Forty Year of Leadership in Columbus

Columbus, OH, February 27, 2009 -- Leadership Management Institute (LMI) celebrates 40 years of service in Columbus.

LMI is based in Waco, TX and offers leadership development across the world helping leaders and organizations improve performance results.

The LMI Columbus region was established in 1969 by Lou Cummins, who led the organization until 2003 when Michael Diercks become the Managing Partner and Regional President. In addition to Lou and Michael, there have been many key contributors who have made LMI a major player in the Columbus business community over the year.

During those 40 years, LMI has provided leadership training and support to a host of public and private organizations throughout the Central Ohio area, including Attorney General of Ohio, State of Ohio - State Highway Patrol, Children's Hospital, Ernst & Young, Ohio Education Association, Ohio School Board, Commerce National Bank, Hopewell Federal Credit Union, Ohio Savings Bank, Winfree, Ruff & Associates, Ltd., Abbot Labs / Ross Products Division, Best Lighting Products, Inc., Equity Real Estate, T&R Properties, Aetna Building Maintenance, Rescue Rooter, Time Warner Cable, AEP, White Castle, Worthington Industries, Key Blue Prints, Liqui-Box Corp., Stouffer Hotels, Kokosing Construction Co., Highlights for Children, Chesrown Oldsmobile, Speer Industries, Midwest Acoust-a-Fiber, Sharper Impressions Painting, US Tank Alliance, Cartridge World, Midwest Electric, PuroClean, Swan Cleaners, Superior Die Tool & Machine, Sterling Process Engineering, Caspan Software, Columbus Port Authority, Safelite Auto Glass, Daniel Logistics, and Rosati Windows.

LMI stands ready to provide benefits to the leaders of any organization. For further information and to discover how your organization could benefit from Leadership Management Institute, please contact the local LMI office at 614-823-8150 or visit us on the web at www.lmi-columbus.com and discover how the forty years – and continuing – of LMI service can help you and your company improve performance.

STOP SPENDING MONEY! Yes, the economy in the tank! Yes, the banks are holding on to “their” money! Yes, businesses are going belly up! Yes, stocks are plunging into the tank! So – it’s time to stop spending money! or is it? Does the copier jam every once in a while? Are your computers still running old software that should be updated? Does your equipment need some adjustments? How about your fleet of trucks, do they need an oil change? It would be shortsighted not to fix these problems. Continually unjamming the copier - time waster and frustration. Computer software that isn't up to date - invalid data or erroneous reports sent to the IRS! Not fixing your equipment - major customer problems and financial disaster. Not servicing your trucks - breakdowns and delays. Maintenance is simply the cost of doing business following the idea of "you can pay me now or you can pay me later". It is inconceivable that you would run a business without maintaining the assets that make the operation run efficiently. Yet, when it comes to our people – “our greatest asset” – we treat them like liabilities. On the one hand, we stop “maintaining” our employees, let alone try to “enhance” our employees. On the other hand, we expect them to … "Do more with less!" "Be a team player!" "Adapt to change!" “Just work harder!” "Get out there and sell more!" Instinctively, we know that our employees have potential that isn’t being utilized. Somehow, we believe if we say the right words, create enough motivation (“you still have a job, don’t you?”) and assume that everyone will step it up, our problem is solved. This thinking is kind of like expecting the copy machine to fix itself by run more copies or software to correct the data on its own by blindly using the system. I call this the “hope-a, hope-a, hope-a” leadership style. Sorry but lectures, motivational speeches, and platitudes are not enough. People need to hone their current skills and develop new skills. The good news is, some organizations are on top of this incredible need. We've already seen a change in 2009. The right type of training builds trust, loyalty, and confidence—not to mention competence. It assuages fear and worry. The right training will do two things for a company. 1) Help facilitate change so they can survive and grow in this economy. 2) Position the organization to explode when the economy turns. Make no mistake; all recessions go away. All sour economies rebound. So the only question is, will you be prepared? You will if you believe … It's Time To Train! Michael D. Diercks, Regional President, LMI - Serving Columbus for 40 years! Partnering with Leaders to Increase Results and Enhance Value! (614)823-8150 - www.lmi-columbus.com - mdiercks@lmi-columbus.com - http://lmi-columbus.blogspot.com

Succeeding in a Changing World!

If you are finding the current times challenging and unnerving, this LMI Journal was written for you! Seven Great Ideas that Will Change Your Life Each of these articles has specific actionable information that you can use to gain better results in your business. Please take the time to read at least one – and consider reading more than that! 1. The ability to develop and sustain self-motivated people is a critical determining factor of your organization’s success or failure. · Become Self-Motivated in a Changing World,by Paul J. Meyer, founder of LMI (Click to read) 2. Six “New Year” questions that should be answered by every effective leader at the beginning of each year. · New Beginnings, by David Byrd, President of LMI (Click to read) 3. Increase your productivity by understanding your communication needs and leveraging equipment to meet those needs. · Managing Communication in the Office (Click to read) 4. Steps to facilitate good communication and maximize your success as a team. · Communicating for Results (Click to read) 5. Three key areas to increase team members’ productivity and use more of their potential · Focusing on How to Grow and Develop (Click to read) 6. The Four P’s: The wants and needs of people can be classified into four types. · Understanding Human Behavior (Click to read) 7. Unlocking Your Potential and Achieve Greater Results · Discover the unique LMI process (Click to read) Now is the time to act – don’t allow the forces of change to swallow you up – you have the ability to make change and lead from the “front.” The LMI process is truly a Catalyst of Change and Growth. Discover how! Michael D. Diercks, Regional President, LMI - Serving Columbus for 40 years! Partnering with Leaders to Increase Results and Enhance Value! (614)823-8150 - www.lmi-columbus.com - mdiercks@lmi-columbus.com - http://lmi-columbus.blogspot.com

