An Analysis of Zeb Welborn’s Leadership Practices | by Andrew Kramer

The owner of Welborn Social Media and the founder of The Tutoring Solution.My goal is to help business owners share the passion they have for their business with as many potential customers as possible.By helping passionate people achieve their dreams I am helping to create a society of passionate leaders that will help inspire others to make their dreams a reality.

The following is a research paper written by Andrew Kramer for his Leadership in Organizations upper level course at the University of La Verne:  Zeb Welborn’s Leadership Practices

Chapter 1:  Introduction

Zeb Welborn grew up in Southern California in the beautiful city of Chino Hills.  He lived with his mother and father, brother, Rocky and his sister, Lacey.  He just recently moved out to Chino and is renting an apartment so he can have a place to get some work done.  He still maintains a good relationship with his siblings and actually has his sister running the photography for his business and building websites.  He participates frequently in marathons with his brother, Rocky and golfs regularly with his father, Larry.  Growing up, Zeb loved to play all kinds of sports.  He mainly focused on golf and soccer with soccer being his greater passion.  He played three years competitively on the golf team and still to this day plays soccer in an outdoor and indoor league.  I had the pleasure of getting to play on the same soccer team with Zeb for a full season.  I first started to notice Zeb’s leadership qualities when he became a substitute teacher at the high school I was attending at the time.  Not too long after that he became a full time history teacher at the school as well as being an assistant coach for the men’s soccer team.  It was clear that Zeb exemplified the leadership skills necessary to perform the jobs at hand.

Immediately after school Zeb attended Cal State University, Fullerton and got his degree in History, which he taught in high school.  Not too long ago he started his own business working for numerous companies managing their social media.  He named the company, Welborn Social Media, and that is how we came in contact with each other.  I work at Los Serranos Country Club where Zeb grew up playing golf and just recently made them a Facebook page in an attempt to gain exposure through advertising and keeping up with the market trends.  Zeb noticed I had created the page and together we turned in into a great project.  We got it passed by the board of directors and currently get paid to run the social media for the golf course.  This isn’t the only company that Zeb works for Scrapbook Expo, Wirespeed Systems, System 1 Interiors, Technology 4 Medicine, DLT Growers, Creative Scrapbook Source, Big Time Golf, Somerset Apartments, Krazy Kreations, Creative Minds & Visions, It’s Cheaper than Therapy and Mormino & Associates.  The number of clients continues to grow as he is experiencing success in a number of different sectors.  The duties that are expected of Zeb and his company are designing, managing, writing for and updating blogs, Facebook pages, Twitter, LinkedIn pages, YouTube pages, and Google+ pages.  also responsible for designing website, logos and promotional materials.  Zeb’s company is also responsible for managing Google AdWords campaigns and implementing strategies to increase search engine optimization including on site optimization and link building.  Zeb also creates email marketing campaigns and manages the reputation of companies on ranking websites like Yelp and Angie’s List.  These are just a few of the things that Zeb is responsible day in and day out and only a true leader can handle these kind of situations.  The needs of every company is unique, but Welborn Social Media can work with any company on any budget to help build their own brand.

Zeb uses the experience from prior jobs to lead the group of people that now work for him.  He has about four or five of us working under him and makes sure that everyone is happy with what they are doing.  Zeb uses the three-skill approach, which depends on three basic skills:  technical, human, and conceptual.  Skills are what leaders can accomplish, whereas traits are who leaders are.  I believe that after Zeb’s work in many different areas and working with many different people, he acquired the leadership skills necessary to manage people under him.  Technical skill is knowledge about and proficiency in a specific type of work or activity.  Zeb has a profound knowledge with computers and has done his research and taken courses on managing social media websites.  Human skill is knowledge about and ability to work with people.  Human skill is actually quite different from technical skill because human skills are people skills.

Chapter 2:  Leadership Practices

Leadership vs. Management

Zeb has many traits that make him a great leader.  I would definitely have to say that he is more leadership oriented than management.  A few of these traits are obviously intelligence about the field that he works for, self-confidence in the work he does, and determination to continue to make his business grow and expand.  Out of all these traits I believe that self-confidence is the most important one because it gives him the confidence and the ability to be certain about his competencies and skills.  This also includes self-esteem and self-assurance and the belief that one can make a difference.  To be a leader you must involve influencing others, and there is nothing better than feeling assured that his attempts to influence others are appropriate and right.

Relationship Orientation vs. Task Orientation

When dealing with relationships and task orientation I believe that Zeb excels in both of these subjects.  He must maintain a good relationship with his customers and people he is working with, and a good way to do this is by staying task oriented.  He gets the details from his partners on what needs to be accomplished and sets out a schedule on how to get it done in a timely manner.  I would definitely have to say that these two matters go hand in hand and are equally important.

