Episode 38 : Become The Leader You Would Follow - Part 2

Welcome to the Unstoppable Profit Podcast. This podcast will give you all the tools to grow your business and live life on your terms. Millionaire agents and entrepreneurs think and act differently than others. This podcast will give you a simple, proven three step blueprint to grow your business. Over the past 31 years of research in your industry, Mike Stromso has created a unique philosophy called the three people Process and production Motion. This outside the box thinking and guidance provides agency entrepreneurs just like you the knowledge and tools you can quickly implement to explode your agency business. He has been there, done that, and he's still doing it. Wherever you are today, if you're starting with nothing or are well on your way to the success you desire, with the right people, processes and promotions in place, you will be unstoppable. And now I'd like to introduce your host, Mike Stromso.

Greetings everybody. This is Mike Stromco coming to you live from the Living Agency Laboratory. And welcome to episode 38 of the Unstoppable Prophet podcast. Again, I'm coming to you live from the Living Agencies Laboratory. And today we're going to be talking about become the leader you would follow part two. Become the leader you would follow part two. We launched part one recently and I want to remind you of the four keys to being a successful successful. To let me back up for a minute. I want to remind you of the four keys to leading a successful team. The four keys to leading a successful team. Number one, we talked about it on the last podcast, training and coaching. Number two, team motivation. Talked about that on the last podcast. If you're not 100% sure on that, go back and listen to podcast 37. Okay, number three, that we're going to talk about today is team accountability. And. And number four, developing the leaders around you. So today we're gonna dive in and talk about accountability, which is the third key to leading a successful team. So let's dive in. And the bottom line is this. I wanna start off with this. And I say it in so many things that I do because it applies to so many different situations. No one cares how much you know until they know you care. My friends, it is absolutely accurate. No one cares how much you know until they know you care. So you've got to express that they care, but you've also got to force a no excuses type of environment in a caring way because it's all about accountability, accountability, accountability. You see, according to Stephen Covey, who wrote the Seven Habits of Highly Successful People, he says accountability breeds responsibility, Accountability breeds responsibility. And ultimately, at the end of the day is all about self responsibility, empowering people to become everything that they can be and more. And that's what leaders do. They breed the accountability which makes them responsible and empowers them to do everything they need to do going forward. So question for you today is about workflow. What are you doing about workflow and how does your workflow build in to recognize your team? So how does your team earn the recognition, the praise to be rewarded for a job well done? And how does your workflow fold into that? Do you have something installed? So we have a workflow sheet that we use within our organization. It's very, very simple. It's got a five point instruction plan on the top of it. And we're looking to build that into our digital operations here going forward. But at the end of the day, it's got the functions that we want just as simple as this is. And I know it's rudiment, rudimentary, the date and time, the name, phone, email, the policy or claim number, the worker action required by this touch, and the date done. It's really that simple. And we're building in workflows into everything that we do in mostly the service sector, not necessarily the sales sector. So how do you build praise and recognition into that? Because we said on the last podcast, and I'll repeat this because it's so vitally important that I learned in my study of Nordstrom's, people want two things more than money and sex. They want praise and recognition. So praise them and recognize them every way and every day. Next. Delegate and elevate. Delegate and elevate. Clear expectations through effective communication equal a task done right and well done done. Let me say it again, that's, that's critical. Clear expectations through effective communication equal a task done right and well done. All right, I am looking at our delegate and elevate sheet in our organization, what gets written down gets done. It's got a P underline blank next to it and that P On a scale 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest priority. And then if it's not, it just goes down the ladder and can wait. But if it's a P10, we drop what we're doing and we execute that particular task. Alright? It's got a date and what it's all about, simply the person that's going to do the task, I bring them in, I hand them that, I say, this is what I need done, I want it done. Okay? And they hand them the sheet. There's no questions. I Go back to them. I say, do you have any questions about what you just wrote down in your own handwriting? They fill it out. I do not. And if they say no, I expect it to get done. I expect it to get done within a certain amount of time. It always has a deadline. And I say I need it done by this time. Okay? The other way that we enforce accountability within our organization is through our PX3 program, which means passion, purpose and profitability is the three Ps P times three. And it's about goals and an action plan for all of our individual team members. I get to facilitate that is so vitally important. I personally facilitate that every month for 20 minutes. Me1 on one with the team member behind closed doors and we make sure that their goals and their action plan are dialed in to keep them moving forward. And you want to know the ninja trick here? The ninja One item is this.

