Recently, I was so proud of one of my clients that I wanted to share his accomplishment with you (he gave me full permission to share his name and story).

I’m not young enough to know everything, as J.N. Barrie, author of Peter Pan, was known to say. But one thing I do know is that if we never take time to stop and think about our business, we will miss out on a huge amount of success and fulfillment.

I work with many of my clients, often using Jim Horan’s One Page Business Plan, to do good planning about their business. Keep in mind, it is the thinking that benefits you, as much as the final document. Few people take the time to get away and really think about their business and plan for their continued success.

We have to physically get away from our business and take time to reflect. Not only do we need to think rationally about our business, we also need to get into a non-rational or intuitive place and let ideas and experiences, opportunities and problems all blend together in order to experience a breakthrough that pure rational thought alone cannot bring. “The ultimate solutions to problems are rational; the process of finding them is not.” wrote W. Gordon

My client Ron Zasadzinski, owner of the web design firm, codegeek.net , based in Fort Collins, Colorado, took this advice and booked two nights at a nice hotel in Boulder, an hour away from his business. He booked two nights so his one day retreat would be a WHOLE, uninterrupted day. Ron said it was one of best things he’s done for his business and plans to make this at least a quarterly practice.

His fiancée was concerned that he’d spent too much money on a nice hotel for this retreat, but Ron and I agreed that it was the deal of the century given the clarity he got. He sent me his two page write up and it was very exciting to me because it laid out the path for the success he intends to create over the next five years.

You won’t be surprised to learn that Ron’s business has previously had solid success and is very well-regarded in his (highly competitive) field. With the retreats he is now taking, I believe he will be able to take it to that next level that he has been aspiring toward.

Henry Ford said, “The more you think, the more time you have.” Business success is definitely not all about just working hard. We know where that leads all too often: burn out. And sometimes total breakdown and failure.

Taking time to reflect about your business will actually free up time because you’ll come up with ways to be more authentic and more efficient, ways to get more done by using your company resources effectively, etc. You’ll create more time because you’ll find the courage to let go of the products or services or customers that are not really right for your business, and you’ll have the insight to take on ones that will take you to the next level.

Let me leave you with one of my favorite quotes, from George Bernard Shaw, one of the most famous writers of his time:

“Few people think more than two or three times a year. I’ve made an international reputation for myself by thinking once or twice a week.”

Did you see the new story last week about Shoichi Nakagawa, the Japanese Finance Minister stepping down? At a recent news conference he was so drunk he could hardly speak and or hold up his head.

Apparently Japan is suffering it’s worst period economically since 1974. Still, that’s no excuse for behaving unprofessionally.

Nakagawa’s behavior is a good reminder for all of us. You probably don’t get drunk at business functions, but it’s a good idea for all of us occasionally to do a little self-check and make sure we’re coming across the way we want.

I love how satellite communication connects us so easily around the world. Yet one of the downsides in living in such a globally connected world is our missteps can spread far and fast.

We’ve heard about young people posting things on their MySpace page or similar sites which are not going to do them any favors in a few years when they’re looking for jobs and a prospective employer googles their name.

With more and more business people using social network tools like Facebook, Twitter, Xing, and Fastpitch Networking, just to name a few, we need to always keep in mind that customers and prospective clients can, will and do read what we post.

It’s vitally important for us to have places in our life where we can let our hair down, where we can gripe and moan, kvetch and vent. For my clients, one of those places is with me! And though it may sound strange or even bizarre to some, I am happy to be the container to hold all their “stuff” safely and without judgment.

Out in the world, they need to be professional. Sometimes a business coach helps his or her clients by listening to their venting when needed, before moving on to the solutions.

So figure out your top two methods to deal with your stresses and problems- vent with your coach, therapist, spouse or best friend, walk the dogs, hit the mountain trail or your bike, jump on your trampoline, write in your journal, write a poem, go bowling, play the piano. You know what works for you.

If not, your stress will creep out in tiny yet discernible ways. Or sometimes, as with Shoichi Nakagawa, very discernible ways.

Be careful before you speak too quickly or hit “send” too fast on that email or post. Stand up, take a few deep breaths, call your business coach if you need to , but above all, be professional!

One of my clients has worked for the same family-owned business for over 25 years. Although she’s not one of the family members, she’s a hardworking executive, truly dedicated to the company’s success.

I was shocked to learn recently that she’s never had a review in all that time.

Another one of my clients works in a hospital system. He has two regularly scheduled meetings per month with his boss. One is an open meeting on whatever topics he wants to discuss. The other is more formal review of his 90 day plan and how it’s going.

No surprise–my hospital guy is a lot more satisfied with his work.

We humans need feedback. We need opportunities to discuss with our leaders how our work is going, how our goals are tracking and any problems we are having.

So if you own a business, make sure you are meeting regularly with your employees. You want to meet frequently as a team, and at least monthly one-on-one.

