Afcits

It is inspirational to look at a brilliant career of someone who really blazed a new trail in their field. Those are the kinds of leaders who show us all the way to success if we feel our field of expertise will be in the same area as that great leader. And in the area of MLM marketing, one of the real masters of the craft of bring in big wealth is Robert Blackman.

Robert Blackman’s path to greatness in his field came to him honestly through the example of his father. His dad was already very successful as the president of a business forms company in Oklahoma. But at the late age of 58, Robert’s dad retired from that lucrative position to become an entrepreneur in the area of quick printing franchise operations.

This was a powerful example to the young Robert Blackman because it really impressed his young mind that you can get out there and make your own path if you want to. Because his dad was not afraid to go out and do something bold and new at the age of 58, young Robert Blackman was given the gift of courage and the entrepreneurial mindset to go on to even more success in MLM marketing.

This is not to say that the road was always easy for the young entrepreneur. Robert Blackman actually went bankrupt in 1990. But Robert Blackman always saw every negative situation as one that was loaded with potential profits. And he turned his focus to network marketing and by 1995 he was back in a six figure income. Currently Robert Blackman is a Fruta Vida distributor.

This showed that the real wealth that Robert Blackman was tapping was not just financial, it was what was inside of him. It was the willingness to take chances, to see the world in terms of possibilities, not limitations and to always be discovering new income streams whenever they come along. Robert Blackman didn’t just discover that it was more fun to be an entrepreneur, he discovered that it was by far more profitable to do so as well and has gone on to great success because of the aggressive and creative attitude he brings to everything he does.

Like many in that small group who are true innovators and who blaze the trail for the rest of us, Robert Blackman has put together materials to share how we can tap the power of network marketing as he has done. When you think about, Blackburn is already a wealthy man from his on work in the MLM marketing arena. So his books, tapes and courses really represent that teacher’s spirit in him that has that instinct to share with others the things he knows.

Its easy enough to find resources online that will put a strong and diverse library of materials prepared by Robert Blackman that and help you and I start to learn how to follow him into wealth if we wish. Sure, there are some motivational materials in his books and tapes and truthfully, those are necessary because without that inner drive to succeed, its hard to get to your financial goals using MLM marketing. But the materials Robert Blackman has produced also have some concrete advice based on his real world experience in areas such as prospect development, use of direct mail for marketing, partner selection and development and how to dodge the mistakes that most often stop people from success.

His background set him on a course to success. His success inspired him to teach and write and his materials have the potential of helping others achieve the same kind of success. That is just the kind of thing you would expect a Master of MLM to do.

Zach Thompson, is one of the foremost internetwork marketers in the world. More of Zach’s insights on Robert Blackman

Your attitude is your choice. Each one of us wakes up with the same 24 hours. Each of us begins every week with the same 7 days. Each of us was born by someone, somewhere. Your attitude each and every day is determined by you regardless of whatever else may be happening, has happened, or will happen.

We all have the same time every day and we all have the same choice – what is my attitude going to be? From your work life to your home life, your attitude is reflected to the masses. Based upon how you treat others, how you talk to peers, how you respond to authority, others decide what they think of you. The question that begs an answer from each one of us is, “Will I be a person that has an ‘I can’ attitude regardless of my current situation or will I have an attitude that is dictated by that circumstances that surround me?” For many of us, our attitudes are driven by situations rather than having an attitude that rises above the situation.

In your workplace, what do other people think about you? What would others say about your attitude? One experiment that I have always thought would be interesting is to have your closest co-workers gather into a room and share a one word definition for each person. Do you think those you work with could give a one word definition for you? What would it be? Would you be appreciative or offended by the choice of words? Whatever the case, here is the truth; most times what people say is correct and what they say is mostly a result of the attitude they see in you.

Attitude is judged quickly. When you meet someone new, you often determined what you think of that person before they even begin speaking. You might think, “I am not that shallow; I measure someone up before I make a determination.” Really? Have you ever watched people at the mall as they walk by? Have you ever made a judgment about them from what they were wearing, who they were with, or what they did? The answer for most of us is a definite “yes.” If that is indeed the case, how much more do the people you work with have a pulse on your attitude as they work with you day in and day out, week in and week out, month after month?

What is your attitude today? Is your attitude showing those around you that you are confident, poised, and in control? Are you allowing your attitude in that situation to control you and, ultimately, bring you further down the path of disappointment and discouragement?

Henry Ford once said, “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.” How profound. Your mindset going into a situation, a relationship, a project, or your workplace is often determined by mindset you have going into that situation. The choice is yours; the result is from your choice.

Live with an attitude of expectancy. Of hope. Of joy. After all, your attitude is your choice.

Speaking to teenagers, adults, and children - Jerry’s gifts allow him to relate and connect with any audience regardless of age. His down-to-earth style is engaging, humorous, practical, and passionate. Visit http://www.jerryackerman.net for booking information, client reviews, and video samples.

Success can be understood in so many different ways.The term is used widely by book authors in the field of personal development and a lot in education when passing exams or simply filling out an online application for a merchant account: “Success” informs us about a process which has been positively confirmed.

In personal life success is only measurable if we have goals to compare it to. You cannot determine any success without first having set up any goals. Goal setting is one of the basic tasks when operating a homebased business for example. Short term goals or long term goals, idealistic or economic, every goal once it is achieved, is a success.

What does a successful person look like? Do you imagine someone with an expensive, fast car with a Rolex watch? Do you think about a sportsperson winning a gold medal? A great contributor to humanity, such as Ghandi? Or do you imagine a person who is merely happy?

See the importance of your definition of success? Once somebody has achieved his goals and still has no feeling of fulfillment whatsoever, probably has not defined HIS success in a proper way. Looking at the environment and the multiple possibilities we are influenced by, (parents, teachers, peers, church,advertisements,television, movies)it may be clear that it is no easy job to find out what exactly success means to YOU or in other words: What is it that makes YOU happy?

It

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates recently criticized the US military for not doing enough to support soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, singling out the Air Force for adapting too slowly to the new enemies on those battlefields. He blamed military leaders who are “stuck in old ways of doing business”. That may sound strange to hear coming from a senior government official who knows full well that the military is steeped in the tradition of command and control leadership that creates a top-down management style and fosters orderliness and predictability, rather than innovation and adaptability.

But in a world of chaos and ever changing conditions, Mr. Gates realizes that the ability to change and adapt is key to military success: What worked well in the past may now be an outmoded and ineffective approach.

Mr. Gates is pointing out a truism that US business organizations of all types and sizes have witnessed and/or experienced during the past 75 plus years: Unadaptive organizations underperform and/or fail in the long run. Companies like Sears & Roebuck, K-Mart, Pam Am, Howard Johnsons, Armour & Company, Westinghouse Electric are examples of businesses which were once at the top of their industrial sectors only to be toppled by competitors who looked into the future, adapted and out performed them. And the way their competitors did it was with adaptive leaders, not top-down managers.

So what’s the difference between the two?

Consider top-down managers first. These managers, for the most part, are predominantly linear thinkers. Linear thinkers are rational, logical and analytical. They are mainly concerned with the present, not the future. They tend to stick with things that have worked well in the past as opposed to experimenting with the unfamiliar.

They are very organized individuals who value orderliness and predictability. They favor rules and procedures to ensure that orders from the top are followed through to the lowest level. Their mentality is that managers think, workers do (as they are told)….an idea generated by the father of management science, Frederick W. Taylor during the early 20th century. This approach worked fine back then, during the early US industrial economy. But today, things are quite different. We are now living and working in a knowledge economy.

If you have ever worked for one of these authoritative managers, you know first hand how autocratic and controlling they can be. Gather a group of these linear thinkers and place them at the top, running the organization, and guess what you get? A very rigid top-down organization that does everything by the rules, creating a bureaucracy that stifles innovation and creativity making it short-sighted, inflexible and unadaptive.

Enlightened, adaptive leaders are much different from top-down managers. They tend to be more non-linear in their thinking. These leaders are more intuitive, have greater insight, and are more creative. Being more conceptual, the see the “big picture”, are futuristic oriented, possess holistic insight and emotional intelligence.