Goal Orientation and Performance Evaluation

Zeb stays very goal oriented in the way that he stays on top of things by staying organized.  We have a clear mission of what we need to be doing and the harder we work, the more we will be rewarded.  For instance, every business that I recruit to get started under, “Welborn Social Media” I get a raise and a certain percentage of what the company pays Zeb to do.  As someone who works for Zeb this motivates me to find as many businesses that I can so I will get paid more.  This is a key factor for many businesses and leaders.  The more you reward your employees for good hard work, the more they will attempt to do the best work that they possibly can.  The more Zeb stays goal oriented, the more his business will prosper.

Control vs. Delegation

I communicate with Zeb a few times a week and we meet at least once in that week to review and see how work is coming along.  When we do get together we brainstorm and think of ways to stay innovative and on top of the current trends.  We discuss also ways to improve our marketing and advertisement, basically in a sense how to get more exposure.  We communicate via email, text messaging, and even sometimes through Facebook.

Rewards, Incentives and Punishment

Like I stated earlier, the way you will be rewarded is on how much work you are willing to get done.  There are no punishments just lessons learned.  Basically, the more work you get done and the more businesses I get to sign under the business the more i will get paid.  It is a simple process that works well because it keeps us motivated with all the incentives at hand.

Communication

Since we run a social media company most of our communication is done over the computer.  I would say that Zeb’s style of communication is passive, his social perceptiveness is the insight and awareness into how others in the organization function.  For example what is important to others, what keeps them motivated, and how they react to change.  Social perceptiveness means understanding the unique needs, goals, and demands of differences within the organization.

Chapter 3:  Analysis of Leadership Practices

The situational approach is based on the idea that the employees move forward and backward along the developmental continuum, which represents the relative competence and commitment of subordinates.  For leaders to be effective using the situational approach, it is essential that they determine where subordinates are on the developmental continuum and adapt their leadership styles so they directly match their style to that developmental level.  “Once the leader has identified the correct developmental level, the second task is to adapt his style to the prescribed leadership.  This is the one-to-one relationship between the developmental level of subordinates.” (Northouse 93) Some strengths of using the situational approach is that it is recognized as a standard for training leaders.  It is also a very practical approach, which means that it is easily understood and easily applied.  The situational approach sets forth a clear set of prescriptions for how leaders should act if they want to enhance their leadership effectiveness.  This approach also recognizes and stresses that there is not one best style of leadership, instead leaders need to be flexible and adapt their style to the requirements of the situations.  When in regards to the five major leadership theories, the one that stand out to me are of course the situational approach, the transformational approach, and team leadership.  Transformational approach of course has a strong emphasis on followers’ needs, values, and morals.  This kind of leadership involves attempts by leaders to move followers to higher standards of moral responsibility.  This type of leadership sets it apart from the other four styles because it has a moral dimension.  A leader very similar to the transformational approach is called servant leadership.  This leadership emphasizes that leaders should be attentive ot the concerns of their followers and would emphasize with them, they would take care of them and nurture them.” (Northouse 385)

Leadership Style of the Leader

I would say the best kind of approach to describe the leadership style of Zeb would have to be team leadership.  Zeb excels through the people that are working for him.  Therefore, he must use team leadership to coach his team members in interpersonal skills.  Collaborate with others by including and involving his team members in discussions.  Using team leadership one must manage conflict and power issues while avoiding confrontation and questioning ideas.  Build commitment by being optimistic, innovative, envisioning, socializing, rewarding, and recognizing other peoples achievements.  Lastly, to excel at team leadership you must satisfy the individual needs of the members you are working with by trusting, supporting, and advocating them.  You model your ethics by your principled practices by being fair, consistent and lastly, normative.

Compatibility/Incompatibility

The organizations goals go hand in hand with the compatibility of Zeb’s leadership style and practices.  The goal of the organization is to get as many clients to start using, “Welborn Social Media” and once we have them to perform everything we possibly can to satisfy their needs.  At this time I have no recommendations for Zeb because his business is growing at such a rapid pace that I do not know what else he can be doing.  If I did have one thing to say I would think that we should maybe get together more than just once a week to have a weekly report on how things are going.  Sometimes I feel a little bit lost on what is going on or what we should be doing so maybe meet twice a week.

