- Being the Boss (43)
- Creating the Culture (49)
- Customer Service (22)
- Hiring Process (8)
- Making Money (34)
- Marketing (16)
- Saving Money (11)
- Training (26)
- Welcome (1)
- 5. February 2012: Reward Yourself
- 31. January 2012: Embrace Your Fears
- 2. January 2012: Welcome to 2012!
- 25. October 2011: Micro-Manage This!
- 9. October 2011: Small Wins
- 20. August 2011: Does This Look Good?
- 16. June 2011: Retitled: What Time Is It??
- 21. May 2011: Top 10 Myths of Franchising
- 27. March 2011: Is it Plugged In??
- 10. March 2011: Harness Your Profit POWER!
- February 2012
- January 2012
- October 2011
- August 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- March 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
Finding the Message
I was looking around my house for new items that would help me convey a sense of team dynamics to a group I will be speaking to later this week. I have a speech I will use about the disconnect in most teams and how the dynamics of getting a team to embody a message is difficult, but not impossible. Great speech if I do say so, but it was missing an element. Something for the audience to “visually” hold onto while I made my story come to life.
I thought about using a knife since you need to cut through the clutter of “stuff” that gets in the way of delivering and receiving a message. Can you image a speaker holding a knife in front of a group talking about slashing through the outside junk that builds up between you and your employees? I came to the quick conclusion that they would wheel me out in a straight jacket if I did that.
I thought about bringing a peach. Peaches smell nice and no one will think I lost my mind. (That last sentence will not stand on it’s own) Anyway, back to the peach…sometimes you need to gain a person’s focus with something that draws on one or more of their senses. Peaches smell nice, taste great and feel soft and comfortable. Most people know the taste of a peach and can see themselves eating it. The point of using a peach is to say that there is a lot of reasons to just focus on the outside, tasty side of a peach, but if you want to grow, you need to dig through that part and get to the core where the pit is. You can either focus on the one peach (the comfortable side of business) or you can focus on getting the team to put the pit in the ground and have each member of the team add their skills to growing a peach tree (the business) that will give you peaches (money) for years. I am not sure I would be able to make a good point of team dynamics by talking about a peach, but it is a good visual…and tasty.
I kept wandering around my house thinking about how to get a message across to a group of people who are glad to have a job, but want to do as little as possible to make a living. Then it hit me. No, really it hit me. My son threw a ball at me and yelled “catch!”. How’s that for finding a visual?
Once I regained my senses and reassured my son that he was not in trouble, I looked at the ball and and I went through what happened. In one word and in one action, my son made the point he wanted to get across to me. “Catch the ball!” Often I will clutter up my own words, actions, and attitude with too much stuff. Stuff is the junk that makes every simple thing more complicated. Holding the ball, I figured it out…toss simple, clear, understandable ideas to your team. If they don’t get it, then get rid of them. They aren’t trying and you do not have time to slow down for them.
Clear messages are the thing that most people have a hard time with when they want something done. The best leaders make a clear statement. They don’t spend time trying to get you to understand the history of why they are making the statement. They just talk clearly, with one idea and one message. I wish someone had thrown a ball at me when I was younger. I would have saved piles of time and effort. I probably would be a lot further ahead in life and business had I been jarred with a round object hurled at high speed.
Great team dynamics happen when you slow down and clear out the “stuff”. Stop wasting time with explanations or trying to fit every message to everyone. Either they trust you or they don’t. Follow up on your directions and you will see who is listening and part of your team and who is not. There is no way to please everyone and there is no way to have a group of people who are not on the job to follow you and find success. Don’t feel bad for the ones who don’t get it. They need to find their own clear message…with a different team.
By the way, I am going to use the ball. I had already eaten the peach.
42 Responses to “Finding the Message”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
19. March 2010 at 10:18
dog bite law suits…
Nice article I love reading stuff like this…
21. March 2010 at 14:08
Thanks. We try to keep things clean and clear at Business Bulldog. There is no advertising or cookies. Come back often and send a few friends!
Bob Griffin
Business Bulldog - CEO and Founder
12. May 2010 at 15:02
Спасибо! Прикольная вещь!!!…
I was looking around my house for new items that would help me convey a sense of team dynamics to a group I will be speaking to later this week…..