They have greater spontaneity and flexibility—a balanced integration of rational analytical and unconventional imaginative processes. They have the ability to take a new perspective to an old complex problem and reassemble interrelated parts of the problem in novel and unusual ways leading to a viable solution. They are much better at coping with the non linear complex nature of the competitive context of our global business environment.

One would think that most of these adaptive leaders head up the newer hi-tech companies like Apple, Google, Nintendo, Microsoft and Amazon.com. But if you look at the recent list of the top 25 innovative companies recently compiled by BusinessWeek (4/28/2008), you may be surprised to find more traditional companies such as General Electric, Toyota Motor, Hewlett Packard, Wal-Mart, and Proctor & Gamble included on the list with the newer hi-tech companies. These more traditional companies have adaptive leaders who are building cultures that value creative people in good times and bad.

The good news is that managers can change and become more adaptive leaders just as traditional companies can become more innovative. As a corporate executive leadership coach, I have worked with hundreds of managers and executives for the past 20 years and I have witnessed a transformation of many individuals who have changed from top-down managers to adaptive leaders. All thinking and behavior can be changed…it is called learning. Through assessment, self awareness, action learning, and coaching, managers can become more effective and adaptive leaders.

In essence, my experience, research and observations have led me to conclude that the assertion, “Leaders are born, not made,” is a myth.

Stan Truskie,Ph.D. is President of MSD Leadership Consultants Inc. a Pittsburgh based firm specializing in executive coaching, change management, and leadership development with Fortune 500 companies.He is author of Leadership in High Performance Organizational Cultures and has appeared on TV/Radio. http://www.msdlead.com

Home based jobs are really no different than any other job when is comes to managing. When you “manage” anything, it really comes down to three critical items:

- Setting direction, goals and objectives

- Finding and applying the necessary resources to the task

- Getting results

In your current career, you probably understand Leadership as it applies to your job. What may not be so obvious is how this also applies to managing home based jobs.

You must be able to set clear goals and objectives for yourself, and for your daily, weekly and monthly tasks. You must find the right resources to help yourself “do the job.” And you must monitor your own progress, make corrections as necessary and get results.

Let’s start by setting clear goals and objectives.

- Do you have a business plan?

- Have you created and prioritized the action items you must complete in order to reach your goals?

- Do you have a daily and weekly agenda for your action items?

If the answer to any of these questions is no, then it’s time to stop and complete a written plan for these items. It’s all about planning your work, and then working your plan.

Don’t forget that any job, including work at home jobs must be balanced with your life. Because it’s your own business, many people forget this important point. Don’t forget this or you will burn out even faster than people working as employees! Remember, employees get regular paychecks, and business owners get paid when the business is doing well. This means you need balance more than ever in a home based business.

You must balance your home business tasks with your life, and give yourself time to relax, reflect and spend time doing things for yourself and your family. When you get back to the job, you will be much more productive and efficient. Lack of balance will lead to stress and burn-out, just like it will in a job working for someone else.

Next, you need to find resources to help you accomplish the required tasks for your business. In home based jobs, it is critical to look for resources that you can use to “outsource” many routine functions. Unless you start your home business by hiring employees, your own time is your most valuable and limited resource. Find ways to outsource as many tasks as possible. Make sure your resource provider also offers you the ability to monitor progress and results of those tasks.

Finally, you must monitor your progress against your goals and objectives. Hold yourself accountable to the deadlines you have set, that’s what your daily and weekly planner is for. Start each day by using your agenda to review the days and weeks action items ahead and adjusting your schedule to make sure all critical items are completed.

As your business grows, and you accomplish your short term goals, you must also keep setting new goals and objectives and continue the process. Remember, no business plan is ever finished.

Home based jobs are like any business, you must continuously refine and re-set your business goals and objectives for the future. This is a process, and you need to build your habits and your actions into this process.

