask for. So, quite literally, what are the leaders in your organization asking for?
Tell employees you want to know the good and the bad, and visibly reward both. Creating a candid culture requires publicly acknowledging mistakes and letting employees see that failing doesn’t result in being marginalized or terminated. And the same way we want our employees to be honest with us, we need to be more forthright and transparent with them. You can tell you employees more than you think you can. Employees want to know how the company is really doing. They want to know the results and what is standing in the way of success. The more information you share, the more information you’ll get.

Shari Harley is the founder and President of an international business management training firm helping organizations get and keep the right customers and employees by creating better business relationships. Organizations of all types and sizes, in seven countries, have gravitated to Shari’s simple sales and management training for forging long-lasting business relationships.

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by D.J. Vanas

I will never forget Mr. Stephens. He was my elementary school music teacher and was as exotic as they come. He had salt-and-pepper hair, a walrus mustache and wore fashion frame glasses, Hawaiian shirts and even sported a tail (way before they became a hair trend). In his class, we didn’t just learn the standards. We learned a variety from latin-inspired “Guantanamera”, to gospel “Down by the Riverside” to the pop songs we liked as kids. We sang Michael Jackson’s “Rock With You” and “Babe” by Styxin fold up metal chairs in the trailer that served as a classroom. It sounds cheesy looking back, but I’ll never forget how good that felt and how fun it was. He let us be us. In fact, he did more– he encouraged us to be us!

All this seemed evenmoreout of place since I went to school in conservative, small town southernMississippi. Many of the other teachers didn’t like Mr. Stephens, not just for his eccentric fashion but for his methods. But he allowed us to sing our own songs, dance to our own beats and I’ll always remember how powerful, enlightening and uplifting that experience was.

We all have our own beat, a rhythm and gifts to share with the world. The ones that do this are greatly criticized – and in the end, often greatly rewarded for it. Think Oprah, the Wright Brothers or Walt Disney. Unfortunately, we sometimes shy away from this truth and allow ourselves to follow someone else’s beat. But following our own is like tapping a gold vein – it’s where we’re at our best, where we are truly ourselves and it feels good beyond measure!

Our kids are great examples and teachers of this powerful phenomenon. Years ago, my daughter Gabi and I were running errands together. She loaded into the car and strapped into the seatbelt. I looked at her in the rearview mirror and she was wearing a colorful scarf, mismatched clothes, pink cowboy boots and topped off with a plastic diamond tiara. I asked her, “Are you really going to wear that?” She looked back at me indignantly with wide eyes and a smile, “Of course, Daddy!” I chuckled, realizing again why our children are sacred and such good reminders of the wisdom we’ve lost or never had. They teach us to be us – without fear of judgment or criticism.

In our Native American dance traditions, the fancy dance style was born by breaking away from customary forms and creating something new and exciting. This style emerged early in the 20th century by young Ponca Indians inOklahoma who wanted to dance to their own beat. The dance was so different the elders called it the “crazy dance”. However, now the fancy dance is one of the most popular dances at pow-wows across the continent.

What will you do this year to dance to your own beat? Will you take that vacation, go for that promotion, rekindle the love of a hobby, wear the glamorous red dress, ask her out, start surfing or write that book? You’ll see that living this way may get you criticized at times (but who isn’t?) but will reward beyond measure – not just financially or professionally, but spiritually and emotionally.

A motivated entrepreneur, author, and professional speaker, D.J. Vanas started Native Discovery Inc. in May of 1999 to “build the warriors to tomorrow…today.” D.J. uses traditional warrior concepts and colorful wisdom found in Native American culture to inspire others to achieve their best in life, school, and career. For the past decade, D.J. has used his dynamic programs to build warriors in 49 states and internationally to over 3,000 audiences at organizations such as IBM, NASA and hundreds of tribal communities, governments and schools.