Chapter 4:  Analysis of Leadership Practices:  Delegation and Developmental Levels

Necessary Conditions for Effective Delegation

According to leadership styles I believe the most effective way for developmental levels is that there must be high commitment and high supportive behavior.  In order for the sufficient amount of work to be completed an employee must stay committed and dedicated to the amount of work level he is inputting.  Zeb encourages to stay committed to the mission within the organization.  In this sense, Zeb uses the supporting approach that requires him to take a high supportive – low directive style.  “The leader should not focus exclusively on goals but uses support behaviors that bring out the employee’s skills around the task to be accomplished.”  (Northouse 93) This includes listening, praising, asking for input, and giving feedback.

Developmental Levels of the Followers

At this point in time the amount of employees are at a minimum so I would have to say that the levels are still in the developmental stage.  D2 would probably be the most accurate description because it is still moderately low.

Delegation Practice of the Leader

The way Zeb delegates his tasks and responsibilities is by creating the sky is the limit approach.  By saying this, I mean that he does not delegate many responsibilities to his followers because it is up to them to do as much work as they want.  There is always room for growth in the type of business we are in so you get as much work done as you want to in a sense.  But the more work you do accomplish, the more you will be rewarded.

Compatibility/Incompatibility

The delegation practice that Zeb uses is very compatible to the developmental levels of the followers.  Everything is still in the developmental process, but the business continues to grow at a steady pace so he must be doing something right.  It has been a great learning experience to work with a true leader like Zeb and be part of a wonderful company with a passion to excel.

Recommendations

At this point in time I have no real recommendations besides the one I stated earlier.  Scheduling meetings has been quite difficult with how busy things are so maybe just set a time that we can meet on a weekly basis.  In other words, the level of communication must begin to increase as the company continues to expand.

Chapter 5:  Conclusion

After writing this paper I realize that I am working with a genuine leader that I can take many thing away from . . . not only in the business world, but in every day life.  The way Zeb works with people is truly the proper approach and getting to see it first hand is a blessing.  Working with Zeb was a life changing experience because I can now apply the lessons I learned from his leadership qualities and apply them in every aspect of my life.  I plan to practice the same approach that Zeb uses because I have seen first hand on how it functions and the results have been good.

 

Would you like to learn more about Zeb Welborn’s leadership practices?  Visit some other sites created by Zeb Welborn – 19th Hole Media created to help golf courses get more customers and the Defining Success Podcast created to change the way we think about success.

27 Tips on How to Build a Vibrant Twitter Community

The owner of Welborn Social Media and the founder of The Tutoring Solution.My goal is to help business owners share the passion they have for their business with as many potential customers as possible.By helping passionate people achieve their dreams I am helping to create a society of passionate leaders that will help inspire others to make their dreams a reality.

@WelbornMedia

Building a Twitter community is the most important skill to develop when starting a Twitter campaign.  Fortunately, building a strong Twitter community is easy to do.  Follow these steps and you’ll be on your way to establishing a thriving Twitter community:

