Tag Archives: Team Building

April 6, 2012

Leadership Lessons From The Racetrack

Leadership can be found in the best of places. This past weekend, I drove in two races at Carolina Motorsports Park. I’m proud to say that I had two second-place finishes. Even more exciting to me was the 30 minutes I spent fighting off a much, MUCH faster DSR.

I beat him to turn one on our start and kept him behind me the whole time. The stress of that car on my backside for 30 minutes was amazing. At every corner, every breaking zone, he was trying to get close enough to pass. And every time I made a .1 second mistake, I could see him getting a little closer.

If I took a turn too fast and got loose on the exit, he was there. When we started to lap cars, I could hear his main thought, Get stuck, so I can catch you!! I don’t think I actually exhaled for 30 minutes until I went under the flagman’s stand and took the checkered flag. I should have gone straight to medical to drain off the adrenaline that was coursing through my body!

What’s odd is that the second second place might not have happened if not for the day before. During the first race, I discovered something. I found myself slowing down as I passed cars.

When I was behind another car, I was all over him. I pushed him as hard as possible to get him to make the mistake that would allow me to get by. But the moment I cleared him, I stopped pushing as hard. About three cars later, this voice inside my head said, You, uh, you here for a Sunday drive? Just because you passed that car doesn’t mean someone’s not coming after you.

I realized if someone closed in on me, my slower momentum would have allowed them to slingshot by me. At that moment, I began focusing on how to go the whole race on the edge. I believe it’s what helped me fight for so long in Sunday’s race.

In the middle of that thought process, I said to myself, This would make a great leadership blog post. Yep! Flying around a racetrack with enough adrenaline in me to kill a Thoroughbred, I thought of you guys. It lasted about .0003 seconds before I realized I still had to pilot a FORMULA CAR!!! But it still happened.

I think in leadership, there are many times when we need to have our foot on the gas. We don’t always need to run wide open, but most of the time we do. And sometimes, we have a tendency to get comfortable and slow down—only to find out that someone behind us is about to fly right by.

In those moments, we have to remind ourselves and our teams that we can breathe as soon as we get to the checkered flag. It’s not that far away, and it will be there sooner than you think. Don’t give up. As one of my pit crew guys radios me when I need to hear it, “PUSH PUSH PUSH!!”

Question: Have there been times in your life where not pushing hurt you or times when you did push hard and succeeded?

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35 comments | tags: Auto racing, business, EntreLeadership, Formula Car, leadership, Motorsports, Small Business, Team Building, team growth | posted in EntreLeadership, Leadership, Small Business

January 4, 2012

EntreLeadership Podcast Question About Required Reading

By Chris LoCurto

Here is a great question from an EntreLeadership Podcast listener about required reading:

Hi Chris,
A few years ago, I began giving everyone in my business resources to help them outside of their responsibilities at work. I believe that I may have started after learning about the required reading Dave has for everyone at his business. I just finished listening to the podcast with the John Miller interview and you mentioned, a few times, QBQ being one of the required books.

My question is this: How does that process work in your business? Is there any follow up after the books are given out? Do they confirm with anyone that they read them? Or more importantly, they got anything from them? I want to bump up the reading at my company even more. Is there more I can do to maximize the experience? Thanks. Keep the great info coming! — Jim Paulson

It’s funny. You can require your team to read books all day long. If there’s no culture inside your business that supports the information, though, it’s not going to matter. The reason we have required reading in our business is the books back up the culture that we already have in place. For example, QBQ—Question Behind the Question—is all about personal accountability and responsibility.

As leaders, we are constantly reminding our team it is their job to take care of our customers and our own team. There is no such thing as “that’s not my job.” If something needs to be done, they do it!

We just had an amazing day of ministry at GraceWorks, where we worked at warehouses loading and unloading trucks that were taking food, clothing, toys, etc. to families in need. When all was said and done, some folks grabbed the working end of a broom because they saw that we made a mess in the process. Now, most people would say the ministry could clean up the mess, since we came and did all of the heavy lifting. Not us. When you have a culture that is constantly discussed and reported on, people step up and follow.