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by Jeff Thredgold, CSP

The “dismal science” of economics typically focuses on “bad” news.  We clearly face many significant challenges.  However, there are also many favorable developments taking place within the U.S. economy.  With 20 flights this month and four separate trips to the Eastern Time Zone, I thought I might take the easy route and update our semi-annual “Happy Talk” piece.  This article focuses ONLY on the “good” news…

• Consumer-owned stocks rose by $4 trillion in the past 12 months
• U.S. economic growth has now been positive for eleven consecutive quarters
• Electricity produced by solar panels and wind power in the U.S. rose by 109% and 31%, respectively, last year
• Conventional thirty-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 3.92% in recent weeks, the lowest level in 60 years
• For the first time, the proportion of people living in extreme poverty…on less than $1.25 a day…fell in every developing region from 2005 to 2008
• The country’s net petroleum imports peaked at 60.3% in 2005 and dropped to 49.3% in 2010. North Dakota this year is expected to supply more oil for domestic use than Saudi Arabia
• The U.S. role of dominance in the global economy during the past decade was as clear-cut as at any time since the 1950s
• High school graduation rates, while still too low, rose by 3.5% to 75.0% between 2001 and 2009
• Smoke-free laws in restaurants, bars, the workplace, etc. reduced the rate of heart attacks by an average of 17% after one year in those communities where the bans had been adopted
• The number of violent crimes fell by a surprising large 12% last year versus the prior year
• U.S. exports to China have risen roughly 24% per year since 2001, makingChinathe fastest growing market for U.S. goods
• The divorce rate dropped by one-third between 1981 and 2008, and is at its lowest level since 1970
• Sixty of the world’s top 100 universities are located in theU.S.
• The U.S. teen birth rate in 2009 fell to its lowest level in nearly 70 years of record keeping.  The reasons?  More widespread use of birth control and more girls who “just say no”
• Productivity of U.S. workers rose an average of 2.4% annually during the past 10 years, some of the strongest gains in 40 years
• Average U.S. life expectancy has reached 78.2 years (men 75, women 80), the highest ever.  This compares to 76 years in 1995, 68 years in 1950, and 47 years in 1900
• Arrests of undocumented migrants trying to cross the southernU.S.border have plummeted to levels not seen since the early 1970s
• Even as U.S. economic output (GDP) has climbed by more than 210% since 1970, aggregate emission of six principal air pollutants has plunged by 60%
• Roughly 80% of companies that suspended or reduced their 401(k) matches during the past 2-3 years have reinstated them
• Americaproduces more steel today than 30 years ago, despite the shuttered plants and slimmed-down work force
• Roughly 47% of science and engineering degrees of those ages 25 to 39 are held by women, compared with 21% among those 65 and older
• Obesity rates, after surging in the ‘80s and ‘90s, leveled off during the past decade
• Roughly 30% of trash was recycled or composted in the latest year, versus 16% in 1990
• During the early 1960s, the five-year survival rate from cancer for Americans was one in three.  Today it is two in three…continuing to climb…and the highest in the world
• Donations to charity rose 3.8% in 2010, with $291 billion donated by individuals, foundations, and corporations.  As a percentage of GDP, Americans gave twice as much as the next most charitable nation…England.  In 1964, there were 15,000 U.S. foundations.  By 2001, there were 61,000
• Men’s contribution to housework has doubled over the past 40 years, while their time spent on child care has tripled
• TheU.S.accounted for 34% of the funds spent globally on research & development (R&D) during 2010
• When comparing economic size and population, the average U.S. worker is 10-12 times more productive than the average worker in China.  Americans won 30 Nobel prizes in science and economics during the past five years. China?…just one
• The number of American volunteers rose 2.6% to 63.4 million in 2009
• The value of a university education for American men and women in terms of future earnings power is nearly twice that of those in the average rich nation
• The infant mortality rate in theU.S.hit a record low in 2009
• Just 19.3% of adults said they smoked last year…down from about 21% in 2005….and versus nearly half of the adult population in the early 1950s.  Tobacco sales to minors fell to an all-time low in 2010
• Women now make up a record 46% of global MBA candidates.  More than 70% of students surveyed name the U.S. as the top MBA study destination
• The U.S. Justice Department said the number of juvenile offenders declined 26% between 2000 and 2008
• More colleges are trimming tuition, with more also offering three-year degrees
• Forty-five of the 50 states recorded net job gains during the most recent 12-month period.  Every state had previously dealt with recession at some point during the past three years
• A recent poll of more than 12,000 global business figures conducted by the World Economic Forum ranked the U.S. as the world’s most competitive economy
• The upward “mobility” of the typical American remains the greatest in the world.  Why?  The U.S. economy “rewards” the combination of hard work and educational achievement more than ever before…and more than any other country in the world
• For every dollar ofU.S.economic output generated today, we burn less than half as much oil as 30 years ago
• Since 2006, the percentage of incoming freshmen who abstain from alcohol has jumped from 38% to 62%
• Women now exceed men in holding advanced degrees in theU.S.
• U.S.traffic deaths per 100 million miles traveled during 2009 were the lowest on record
• Substantiated cases of childhood sexual abuse have fallen 49% since 1990.  Physical abuse of children is down by 43%
• Total U.S. workplace fatalities declined to their lowest point on record last year
• The number of people using public transportation hit a 52-year high in he latest data available
• Alcohol-related traffic fatalities in the most recently reported year dropped by more than half versus 20 years ago
• Children’s deaths from unintentional injury have dropped by almost 40% since 1987.  Bicycle deaths fell 60%, while firearms-related deaths fell 72%
• Seat belt usage by Americans was at 85% in 2009, versus 49% in 1990 and 14% in 1983

