Bailey Strategy Group offers many different consulting and training services to benefit you and your organization.  From self evaluation to strategic planning to political consulting, we a offer a gamut of programs and services to make you or your organiztion more effective.

We will tailor make training programs to meet your individual needs.  Questions?  Contact me.

Chris Bailey, President

‘Wherever You Are, Be There”–Ralph Waldo Emerson

“The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.” — Michelangelo

“How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours. ”–Dr. Wayne Dyer

If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.
Lao Tzu –6 B.C.

The key to managing people is to understand them

Consider these needs when dealing with employees under 30:

1.  The Need for Constant Feedback and Recogniton.  Employees under 30 were raised by a generation that was child-centered.  Their parents put them in schools, sports, and activities where they were constantly stroked, recognized, given awards, and presented with certificates.  Educators stressed giving these youths  ”self-esteem.”  As a result Generation Y employees  need constant feedback, evaluations, and positive strokes.  This is contra to what “Boomers” who rule the world give: annual, formal one year evaluations and an expectation of good work.  Give  Generation Y constant feedback and positive recogniton, when appropriate,  to keep them happy, productive and in the game.

2.  Under 30 Employees Stress Results Not Processes.  Boomers grew up calculating math with pencil, and paper and long equations.  Mathematics was about how you got your answer. Gen Y’s solved math with calculators. It was about the answer or result.  Boomers would spend days or weeks in large libraries to research subjects.  Gen Ys “Google” and use Wikipedia and get answers in seconds and research subjects in mere hours.  Boomers were taught programming; Ys run applications.  Given this, is it a surprise that employees under 30 don’t care for “time-wasting” meetings or sit down classes that are time and place-bound?  Or could care less how many hours someone worked or what their activities were for any given day.  Under 30s will simply ask, “What was the result?’

3.  Under 30s are Social.  Generation Y employees wants to have fun at work.  They are the most social generation as evidenced by their constant texting and use of social media sites.  How does this fit with older employees who set company rules and policies?

4.  Under 30s want Meaningful Work.  Boomers were taught by their parents to “start at the bottom and work your way up.”  Generation Ys were taught by their parents and educators that their “potential success is unlimited.”  So, under 30 employees seek meaningful work.  If they don’t get it; they will leave or be very unhappy.

Chew on this….Chris.

Image: Francesco Marino / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Scientific discoveries from biology to quantum physics reveal new understanding of how the world works, and these amazing findings can have profound effect on our understanding of how we live and work together. Margaret Wheatley captures these discoveries and the insights they provide beautifully in her book Leadership and the new science: Discovering order in a chaotic world.  If you’re interested in changing your organization or your community, there are some wonderful lessons we can learn from nature.  Here are a couple of ideas that stuck with me after reading her book.

Dreaming Big Doesn’t Mean Acting Big. This means that you don’t have to make the grand gesture or initiate major upheaval to work towards your vision.  In fact, it’s better to take small steps consistently and constantly check in.  One thing scientists have learned is that small actions can have large and unpredictable consequences.  (Heard of the Butterfly Effect?)   Taking small actions every day, every week, will build momentum and allow you the flexibility and adeptness to adjust to unforeseen outcomes.

Don’t Spend Time Converting People. Wheatley encourages her readers to “preach to the choir.”  She argues that if you give support, praise, and resources to the enthusiastic few, they will in turn amplify your message out to their own networks.  Scientists now recognize patterns of interconnected networks across all levels of living systems, with amazing abilities to communicate within and across these networks.  You don’t have to reach out to everybody. By putting your energies into helping these courageous friends better understand, exhibit and articulate your shared beliefs and values you will reach corners you can’t all by yourself.

Note: For more information on the science supporting Wheatley’s work, read Fritjof Capra’s The web of life: A new scientific understanding of living systems. It’s a dense work but explains the science behind regarding the interconnectedness of all life, and details the shift in thinking from a mechanistic to a holistic view of the world.

Image: graur codrin / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I teach collegiate business courses and occasionally bring in a successful entrepreneur to share tips on how he or she obtained success.  I asked one brash young gentleman, who became a millionaire in his 20s, to share his top two tips with the class.  His clarity in that moment showed me why he is such an outstanding success in business.

First, he said, is to understand that you don’t need to re-invent the wheel.  Find the best practices out there and adopt (steal) them.  Most of the great practices are already out there.  Steal the best forms and practices, and you are there.  And quickly.  A week out of college, he actually went to the most successful business in his field in the Pacific Northwest and offered to work for free!  He offered to work at no cost for six months for any hours and in any role the firm saw fit, but with the agreement that after hours he would stay and copy their forms and systems. The firm hired him for a small fee with that agreement.  Six months later, when he started his own business, he was ready and hit the ground running.  He hit his three year revenue goal, which the bank said was impossible, in just 6 months.

His second tip was also obvious, once he stated it.  Get a mentor!  Find a successful person who will work and develop you!  It’s easier than you think.  Most people, when asked, are honored to be someone’s chosen mentor.  And he or she will give you the nuances and experience to get you to remarkable success in months, not years.

Photo (CC) Daniele Sartori @ Flickr

Even the most optimistic and successful of my friends gets down once in awhile.  One of these friends asked me one day, “I’m so down right now about my life.  What should I do.”  Now this was someone who has accomplished so much and is considered a “star” in my local community.

