Ever find yourself frustrated that employees aren’t connecting with clients the way you would like them to?

Lets turn that upside down and ask – how often are you connecting with your employees in the way you would like them to interact with clients? Put another way – are you consistently modeling the behavior you value?

I’ll bet there’s room for improvement. As business owners, we tend to fall into the same traps. (Sorry if that’s news. The longer I’m in business, the more I realize our trials and tribulations aren’t as unique as they once seemed!)

If you’re not a natural relator, and you happen to be a Type A “let’s get things done – now” kind of person, I’ll bet your meetings follow a typical model where the focus is on “getting down to business”. Like so many other managers, you hop into the “meat” of meetings with few pleasantries – after all, you all know each other already, you’re there to get something done, and on top of that, everybody is too busy for formalities. How do I know? Been there, fell in to that trap. ;-)

[box type=”download”] See this recent blog post by EOS founder Gino Wickman for some specific ideas for meeting starters such as a personal and professional best. [/box]

If you’re not making personal connections with your team when you meet, is it surprising that they’re equally as efficient when they get on the phone with a customer and jump straight into business? Of course not – and you didn’t need me to explain that. You already knew – it’s just hard to find the time to think it through with so many balls in the air.

Now that you’ve identified this issue, start each meeting by connecting with purpose. Chances are, it will be catchy – and you’ll be happy with the results.