Top Ten Things for Thriving During and After The Recession

TOP TEN THINGS FOR THRIVING DURING AND AFTER THE RECESSION

(Based on an article from www.forum.com)

I believe reading this will help you gain focus and make 2009 more than “just another recession year."

The Key to Success –
Doing More than “Just Surviving”
a Recession

The economy is in trouble and senior leaders face difficult choices in controlling expenses and working through the global downturn:

What to do? What to avoid? WHAT???

• Should we cut prices to maintain market share?
• How deeply can we cut costs?
• What about layoffs?
• How can I discourage defensive internal politics that protect others’ narrow interests?
• How can I lead my company to emerge from the end of the downturn on an upturn?

The Forum Corp. has done research which shows that business leaders who take the following 10 steps in three areas—financials, people, and organizational climate—are better positioned to emerge from the recession with their organizations poised for success.

FINANCIALS

1. Move quickly to reduce costs and control spending by narrowing focus. Winners in a downturn focus on a few critical priorities where they can develop a clear lead, and they walk away from bad business. Losers chase unprofitable sales in an attempt to hold their top line.

2. Refrain from across-the-board cutbacks. Preserve areas that customers value most. Businesses that uniformly cut costs often find that they end up damaging their ability to sell and deliver their products and services. How do you find out what customers value most? Ask them.

3. Consider alternatives to layoffs. Downsizing tends to bolster the bottom line and stock price in the short term but often creates long-term negative repercussions. Alternative strategies include cutting management bonuses, freezing salaries, and reducing compensation options. It’s critical to clearly communicate the rationale and impact to employees.

4. Invest in opportunity. A bad economy can present bargains, both in new assets and in new talent. Good areas to invest in are R&D, marketing, and customer-perceived quality. By contrast, investing in working capital, manufacturing and administration doesn’t pay off as well.

PEOPLE

5. Retain and develop top talent. High-impact workers are often more susceptible to being poached by a competitor in a downturn. Organizations that provide development experiences and rotational assignments have better employee retention rates.

6. Make sure everyone’s on the same page. When alignment on key goals is absent, performance suffers, according to studies on strategy execution. Top leaders frame an agenda and meet with key stakeholders to gain support and build commitment to overarching goals and values. Ineffective leaders let interoffice politics fester and hidden agendas dominate.

7. Encourage questions and new ideas by making it safe for employees to raise them. Leaders who admit they don’t have all the answers and ask for input empower their people to contribute their best ideas.

CLIMATE

8. Manage the heat. Leaders are often tempted in difficult times to relieve the organization’s stress by making unilateral, tough decisions. That’s often a mistake. Leadership by dictate often doesn’t take because it lacks a broad base of support, and it often eliminates constructive conflicts that challenge the status quo and fuel good decision making.

9. Communicate authentically. Strong leaders acknowledge the challenges they struggle with and, by doing so, build trust among followers. Rather than being a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength.

10. Create a positive vision and attitude that acknowledges reality. Businesses at the top of their markets often fall while “sleeper” companies sometimes jump to the top in a tough economy. When leaders exercise discipline and focus by mobilizing employees to respond to customers’ interests and values, they increase the chance that, when the downturn ends, they’ll come out on top.

Applying these lessons promises a tremendous upside: new competitive opportunities that result in a stronger business uncovering when the economy improves.

If you would like to discover how the unique LMI process can help you apply these key points so you are position to grow and thrive in today's market, call us today for a complimentary consultation.

Partnering with Leaders to Increase Results and Enhance Value!

Michael D. Diercks, Regional President, Leadership Management Institute

Serving Columbus for 40 years!

(614)823-8150 - www.lmi-columbus.com - mdiercks@lmi-columbus.com

As a business leader you have probably responded to the current economic climate by making serious "cuts" within your organization. Maybe you have...

• Cut back on the year end party
• Trimmed the budget
• Tightened controls on spending
• Negotiated new terms with vendors
• Redoubled your efforts in sales
• Shored up client relationships
• Reduced staff

Is it enough? Are you running at optimal effectiveness? Is there any more "juice" that can be squeezed?

Even in the trying economic times, most businesses only make superficial changes. What are superficial changes? See the list above. Though these need to be done, all they do is reduce the way we do things, they don’t really change the way we do things!

