ONE: Leaders Focus on Small Improvements.
Roberta Brehm, the president of Vyron Corporation, trains with us at Pete Mueller Performance group and she commented how when she works with her strength coach, Chelsea, that she may be working a specific muscle group and Chelsea asks where Roberta is feeling it. Based on the feedback, Chelsea may ask Roberta to move her foot one inch to the right and suddenly a different muscle group is being worked. Roberta said, “The modifications are ridiculous. It’s not intuitive. It’s a really intelligent approach.”
The same is true in business. Sometimes it is the small modifications to a process that yield the most amazing returns for the business. It could be as simple as adjusting how you follow up with your existing clients, grow referrals, or improve your customer experience or service. They say the devil is in the details, but actually it is the consistent small improvements that can be the difference maker for most businesses. If you simply focus on 1% improvement every month it will result in a compounded effect over time. This focus on small improvements isn’t 1+1 but becomes exponential improvement.
TWO: Leaders Prioritize Stress Management.
Roberta told us that her strength training significantly reduces stress levels and if she misses a week of training because of travel she feels the difference and is eager to get back into the rhythm of her training. Our physical health and strength are directly connected to our daily work performance and mental presence. We always say you should discover what you look and feel like at 100% because then you wouldn’t settle for anything less. Your company, your family, and your community need you at your best and strength training provides massive momentum to get you to your peak performance. Roberta commented that if “you are stressed out your product sucks”, and your customers and employees know it. The mood and culture you create as a leader starts with you and it is contagious.
THREE: Leaders Invest in Themselves.
“This is really critically important, for the company, for me to invest in myself”, Roberta told us. She added, “as a leader (your employees) look to you to know how they should be acting and feeling (about the business)”. She also said, “If we are frustrated or stress-out, that just bleeds down to the culture of the company”. Culture starts with the leaders of an organization. If you do not spend time investing in yourself as a leader to perform at your best you are doing your company a disservice.
FOUR: Leaders have a Strategic Approach.
A well-known scripture says, “without a vision the people perish.” The same is true of businesses and our personal fitness. Strategy means there is a plan and the better and more intelligent that plan is only increases your odds of success. A strategic plan tells us not only WHAT we are going to do but HOW we are going to do it. Once you’ve worked that plan and produced some learnings from it you evaluate what you need to change about your strategy. You should be asking if the strategy is working. You may ask, “have we given the strategy sufficient time to produce the result we are looking for before we change course?” The beauty of strength coaching is we are constantly making adjustments based on each individual’s needs and information the body gives us.
Roberta recommends our strength training services to anyone, “looking for a strategic approach, not just a shot-gun approach, of getting sweaty, burning a few calories and getting your heart rate up. I didn’t realize how much value there was in a strategic strength approach.” Strategy is thoughtful and educated intentionality.
It is easy for businesses to get stuck in delivering services or selling products and not ask these questions. Great business leaders spend time WORKING ON THE BUSINESS. Have you carved out consistent time to:
- Consider the small improvements.
- Make stress management a priority.
- Invest in yourself as a leader.
- Define and refine your strategic approach.
In this brief interview with Roberta, she has made me a better leader. I am taking all these things to heart and implementing them as a business-owner and in my life in general, and I hope you will too.
Watch the full interview with Roberta below: