In this edition:
Go Wild! GO GREAT News:
- "Young Presidents" Not So Lonely at the Top!
How Top Businesses Use Tribal Councils to achieve a "Quickening of the People"
- "Help-- I’m losing my Mind"
Yes You are! 5 Ways to Battle the Machines!
- Blueprint for Success!
Rosemary’s New Book with Dr. Stephen Covey and Ken Blanchard is Here
|
 Young Presidents Organization----Not So Lonely at the Top!
The Spring/Summer Tribal Council
Howdy Partners! I just returned from facilitating a 2 Day YPO Forum at a California Dude Ranch. For those of you not familiar with the YPO, this top drawer organization, which has been around since 1950 represents a virtual "Who's Who of Business Leaders”. There's considerable business and political influence in this group with YPO members including Former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Nelson Mendela and Fidel Castro. YPO was founded so that Top Business Leaders (CEO's, Chairmen & Managing Directors) could find wisdom through mutual support and not have to say "man it's lonely at the top".
 The YPO Mission: "Better Leaders Through Education and Idea Exchange". CEO Think Tanks are a concept that dates back to Native American Tribal Councils, where the Top Tribal Chiefs gathered around the fire to share best practices of hunting and fishing. Today those discussions held in the trusted privacy of the CEO Tribal Circle are about a different, but nonetheless challenging, hunt to build a prosperous and ethical organization in a competitive marketplace. Talk to any CEO! To be beloved and respected by shareholders, customers and employees, not to mention your number one customer "your own family" requires a mixture of warrior instinct and an ultimate blend of Survival Skills and Emotional Intelligence.
So how do you talk about such serious stuff and get results in a 2 day retreat? Well the format is not really that different from Native American Pow-WOW's, known as a "Quickening of the People" which use Tribal Council Rituals to achieve mind and body connection and build trusted communication among tribal members.
There was definitely a “Quickening of the people” during this YPO Retreat, as members barely had time to breathe with a packed agenda that included "A Rocks and Ropes Team Adventure", Martial Arts Training for the CEO, "A Course in Leadership and Fly Fishing” and even a workshop in how the “Wisdom of Wine Makers can improve Corporate Communications.” There were even two rounds of Golf---Yes Golf Can Improve Your Leadership Game! A Core Theme: in order to help each other be successful, team members need to know each other first and what better way to do that than with the help of the Great Outdoors!
Planning a Spring/Summer Tribal Council for Your Team:
Unlike Training seminars, planning and facilitating a Senior Team Retreat or Think Tank is not about the speaker or facilitator’s message as much as it is the dynamic of building a "trusted group alliance" through structured activities designed to improve creative thinking and communication between team members. Careful design of the agenda and activities to match the team's overall objectives and desired outcomes is critical and should include pre-planned debriefing questions that prompt dialogue and practical business application. For example, these YPO Execs shared a “hot business idea” while balanced on "high wires". HUA! There’s a whole different perspective when you’re dangling in the air and depending on each other. There’s also little wasted chit chat.
In deciding the ROI of hosting a Team Retreat Council begin by asking, what you would like to have in your hands at the end of your Tribal Council? A definitive improvement in team communication and synergy? A tangible work product such as a Business Plan? It’s amazing how much can be produced in 2 days of compressed team creativity and communication without interruption of day to day tasks! See this month’s article on loss of brain power! Then, the real work begins: planning the agenda, selecting a creative meeting environment and designing physical team activities to achieve the meeting objectives. Of course you can outsource the soup to nuts of planning your retreat and insure state of the art facilitation is used through Go Wild! Go GREAT! Team Building Adventures, which hosts corporate retreats in the United States, Canada and Latin America. Just tell us your date and objectives and we make sure it happens. Write Rosemary@gowildgogreat.com for a Retreat Planning Kit.
Rosemary, Thanks again for a wonderful and valuable experience. The lessons are already having an impact on my business and my leadership team interaction, not to mention the calming influence the experience has translated to my family life. Conservation of energy, seek to understand before being understood.
- John Benevides, CEO Family Office /YPO Forum
"We really enjoyed our time with you and you did an awesome job putting together the event"
- Jason Atkins, President & CEO/Forum Meeting Planner, TMR, Inc.
