It’s a New Year, and guess what, we bet you’re just as busy and over-worked as you were in 2012. Don’t let the hopes and ambitions of a New Year get pushed aside by the realities of timelines, team management and budgets. We see it everyday. What’s supposed to be a new start is a continuation of old practices. The innovation you may have dreamed about as you closed the books on 2012 has become a distant memory, and it’s only January. We’re here to rescue you from this never-ending cycle and ensure that innovation remains at the forefront of your 2013 initiatives. Step one: Realize that your team is the key to innovation, and make sure they understand the role they play in moving your organization forward. Step two: Watch this clip from one of Mike Abrashoff’s keynotes, where he details the importance of communicating with your team. Step three: Contact us. We’ll make sure you stay on track in 2013.

Love and respect are like self-esteem: hollow if they’re not earned. On Benfold, I tried in large part to unify the crew by insisting on high performance and continual learning. The Navy has a special program, the Enlisted Surface Warfare Specialist Program (ESWS), designed to train sailors to go beyond their specialties and learn how the entire ship works. This training makes it easier to learn to backstop others, and it strengthens the ship’s performance, especially in a crisis. But the program is so difficult that only the most experienced sailors usually sign up for it. And since hardly anyone had passes ESWS in my predecessor’s time, the crew was convinced that it wasn’t feasible. So I streamlined the program, cutting out all the parts that didn’t apply to Benfold - perhaps 15% of the total. Then I told the crew that learning ESWS would train them to show visitors around the ship, a duty that was becoming enormously popular. In that light, the program didn’t look so hard, and nearly every sailor aboard signed up. In short order, we qualified nearly 200 of our 310 crew members. One of the qualifiers was Sarah Garner, who was shocked to learn that disgruntled crew members on my predecessor’s watch hid themselves away to avoid duty. Sarah became a great success, eventually getting selected for chief petty officer in eight years instead of the usual fourteen, and she was always one of the first to take on new jobs and learn entire new systems. At the beginning, the ESWS program looked impossible, she once told me, "but it ended up being fun. What it did was, it got you out talking to everyone. You got a chance to interact with other people on the ship whose jobs were so dissimilar from yours that you might not have a lot of interaction with them otherwise." One day, on a missile training exercise with two other ships, Sarah found herself at a watch station on the combat systems coordinator’s office, where she realized that, on the other ships, the corresponding stations were being manned by a lieutenant and a master chief. At that point, she was still a second-class petty officer. Both of us were proud of what she had achieved. Even now in civilian life, Sarah says she still applies the lessons she learned on Benfold - in particular, that an organization is far more effective if its people understand each other’s jobs and why things are done the way they are.

GLS Worldwide’s Mike Abrashoff is a beacon of knowledge, so it’s not surprising that Investor’s Business Daily turned to him for advised on an article about becoming the CEO of your own destiny. Throughout the article, Mike Abrashoff’s advice was quoted. We especially enjoyed this quote as it speaks to the core principle of an individual taking responsibility for their success. "What I tried to get the crew to understand is we need to be in control of our own destiny," Abrashoff stated. " That was my overriding philosophy on the ship, not to become distracted by things we can’t have an impact on anyway, but let’s focus on the things that we can." This great piece of advice is central to what we believe at GLS. Take responsibility and focus on the things you can change. Read the full article or learn more about our leadership development philosophies.

Michael Abrashoff’s book, "It’s Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy," recently celebrated its 10th anniversary release. The management style and leadership book was re-released this year, and UTSanDiego.com interviewed Abrashoff to talk about what’s changed and what’s stayed the same over the course of the past 10 years. The Q&A interview addresses Abrashoff’s thoughts on our country’s recession, how to survive the economic downturn and how the Navy screens and selects its current command staff. Abrashoff recalls personal stories of the past decade to recognize that there is room for improvement, and that one can wade through life’s economic ups and downs through learning and growing. He spoke of his own 62-year-old sister who reinvented herself at work to avoid a layoff. In volunteering in another department she not only learned a new skill, but she won the mentor of the year award for her company last year. As for the Navy, Abrashoff says that its selection process is extraordinary, despite record firings in 2012. He speaks of having tougher screening processes and assessments that he uses to help companies test the motivational, thinking and behavioral styles of candidates to help reduce risk in the hiring process. "I think the Navy needs to add these assessments as just one more piece of data for the selection boards to consider when selecting new commanding officers."