David Ogden is an established online marketer who specializes in practice website tools and advice that help many people start their very own home based business. He can help you launch your very own money making website today that’s 100% ready to take orders and pull in massive profits for you right now … guaranteed! Visit: www.Affiliate-Profit-Masters.com Copyright

Becoming an effective leader is a lot like being in the stock market. You don’t make your fortune in a day; you make it daily, a little bit at a time. What matters most is what you do day after day, over the long haul. The secret to leadership success is investing in your leadership development, much like letting your assets compound. The final result is “Leadership Growth” over time.

Leaders aren’t born; their made. The process of leadership is long, complicated and has made elements. Respect, dignity, discipline, people skills, vision, emotional strength, opportunity, preparedness and experience are just some of the intangible elements which come into play when talking leadership.

We can, over a period of time, increase our leadership potential if we can understand and accept the five levels of leadership. They are:

Level One - Leadership From Position

This is the basic level of leadership. At this level people follow you because they have to. Your ability to lead people is totally geared to your position and does not exceed beyond the lines of your job description or the authority granted to you by the company and your boss. Your security with the company is based on title and position, not talent.

To be an effective leader at this level know your job, be prepared to accept responsibility, exercise authority with caution, assess the strengths and short comings of your people, do more than what is expected and challenge people with interesting and tough assignments.

It is important that we recognize that Positional Level is the doorway to leadership and every successful leader must pass through this doorway.

Level Two - Leadership From Respect

At the respect level of leadership people follow you because they want to. The core of Leadership From Respect is that people want to know that you care, before they care about what you know. People see you as a professional partner, sharing the same goals and the same challenges along the way. Leadership will flourish at the respect because respect will breed lasting trusted professional relationships and that, in turn will provided the basis for effective leadership.

To be effective at the respect level, possess a genuine concern for your people. It is important that you see life through their eyes. Deal with wisely with difficult people and make employees successful by setting them up for success.

Since leadership from respect is built on professional relationships, it forms the foundation for leadership success.

Level Three - Leadership From Results

People follow you because of what you have done for the company. People admire you for your accomplishments and respect your tenacity. At this point leadership becomes fun. Going to work is fun, work related challenges are seen to be opportunities for a more stable work environment and all tasks have a purpose in the minds of the employees. Good things happen at the results level. Making profit, low employee turnover, higher employee morale and solving problems with ease are some of the items that become evident at this level.

To be an effective leader at this level be prepared to initiate and accept responsibility for growth by developing a purpose and seeing it through to completion. Develop accountability for results, beginning with yourself and ending with your people. Make the difficult decisions that will result in positive long term gains while championing change as a change agent and understanding the process of change.

Leadership from results is built on admiration for the leader.

Level Four - Leadership From People Development

People follow you because of what you have done for them. It is a leader’s responsibility to develop their people to do the work that is expected to contribute future growth opportunities to the company and the people who serve it. People are loyal to you because they see first hand personal growth opportunities for them as well as, the company. Leadership success is underscored by a win - win scenario and a high commitment to success.

To be effective at this level place a priority on developing people. Focus your attention on the fact that people are your most valuable asset and your leadership success will depend on your ability to surround yourself with an inner core of competent people who compliment your leadership style and goals.

Leadership from people development is built on loyalty.

Level Five - Leadership From Mentorship

People follow you because they respect you. As a leader you are bigger than life and your success is shown through a life of accomplishments. People seek you out after you have left the company because you have left an indelible mark on the organization and the employees. Although less than five per cent of all leaders will get to this level of leadership (John Mayberry from Dofasco, Darek Nowakowski from Con Agra and Clare Proctor from E.D. Smith come to mind) it is a level worth striving for.

In summary, everyone can become a better leader. It is important to keep in mind that the higher you go up the leadership scale, the longer it takes to accomplish results, the higher the commitment will be and it is imperative that we know what level we are on with our people and the company.

With over 40 years experience; Canadian Mangement Centre has earned the reputation as a trusted partner in worldwide leadership development and management education that improves the immediate performance and long-term results of over 12,000 Canadians every year.

A Look At The Fine Art Of Leadership Through The Eyes Of A Softball Coach

FORWARD.

I once remember my dad saying to me that, the most important things you learn in life are those things you learn once you thought you knew it all. I never really acknowledged the importance or the natural impact of that statement, until I coached ladies softball.