Every organization and individual is perfectly designed to get the results they are getting. The results you are getting are exactly what you are designed to get. This makes sense if we apply it to equipment. A copy machine will only make copies. You don’t expect it to make bread - it isn’t designed for that. A computer isn’t expected to make coffee. You get the picture.

The good news is we are not machines!! Both business and people are very adaptable and changeable. People can learn new skills and change their behavior, attitude and results! A business can do the same - moving from one business model to the next.

Yet, as capable of change as we are, the axiom – “Every organization and individual is perfectly designed to get the results they are getting” - still rings true. Why? Why do we resist change? Simple put - we are creatures of habit. Or, as David Byrd would say, we get stuck in our comfort zone where nothing ever changes.

How do we drive new results? How do we change our design? How can we break out of our comfort zone? Let me suggest a few of questions that may help you.

1. Why are you in business? Fundamentally, why does your business exist? This question will help you identify your true meaning for being in business. From this answer you can create vision and focus.
2. Are the daily activities of your business in line with why you are in business? Your answer will help you become more effective in your work.
3. Do you have a process to tap into your team’s true potential? Most companies are underutilizing (not necessarily under working) their existing team. Your team has the answers needed to change your design. Do you have a process to draw it out of them?
   

These answers will lay the foundation for creating the change needed to give you new results, especially in today’s economic climate.

If you would like to enhance your focus, align your daily activities with your business and tap into your hidden potential so you can THRIVE in today's market, give me a call – 614-823-8150 or register for an LMI WEBinar and discover how we can help you thrive in business today -- guaranteed!

Michael D. Diercks, Regional President, Leadership Management Institute
614)823-8150 - www.lmi-columbus.com - mdiercks@lmi-columbus.com

Change is in the air!

David Byrd, in his book The Tripping Point in Leadership, defines apathy as “A natural, human instinct, common to us all, that consistently encourages us to seek a comfort zone in which nothing ever changes.”

The current economic climate requires us to address this problem every day.

This crisis is causing businesses to make significant changes and we must all go through the various stages of change. Right now you might be experiencing the Panic/Anger stage. This is where everyone thinks the world is coming to an end and all businesses will go bankrupt. When we go through this stage, we become paralyzed, not knowing what to do or how to respond to the change. This stage is very intense and can be very frightening. The good news is that it is usually over relatively quickly. I believe we are only a few short days away from moving on to the next stage.

The next stage is Acceptance/Understanding. This is where we accept the change and begin to understand the implications. We become more comfortable with the change and everything it means. Fear and panic subsides. Things are certainly not a bed of roses, but neither is the world coming to an end. We get back to work and stop focusing on the problem and start looking for solutions.

This stage (according to the book Strategic Selling) creates 4 different responses – Overconfidence, Even Keel, Growth, and Trouble – in the marketplace.

The current economic crisis moves us from Overconfidence and Even Keel responses to the Growth and Trouble responses quickly. Now is the time to start focusing on the Growth response. In the past, you might have been too busy or not ready or, possibly, not seen a need to do things differently. Now, more than ever, you need to find some answers to help you improve the performance of your people, change effectively and improve the results of your organization.

You have a choice to make -

• Do you believe you have all the answers (Overconfident)?
• Do you think things will return "back to the way they used to be" (Even Keel)?
• Do you recognize the need to change because change is happening in the market (Growth)?
• Do you feel like you are serious trouble because you don't see a way to recover (Trouble)?

If you have selected the first two options, best of success to you. If you are feeling more like the third or fourth option, I would love to hear from you.

The difference between good and great organizations is their willingness to face the brutal facts and make the necessary changes to succeed. Are you a good or great organization?

“The greatest enemy to ‘excellence’ and ‘greatness’ is ‘fine’ and ‘good’!”

It's an Ideal Market!

Everyone is talking about the downturn in the economy, the impact of the new president, various bailout programs, the loss of jobs, etc.

I would ask that you just simply reconsider the times we live in. This is a great time to step up and move forward in the market place. If we take a moment to learn from our history, we can quickly learn that the US market is very resilient and robust.

During downturns, many businesses not only survived but thrived.They capitalized on the situation rather than ran from it. They looked forward instead of putting their head in the sand and said "I wish, I wish, I wish this would all go away".

How did they do it? There were common traits they all displayed:

1. They acted out of courage instead of fear. They took positive steps instead of waiting to see.
2. They had vision. They saw beyond the crevice and up the rising mountain. They didn't allow their judgment to be clouded with all the naysayers and doomsayers.
3. They had focus. Their mission was clear and they didn't deviate from the mission. Their actions were laser focused. Instead of getting pulled off course, they reaffirmed their path and leaned into it with more determination.
4. They had a plan and stuck to it. Instead of getting pulled off course, they doubled their efforts and stayed the course.

So now we must answer these questions.

• Do others see me acting out of fear or courage?
• Have I embraced a crystal clear vision of the future and is my team rallying around it?
• What is the focus of my organization and have we reaffirmed it today?
• Do we have a plan and have we doubled our efforts?
  

The choice is ours - grow or decline! If we refuse to choose, the market will! It's up to you.