In essence, don’t require reading just because it’s a fun idea. Make sure that you are choosing books that support your core values, and make sure you’re promoting those core values like crazy with the team.

As for follow up, we do confirm that they’ve read them, and some leaders take it a step further and discuss the books with their teams.

Question: What are your thoughts on required reading in your organization?

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57 comments | tags: business, Culture, EntreLeadership, EntreLeadership Podcast, leadership, Organizational culture, personal growth, Small Business, Team Building, team growth | posted in EntreLeadership, Leadership, Small Business

October 20, 2011

When Leaders Throw Team Members Under The Bus

By Chris LoCurto

This week, I’m teaching EntreLeadership here in Nashville. The topic of throwing team members under the bus is a common conversation. Here’s a post I wrote earlier this year on the topic.

As a leader, one of my pet peeves is watching other leaders not take responsibility. In fact, I think it’s ridiculous for a person to be in leadership if their only goal is to make themselves look good. And yet, I see it all of the time. I watch leaders who are very proud of the title but aren’t willing to do what is necessary to live up to it. They try to take on as many responsibilities as they can. When they fail, the first thing they do is blame one or more of their team members for the failure.

Worse than that, they throw those team members under the bus to their leadership in an attempt to get out of the line of fire. When you lead like this, you paralyze your team because they don’t know what you’re going to do to them next. They operate out of fear instead of respect and loyalty. And the funny thing is: This type of leader thinks that nobody notices that they are throwing people under the bus.

That’s not leadership! Nor is it for the leader above them, who doesn’t take the time to find out what’s really going on because they can’t handle drama. Guess what? In leadership, there’s going to be drama! It comes with the job. In fact, there should be a manual that you’re handed when you become a leader that’s titled, “Scotch and Psychiatrists: A Leader’s Guide to Drama!” (I’m kidding … You don’t need a psychiatrist! OK, you don’t need the Scotch, either. )

Leadership is the privilege and the authority to serve. The key word there being serve! It’s not my job as a leader to pass on blame. It’s my job to do everything in my power to make sure that my team is set up for success. And sometimes that means taking a bullet or twelve for them. In the end, if they don’t succeed, it’s my fault anyway. Somewhere along the line, I either didn’t train them well enough or I didn’t make sure they had everything they needed to be successful.

Get in there and be the type of leader who stands side by side with your team. Show them that you are willing to take the bullets with them. “But Chris, I have some real idiots on my team. I don’t want to take their bullets!” Then roll up your sleeves and do everything you possibly can to make sure that it’s not really you who is the problem. If you can say that you’ve done everything you can, and they’re still an idiot, then it’s time to let them be an idiot somewhere else. But, until you can rule you out, you’re the problem!

Question: Have you experienced this type of leader?

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31 comments | tags: business, EntreLeadership, leadership, Management, Pet peeve, Small Business, Team Building, team growth, team members | posted in EntreLeadership, Leadership, Small Business

October 12, 2011

Good To Great Leadership

By Chris LoCurto

I recently had the pleasure of attending a conference put together by one of my favorite people on the planet, Howard Dayton. Howard is the founder of Crown Ministries, which he eventually merged with Larry Burkett’s Christian Financial Concepts. Howard has launched his newest venture of helping people change their lives with Compass—Finances God’s Way. Compass’ focus is to teach God’s financial principles through small group studies.

The Compass conference consists of a few days spent in a GORGEOUS retreat center in a castle in Colorado Springs. One after another, leaders and team members of Howard’s took the microphone and shared from their hearts. They discussed what’s going on in each of the areas of Compass, as well as plans and strategies for the future. Even Howard shared a little bit.

And that’s what jumped out at me. Howard shared … a little bit. The rest of the time, he sat back and observed his team. One after another, competent, confident, strong people took the podium and spoke. They made us laugh and they made us cry. But most importantly, they represented just how the company is a team effort.

