Top Performance Read online

  Yes, a healthy self-image is critically important for Top Performers and managers who wish to become more effective and continue to move up in the game of life. Obviously, I’m not talking about an inflated superego, giving the appearance that you are the “greatest of all,” but simply a healthy self-respect for your inherent abilities and what you’ve been able to accomplish thus far in your life.

  In Psychological Reports 2002, “Goal-Directedness and Personal Identity as Correlates of Life Outcomes,” Dr. Barry M. Goldman, Dr. Edwin A. Locke (who is recognized as the father of academic goal setting), and David G. Jensen determined that people who are goal directed are likely to set goals in all aspects of their lives, including the workplace, which is positively associated with job satisfaction, high performance, and increased income. Sounds like a prescription that Top Performers need to follow, so let’s look at some additional steps for improving the way we feel about ourselves.

  Step 1: Eric Hoffer said, “In times of change the learners shall inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.” Tom Peters said, “Only those who constantly retool themselves stand a chance of staying employed in the years ahead.”

  The good news that goes with that is that when you are on the grow, learning new things, you feel better about yourself, and that is transferred to the people you are responsible to in your position as a manager and leader. We must clearly understand that we teach what we know but we reproduce what we are.

  Step 2: Feeling good about yourself—not arrogant but good—means you will be able to develop people who will have the same feelings about themselves. Their confidence goes up and their productivity along with it. Businessman Clarence Francis said, “You can buy a man’s time, you can buy his physical presence at a given place, you can even buy a measured number of his skilled muscular motions per hour, but you cannot buy enthusiasm. You cannot buy loyalty. You cannot buy devotion of hearts, minds or souls. You must earn these.” In the process we will relearn the fact that you don’t build business, you build people—and when you build your people by being the right kind of leader and setting the right example, your reputation as a Top Performer and a superb manager and person will grow.

  Step 3: When you feel confident and comfortable with yourself, you will have an infinitely better chance to make the people that you work with confident and part of the team. Eighteen percent of workers in corporate America not only do not contribute to the team, they actually spread poison and create all kinds of problems. When we invite them to join the team and treat them like team members, we dramatically eliminate the possibility that they will become “poison spreaders.” The bottom line is that as a manager you will be proud of your people because you will have transformed productive individuals into a productive team. You will feel good about yourself because you are making others feel valuable and good about themselves.

  Step 4: You also can feel good about yourself if you are taking care of yourself physically, mentally, and spiritually. The research of A. H. Ismail of Purdue University revealed that physically fit people are more intellectually inclined, emotionally stable, composed, self-confident, easygoing, and relaxed. It sounds like we’ve just described a Top Performer, doesn’t it? In my own life, when I started eating sensibly and exercising regularly in 1972, I lost the thirty-seven extra pounds I had been carrying for twenty-four years of my adult life. I’ve got to confess that I felt better about myself because of my increased energy, and according to the Redhead, I looked better as well. So, to feel good about yourself, take care of your body. You’ll be glad that you did.

  Step 5: One of the best ways to feel good about yourself is to make others feel good about themselves. There is even a great deal of joy that comes along with this, and joy is far more than happiness. Happiness depends on happenings; joy is a spiritual dimension and makes a difference in our lives.

  James Howard, president of Honinteg (honesty and integrity) International, says that for performance and profitability you should take the SIR approach. This is an acronym for Short Interval Reporting, which is essential for effective measurement. Mr. Howard points out that many times when our people are assigned responsibilities, they perform superbly. Unfortunately, in 93 percent of the cases, management says absolutely nothing about that good job. He states that the benefit of short interval reporting is that you can give short interval recognition, which is essential for effective motivation. When you can find something good about a performance, whether it occurs once a week or once a month, to compliment the employee about it builds his or her image. The individual performs better, which makes you feel better—which again goes back to the fact that you can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.

  Yes, it does take training, and the reality is that our people stay where they grow and are respected and appreciated. With training you add value to the employee; then the employee adds value to the company.

  USA Today in 2001 reported a study involving four hundred corporations. They dealt primarily with people thirty years old and younger, and 60 percent of them said that their number one desire was to have an opportunity to develop skills. In short, these young people are planning and preparing for the future. Effective management makes certain they get that future, and by training and dealing with them honestly and with integrity, you have the best chance of watching them grow in the company you represent. That makes everybody a winner.

  Step 6: You can improve your own self-image and that of your group by encouraging everybody to become a student in Automobile University. Thirteen years ago Stephen Joe Payne, a Native American from Bartlesville, Oklahoma, entered Automobile University. Today he is fluent in eight foreign languages and translates for his company in Spanish and French. Needless to say, he feels much better about himself, his future is brighter, and he has become more valuable to his company; and he tells me that 90 percent of the time required to learn the languages was used while driving in his automobile—only 10 percent of the time consumed took place elsewhere. His time involvement was minimal, his benefits astronomical.