Jeff Thredgold, MS, is the only economist in the world to have earned the CSP designation, awarded by the International Federation for Professional Speakers and the National Speakers Association. He has spoken more than 1,000 times during the past 20 years, traveling more than 1 million miles in the process.

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by Christina Haxton

“Feedback” is a ‘four letter word’ and our brain reacts defensively when we simply hear the word. We put on the brakes and stop listening and our defenses go up automatically.

So how can you offer negative information so that someone can hear it, consider it and take action with a positive attitude instead of resentment?

First, starting with the positive, describe one or two recent actions that the person is doing right and well. Be specific about what they did or are doing and the difference it made for you, the team or the company.

Second, get permission to offer input with a question such as, “Would it be all right to give you some information (not feedback) I hope will be helpful for you?” Of course, they’ll say ‘yes’ especially if you are the boss, but the point is you are looking for a ‘head nod’ which indicates they are listening, and more open to hearing the information.

Third, ask “What are your thoughts about it?” Now you are separating the person from the behavior, engaging their brain into thinking about action and the future, rather than leaving them feeling judged or criticized.

If we start with the positive and believe that mistakes aren’t a sign of failure, but an opportunity to get information and adjust course accordingly, we are more open to hearing “feedback” and much more inspired to go forward with enthusiasm and get more done!

Christina Haxton offers a unique combination of professional experience, training and education in the psychology of interpersonal communication, the brain science behind motivation and humor, with more than 20 years of experience in business. She assists newly promoted senior managers and recently hired executive-level leaders to discover advanced tools to quickly build trust with their new teams.

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by Julie Miller

We work globally with international clients more often than we realize. Here are some guidelines from the Technical Writing That Counts! tip card set:

Standard International English Guidelines Checklist

1. Avoid using phrasal and modal verbs.
   Phrasal verbs are those that have two or more words. For example: Please “call up” your friend for dinner tonight. “Drop out,” “turn out” are other such phrases you should avoid while forming a sentence. Always use a one-word verb that speaks the similar meaning. Modal verbs include words such as “should,” “can,” or “may.”
2. Avoid Americanisms, clichés, and slang.
   Certain slang words and phrases are never understood globally, and sometimes not even by the American audience. Avoid jargon and short form words or expressions that are used only by people who work in a particular area, but which are not understood at all.
3. Write complete sentences that make sense.
   Sentence fragments might make sense in English, but they are difficult to translate. Be precise. Vagueness almost always misleads the reader. Be consistent in tone, terminology, point view, and check for any biased meaning. Do not use any repetitions in your sentence formation.
4. Write short and concise sentences.
   Use simple sentence constructions. Short sentences that have fifteen to twenty words are always easier to read.
5. Use positive language.
   Never use negative constructions, which are hard to translate. Use the active voice. Using passive verbs makes your meaning ambiguous. Instead use active verbs.

Dr. Julie Miller, founder of Business Writing That Counts!, is a national consultant and trainer who helps professionals reduce their writing time and produce powerful documents. She and her team of certified trainers work with executives who want to hone their writing skills and professionals who want to advance their careers.

by Tara Powers

This article is about clarity of purpose for you, your team, and your business. It includes simple yet powerful steps that when discussed, analyzed, agreed upon, and written down, will provide a clear expectations and a compelling direction for 2010.

The steps outlined in this article are not confusing or difficult. However, many business owners, teams and individuals don’t do it. Why? Here are the excuses that get in the way:

• not a high priority item
• don’t have enough time
• my team won’t want to participate
• I am not comfortable leading this discussion
• executives should be doing this stuff, not us
• my business is doing fine the way it is
• my team is doing fine the way it is
• I am doing fine the way I am

I can relate to many of these excuses because I have used them myself and have heard them being used in companies I’ve worked for. These excuses are “vision crushers” and must be seen as obstacles to be removed.  I promise that once you begin using these steps, it becomes a method for accomplishing anything as long as you have the right attitude and determination to implement what you have defined.