I ask them one simple question. What more can I do for you to support you in your goals, in your action plan going forward? That's the only question I ask. And I just shut up. Because good leaders ask great questions and they shut up, alright? And they just tell me everything I need to know and it goes all over the place. Because we strongly recommend within our organization that you know, they want to set some personal goals in their PX3 planner. I am totally good with that. All right, so again, the PX3 plan, passion, purpose and profit equals the action. So we have, I'm looking at a PX3 plan sheet right now. You know, whatever their passion is about, we want to set their goals in their areas of passion. The things that they love, love, love to do. The other thought process in this realm is think about it like this. If money were not an object, what would you be doing with your life? If money were not an object, what would you be doing with your life? That is the part of the fuel of passion. What is their purpose? What is their the meaning of life to them? What is their gift? What is their personal gift and talents? We want to make sure their goals are built around that. And ultimately it has to have some profit involved because we're in business right now. Business doesn't necessarily mean money directly. Profit could come from repeat customers or customers that boast out there in the world. AKA raving fans out there talking to everybody they know about you. We just had that situation last night and this morning. A raving fan we've created already in the first week of doing business with this person. It's actually absolutely wonderful and Phenomenal. All right. Then we set the goals for the year. Each goal for the top three goals have a five point action plan under each goal. It's all in the PX3 program. And we just simply encourage that they take five action steps under each goal consistently. And if you consistently take the action steps every single day and every single way, you will get to your goals or you blow your goals away. In the PX3 book, every month has a monthly marketing idea. We've tried to make it so easy for you. You don't have to think, you just have to execute. And we give this to you for your team if that's what you want to do within your organization as well. The only thing I'm going to comment there, it works, FYI. And then we do a monthly, they do a monthly self review at the end of the month and the monthly self review and things like behaviors and actions. I'm most consistent with behaviors and actions. I'm most inconsistent with my wins, my lessons, my fixes, my aha moments and the three things I'm most grateful for during this month were. And the three greatest lessons learned from study and practice this month were. See if they will go through and recap this every single month. It's absolutely magical. They'll go, aha, aha, aha. I'm seeing it. And we do everything that we can do within our organization to build in an attitude of gratitude every single day and every single way. What's your investment? Like I said, my investment is 20 minutes, one on one with every person in the organization who participates in PX3. And it says, I'm looking at the calendar right now. And the cool thing about it is it says right on there, unless otherwise advised, the monthly updates will be per the calendar. If you will not be in the office, it's your responsibility to schedule the makeup. So I don't dance around. If somebody can't make it or somebody, it's up to them to reschedule it because if it's important, it will get rescheduled because it's part of the growth mechanisms that are present within our insurance agency business. I'm looking at some UPP member success stories. The most wonderful moment was when one of my team leaders said, look at last year's PX3 update in January. And compared to this year's, there's a visual of the amazing thing, the transformation that's taking place in just a one year period. What I always say is don't give up. And along the way I got better at leading and I got better at following. This PX3 program has helped me develop. The one thing that's helped the most is sending the PX3 update out at least a week in advance. This is the leader talking now because it gives them time to plan to be ready for the PX3 updates. Very, very proud of them. Absolutely magical, phenomenal stuff. And you know, I'm looking at this, this update over a year of transformation. They've got two sales on the list, three calls and five calls. I'm not sure what that's all about. Four calls, one sale. I mean, every single day of the month has something going on in that particular realm to support. Goal number one, goal number two, goal number three. Absolutely magical, transformational stuff. So that's a recap for you on team accountability. There's a lot more, but again, these are all things that you can do starting today, starting right here, starting right now, Wherever you're at, go do it. Alright? And if you have any questions about the PX3 program, please give us a call at 800-770-9984. Repeat, 800-770-9984. And our customer service experience, phenomenal experience team, if you will. Our customer experience team will be happy to take great care of you. So let's jump onto the fourth key to leading a successful team. And that's develop leaders around you. Develop leaders around you. The goal of all great leaders should be to build great leaders around them. It's really that simple. Looking at Mr. John Maxwell, one of my great leadership mentors, if you really want to be a successful leader, you must develop other leaders around you. You must establish a team. The definition of team to repeat is together, everybody achieves more. Together, everybody achieves more. I breathe that in our organization a lot right in front of the team because I believe it. I believe it in my heart of hearts and I say it all of the time. Our leadership team recently went on an adventure to Zappos in Las Vegas. We had a phenomenal, phenomenal time learning about the mental, mentality and really what it takes to become better leaders. And one of the top things that I learned from Zappos, you think we talk a lot about hire slow fire, fast, they take it to another level. It's absolutely phenomenal to me. In fact, they have a test that they administer to their team members after two weeks on the team. If they fail, if the team member fails the test, they release them right there on the spot. A test after two weeks. I love that idea. And one other thing that they do after one month, they actually offer the team member one month's compensation to leave. They say, all right, you've been here for a month. We want to offer you one month's compensation. If you want to end a relationship right now, take it or leave it. That's, that's, that's got nads, if you will, or Hutzfah. All right? But at the end of the day, what they're gauging for is commitment. Is that person committed to the organization or are they not? What's more important to them? Money or something else? You see, commitment, the definition of commitment is doing the thing that you said you were going to do long after the mood you set it in has passed. And I'm looking at my team at Zappos. I'm sure you'll see this photo sometime, but I couldn't be more proud of them. I'm grateful for our leadership team. They're doing phenomenal things. So we have our organizational chart and part of developing leaders around you is having their destination in front of them so that they know where they're going. Knowing your destination is all you need to get there. Knowing your destination is all you need to get there. So set the destination that you want for them. Let go of the vine and get the frick out of the way. Alright? Let them do what they need to do. Empower them to do what they need to do. And if you don't let them fail once in a while, they're never going to flipping learn. How did you learn what you learned? It's through wins and lessons. Wins and lessons. There's going to be lessons. As long as nobody died, you're going to be okay. All right, so our org chart, I'm the visionary. We've got our integrator, which is J.R. we got our director of welcome, we have our sales director, we have our service director, we have our marketing director, and we have a head of finance. Okay, so I, I actually sit in that chair along with my integrator. But we have a whole org chart that lists where everybody in the organization fits into and the chair that they get predict they get to sit in. And don't forget, I've said that before, and I'll say it again because it's so vitally important. You've got to make sure that everybody's in the right seat. You've got to make sure that everybody is in the right seat all of the time. Critically important, my friends. All right, next. Oh, isn't that a great Segue. The next thing we're going to talk about is people in the right seat. So write this down, please. Gwc. Gwc. All right, and what that means, this is about people in the right seat. Do they get it? Do they get it? Do all the neurons in their brain connect when you explain and they do the job, does it connect? Does he or she get all the ins and outs of the position? Do they get it? Not everyone gets it. And it's not a bad thing. He or she just needs to be in a different seat. But do they get it? Do they get their position and what they need to be doing as a active participant within your organization? Do they want it? Do they generally want the job and the position? You can't pay, motivate, force, or beg him or her to want it. He or she has to want it on their own. And lastly, do they have the capacity? And I learned that last year. I can't begin to tell you what a difference has made in my mind and my mindset as a leadership person. Does he or she have the mental, physical, spiritual, time, knowledge and emotional capacity to do the job? Yes or no? If you can't answer that right off the get go, you need to go back and study. Because you should know, right yes or right no? And if it's a no, then they either need to be in another seat or they've got to go. My friends, this is so critical, I can't even begin to tell you. It only takes one bad apple. And I've seen it time and time and time again. It's happened to me as well. And I will never ever let that happen again. Because you can't change people, okay? See, there's a difference between a leader and there's difference between a boss. Do you know what the difference is? Let me drop some words that describe a boss, okay? And I don't recommend this, okay? They drive the employees. They depend on authority. They inspire fear. They say I, I, I all the time. They place blame for the breakdown on somebody else. They know how it's done. They use people. They take credit for everything. They drop commands all the time and they say, go, go, go. All right, that's a boss. Let me talk about a true leader. A leader coaches people. They operate on goodwill, they generate enthusiasm. They say, we never I, we did this, we do that. All right? They fix the breakdowns. They show how it's done. They develop people. They give credit. They ask questions. They ask great pointed questions and they shut up and they say, let go. As A leader. Let go of the vine.

