The Difference Between A Mission And A Vision

Here's a good definition of the difference between a mission and a vision by leadership book authors George Bradt, Jayme A. Check and Jorge Pedraza:

• Mission - A mission guides what people do every day. It informs what roles need to exist in the organization.
• Vision - A vision is the picture of future success. It helps define areas where the organization needs to be best in class and helps keep everyone aware of the essence of the company.

Sixteen Trust-Building Tips

You can't lead if your employees, team or followers don't trust you.

Building trust takes energy, effort and constant attention to how you act.

To help build trust, follow these 16 tips, recommended by author Susan H. Shearouse:

1. Be honest
2. Keep commitments and keep your word
3. Avoid surprises
4. Be consistent with your mood
5. Be your best
6. Demonstrate respect
7. Listen
8. Communicate
9. Speak with a positive intent
10. Admit mistakes
11. Be willing to hear feedback
12. Maintain confidences
13. Get to know others
14. Practice empathy
15. Seek input from others
16. Say "thank you"

The Three Elements Of A Great Apology

The following great advice about how to apologize is from the new book, The Courage Solution, by Mindy Mackenzie. I'll be posting a full review of the book in a few days. In the meantime, Mackenzie recommends you include these three elements when you apologize:

1. Actually say "I'm sorry" out loud, while making eye contact, if possible.
2. Acknowledging your error by adding the phrase "I was wrong...but more importantly, you were right."
3. Asking humbly, "How can I fix this?" Keep in mind that an effective apology requires you to have actually begun working on a solution by the time you get to this step.

How To Reduce Employee Turnover

Knowing why an employee leaves your company can help you to reduce your employee turnover rate.

That's because you can use the reasons a departing employee provides to gather information about processes, people and departments that might need some redirection to correct situations that may have contributed to the employee's reasons for leaving.

So, do an exit interview whenever possible with each departing employee. Ask each person:

• Why they are leaving
• What they liked about their job
• What they would have changed about their job
• How they felt about the cooperation level among co-workers
• How they felt about communication and interaction with co-workers
• Whether they received the necessary training to do their job
• Whether they received frequent coaching and balanced feedback from their supervisor
• Would they recommend a friend apply for work at your company
• How they felt about their pay
• How they would describe the morale in the company and in their department
• What they would change about their department and the company
• Whether they received the necessary information to perform their job effectively

You can find other great advice about exit interviews in the book, The Essential HR Handbook, written by Sharon Armstrong and Barbara Mitchell. The book is a quick and handy resource for any leader, manager or Human Resource professional.

Brian Tracy On Motivation And The Friendship Factor

All you need is one hour to read Brian Tracy's pocket-sized guide for managers, Motivation.

"You cannot motivate other people," explains Tracy, "but you can remove the obstacles that stop them from motivating themselves.  All motivation is self-motivation.  As a manager, you can create an environment where this potential for self-motivation is released naturally and spontaneously."

In the book, Tracy presents chapter-by-chapter his 21 most reliable and powerful methods for increasing the effectiveness of any individual or group.

Each chapter includes a couple different action exercises.

Toward the end of the book, Tracy explains the importance of the Friendship Factor in motivating employees. "Every manager can tap into the power of friendship in everyday employee interactions by remembering the three Cs: Consideration, Caring and Courtesy.

• Practice consideration by expressing an interest in your employees as individuals.
• Express caring for your staff members by listening attentively and with compassion.
• Express courtesy toward employees by showing personal regard and respect for each person -- especially under stress, when a situation goes wrong, or when a worker makes a mistake.

"Your job as a manager is to make sure that you are getting along well with all of your employees and they are all getting along well with you," stresses Tracy.

Ten Reasons To Embrace Storytelling As A Business Tool

From Paul Smith's book, Lead With A Story, here are the 10 reasons for embracing storytelling as a business tool:

1. Storytelling is simple
2. Storytelling is timeless
3. Stories are demographic-proof
4. Stories are contagious
5. Stories are easier to remember
6. Stories inspire
7. Stories appeal to all types of learners
8. Stories fit better where most of the learning happens in the workplace
9. Stories put the listener in a mental learning mode
10. Telling stories shows respect for the audience

Smith goes on to say that:

• you don't need a degree in English to tell a story
• stories can spread like wildfire
• lessons from a story are remembered more accurately, and for far longer, than learning derived from facts
• stories spark curiosity and interest rather than the urge to evaluate or criticize
• stories get your message across, without arrogantly telling listeners what to think or do

Leadership And Life Quotes From Leading With Grit

In addition to Laurie Sudbrink's, Leading With GRIT, being a great book for leaders, it's packed with powerful leadership and life quotes. Here are some of my favorites:

• Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are - Kurt Cobain
• The respect you show to others (or lack thereof) is an immediate reflection on your self respect - Alex Elle
• You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view - Harper Lee
• People only see what they are prepared to see - Ralph Waldo Emerson
• We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give - Winston Churchill
• If it doesn't challenge you, it won't change you - Fred Devito
• The secret of change is to focus all your energy, not on fighting the old but on building the new - Socrates
• The biggest communication problem is we do not listen to understand. We listen to rely - Anonymous
• Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity - Simon Weil
• Good leaders inspire people to have confidence in their leader. Great leaders inspire people to have confidence in themselves - Eleanor Roosevelt
• The only thing worse than training employees and losing them is to not train them and keep them - Zig Ziglar
• You can't change what you refuse to confront - Gina Senarighi