The 5 Pillars Of Influential Leadership – Part 13: Their Communication

by | Jul 25, 2013 | Awareness, Communication, Environment, Growth, Influence, Leadership

5 Pillars webThis is the 13th of 16 weekly installments on The 5 Pillars of Influential Leadership.  Every Thursday, I will break down the 5 Pillars and show you how becoming and influential leader will not only improve your job skills but your personal life as well.

The 5 Pillars is a project that I have been working on for almost two years and had a great time with the official launch of “The 5 Pillars of Influential Leadership” Coaching program on May 23th.

Why the 5 Pillars?  I have spent more than 30 years in the business world and although it has been primarily in the Construction world, the 5 Pillars philosophy works across all industries.  In fact, while developing this program I realized that it can have a significant impact on your personal life as well.

I will break down each Pillar into three sections, personal, business and community. Any growth or improvement needs to start within, with the end goal of influencing the community you live in.  In this post we will take a look at COMMUNITY COMMUNICATION.

We communicate in a variety of ways.  The way your brand or organization is represented to the community may have nothing to do with verbal communication.  Your reputation “always” speaks louder than words.

CUSTOMER SERVICE

I have found that referrals or “word of mouth” recommendations are one of the most powerful ways to build or maintain a business.  If I apply the 80/20 rule, I can make the statement that 80% of your business is due to return customers or referrals.  Is customer service important?  What do you think?

VALUES

Some, but not all by any stretch, of businesses can tell you their value system.  When a business has a strong and identifiable value system that they live by, it helps to hold them accountable.  Knowing your values and living them out in your specific region will identify you as someone people want to do business with.  Do you know what your values are?  More importantly, does anyone else?

RESPONSIBILITY

If you are in business you have multiple responsibilities.  To your employer, your customers, your co-workers, those that are above and below you on the food chain and so on.  I believe that your biggest responsibility is to yourself.  When you are responsible to yourself and live up to the standards that you have set for yourself (hopefully you have) you will fulfill the obligation that we all have to add value and serve others.  Do you have a set of standards that you live up to?

REPUTATION

Ah yes, your reputation.  It doesn’t matter if you are a sole proprietor or part of a global organization, you are a reflection of what and who your business represents.  Reputations are the result of built trust over time and just as trust is hard to build and easy to lose, so is your reputation.  Guard it with your life because your life, at least in business, just might depend on it.

MISSION

We are all aware of “mission statements.”  If you don’t have one, you need to create one. Why?  Because your mission statement provides the blueprint for the purpose of your business.  If you are unclear on your mission, you will send an inconsistent message to the people you are doing business with.  How many of your customers know your mission or purpose?

MANAGEMENT

I believe that the number one responsibility for management is to be the big picture thinkers. Managers need to look uphill and downhill at the same time.  They need to understand where they have been and why they were there and at the same time know where they are going. Now you may thing this sounds more like a leader than a manager but when a manager understand these concepts, he will have the vision needed to lead.

The 5 Pillars coaching program will take each topic to a much deeper level.  We will explore open ended questions and how they are directly impacting your life and more specifically in this segment, will allow you to evaluate and understand your role in growing your business.

In the mean time, start asking the type of questions that will result in better answers. When you ask “How can I”  you get an answer that will move the needle.  “What can I do today to make sure that people know what my (our) mission or purpose is in business?”  Answer that question, act on it, and you will succeed.

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Barry Smith    7/25/13   photo by author   © Building What Matters 2013