puzzles, leadership and more cool shit I say all the time as a One-Star Diamond Beachbody Coach

I've won a National Award for Leadership.  I've led extremely successful cohesive teams.  What got me there?  I've made a ton of mistakes along the way and learned from each and every one of them.  Better yet, I'm open about the struggles that I've had in leadership as well.  

Quite often, I'm asked for advice, strategy tips or for "my secret" to successful teams so in this blog, I'm going to give you a gist of what I often say to people.

Here goes!

1) "Successful teams function like a puzzle, not a tower"

Let's just let that sink in here.  Successfully leading a team means that you are just ONE piece of the puzzle - each piece having an equally important part of the total success of the team.   As a leader, your role is different but not more important and the moment that you can recognize and honour that, the better your team will function, the faster your team will grow and the more leaders you will see emerge.

2) "Leadership begins with getting to know your team".  

When I start off with a new team or new teammates, I ask a series of questions ... and then I shut the hell up and let them answer.  I believe the quickest way to help your new team members is to spend the time to get to know them first.

3) "Automate your training;  personalize your connection to your team".  

Having systems and strategies, training and processes for your team to be guided to, is extremely important.  Introduce them to the training and then let them learn on their own, at their own pace.  Sometimes this is scary for network marketers as there is this idea that if you don't personally work with each teammate, they will not succeed.  The real truth is that if a person in your downline is reliant on YOU for all their training, for pushing them toward their goals, expecting you to connect in with them each day ... they don't yet have the drive to be the superstar that you want them to be.   Allow them to be on their own journey.

4) "Create independence;  dependency creates followers, but not more leaders".  

I think it's common for network marketers to sign up their first few distributors and pour EVERYTHING they've got into making those people successful.  Let's face it, it's an exciting moment when you start to build a team, right?  Here's the thing:  by micro-managing your business, by constantly checking in and by burning yourself out in the process you are hampering your downline's success in the long run.   If YOU are always accessible and checking in every day, do they feel confident that they can do that to?  Do they WANT to do that?  This often turns into your downline hesitating to step into that leadership role themselves.  Uhmmmmm not what you want, hey?

Over the years leadership truly has been something that I've failed at, excelled at and learned the most while doing.  It can be incredibly rewarding to surround yourself with other leaders so the best thing to do?

CREATE THEM.