Step 1: Identify Values
What are the values that you, your business and/or team live by? What is important to each team member? What is important to the team? What are the standards by which the team makes decisions? How are actions and words a model for values? Are we rewarding behavior that exemplifies our values?

When a team has clarity of values and each team member personally aligns with those values, that is when team commitment, loyalty and pride is high.

Step 2: Develop a Compelling Vision
Where do you want to be a year from now? What will it look like? How will your team be working together? How does this vision of the future appeal to team members values defined in Step 1?

Developing a story about your vision for the future is the only way to engage others and help them see the possibilities and opportunities ahead.

Step 3: Determine Business Model(s) OR How To Support Them
A business model describes the rationale of how a business creates, captures and delivers value. What model of doing business will help you achieve your vision? It may include direct business models, distribution models, low cost carrier business models, loyalty business models, subscription business models, etc. You may use more than 1 model to grow your business and create new revenue streams.  If your team is not involved in determining the business model then the conversation should be about understanding the model and figuring out the best way to support it.

Step 4: Outline Goals
What are the goals within your business model that are necessary to accomplish your vision. This is where you would identify improvement goals, product goals, revenue goals, customer goals, etc. Each goal should have a time frame associated with it. Also, if it’s a big goal then you should break it down into smaller more easily achievable sub goals.

Step 5: Define Methods and Measures
What are the ways that you will accomplish the goals you have outlined? How will you know when you have achieved your goal? Defining methods and measurement is the only way to clarify expectations about what you should be prioritizing and focusing on day to day.

Step 6: Identify Resources
What resources (skills, experience, people, technology, tools, etc.) do you currently have available to help you accomplish your goals? What resources do you need? How will you get these resources and by when?

Using these 6 steps when discussing goals is the best way I know to chart a clear path to success. It is simple, straightforward and effective and represents a strategic plan for growth.

© 2011 Powers Resource Center

International trainer, consultant, and founder of The Toxic Workplace, Tara Powers partners with organizations interested in improving their company culture to boost their bottom line. If you’re ready to make changes in your business that will make employees happy AND make you money, get your FREE tips now at PowersResourceCenter.com.

by Zoe Training staff

During the past several years, David C. Sanford has answered the demand by global companies to provide insights into how to successfully understand and communicate effectively with Indian nationals. Having spent more than thirteen years living and working abroad including assignments in the UK, Taiwan, India, Iran, Italy, and Japan, he has an intimate understanding and insight into the challenges faced by those living and/or working in multicultural environments.

1. What’s your favorite topic(s) to present on? Why?

The challenge of communicating with someone from a different culture. As the world has become flatter we are now all interacting more than ever with people who view things such as punctuality, the word “YES,” and building trust radically differently than we do. Whether it is the Help Desk person that we contact, the grocery store clerk or co-worker, my skill is creating communication bridges so that all can communicate more effectively.

2. Why did you become a speaker/trainer?

My mother, bless her heart, often said that I had the “gift of gab.”  Having been raised outside of the USA in Taipei, London, and New Delhi, I have always been fascinated by travel and learning about new cultures and perspectives. My passion to share this curiosity and “wider world view” with others led me quite naturally into speaking with others about my experiences and insights.

3. What are some things that surprise you or inspire you about your interactions with clients/participants?

Participants’ willingness to look at their own assumptions and be open to communicating and in some cases behaving differently than they generally do.

4. Three words that describe your presentation style:

Interactive, Engaging, Enthusiastic

5. Do you have a favorite quote? What/why?

“Culture hides more than it reveals, and strangely enough, what it hides it hides most effectively from its own participants.”
–Edward Hall, world-renowned anthropologist, lecturer and consultant

When someone asks us what are the main values of our culture, we often find it difficult to list and describe them as they are so close; we don’t usually think much about them; rather we discuss topics such as politics (or we avoid this one), news, weather, or how our favorite sports team just did. It’s only when we are faced with trying to understand someone’s behavior from a different culture that we must reflect on our own.

6.Tell us a recent book you’ve read and would recommend:

Sky Burial by Xinran: An epic story of a Chinese woman who searches for her husband, spending 30 years living with the nomads of Tibet. This is a short, fascinating read that captivates.