Although my coaching career spans a mire seven years, my experiences and professional relationships are the equivalent of twenty plus years. I have had the opportunity to work with several excellent softball coaches but, what is better they were and still are tremendous human beings.

These men will probably never coach a provincial softball team nor, will they ever be added to the coaching staff of a national softball team, because they’re not connected nor are they interested in being in the political arena that is derived from that position. They just want to coach and win at the game of softball; and win they do. Dean, Ray, David and Roger, all have one thing in common, they have forgotten more about the game and learned more about the players who play the game than most coaches can dream of learning.

Dean Garriock is a person who understands all aspects of the game of softball, especially defense and pitching. He expects the absolute best from his players and in return, he shares with the ladies his knowledge, wisdom and enthusiasm for the game.

Ray Turner, the best softball hitting coach in Canada is a person who looks for attitude. The more intense the player, the better for Ray. A true believer in offensive power he breaks the hitting game down into small, digestible elements.

David Haick is probably the finest and most generous person in the sport of softball. A great evaluator of talent, David tells it like it is. He puts his heart and time into the sport and expects his players to do the same. He is patient, relentless and compassionate.

Roger Davis is a student of the player. He studies the mental side of the game and communicates his commitment much the same way. A true believer in the Yogi Berra theory that the game is 80% mental and 50% physical, he instils in his players the need to think on the field - all the time.

Over the past four years I have coached with these four gentlemen and here are the lessons that they have taught me. It is belief that these lessons are not only applicable in softball, they also provide a value base to business.

LESSON ONE

Leadership has little to do with personality and even less to do with charisma. Leadership is honouring your people and expecting the same.

Any leader can go out and hire skill and knowledge. Just like any coach can recruit good softball players and capitalize on the hard work that other coaches have done and take credit because they won a national title. The true test of a leader is in building an individual’s self esteem and self image by building employee skill and knowledge. The winning team result is a symptom of instilling employee self confidence and self esteem once the foundation of skill and knowledge base are in place.

The real test of a good leader becomes evident when players barely know that they exists and not so good when people despise them. The good leader offers an abundance of constructive feedback and listens well; and when their work is done and goals are fulfilled, the team all say, we did it ourselves.

LESSON TWO

As a leader you must surround yourself with good people; people who are knowledgeable and allow you to draw upon their wisdom. People you can trust and talk openly and honestly with. People who will tell you what they think and why, not what you want to hear.

Good leaders recognize the fact you cannot build a team different from its leadership. Good leaders magnify their own abilities by surrounding themselves with good people. They recognize that they have limitations. They cannot do it all by themselves because they don’t have all the answers nor the expertise. Leaders learn from the pros. They observe them and seek them out as mentors and partners.

The focus is on being the best. If you focus on being the best, you will have the best management team, the best employees, the best products, the best services, the best of everything. Being the best is a mind set and the most basic goal of a leader because it allows people to set higher goals. The leader recognizes that a strong management team is the spine around which all the team’s performance takes place.

Only by surrounding yourself with good people will leaders accomplish great things and have fun doing it.

LESSON THREE

Being a leader means being responsible, accepting accountability and exercising authority.

Good leadership involves responsibility to the welfare of the team. This means that people will get angry at your actions and decisions. It is an inevitable fact, if you are accountable. Having a tough skin as a leader is not an option. Getting the absolute best from your team at all times goes with the territory.

Trying to get everyone to like you is a sign of mediocrity because you will avoid the tough decisions and you will avoid confronting the people and the issues that need to be confronted. Ironically, by delaying the difficult decisions, by not standing up for your beliefs, by trying not to get anyone angry or upset and by treating everyone equally and “nicely” regardless of performance and contributions, you simply ensure that the only people you wind up angering are the most productive and unselfish people on the team.

LESSON FOUR

Pay attention to details. When everyone on the team is busy thinking about the game and how to win, the leader must be focused and vigilant.

Successful leaders know that strategy and execution are the key to progression. All great ideas and recommendations are worthless if they can’t be implemented. Good leaders empower and encourage others to take charge and make decisions but, they pay attention to details everyday because they realize that, at the end of the day they are responsible for their people and their performance.