20. January 2012 at 05:19
Sites we Like……
[…] Every once in a while we choose blogs that we read. Listed below are the latest sites that we choose […]……
25. January 2012 at 09:57
Related……
[…]just beneath, are numerous totally not related sites to ours, however, they are surely worth going over[…]……
25. January 2012 at 12:22
Great website…
[…]we like to honor many other internet sites on the web, even if they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Under are some webpages worth checking out[…]……
25. January 2012 at 12:51
Visitor recommendations…
[…]one of our visitors recently recommended the following website[…]……
25. January 2012 at 13:36
Sources…
[…]check below, are some totally unrelated websites to ours, however, they are most trustworthy sources that we use[…]……
25. January 2012 at 18:35
Recommeneded websites…
[…]Here are some of the sites we recommend for our visitors[…]……
27. January 2012 at 09:15
Recommeneded websites…
[…]Here are some of the sites we recommend for our visitors[…]……
27. January 2012 at 17:29
Gems form the internet…
[…]very few websites that happen to be detailed below, from our point of view are undoubtedly well worth checking out[…]……
27. January 2012 at 18:50
Recommeneded websites…
[…]Here are some of the sites we recommend for our visitors[…]……
27. January 2012 at 19:05
Superb website…
[…]always a big fan of linking to bloggers that I love but don’t get a lot of link love from[…]……
28. January 2012 at 09:12
Read was interesting, stay in touch……
[…]please visit the sites we follow, including this one, as it represents our picks from the web[…]……
29. January 2012 at 10:48
Sites we Like……
[…] Every once in a while we choose blogs that we read. Listed below are the latest sites that we choose […]……
29. January 2012 at 12:00
Links…
[…]Sites of interest we have a link to[…]……
29. January 2012 at 13:33
Sites we Like……
[…] Every once in a while we choose blogs that we read. Listed below are the latest sites that we choose […]……
29. January 2012 at 16:31
Related……
[…]just beneath, are numerous totally not related sites to ours, however, they are surely worth going over[…]……
29. January 2012 at 16:45
Sites we Like……
[…] Every once in a while we choose blogs that we read. Listed below are the latest sites that we choose […]……
29. January 2012 at 17:56
Visitor recommendations…
[…]one of our visitors recently recommended the following website[…]……
30. January 2012 at 03:02
Superb website…
[…]always a big fan of linking to bloggers that I love but don’t get a lot of link love from[…]……
30. January 2012 at 17:05
Online Article……
[…]The information mentioned in the article are some of the best available […]……
31. January 2012 at 05:58
Awesome website…
[…]the time to read or visit the content or sites we have linked to below the[…]……
31. January 2012 at 06:16
Sources…
[…]check below, are some totally unrelated websites to ours, however, they are most trustworthy sources that we use[…]……
31. January 2012 at 09:28
Sites we Like……
[…] Every once in a while we choose blogs that we read. Listed below are the latest sites that we choose […]……
31. January 2012 at 10:12
Online Article……
[…]The information mentioned in the article are some of the best available […]……
31. January 2012 at 15:13
Related……
[…]just beneath, are numerous totally not related sites to ours, however, they are surely worth going over[…]……
31. January 2012 at 16:39
Online Article……
[…]The information mentioned in the article are some of the best available […]……
1. February 2012 at 06:00
Gems form the internet…
[…]very few websites that happen to be detailed below, from our point of view are undoubtedly well worth checking out[…]……
1. February 2012 at 06:29
Visitor recommendations…
[…]one of our visitors recently recommended the following website[…]……
1. February 2012 at 14:43
Gems form the internet…
[…]very few websites that happen to be detailed below, from our point of view are undoubtedly well worth checking out[…]……
3. February 2012 at 03:04
Related…
[…]just beneath, are numerous totally not related sites to ours, however, they are surely worth going over[…]…
3. February 2012 at 03:32
Related……
[…]just beneath, are numerous totally not related sites to ours, however, they are surely worth going over[…]……
3. February 2012 at 05:11
Recommeneded websites…
[…]Here are some of the sites we recommend for our visitors[…]……
3. February 2012 at 05:46
Awesome website…
[…]the time to read or visit the content or sites we have linked to below the[…]……
3. February 2012 at 07:42
Recommeneded websites…
[…]Here are some of the sites we recommend for our visitors[…]……
3. February 2012 at 07:58
Related……
[…]just beneath, are numerous totally not related sites to ours, however, they are surely worth going over[…]……
3. February 2012 at 08:47
Sites we Like……
[…] Every once in a while we choose blogs that we read. Listed below are the latest sites that we choose […]……
3. February 2012 at 09:24
Sources…
[…]check below, are some totally unrelated websites to ours, however, they are most trustworthy sources that we use[…]……
3. February 2012 at 14:53
Sites we Like……
[…] Every once in a while we choose blogs that we read. Listed below are the latest sites that we choose […]……
3. February 2012 at 22:12
Bing results…
While searching Yahoo I discovered this page in the results and I didn’t think it fit…