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by Jeff Thredgold, CSP

The U.S. Economy

What we now call the Great Recession officially began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009.  It was the longest, the deepest, and the most painful recession since the Great Depression.

By my count, that suggests that the current U.S. economic expansion is now reaching the two-and-a-half year mark.  The current expansion has been less than satisfying both statistically and emotionally, with major headwinds still in play involving weak residential and commercial real estate markets, uncomfortably high unemployment, major European financial risk, and elevated levels of anxiety about the direction of the federal government.

The current U.S. economic expansion has been especially lackluster when considering the massive and unprecedented levels of both fiscal and monetary stimulus.  While modest economic growth has returned, a “recession of confidence” remains center stage.

Economic growth in the new year about to unfold is likely to remain substandard, with most forecasts congregating around a 1.5%-2.5% real (inflation adjusted) rate of growth.  More bearish forecasters see particularly anemic growth in 2012’s first half.

The size and scope of a possible European financial implosion could lead the U.S. and much of the world back into recession, although that is not the consensus view.  Nevertheless, investors around the globe have taken a “shoot first, ask questions later” approach to European sovereign (national) debt markets and the contagion that has now spread to more and more members of the euro community.

Government

Political theater of the absurd has been commonplace in the nation’s capital, with extreme partisan politics today’s reality.  The government’s ability to live within its means remains highly elusive, even as European developments should be sending strong signals to Washington DC about damaging annual budget deficits and a more than $15,000,000,000,000 gross national debt.

Various economic studies have suggested that any nation’s ability to prosper and grow at a satisfactory pace is endangered when its gross national debt reaches 90% of that nation’s annual economic output.  We are now at 100%…and rising quickly.

Trillion dollar plus budget deficits of the past three fiscal years will continue for as far as the eye can see.  The biggest threat to this nation is the financial cancer of irresponsible government deficits.  As noted frequently, the need to slow the future growth pace of entitlement programs is mandatory.

2012 Elections

Already tired of the political battles underway?  Just think…only 342 days until Election Day!  The failure of the “super committee” was the latest in government missteps.  An emotional national debate about 1) the size and growth pace of the federal government, and 2) who pays for it will be one key element of political discussion during most of 2012.

U.S. Employment

Wary business leaders and worried consumers have contributed to the weak level of American job creation during the current economic recovery.  The nation has regained only one-fourth of the eight million jobs lost during the crisis of 2008 and 2009.  Unless and until confidence levels improve, weak additions to employment will continue.

The nation’s unemployment rate has averaged 9.0% for the past three years. Most forecasters see an unemployment rate of not less than 8.5% by the end of 2012.

To be heard frequently during the Presidential campaign now well underway…no sitting President in the past 75 years has been rewarded with a second term when the unemployment rate was above 7.2%.  Whether the President can shift the blame for high unemployment to intransigent Republicans in the Congress will have a telling impact on election results.

U.S. Inflation

Consumer prices are expected to rise roughly 3.5% during 2011, with a slightly lesser rise the consensus view for 2012.  Weak global economic growth could lead oil prices lower, a key element in that forecast.  Over a longer time horizon, the debate continues between those expecting higher U.S. inflation and those seeing a Japan-style deflation in theU.S.

The Federal Reserve

The Fed’s most critical interest rate—the federal funds rate—has been at an all-time low target level of 0.00%-0.25% since December 2008.  Moreover, the Fed’s Open Market Committee has stated they expect this rate to remain unchanged until at least mid-2013.

In addition, the Fed has tripled the size of its balance sheet by buying massive amounts of U.S. Treasury securities and mortgage-backed securities.  The intent?  To drive long-term interest rates lower.  While such actions have been largely successful, weak home prices across the nation, high unemployment, and a more paper-intensive lending industry…negatively impacted by the Dodd-Frank financial legislation…has not led to a strong surge in mortgage refinance activity.

Housing and Mortgage Rates

Most forecasting economists see national home prices stabilizing by mid-year 2012, with very modest price appreciation to follow.  At the same time, conventional 30-year fixed-rate mortgages have been at a 60-year low near 4.0% in recent weeks.

One could make a case to delay a home purchase for 6-12 months, but mortgage rates could rise enough to offset any slightly lower home price.  Now may be an outstanding time to purchase a new or foreclosed property and to refinance a mortgage.

Global Keys

Chinese and Indian economic growth are likely to slow somewhat, while Japan struggles with very substandard performance.  High oil prices have boosted oil producing nations at the expense of user nations.  The Canadian economy has slowed, whileMexicoandBrazilare doing well.