Secondly, good leaders also understand that a high level of execution breeds success and routine thinking. This in turn brings conformity and complacency, which dulls the mind and creates laziness. Leaders that pay attention to details, continually challenge the process, the methods and the players that made them successful in the first place.

LESSON FIVE

The good leaders are always great simplifiers, they put things in perspective and in terms that people can understand.

Effective leaders are true believers in the ‘KISS’ principle, Keep It Straight and Simple. They realize it is their responsibility to translate objectives and purpose into meaningful and useful information that achieves positive results. Their decisions are crisp, clear and convey an unwavering firmness and consistency. Clarity of purpose, credibility of leadership and organizational integrity is a result of simple, honest and straight forward communication.

LESSON SIX

Good leaders are not bamboozled by the so called experts. The good leaders know that many of these self acclaimed elite experts have more theory and data than they do judgment and practical experience.

Many of the good leaders are aware that they don’t have the financial resources nor the support staff that the lofty elites have. As a result, the leader is the coach, travel agent, the scheduler of games and financial support staff for some players. Just like in the real world, the leader answers the phones, drives the car, makes travel arrangements and does whatever is necessary to create corporate profitability.

Vigilant and combative, the good leader doesn’t always get the opportunity to attend the conferences, seminars and symposiums that the elites do. They just make it happen on the field, in the office and out in the plant because they have credibility with the players and they know what their talking about.

LESSON SEVEN

Be brave. Even when your not, pretend to be.

Good leaders realize that some days they are the statue, and other days they are the pigeon. It goes with the role of a coach and good leader, especially if you are in the business of building player skill, knowledge and self confidence. Good coaches know that they can’t win every game and they don’t. They even sometimes lose the big game.

The ripple effect of a leader’s enthusiasm and optimism is contagious and so is the impact of cynicism and pessimism. The coach who whines and blames the players, the umpires, the parents and even other coaches for the loss, are not only incompetent; they’re plain foolish. Leaders know that they will learn as much, if not more from a loss as they will a win. They believe in setting awesome goals and unrealistic expectations. They challenge everyone and everything around them, because perpetual optimism is a leaders multiplier.

LESSON EIGHT

The ultimate failure of a leader is their ability to anticipate and deal with problems.

The majority of leaders would fail miserably if this were a test. Problems on softball teams are as numerous as problems in business. Problems are universal - we all have them. It is not so much the frequency or the magnitude of these problems that a leader faces but, how they elect to deal with them. Why do business leaders fail? One, they build many barriers to communication and the thought of someone in the company would approach them and talk about personal challenges are unacceptable.

Just like some softball coaches, the premise is “what have you done for me lately?” They don’t want to know about your injuries, what you think about them or, what might be inhibiting your performance. To them, your just a player - go out and perform. If you can’t, leave. As a result employees much like players, learn to cover up mistakes, protect their ass and only do those jobs that are absolutely necessary, and the company / team pays the price.

Real leaders make themselves available and accessible to employees. They anticipate problems and show genuine concern for the efforts and challenges faced by employees, while maintaining high standards. These leaders realize that they are much more likely to create an environment of teamwork and dedication where emphasis is on problem recognition and analysis and long term solutions replace finding fault.

LESSON NINE

When selecting a team, look for attitude. Skills and knowledge are important but, attitude is critical. A strong attitude breeds loyalty, integrity, a high energy drive, a balanced ego, the drive to succeed, and promotes a sense of belonging and team pride.

In softball as is in business, skills and knowledge can be taught. We can train a novice in the fundamentals of the sport fairly readily if, we know the fundamentals ourselves. It’s a harder task to train someone to have pride in what they do, integrity, energy, balance and the willingness to succeed. The players, much like the employees that have that positive attitude, want to be their, on the job, willing to go that extra mile and do whatever is necessary to succeed.

Good leaders put a high emphasis on attitude because they know that employees will get more altitude in life from their attitude, than they will with their aptitude.

LESSON TEN

Leadership is lonely.

Harry Truman said it best when he said, “the buck stops here.” You can encourage team play, an atmosphere of involvement and a participative approach to management and competitiveness but, ultimately the final responsibility is yours.