I thought about a solution for this person  and came up with one  that I intend to try myself.  Any time negativity creeps in, I will do something positive.  So when I feel jealousy, envy, doubt, or depression, I will, as soon as humanly possible,  do something positive.  It might be to exercise, go to a restaurant or coffee house I enjoy, do a good deed, compliment someone, contact someone I love or enjoy or go to a movie or event I have been wanting to see.  Or it might be to paint a room, clean the house or garage, or do a landscaping project.

The concept is to make a “down” event into something positive.  If I go exercise everytime I feel down, what will that do over the long-haul to me physically?  I will become more fit and attractive.  If I work on home projects, I will increase the value of my home.  The “bad” becomes a “good!”  Whenever I feel down or negative, my reaction is to make my life become more full of the good!  Let’s try this together for a month and see how it works.  My guess is it will make our lives better both in the short and long-term.  Awesome concept–huh!

© Copyright Linda Billinger and licensed for reuse under a Creative Commons Licence

The Missing Ingredient:  Enthusiasm!

Watch extremely successful individuals in any endeavor and look for this common denominator:  Enthusiasm!

Whether it be the Little Leaguer that tears up the league or the impassioned instructor you want to go to class to see, one key difference between successful people and others is their level of enthusiasm in what they are doing.

It’s true in business, too.  Pick three people you know that are successful.  What qualities separate them from the rest?  One of those traits will be enthusiasm:  love and passion for what they do.  If you can’t find that love, that passion, that enthusiasm in your current endeavor, then considering changing course and set yourself on a different path that you can be enthusiastic about.

“Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

I work with a person who is well known for her love of purple.  Whatever it is, if it can be found in purple, all kinds of people will help it get to her desk.  It isn’t that she has asked specifically for these purple things, but at some point she communicated her love of the color and kept that idea fresh by displaying her growing collection.  Her love of purple became part of everyone’s consciousness.

Once you decide on something you want, I think the universe begins to conspire for you in the same that my co-worker’s purple collection has grown.  There are three principles at play:

Your desire is concrete.  You define a need that is concrete, not abstract.  One can pretty much identify the color purple when they see it.  I like purple, and I like it because it’s bold.  But that is an intangible quality.  How would I know bold if I saw it?  More importantly, how would anyone else know how to give it to me?  As another example, if I want to save money , how could other people help me with that?  It’s better for me to define what that means with something concrete:  I want to use coupons as often as possible.  That is a tangible desire.  Make it easy for people to meet your needs.

You share your desire with someone.  Once you have a concrete desire, tell someone!  The universe will only conspire if you make it known what you want.  My co-worker didn’t purposefully go out and seek gift-givers, but it wouldn’t have started if she never shared her love of purple.  Sometimes we expect other people to anticipate what we need or to somehow magically know what we want.  If you want it, communicate it.  There is no other way, and it only breeds resentment if you don’t.

You stay consistent.  My co-worker stayed consistent by keeping the collection visible.  Keep your needs visible!  Don’t obscure them in long lists of ideas.  Hit it every chance you get.  One of the most effective guys that I know has 3 key goals — that’s it.  These goals have been the same for the last three years I’ve known him, only the strategies change.  But what seemed like dreams three years ago, things that many people didn’t understand, are now commonplace ideas that many people get.  This is because his goals are tangible and he has consistently shared them over an extended period of time.  There is no “fruit of the month” club on his goals.  And his success has been phenomenal.

I think these are key components.  Keep your goals concrete, share them, and be consistent.  Before you know, the universe will conspire to make it happen.  What other ways can you think of to help others help you?

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3102/3237862417_db93ce4aa6.jpg

I hate that slogan, “There’s No ‘I’ in Team.”  Seriously, if you are a member of a team, then true leadership is about modeling and showing the rest of the team the path to success.  You have to lead.  You have to play your part.  You are accountable.  And you are the only person whose attitude and behaviors you control.

So given that, don’t be the guy or gal no one wants to work with.  The person who plays favorites, punishes and retaliates, lacks resolve, or who believes rules only applies to others.  Don’t be the “Negative Nellie” or “Negative Ned” that stifles creativity and makes others want  to leave work at night then go home to “kick the dog.”  Give all you got, be prepared, study and be competent, recognize the good in others, and others will be there with you.  You will model and lead, and the team will follow that lead, will reciprocate and will die for you.  There is an “I” in every successful team.

I recently bought a real estate company with my then 19 year old son, Brennan. About 80% of the people look at us as though we did have not a clue as to what we were doing. “A real estate company in this market? Are you nuts?” As my buddy John says, “They look at me like I have crabs coming out of my ears.” But, I am very confident in this venture over the long haul.

I am buying at a low point in the real estate market. That is smart business. That is value shopping. This is the opposite of buying at the peak, which too many investors do. We bought at the bottom.

We also bought the company at a value price because the owner was retiring. We got the history and the clientele of a forty plus year company, its phone number and its existing clients, its desks and its computers and its systems and work in progress.. We obtained an option to purchase the 5,100 square foot building with sufficient current rentals on the other 3,400 square foot of rental space sufficient to make the monthly payment if we agree to exercise that option. It is located on the busiest street in the city with incredible signage.

Meanwhile, many of the competitors are in “retrenchment” cutting their advertising. Many agents are fleeing the business with the reduced level of commissions and business over the past few years. The natural inclination in a down market is to cut advertising. It’s the first budget item most businesses will cut. But my contrarian nature says this…if you can increase your advertising or even maintain it in this market you will significantly increase market share. If we have 3% now, we might have 10 % in a year as people continue to get out of the business or limit their advertising. When we come out of this, I might have 10% of the “up” market. The message: Think long-term…think “value time” and win long-term!