In Good to Great, author Jim Collins writes about how great leaders always train their team(s) to take over if anything happens to the leader. In his research, he found that the great companies all survived a transition of leadership and continued to grow because the leader had set up their team. They could take the huge hit, bounce back and prosper.

Not that Howard is going anywhere, but it was incredible to see just how well his team operated while he sat back and watched. The best part is knowing that the team didn’t get there on its own. It took great leadership from a great man to make it happen. Now that’s leadership done right.

Question: Have you experienced this type of leadership?

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20 comments | tags: business, EntreLeadership, Good to Great, Howard Dayton, Jim Collins, Larry Burkett, leadership, Small Business, Team Building, team growth | posted in EntreLeadership, Leadership, Small Business

October 10, 2011

Hiring T.O.

By Chris LoCurto

There are many times in a leaders life that they ask themselves the question, “what the heck was I thinking when I hired that guy?!!” After the 17th person on your team tells you how difficult the new person is to work with, you start to realize there is something way more important than hiring a “star.”

You begin to understand that it doesn’t matter how talented a person is on his own. (Unless your like a tennis coach or something.) One of the worst days for leaders is when they realize they have dropped a death metal guitar player into the middle of their 40 piece orchestra. At first it looks like a fun and exciting change, but quickly everyone understands just how badly this is going to play out.

What does this have to do with T.O.? Well, if you have watched his career at all you’ve noticed that there have been some…..”bumps” in the road. There is no doubt that he is a phenomenal athlete who, when he actually catches the ball, can make some serious plays. The problem isn’t once he has the ball, it’s everything that goes on around that moment.

All I can go by is how I’ve seen him act on the field and what his teammates have said. It’s my opinion that he has done way more damage to teams than good. And the reason is simple, it’s a TEAM sport! A buddy of mine, Ron Cook, used to manage Kenny Stabler in his post career, and Stabler always said, “You can have all the talent in the world, but you will not win if you don’t have a happy locker room!”

On the other hand, hiring the right person is one of the greatest joys of any leader’s life. Building a team of right people, is as fantastic as the first time you wake up to find out that there really is a Tooth Fairy, and she left you a quarter! (Am I showing my age there? Aren’t kids getting iPads for a tooth now?) When you have a team that works together in unity, you can accomplish absolutely anything.

God talks about this in Genesis 11:6 when He said that since the people were of one mind, together in unity, nothing would be impossible for them. Just like MacGyver with a paperclip and some rubber bands. One of the keys to hiring correctly is to hire the fantastically talented, who also are equally talented at being team players. (Key word: talented!) As Kurt Russell said in Miracle “I’m not looking for the best players…I’m looking for the right ones!”

This doesn’t mean you slack on finding someone who can do the job better than anyone else, you still need to hire someone who will leave the cave, kill something, and drag it home. They just need to play nicely with the other hunters.

Question: Have you ever been T.O.ed?

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25 comments | tags: business, EntreLeadership, Ken Stabler, Kurt Russell, leadership, MacGyver, Small Business, Team Building, team growth, team members | posted in Leadership, Small Business

October 4, 2011

How To Expand A Small Business

By Chris LoCurto

Here’s an EntreLeadership Podcast question from Neal McGuire:

How do you expand a small business, where the owners do most of the management and work, to a larger one, where not all the decisions are made by the owner and employees have less direct owner supervision?

Expanding a business requires two things:

Net Profit – In order to grow, you have to be able to afford it. Increasing your bottom line is essential to every aspect of business growth. Without it, you are unable to hire new team members or pay for the marketing needed to grow the business. Therefore, it may take some long days and weekends of doubling your efforts until you can afford to hire.
Talent – Once you have the additional cash, then you can start hiring very talented people to do two things: increase revenues or take the tasks off of your list, so you can increase revenues. Cost-justifying a team member is always vital, but it is critical in a small business. You just don’t have room to add expenses that cost more than you can make.

The next step, as your team grows, is to build layers of leadership. You need strong leaders, who will take more of the responsibilities and decision-making processes. But, as I always say in EntreLeadership, it is the leader’s job to make their team successful. You need to transition from focusing on daily tasks to doing everything possible to make sure your team has whatever it needs to be successful.

Too many leaders think that hiring talented people or putting people in a role of leadership means they can back off and take it easy. Nothing could be further from the truth. As a leader, you are still the heartbeat of your company. Expecting your team to win when you haven’t properly set them up is a sure-fire way to cause your business to fail. Get your team in place and serve them. Then, you’ll spend your time working on the business instead of in it.

Question: What are two requirements you think are vital to expanding a company when adding team members?

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18 comments | tags: business, EntreLeadership, leadership, Management, Podcast, Small Business, Team, Team Building, team growth | posted in EntreLeadership, Leadership, Small Business

September 28, 2011

Stop Talking!

By Chris LoCurto

I happened to stop at a sandwich shop the other day. It’s a great chain with really good sandwiches. As I walked in, I quickly realized that I was the only customer there. But it was after lunch, so I bet it was hoppin’ a bit earlier.

There were three young folks working: two guys making sandwiches and one girl at the register. The guys seemed like they were having a good day. The girl just looked at me funny. I gave my order for three sandwiches, and the guys jumped right on it. (No, they weren’t all for me…just two of them. OK, just one.) Once I paid, I noticed that a couple of firemen and a young girl were in line behind me ready to order.

As they placed their orders, one of the guys had to run to the back to get something, so the girl took his place. It was then that she began to complain! She grumbled about something the company wasn’t doing, and it was loud enough for the customers to hear.

You should know that this is one of my pet peeves! I can’t stand when team members complain with customers around. Push aside the fact that it’s a severe gossip issue, no customer wants to hear it. And every time it happens, all I can think about is what’s wrong with their leadership.

There are many reasons for gossip, like lack of character, integrity, etc. Gossip is a cancer and needs to be IMMEDIATELY cut out! But there’s one main reason that I have found that team members gossip—the feeling that leadership won’t listen to what’s going on.

At EntreLeadership, I get the opportunity to talk with both leaders and team members. When the discussion of gossip comes up, I dig really deep to find the root cause of it. Almost every time, the team members feel like they are trying to correct problems and nobody will give them the time of day. When this happens, they feel the need to tell someone else in order to be validated. They need to know that someone else understands the problem and the necessity to fix it.

This situation can be resolved pretty easily in most cases—TALK TO YOUR TEAM! You have to get in there and find out what’s going on. There is no leadership error that I hate more than a leader who won’t actually talk to their INDIVIDUAL team members and get a pulse. I capitalized “individual” because I know too many leaders who get a pulse from team members about OTHER team members. It is ridiculous and is another post some time.

“Well, I don’t want to talk to them because they’re just always so cynical!” Seriously? That’s your answer? Great job leader! You know, I once heard Jim Collins say that a cynic is nothing more than a passionate person who is tired of being let down. Why don’t you try getting out of yourself and discover the inner champion of your team member? Who knows? You might be impressed. Worst case, you find out they do suck, and you get rid of them. Most likely, I believe, it won’t be the issue. You’ll find that you’re the problem. OUCH!

The title Stop Talking! is for the team member who’s complaining, especially with the public within earshot. If that’s you, force a time with your leader to get them to listen. If they suck, and they can’t give you the time, go someplace where you can be a champion! Don’t stay and become a cynic!

Question: What do you think causes team members to talk like this?

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19 comments | tags: business, Customer Care, Customer Service, EntreLeadership, leadership, Management, Small Business, Team Building, team growth, team members | posted in EntreLeadership, Leadership, Small Business

September 12, 2011

Stop the Madness: Declare a No-Complaining Zone

By Chris LoCurto

I always find it interesting when people complain about others, and then do the same exact thing. After I was saved, I read through the Bible for a year. For the first time, I understood some of it. Before that, it was just Greek to me.

As I went through Exodus, I found myself saying to God, Dude, what was up with your people? Look at them complaining in the wilderness about a lack of food and saying at least there were pots of meat back in captivity. True, there were pots of meat…BUT THEY WERE SLAVES, those dorks! Geez God, what’s up with them?