  According to a study from Stanford University, 95 percent of people who buy an idea or a concept are unable to follow through because they do not have the resources to do so. Resources include training, seminars, books, CDs, and tapes. When we help our people to grow (and as a leader/manager that is our responsibility), both their loyalty and performance are significantly higher, and hence they become more valuable to the company. In the process, because you are developing Top Performers, top management looks at you and your climb to the top is much faster and far more certain.

  Step 7: Guard against time thieves. Make a plan and do what you must to follow through. Avoid idle chatter, because idle chatter means two people are stealing company time. This improvement and increase in productivity saves money—and every dime of that goes to the bottom line. Your value to the company and to yourself goes up. At the end of the day you will have done a job you are proud of.

  Samuel Gompers, an early labor leader, said the number one objective of any business should be to make a profit, because if it doesn’t make a profit, the business fails. Then both employer and employees are out of work, sometimes for a very long time.

  The best way for a company to make a profit is for management and labor, owner and employee, to think in terms of what each can do to make the company a profitable one. Employees should certainly give it their best effort. Employers should understand that the best way to get their employees on the same page and work with that concept is to treat them with respect and dignity, understanding that they are people with feelings and rights.

  My friend and mentor Fred Smith spent virtually all of his business life in the corporate world, where he held high positions in significant companies. His office, because he dealt with labor negotiations, was always near the back door of the plant. He explained that this way, as workers were leaving,
if they had anything to say—if they had any complaints or simply wanted to talk—they would be more than willing to step into his office for a visit. This way he came to know them as people. He knew the names of their wives and often their children. The bottom line is that because he knew them and they knew him, in all of his years of work with and through the unions, not once was a strike ever called at the plant where Fred Smith was in charge.

  I think it’s clear that everyone—management, labor, owner—understands that when a strike occurs, everybody loses. The company loses revenue; labor loses income and profit, which are never really regained, so both company and labor end up losing. Strikes can be terribly expensive, and more importantly, sometimes when a strike is over, the attitudes and relationships are frequently not the same. There is always a feeling of “We won; they lost” or “They won and we lost.” This builds resentment and certainly is not conducive to increased productivity. So the concept of always being on the same side certainly makes sense. Good managers, those tuned in to what is going on, will work to make certain it happens.

  As my mama would say, It’s not who’s right, it’s what’s right, and what I’ve just laid out is the right approach to growth.

  When I think of growth, I think about Sir Edmund Hillary. You will remember that Sir Edmund and his native guide, Tenzing, were the first men to climb Mount Everest, the tallest mountain in the world. Hillary failed in several of his early attempts and on one occasion left five associates dead on the side of that great mountain. Parliament wanted to recognize these valiant efforts, so they invited Hillary into their chambers. They even placed a picture of Mount Everest at the front of the room. When Sir Edmund Hillary entered the room, Parliament rose as one to give him a standing ovation. When he saw these legislators standing and applauding his good efforts, tears filled his eyes. Many members of Parliament noticed the tears and must have thought, Ah, look, the tears of happiness that we are recognizing this good effort he has made. But they were not tears of happiness and joy—they were tears of anger and frustration! For Edmund Hillary had not set out to make a “good effort” at climbing the mountain, and he certainly had not set out to leave five associates dead on the side of the mountain.

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  The greatest enemy of excellence is good!

  * * *

  As Hillary walked to the front of that room, he recognized something that many of you have recognized, and that is, yes, he had made a “good” effort to climb the mountain, but the greatest enemy of excellence is good!

  Sir Edmund Hillary walked to the front of the room, looked at that picture, and shouted, “You beat me this time, but you are as big as you will ever be … and I am still growing!”

  You see, my reading friend, if you are in a growth posture—regardless of what you have already accomplished or have not accomplished—there are still great things left in front of you, but you must continue to grow to fully utilize your inherent ability. Remember what Emerson said: “What lies behind you and what lies in front of you pales in comparison to what lies inside of you.”

  FOCUS YOUR ATTENTION ON THOSE

  YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE TO AND FOR.

  When employees move into the management role, they often feel they must know everything about their new position. This is an overwhelming burden to be forced to carry. You were not hired to be an encyclopedia or a computer … you were hired to manage. Managers must know where to find information, not have total recall. Those who can think are much more important than those who can regurgitate facts. Remember: It’s very difficult to be overtrained! So get involved in continuing education, seminars, books, and tapes. Your thirst for knowledge and understanding must never cease—but you don’t need to memorize the manuals for every seminar you attend. Determine that you will continue to grow and learn as a manager, and you will greatly improve your self-image.