If you are an employee yourself and your boss does not meet with you regularly, take the initiative and ask for what you want. Years ago I worked in a small four person non-profit. I asked my boss if we could have weekly staff meetings. I felt it would be helpful to us if we checked in a little more formally, not just popping into each other’s offices on an as-needed basis. She agreed. Even in a tiny organization like that, we found those meetings very valuable.

If this sounds like a lot of meetings to you, I encourage you to try it for two months. I bet you will find that these meetings end up saving time in the long run and will make your business more money. Why? Because people, if left on their own, often get diverted down wrong paths. And because if people feel appreciated and cared about, research shows that they are more creative and productive.

Positive feedback–what someone did specifically and how it will help the business (or mate or children, in your personal life) is vitally important. Many surveys over the years have consistently shown that one of the top three things people want in their job is appreciation for work done. (While good pay is one of the top 10, it’s not in the top 3!)

Of course “constructive criticism” is important too. It’s crucial that we develop the ability to discuss with each other problems we are having with the other, and the best way to do that is early (before little things get big) and often.

I recently implemented a process with my assistant that’s working very well. Each day she emails me the answers to the following questions:

1. What you did and the results you got

2. Problems or challenges

3. Questions you have for me

It takes less than 5 minutes and keeps me up to date on both what she’s doing, as well as what problems and questions she has. This way, little issues get handled early, and frustration won’t build.

So don’t forget to give and receive frequent feedback, especially positive feedback. I like to be appreciated, too, and I truly believe you will thank me for the results you get!

A colleague of mine highly recommended Dan Sullivan’s How The Best Get Better, an audio/booklet package. Dan shares six concepts and six strategies that truly get right to the core of how to focus strategically and thrive in the 21st century.

With Strategy #5 he discussed what he calls the referability habits. No matter what industry you’re in, how big or small your company is, or how skilled or innovative you are, he has found in over 30 years of coaching successful entrepreneurs that there are four key habits you must have to be someone that people are excited to refer customers and clients to. He calls these habits your passport to the future.

The four basic habits are:

- Show up on time.
- Do what you say.
- Finish what you start.
- Say please and thank you.

Surprising, isn’t it? You might have thought the keys would be things like exceptional skills, intense charisma, or brilliance. But when you stop to think about it, you probably know super smart people who you would not refer business to, because they are arrogant or ungrateful.

You also probably know wonderfully charming people who you would not refer to because they don’t come through with what they say they will do.

What about colleagues who are almost always late to meetings? How respected do you feel by that person? Again, they are probably not someone you would refer to.

I’m part of a wonderful mastermind group. Recently, we decided to ask one member to leave. Although she is brilliant in some key areas and a very fun person, she missed a lot of our calls and she doesn’t answer calls or emails from members.

How do you feel when someone doesn’t come through with what they promised they would do?

How do you feel when they don’t offer a simple word of thanks or when they bark out a request, instead of being polite about asking?

These habits communicate respect. They communicate that you do not take anyone for granted. If someone does not feel respected, it doesn’t matter how brilliant, talented or charming you are. Sullivan says, “Respect means you recognize and are aware of other people’s goals, schedules and values.”

I encourage you to take a look at where you fall short with one or more of these habits and then recommit to them. Make these four behaviors the foundation of your personal and professional behavior. As you model them for your team or organization and impress them into the culture, everything in your personal and business life will transform.

Let’s say you’re the CFO of a real estate development company in Houston.

Let’s say you and your team has been working their tails off for many months.

Let’s say it’s an absolutely gorgeous spring day, in the low 70′s, no humidity.

Well, if you’re like this client of mine (who gave me permission to share this story), you’ll get a “wild hair” and close up shop for the afternoon and take everyone to the zoo!

My client, let’s call her “Jane,” and 14 of her staff went on a spur of the moment “field trip” to the zoo. They had an absolute ball! After all, it’s not every work day you get to pet four inch cockroaches and ride a carousel with your colleagues.

Jane also gave some funds to a few of her staffers to buy animal toy gifts from the gift shop. The next day everyone got one of these as a memento for their desk to help them remember the fun they had.

This little outing gave her staff a huge morale boost. They had a great time and got to connect with each other on a personal level. Jane used to do more of this when her staff was smaller, but like many of us, over the years, some of those good habits had slipped.

The next morning, her staff came to her office and gave her flowers and a thank you card. One of them commented that “you throw the best staff meetings!”

If you have a staff, when was the last time you celebrated with them, maybe even for “no good reason”? If you work solo, you still need to get out and have some fun, refresh yourself with something out of the ordinary.

In The Leadership Challenge by Kouzes and Posner, one of the best selling leadership books of all time (and my leadership bible), one of the five leadership practices is called “encourage the heart” and one of the two corollary commitments of that practice is to “celebrate the values and victories by creating a spirit of community.”

This is exactly what Jane was doing last week when she took her team to the zoo.

“Community may not be the stuff of ordinary organizations, but it is the stuff of great ones, ones with strong cultures,” said Kouzes and Posner.

What can you do this week to celebrate your company culture and your team?

See you at the zoo!