However, these days it’s all about a fragile European economy. Greece, Ireland, and Portugal have already been bailed out, while major anxiety about Spain and Italy exists.  Even the French have seen borrowing costs rise as questions about that economy have surfaced.  A possible French downgrade from their current “triple A” status could send additional shock waves across Europe.

The Germans and the International Monetary Fund will face rising pressure to stem European debt contagion, even as impacted nations face the real need to get spending and debt issuance under control.  No other issue is more critical to global economic performance in 2012 than a solid resolution of the European debt crisis.

Jeff Thredgold, MS, is the only economist in the world to have earned the CSP designation, awarded by the International Federation for Professional Speakers and the National Speakers Association. He has spoken more than 1,000 times during the past 20 years, traveling more than 1 million miles in the process.

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by Zoe Training staff

When Tara Powers isn’t busy running her own training and development organization, she is also managing her other venture, Mama Means Business, a resource that coaches and supports “mompreneur” businesses, providing already proven resources that help women launch successful businesses FAST. In this interview, Tara gives us some insight into her passions for her career and everyday life.

Why did you become a speaker/trainer?
I organically got into training 15 years ago when I was asked to train a bunch of managers on how to understand their budget. The jolt of energy and excitement I got when I was teaching someone was enough to make me go back to school and get my master’s degree in Organizational Management. This led me into the HR field for many years where I was able to grow and build a training department. My experience has helped me to understand that I have a real opportunity to change people’s lives for the better if I can help them identify how to make small behavioral shifts that can give them fast results and big impacts on their team and company. I believe that it’s up to each of us to ask what we want to be known for, get clear on our values and vision, and make decisions that are in alignment with who we are. This is what I try to get across when I am speaking or training.

What are your favorite groups of people to work with?
Emerging leaders and emerging teams. They are eager to learn how to do it right with less struggle, they come with open minds and always are great contributors to the learning process!

Three words that describe your presentation style:
Collaborative, Fun and Interactive

Do you have any pets? Kids? Unusual hobbies?
I have a Plott Hound named Guinness who will never rest until he catches a rabbit. I have two tireless little girls, Kyla, four years, and Fallon, two years. They get me up way too early, love my “mama” hugs way too little, and make my life more full of joyful moments than I could have ever imagined.

Do you have a favorite quote? What/why?
“YOU are the only one who creates your reality. For no one else can think for you. No one else can do it. It is only you. Every bit of it you.” – Ester Hicks

Standard Starbucks order:
Grande Soy Latte one pump sugar free vanilla. Can’t go wrong with this one.

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by Mike Faber

Dede Osborn is a Senior Fellow at the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland. She’s also a student of Hawaiian leadership and values, and is the author of the paper Leadership Styles in Modern Hawaiian Organizations: Island Culture at Work. Looking at a variety of leadership measures, her studies determine that the three most frequent Hawaiian leadership behaviors are:

• Treats people with dignity and respect
• Follows through on promises and commitments
• Gives team members appreciation and support

Not rocket science, right? So why are these behaviors not practiced more widely and more consistently?

Part of the answer lies in what we tell ourselves. A study of leadership communication once showed that three-quarters of a group of business executives thought of themselves as “great” communicators. The same study polled employees, and their assessment of their leaders’ communication skills produced inverse results. Three-quarters of employees thought those same leaders exhibited “poor” communication skills! Those leaders were convinced of their mastery, without understanding that they had a huge blind spot.

Here’s a great exercise to learn more about your communication skills. Copy/paste/print the three leadership behaviors cited above. Post them in a prominent place at your workspace. When others come to visit, ask them whether they see these behaviors in you, and ask for specific examples. While they’re being candid with you, be a listener and do not react. Thank them for their honesty, and use what you hear to build action steps to improve your skills.

Better yet, bring an Aloha Leadership keynote or workshop to your audience and let them experience the change together!

Mike Faber is a speaker, trainer and certified professional coach who has taught thousands of business leaders to communicate passionately and effectively. His work with Hawaiian business and community leaders forms the foundation of Aloha Leadership™, a new keynote that teaches leadership with an “Island” twist! Mike brings the lessons of a 30-year career in sales, management and broadcasting to audiences in a unique style that combines humor, candor, and lessons that can be applied to all walks of life. He is the author of three books, including 89 Seconds to Sales Success and 89 Seconds to Leadership Success, and recently released The 52 Greatest Business Development Questions Ever! card deck.