Readers are leaders. Okay. I have a phenomenal visual from my grandson Jameson, as he was growing up about leaders or readers. Okay. Some of the things that I can drop some book names on you, of course. Good to Great. The iconic Good to Great by Jim Collins. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni. How to be a Great Boss by Gino Wickman, and another one by Gina Wickman is traction. So these are all good thought processes for leaders to study, and I believe every one of those is on my mistress Audible. Yes, my mistress is audible. My wife knows all about her, but she's in my ear all of the time. We have leadership team meetings within our organization. It starts with, the agenda is very quick. It's a segue. It's a scorecard. It's a rock review. It's a customer and employee headlines, a to do list. And that's all done within 20 minutes. And then we get into the discussion parts, the meat of the meeting, and we identify, discuss, and solve things. Boom, ba boom, ba boom. And it gets done. We don't let stuff lie around. We don't let stuff fester. Ba boom, ba boom, boom boom. We identify, we discuss it, we solve it, and it's done. We conclude the meeting with a recap of the to do list, our cascading message for that particular we to our entire organization, and we rate the meeting, and we are done. And it's fantastic. The identify, the ids, the identify, discuss, and solve segment. Let me give you some clarity on that. Step one, the identify is one clear sentence. The real issue, what's it all about? Okay. Secondly, we go around the horn. We let everybody discuss. All right. The matter open and transparent communication number three. Solve it. Once everybody agrees, or at least mostly agree, then we can have a live discussion of what we're talking about. Okay.