  1. Tweet, Tweet Often and Tweet with a Purpose – Before you start your Twitter campaign begin by thinking of your purpose . . . or generate a mission statement.  Our mission statement is to help business owners share their passion with others.  We work with passionate business owners to help them increase their exposure, build their businesses and become positive examples for their communities.  Every tweet we send out is aligned with our goal of helping business owners become successful.  You won’t see tweets from us about what we had for dinner or our plans for the weekend.  Be true to your mission, tweet, and tweet often.  The more active you are on Twitter the faster your community will grow.
  2. Provide Value – Everyone says you need to provide value, but I never really understood what that meant.  Value is an ambiguous term, but it still applies.  My understanding of value is offering something to someone else that is a genuine effort to improve their lives.  Many people online, and on Twitter post what I call, “look at me articles.”  The greatest way to give value and create a more enthusiastic community is to genuinely try to help others.  It helps by addressing specific people’s issues and concerns and then sharing those issues with others.
  3. Actively Listen – The coolest thing about Twitter in my opinion is the search feature, type in any word into the bar at the top of the Twitter page and every single tweet that had that term in it will show up.  This provides marketers with an amazing opportunity to reach out to people who are actively communicating on Twitter.  For our clients we actively look for users who are communicating about their product or service and we reach out to them . . . we listen to them and we alter our strategies based off of their responses.  Listen actively and you will have a more engaged community.
  4. Don’t Sell – Don’t post “Look at Me” articles . . . most people get on Twitter and constantly post tweets that sell . . . buy this or buy that.  Do that and be sure to create a non-existent Twitter community.  No one wants to constantly be sold to.  So, don’t sell . . . be helpful and sales will come.  Use Twitter as a way to generate relationships first . . . trust second . . . a whole bunch of other things between and sales last.
  5. Follow Others – Follow others who post tweets that resonate with you and engage with them.  The more you engage others, the more likely they are to engage with you.
  6. Use Your Face as Your Profile Pic – People connect more to other people so be sure to use a profile picture that shows your face and preferrably a happy face at that.  We personally use a logo for our business twitter account, @WelbornMedia, but I usually connect with more people using my personal Twitter account, @ZebWelborn which has a picture of my beautiful face.  It always feels nicer to know who your talking to and easier for people to develop an emotional connection with you . . . thus making your community stronger.
  7. Look at Other Peoples Lists.  Once you find people to connect with and people who you enjoy communicating with, check out the lists they’ve created.  Chances are there will be more people like them that share their passions and interests and you can connect with them thus building your Twitter community.
  8. Jump into Conversations – Don’t be afraid to get your feet wet.  Conversations are happending all over Twitter all the time.  Twitter chats are a great way to get involved.  But, most importantly, don’t be afraid to respond to people . . . most people love getting responses to their tweets, so don’t be shy and meet more people.
  9. Followers Don’t Matter.  Active Followers Do. – The amount of people following you will not matter when it comes to making sales . . . the amount of engaged followers will.  There are tons of automatic following programs and Twitter has a large amount of users who don’t use the service on a regular basis, meaning a follower who is no longer using Twitter is no longer seeing your Tweets.  Building an engaged following is much more important than building numbers.  Don’t be obsessed with numbers, be obsessed with relationships.
  10. Be Consistent – I heard an analogy once that being a Twitter user is like being a farmer.  Few people have the patience to be a farmer, to plant the seeds, to tend to the plants all year long and then to harvest the plants at the end of the season.  A farmer can’t be absent during the process . . . if he does not tend to his crops, his crops will die before it’s time to harvest.  Twitter is the same way . . . You plant seeds by initiating conversations with different people.  You cultivate those relationships on a regular consistent basis and, then, and only then will you harvest the fruits of your labor.  If you ignore your crops they die.  If you ignore your Twitter followers they will not become your customers.
  11. The Tutoring Solution – http://www.thecatutoringsolution.com/

    Share Stuff – As the owner of The Tutoring Solution, our mission was to help inspire students to become successful in and out of the classroom.  To develop connections with other groups similar to ours we began sharing messages from other members of the #EdChat group, as a result they learned about our programs and our goals and began sharing our stuff.  We then, worked together to promote our missions and our community grew.

  12. Use directories like Twellow, Twubble, Twits Like Me, etc.  There are numerous Twitter directories that has influential Twitter users in your field, you can then use those directories to follow people who share your interests and in turn may follow you.  At the least you’ll see what influential people are doing to make an impact in your community.
  13. Follow those who follow you.  If someone follows you and they’re an active Twitter user, follow them back . . . not only should you follow them, but you should also reach out to them and thank them for following you.  I feel honored every time someone new follows me and I want to make sure my Twitter users know how honored I truly am.
  14. Develop a Strong Bio – Often times, Twitter users will check out your Twitter bio to see if you’re someone they would like to follow.  Be sure your Twitter bio is compelling and lets Twitter users know exactly what kind of person you are and what kind of relationship you will be creating with them.  Optimize your Twitter account . . . be sure to include target keywords, links to your website, add your location and give users a reason to follow you.
  15. Use a Strong Brand Name – Your name is important.  Use your own personal name, a name that goes with your brand, and one that Twitter users will want to connect with.
  16. Create Lists – You can create lists on Twitter which will help you when you start to follow too many people to keep track of.  I’m involved in many Twitter discussions:  SEO, Google AdWords, Social Media, and Education just to name a few.  By putting your followers into groups you can then jump into their discussions by accessing the list you have created for each group.
  17. Introduce People to Your Followers – As you communicate with people its important to share them with others.  If you know two people who share the same passion, connect them with each other.  Twitter is all about building relationships . . . Help people build relationships and they will help you build your community.
  18. Follow People from Different Niches – Everyone has their area of expertise, but that doesn’t mean you need to limit the users you follow.  If I only engaged in discussions with people who associated themselves with “Social Media,” I would be missing out on the potential to connect with new customers.  As a result, I look for niches where my services could either be used or easily referred by and connect with people there.
  19. Reciprocate – If someone does something nice for you . . . return the favor.
  20. Try to Connect with Twitter Friends Offline – While working for Los Serranos Country Club, I am frequently trying to connect with golfers offline.  Often, they will tell me they are headed to the golf course and I will connect with them.  This gives me an opportunity to meet them and get a face to the name, but it also enhances the bond we have with each other and the golf course.  I’ve always told businesses that one of the benefits of attracting people that use social media is that they have access to much more people, the people who I have met at the golf course have sent positive messages about Los Serranos Country Club to their lists of friends on Twitter, Facebook, through email and in person.  If you can build those connections you’re on the right track.  Check out this video of a user we connected with offline from our social media campaign – Louis Castillo on Golf at Los Serranos Country Club in Chino Hills.
  21. Build Up.  Don’t Put Down. – Nobody likes a bully.  Being negative and angry is not conducive towards building a strong community.  Everyone loves people who make them feel good about themselves.  Be a person who makes people feel good and your community will grow.
  22. Use Twitter Tools – There are enormous amounts of Twitter tools you can use to  help manage your Twitter account(s).  Do online searches or ask other Twitter users how Twitter tools have helped them.  I’ve personally used HootSuite, TweetDeck, TweetAdder and TweetChat at different times to help me manage my Twitter accounts, but there are lots more.
  23. Learn the Lingo – Do you know what DM, @, RT, MT,  Tweet, Tw, # mean?  Ask the people on Twitter and they’ll tell you.  (I can’t tell you everything)
  24. Pay Attention to @ Replies – (Ok, I’ll tell you this one)  @ Replies are when people mention you directly in a tweet.  Respond to all @ replies in order to generate a discussion and build a stronger relationship.  @ replies is where I spend most of my time on Twitter . . . when you build a big enough community you will spend most of your time there too.
  25. Add Your Twitter ID to All Signatures – As with anything you’re using, be sure to let as many people know you’re using Twitter as possible.  This means including it in any documentation you may have, in your email signatures, on your Facebook page and anywhere else you can think of.
  26. Read the Bios of Those You Follow – You can develop an understanding of what makes people tick by reading their profiles and then develop more meanginful relationships as a result . . . the more you care about their interests, the more they will care about yours.
  27. Know Who the Players Are – Know who the leaders are in your industry on Twitter . . . Follow them, learn from them and try to connect with them.  By reaching out to people who are perceived as the experts in an industry you are associating yourself with the experts . . . and who knows . . . if you follow all these steps you may become the expert yourself.
  28. Get a Personality – Get creative with your tweets . . . the more creative you are, the more you’ll stand out and the more people will want to follow you.