The essence of leadership is the willingness to make the tough decisions, the sometimes questionable choices and the preparedness to live with the outcome. Even as you create a winning team and a sound approach to leading that team, prepare to be lonely.

With over 40 years experience; Canadian Mangement Centre has earned the reputation as a trusted partner in worldwide leadership development and management education that improves the immediate performance and long-term results of over 12,000 Canadians every year.

Are you a manager with too much time on your hands? Do you go home at the end of an eight hour day with boring regularity, leaving a clean desk and a clear conscience?

When rare errors occur in your organization do your employees openly discuss what went wrong so that you can find the root causes. Do they then compound the problem by volunteering to implement solutions?

If you work in the drug, medical device, or any other FDA regulated industry, then you must be particularly troubled. When the FDA inspectors show up and ask for your Corrective And Preventive Action files, are your’s too thin? Do the inspectors leave your company too quickly in search of someone else to inspect?

If all this sounds familiar, then you are not alienating your employees enough. Your employees have too much trust in you. They are too willing to share their experiences because they have no fear of retribution from you when you decide on corrective actions for errors.

Wouldn’t you rather have NO discretionary time in your life? Here are five sure-fire tips to create more fear in your employees and keep them from ever sharing facts openly during problem solving discussions.

1) Blamestorm, don’t brainstorm. When you investigate errors, focus on the people, not the business process. Frame your questions around the assumption that the employees are at fault. When you write up your corrective actions, use such terms as “Employee needs to be more alert” or “Employee assigned to be retrained”. Your employees will never realize that these terms are business-speak for “This employee is a negligent moron.”

Your corrective actions should never include engineering or procedural changes. These changes are a waste of time because they address basic business processes. After all, management designed the business process, and so couldn’t possibly be wrong.

2) Don’t use a Standard Operation Procedure for investigating errors. Use a different method for investigating errors every time. This makes so many good things happen. First of all you will never have to worry about getting better at root cause investigations. How could you, if you use a different technique every time?

Another advantage is that your employees will never know what’s going to happen. Predictability allays fear. You don’t want that to happen. You want to show them who’s boss.

3) Assume that none of your employees want to do a good job. You’ll be surprised how people will live down to your expectations. Sure, you might get disappointed. Every once in a while someone will overcome your expectations and actually contribute a thoughtful suggestion during problem solving sessions. But those occasions will be rare. They will feel your attitude and will cover up problems just like you assumed they would.

4) Don’t be concerned about fear in the workplace. W. Edwards Deming, the famous quality guru, insisted that managers must drive out fear. But why should employees fear you? After all you’re a nice person and besides, you are just doing your job.

Forget that Deming said that fear arises from the structure of the employee – manager relationship. Forget that in the mind of the employee the manager has all the power in the relationship. Forget that the manager determines the employee’s raise, that the manager can hire, that the manager can fire.

You don’t have to drive out fear from your relationship. You don’t have to build trust on a daily basis. You don’t have to meet simple commitments that you make to employees. If you say that you will meet an employee at a particular time to discuss something of concern to him, don’t worry about it. You’re the boss. He’ll understand it if you just blow him off.

5) Management By Walking Around. Stay parked in your office all day and don’t get out where your employees work until the next crisis comes up. Make sure your employees only see you when you storm out of your office with a problem and an attitude.

Don’t try to build relationships when you have time for a calm discussion about something the employee thinks is important. You want to give the impression that you’re overloaded with important manager stuff. You can’t waste time with their problems.

Follow these five simple principles and you’ll never have to worry about having any free time on your hands. Your root cause solutions will never start to build on each other to form a solid operational foundation that prevents future errors.

Your desk will be stacked to Biblical proportions with uncompleted projects. Your email in-box will explode out of your computer monitor almost daily with complaints about the latest error in your department. Eight hour days? Forget it. You’re going to be living at work.

Norm Howe, Senior Partner at Validation and Compliance Institute, consultants for FDA regulated industries. He got his BS at UC, Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in chemistry at UCLA. He has held many management positions, most at BASF. vcillc.com