My friends, having everybody on the same page as a leadership team within the organization, it's absolutely critical. But at the core of it all is what I learned from my late, great friend, Mr. Rick Robbins. And if Rick was listening to this, and maybe he is from up above.

He would agree because he and I became very close. We got to be very close before he went on a dream vacation to Costa Rica. And rick in his mid-40s dream vacation. Unfortunately, his kids went out in the water. It was a riptide. He went in to save them. He got them back on the beach. He didn't make it back to the beach. Rick Robbins gave his life that day to save his Boys.

But among that, Rick was just a phenomenal human being. And that's the one thing among many that I remember about Rick. A phenomenal human being. But Rick shared something with me in the years that we had together as close friends, personally and professionally, that I will never forget. And I wanted to share this with you today because as the leader, this is iconic. What is coming from you is coming from within you. What's coming from you is coming from within you. Your mindset is your skill set. So what you're putting into your mind will come out of your mouth, all right? So make sure that you're putting the right stuff in. In the words of my great mentor, Mr. Jim Rohn, if you want to have more, you have to become more. For things to change, you have to change. For things to get better, you have to become better. If you improve, everything will improve for you. If you grow your money will grow, your relationships, your health, your business, and every external effect will mirror that growth in equal correlation, my friends, it's not rocket science. You know what you have to do. And of course, to wrap it up today, the number one leadership thought that I've heard of all time so far is very, very simple. Please write this down. Would I follow me? Would I follow me? And if you wouldn't follow you right now, then if you want things to change, you have to change. Regardless of our past, we have a spotless future. Regardless of our past, we have a spotless future. You have a spotless future. Do something about it and prove the fact that you are the leader that people should follow by answering the question, would I follow me? My friends, this is Mike Srumso coming to you live from the Living Agency Laboratory. I hope this two part series on becoming the leader that you would follow has been helpful to you. All you got to do right now is implement, execute, and take action. I can't wait to see you on the next podcast. Until then, make a difference, be unstoppable and leave no regrets. I'll catch up with you soon. Thank you for listening. If you would like to listen to more episodes or share this podcast with someone you care about, Please visit delve www.unstoppableprofitpodcast.com. now go out and make a difference. Be unstoppable and leave no regrets.