The Wall Street Journal has published its Best Seller List for the week ending Feb. 17, and Mike Abrashoff’s "It’s Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy" has made the list again! Coming in at No. 8 on the hardcover business list, "It’s Your Ship" recently celebrated its 10th anniversary with a re-release of the book including a new chapter. "It’s Your Ship" chronicles the story of Captain D. Michael Abrashoff’s command of USS Benfold. When he took command, the ship was one of the lowest performing ships in the pacific fleet. Under Captain Abrashoff’, the ship’s performance dramatically improved in battle-readiness and earned the Spokane Trophy awarded to the top ship in the Pacific fleet. Abrashoff first focused on elevating his own leadership skills. Then, through innovative practices, connected with his crew to create  inspired problem-solvers, confident to contribute ideas and eager to take initiative and responsibility for their actions. The turnaround and results became legendary. GLS Worldwide was founded on the success story of USS Benfold. The Wall Street Journal’s Best Seller lists are derived from Nielsen BookScan point-of-sale book data from more than 16,000 locations across the United States, representing about 85% of the nation’s book sales. Print book data providers include all major booksellers, web retailers and food stores. We are grateful that Captain Abrashoff’s book continues to inspire leaders globally.

Each period in history provides its own challenges. Over the past few years, economic uncertainty has impacted business leaders in many ways. What we’ve discovered is, regardless of the circumstances, savvy leaders don’t waste time wondering or asking why we got here or how tough it is … they, as the Marines say (sorry Mike), improvise, adapt and overcome. Economist and workforce experts anticipate unemployment rates to lower, but that may not happen for a number of reasons. The challenging economy forced leaders to learn how to do even more with less. With emerging technologies, productivity continues to reach new levels. What was done with a larger workforce is done with less these days. And this may be the new normal. As a result, every member of your team becomes more critical and must perform at a high level. Do you have what it takes to "select" the right candidate to join your team? Do you have what it takes to "develop" your current people to the next level? These are not "nice to have" options anymore. They are "must have" components of your leadership toolkit. The next winnowing of great vs. average leaders is happening now. Do you have the tools to elevate yourself and your team to new heights? Everything moves faster now… what are you doing to stay ahead of the curve? Not only performance, but survival is at stake … for you as a leader and for your organization.

Today’s economy and job market calls for a collaboration-based, talent-hungry, global, wired, evolved person who must learn continuously or fall back in the pack, according to a recent Forbes Magazine article. Leaders are encouraged to pick and retain top talent in today’s world, one that is changing by leaps and bounds at the most rapid pace in history. Forbes says that leaders must understand and master the borderless future world of work; know that talent employees are priceless; and embrace emerging world markets. GLS can help make the dilemma a bit easier by helping leaders select great talent. With our extensive experience, we have found that the missing piece in the selection equation is TalMetrics, our unique assessment tool that identifies talent by probing below the surface of a candidate’s behaviors, to truly understand what drives them to act and react, as well as their ability to succeed not just in their new role, but within your organization’s culture. With TalMetrics, we partner with you to find the RIGHT talent, for the RIGHT role, so that you can continue to build a pipeline of amazing people who strengthen your organization, accelerate your performance and ultimately drive results. Now more than ever having the right people on board is crucial if you want to stay ahead of your competition.