Note: For more hands-on involvement in retreat planning, you can join me in Atlanta as I am honored to teach a 2-day Leadership Facilitation Course at this Year’s International Conference of the Creative Problem Solving Institute which will be held in Atlanta, Georgia beginning Saturday, June 21st. For Information and registration visit the CPSI conference web-site at www.cpsiconference.com. During this amazing week-long Conference, I will be joined by International Experts in Creativity including Storytellers, Composers and Artists and leading Business Authors. Boost Your Brain Power during a week with the World’s Creative Community.
Article Reference: For Information on the YPO Organization, visit www.YPO.org
 "Help-- I’m losing my Mind"
Yes You are! 5 Ways to Battle the Machines!
Do the Math! Despite the flood of technology designed to increase our productivity and make our lives easier, here are the facts:
-A Recent British Survey shows that 1 out of 4 of us can’t remember our own phone number.
-Time Productivity Studies reflect that every time we switch from task to task, we lose 45% productivity. Multi-tasking gives the false illusion of getting more done when in fact the quality of work is poor.
-Top Work-Life Balance Expert, Jeff Davidson recently reported in his writings “most of the pressure we feel to be on call 24-7, is actually self-imposed and high-tech living is getting in the way of relationships and not just work. Here’s a Relationship Reality Check: A recent survey shows many people spend more time with technology than with a significant other! Yikes!
Remember Schwarzenegger battling the Machines? Technology should be working for and not against us. Yet in today’s world, we are flooded by hundreds of e-mails and what seems an endless treadmill of learning new technology just as we master the machine we have! Here are 5 quick to help you use technology and not be a slave to it. I have to tell you traveling so much this month, including being at SEA around Cape Horn for several days and returning to a Tsunami of e-mails, it’s an issue near and dear to my heart. Also: Please write me with your ideas on how to Master the Machines and I’ll include your tip in next month’s newsletter!
Let’s use the Tribal Council System for Sharing Hot Ideas so we conquer technology and it doesn’t conquer us.
1. Follow the Advice of Julie Morgenstern and “Never Check E-Mail in the Morning”. Remember your First 15 minutes of the Day Jump-Starts the most powerful computer you own: Your Own Brain-Power! How you spend those first 15 minutes sets the tone for a Positive and Productive Boot-up. Skip E-mail and CNN, and instead read something inspirational or commune with nature, pets or your family.
2. Jeff Davidson who reported the sad truth about technology getting more of our time than our personal relationships also suggests scheduling pockets of technology free time. I have reported in prior newsletters that many of my clients are now scheduling 1 Hour of Focus Times in a “Quiet Room” to work on Priority Projects Each Day. Imagine what you can accomplish in just one hour without the intrusion of IM’s, E-Mails, and Phone Calls.
3. Consider Color-Coding E-mails for easier sorting. Our brain responds to color filing, so you can give immediate attention to incoming priority “Red Correspondence” and Save the “Yellow FYI’s” for blocks of review reading time. It’s funny how some things never change. I once worked for a CEO (yes before email) who would attach a red sticker to anything he wanted me to address within 8 hours. I’ll tell you, when I saw a red flag in my in-box, I was on it. Note: some CEO’s and Professionals use the art of delegation to limit incoming emails by having a Virtual or Office Assistant first review, filter and code action items. If you go this route, important training on communication preferences and trust/confidentiality is required.
4. Create E-mail protocols and a standard language for E-mails in your Office including standard Subject Lines that indicate needed action and timeframes.
5. Create e-mail Templates for Standard Responses with the ability to customize content. Again a filing system that works like your brain does is of course the key to quick retrieval.
Bonus Tip: No Matter what, spend more time with people than machines.
 The Blueprint for Success is here!
Hot off the Presses, Rosemary’s new book of best practices with 13 other Top Business Authors including 7 Habits Author, Dr. Stephen Covey and 1 minute Manager, Author, Ken Blanchard.
Order a copy of the “Blueprint” for your entire team and de-brief one chapter in each of your regular team meetings.
Single copies: $19.95 plus $6.95 shipping and handling
Team Discounts: (Multiple Copies 5) or more $15.00 plus actual shipping costs, depending on quantity
Click here to order
To learn more about Rosemary's Go Wild Go GREAT! The Journey From Now To
WOW! Formulas and Training Programs, visit her website...
www.gowildgogreat.com
www.costaricatraining.com
or www.retreatscostarica.com
or email her at: Rosemary@gowildgogreat.com
|