  We must never overlook the fact that our company can spend millions and millions of dollars on buildings, computers, electronic gear, fixtures, communication systems, and so forth, but the full utilization of these monumental expenditures is entirely dependent on the growth, training, attitude, and capability of the people in the company. The responsibility for that growth, training, attitude, and capability rests squarely on the shoulders of management.

  One of the fastest ways to improve our own self-esteem is to focus our attention on others. Often, the more we think of ourselves, the less self-confidence we have. Forgetting about us and becoming sincerely interested in them will lead us directly to a healthy self-respect. When you give your full and undivided attention to others and concentrate on making them feel comfortable, you become less self-conscious.

  Dr. Alfred Adler said that we can be cured of depression in only fourteen days if every day we will try to think of how we can be helpful to others. David Dunn wrote a wonderful little book entitled Try Giving Yourself Away, which gives some marvelous insights as well as some simple, practical steps on how we can be an encouragement and help to others. When we are sincerely interested in others, we don’t have time to direct negativity toward ourselves.

  “Mr. Ziglar, I Heard What You Said”

  One Saturday afternoon several years ago, my wife and I were scheduled to play golf at a beautiful course in the Dallas area. On this particular day we had a one o’clock tee time. However, on Saturdays the course attracts many local residents as well as people from other cities, so our tee time was delayed a few minutes. The foursome in front of us consisted of two couples, and one of the young men was on the tee box getting ready to tee off.

  As my wife and I sat in our cart, I could not help but notice the young man. He was about thirty years old, something like six feet, three inches tall, and about 220 pounds. However, as the young man stood there addressing the ball, it was obvious to me that he was not a golfer. He looked a little uncomfortable and was addressing the ball in an unorthodox manner. He picked his club up, wiggled it a few times, then put it down and repeated the process for what seemed like an eternity.

  Finally, I muttered under my breath that he obviously was not a golfer. My wife quietly asked how I knew. I responded I’d been playing the game a long time, had watched a lot of golfers, and just knew he was not a golfer. In the meantime, the young man kept wiggling the club and picking it up and putting it down. Finally, he pulled his club back and proceeded to bust that ball about 240 yards, right down the middle. So much for my expertise in evaluating golfers!

  After the young man hit the ball, he walked over to his cart, put his club in his bag, and walked straight back to me. He was neither smiling nor frowning, but as he walked up to me, he said, “Mr. Ziglar, I heard what you said.”

  Now, my reading friend, I want you to think with me just for a moment. Had you been in my position, what would you have thought—and done? I felt some apprehension and wanted to pull a disappearing act, but fortunately the young man continued: “When you spoke in my hometown three years ago, it completely changed my life. I just want you to know, Mr. Ziglar, that it is an honor for me to even be on the same golf course with you.”

  Needless to say, I breathed a deep sigh of relief, thanked the young man profusely, and was grateful at the sudden unexpected and delightful turn of events. I also made a resolution that day to be far more careful in my judgmental attitude when I am observing or dealing with other people.

  I’ve often thought of how tragic it would have been had the young man actually heard the cutting, unkind, and, as it turned out, untrue remark I made about him. It undoubtedly would have adversely affected him and certainly would have lowered his opinion of me. Not only that, but it would have been virtually impossible for me to have positively affected him in the future from an inspirational and instructional point of view.

  As managers and leaders, one of the things we cannot escape is the fact that when people look to us we have a responsibility to let them see that we deserve to be in that position of leadership. They evaluate and respond to us to a large degree based
on the way we see them, feel about them, and treat them. That’s why it’s so important for us to look for the good, expect the best, and always remember that as managers we are role models for many of the people in our group or company. It is at least reasonably important that they like us. It is critically important that they respect us. It is difficult, if not impossible, for them to either like us or respect us if we make snide, judgmental, unkind, and/or untrue observations about them as I did the young golfer.

  Don’t misunderstand. Each one of us—including that young man—is responsible for his own actions and conduct. By no stretch of imagination am I responsible for what he does. However, I am responsible to him to be fair, honest, objective, and exactly what I appear to be. As managers in your organization, you are not responsible for your people, but you are responsible to your people.

  HONESTY + COURTESY = LOYALTY

  The Forum Corporation of Boston, Massachusetts, did an in-depth study of 341 salespeople from eleven different companies in five different industries. Of this group, 173 were top salespeople and 168 were average salespeople. The primary difference between the two groups was not skill, knowledge, or ability. The 173 super salespeople were more productive because their customers trusted them, and customers are far more likely to believe the honest salesperson. They discovered that people do not buy based on what you tell them or what you show them. But they do buy based on what you tell them and show them, which they believe. The same principle applies in directing the activities of those under your leadership. They will “buy” and act enthusiastically on your leadership based only on what you tell and show them. Anything less than that trust and confidence simply means they will give less than their 100 percent support.