    Scrapbook Expo Tweet

The most important thing to remember when building a vibrant Twitter community is that it takes time and effort.  You must work at it, but that is what makes social media so amazing . . . the small business owners have the same opportunity for success as the big guys and in some cases, when done right, can outshine the largest of competitors.

I am always happy to educate anyone who is interested in learning more about how you can use Twitter, Social Media or the Internet to reach more customers . . . If you would like me to discuss how Twitter can benefit you or your business, please send me an email – Zeb@WelbornSocialMedia.com or call me at (909) 973 – 9089.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can I Use My Competitors Name in Google Adwords?

The owner of Welborn Social Media and the founder of The Tutoring Solution.My goal is to help business owners share the passion they have for their business with as many potential customers as possible.By helping passionate people achieve their dreams I am helping to create a society of passionate leaders that will help inspire others to make their dreams a reality.

Google AdWords Logo

The first thing you need to do when determining if you can use a c0mpetitor’s name to market your product is to find out whether or not the name is trademarked.  If the name you’re using for your Google Ad campaign is not trademarked then it is acceptable to use your competitor’s name throughout your Google advertising efforts.

You can check to see if the keyword you’d like to bid on is a trademarked term by visiting the Trademark Electronic Search System website – http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/index.jsp and clicking on Trademark Search on the left.

Competitors using term AdWords

Competitors using the word ‘AdWords’

Through a common consensus among Google Adwords advertisers it currently appears acceptable to buy trademarked names in Adwords if you don’t mention the product or service on your site, so long as you don’t mention a trademarked name in your ad, you don’t try to harm the competitors reputation and you don’t make comparisons with trademark infringements.

If you plan on bidding on a competitor’s keyword in Google Adwords take precautions.  If Google receives any complaints from your competitors they have the ability to cease your advertisements from operating on the search engine.

Lastly, local trademark laws can be applied to Google Adwords advertising . . . In a recent California federal district court they determined purchasing a trademarked keyword constituted “use in commerce” under the Lanham Act penalizing the company who purchased the keyword term to run their advertising.  However, the company in question was purposefully trying to deceive customers into believing they were accessing the trademark term’s website.

To summarize, it is best to check with your lawyer first to make sure you are not infringing upon trademark rights, but as a rule of thumb as long as you are not purposefully being deceptive and you avoid using the keyword on your website or in your ad copy then it is acceptable to bid on trademarked keywords.

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