That’s about the time I felt God saying to me, You do the same thing, only with different issues. You’re no different. Oh crud! I do, don’t I? That was a turning point for me. I started trying to apply the scripture of Matthew 7:3-5

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

Sometimes in leadership, or just plain life, we find it very easy to complain about other people. I can’t believe so and so isn’t getting that stuff done! Then, when you ask that person to do something, it’s always, Oh, I don’t have time to do that. How about when someone complains about another person not having a good system for running things? If it’s that bad, why haven’t you come up with a better plan?

I have a friend who every once in a while complains about the people she works with. The funny thing is that I’ve seen her do the same exact stuff for years. I gently remind her of a similar situation when she acted the same, and she looks at me like I’m crazy. Oh well.

We might not be able to fix all of those around us, but we certainly can start with the plank in our own eye. Before you start to complain about someone else, ask yourself if you do the same thing. In fact, how about just not complaining at all? It will make your day a lot better.

Question: Do you find yourself slipping into the easy habit of complaining?

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25 comments | tags: business, Complaining, leadership, Small Business, Team Building, team growth, team members | posted in EntreLeadership, Leadership, Small Business

September 9, 2011

Do As I Say, Not As I Do!

By Chris LoCurto

Driving into work yesterday, I came up to a stoplight next to a European family cargo van. You know, one of those funny-looking boxy things. The van caught my eye because it stuck out in a sea of Chevys, Fords, and Yugos. OK, I didn’t actually see a Yugo.

While the van was stunning, what really threw me off was the dad, the driver. He was texting, while his daughter, who was sitting in the passenger seat, was watching him. Now, I assume it was a father and daughter. It really doesn’t matter. It was an adult and a young teenage girl. But there’s no doubt he was showing her his mad skills of texting and driving at the same time. Look honey, this is exactly what you should be doing when you get your driver’s license.

I will admit that I am a frequent offender of texting and driving…Uh, I mean, that’s illegal, right? Of course, I don’t do it. But I have a friend who does from time to time. However, he doesn’t have any young impressionable minds who ride with him and see his stupidity. The truth is, it’s not the smartest thing on the planet to do, but most people do it. And if you have children who see you texting while driving, then you’re telling them they should do the same exact thing when they start driving.

According to the National Safety Council, there are approximately 1.6 million crashes caused by drivers using cellphones and texting while driving. The issue comes when we turn our newly licensed child loose with a 6,000 pound torpedo and tell him/her NOT to use the phone while driving. Seriously? We’ve set such a great example of restraint ourselves, wink wink, and we expect them to leave their social brain sitting in the console untouched. Hold your breath on that one. Our example just increased their chances of becoming a statistic.

The same holds true when it comes to leadership. I frequently hear leaders preach one thing, only to walk out something completely different in their lives. And then, they wonder why their team members do exactly the opposite of what they are saying. It’s like a surprise to them. As a leader, you have to realize your team members are watching you—just like children observe their parents.

Your kids are taking cues and direction from your actions, possibly even more than your words. And why wouldn’t they? It’s what they have done since they were born. Therefore, you have to understand that your actions have to match your words. Every time you give someone direction, think about whether you follow your own advice. If not, don’t be shocked if they don’t respect it either.

Question: How have you seen leaders violate this law of common sense?

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29 comments | tags: business, EntreLeadership, leadership, Mobile phone, National Safety Council, Small Business, Team Building, team members, Text messaging, Texting while driving | posted in EntreLeadership, Leadership, Small Business

Chris LoCurto's Blog

Tag Archives: Team Building

Leadership Lessons From The Racetrack

Top Posts And Commenters Of 2011

EntreLeadership Podcast Question About Required Reading

When Leaders Throw Team Members Under The Bus

Good To Great Leadership

Hiring T.O.

How To Expand A Small Business

Stop Talking!

Stop the Madness: Declare a No-Complaining Zone

Do As I Say, Not As I Do!

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