Making every customer interaction great. Even if you’re taking burger orders. A recent Wall Street Journal article chronicled how McDonald’s, battling back from recent earnings disappointments, is putting unusual emphasis on a longtime challenge: getting its far-flung workforce to provide service with a smile. The fast-food giant, whose restaurant sales in the U.S. began to slip last year, is pushing franchisees to improve staffing and service amid mounting complaints about rude employees. This is an ever-relevant topic. How do you get employees to make that customer interaction a great one? When I took command of USS Benfold, pessimism and negativism ruled the day. If sailors even said hi to me, it was with no enthusiasm at all. It drove me nuts. And if it drove me nuts, what about the people who had to interact with us? They must have dreaded coming to our ship. So I said to the crew, "if you see a visitor come on board this ship, walk up to them, and look them directly in the eye and say, welcome to the ‘Best Damn Ship in the Navy’. Can you imagine how people would love doing business with any organization where the employees smiled when they walked in the front door, looked them in the eye and said …"Welcome to the best Damn McDonald’s in the country!!!" Of course, when we started it … we weren’t the best. But I wanted the crew to know that the only ones keeping us from being the best were ourselves … NOBODY ELSE!!!!

Taking time off from the workplace, smart phones and the computer may seem like a way to be unproductive, but in fact, having predictable time off helps employees be more happy and productive in the long run, says a thebuildnetwork.com article. In today’s tough economy, people are working harder, longer hours to get ahead, resulting in less of a work-life balance and more of a stressed, pressure-filled lifestyle. In an article for the Harvard Business Review, researchers showed in a 2008 survey that 94% of professional services employees work at least 50 hours per week, not including the 20 to 25 hours outside of office, yet still plugged into phones. One of the researchers from that study implemented a change, requiring members on some teams to take one pre-planned night off per week with no computers, voice mail, no work, period. Labeled "predictable time off," the initiative made a huge difference. "Compared with teams that did not take PTO, those who did were more excited to start work in the morning and more satisfied with both their jobs and their work-life balance," the article stated. "Employees involved in the program said they were more likely to stay with the firm long-term and to perceive themselves as providing value to clients." Therefore, in taking only one night a week of predictable time off, less can be more. And, a happy worker can be a more long-term, productive part of the team.

We have a lot for which to be thankful, and I don’t think we spend enough time contemplating just how fortunate we truly are. After the tragedies of the last few weeks, it is easy to focus only on the truly evil things that happen in this great country. However, having lived for a time in Boston, two blocks from the sight of the first explosion, I am struck and heartened by how the Boston area has come together and united. It reminds me that we have much more in this country that unites us than divides us. There are many, many things that have made this country great but one of the reasons that gets the least discussion is the role that the GI Bill had in educating our returning heroes from World War II. The number of returning veterans going to college was unprecedented and that education created the foundation that caused our economy to boom and create an unprecedented increase in the quality of life for the citizens of the United States. My own father was able to get a college degree and eventually a master’s degree from the GI Bill. In turn, our education system became the envy of the world. What most Americans don’t realize today is how smart our members of the military are. Our military is a high tech operation. The ship that I commanded, USS BENFOLD, cost taxpayers more than a billion dollars to build, and it was manned and operated by a crew of sailors whose average age was 24 years old. I had a crew of 310 young men and women, and when I interviewed each and every one sailor, I asked them why they joined the military. The overwhelming response was they joined because of the GI Bill to get a college education. When I heard that, I decided we would do everything possible to help them get admitted when they left the Navy. We offered the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) onboard the ship. Fifty percent of my sailors signed up to take it. When the results came back, one of my entry level sailors had scored a 1490 out of a possible 1600. She was not unusual. Our military today is made up of some of the smartest and most talented soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines that this country has ever seen. They are honorable and hard working men and women. I have the greatest respect and admiration for them—just like I have for our first responders in Boston. In a recent speech I was asked by a member of the audience what they could do to show appreciation for our military members. My response to the questioner was short and sweet: hire them. Give them a job when they come home. You won’t regret it. They will be some of the best employees you ever had.