It is never easy to manage a business. There are always a multitude of people, product, process and service issues to be juggled and prioritized.  Add to this mix the heightened pressures in today’s business world and it is no wonder today’s managers feel especially stressed.  We’ve never been in a time when we all felt we had to do more with less and yet never has it been more important to satisfy both your employees and customers.  How do you do all this when the limited resources at your disposal all seem to have become even more scarce?   Here are some TIPS for managing in today’s touch times. 

 BITES

Believe in your self and your staff – If you don’t convey confidence through your own beliefs and actions, your staff cannot project confidence to your customers. 

Intentional – Be intentional in your actions and your words.  If you’ve got a strategic plan, follow it, reference it as you make your decisions and communicate the intent of your actions and decisions in alignment with your plan. (And by all means, if you don’t have a strategic plan, create one – it is the best assurance you have ending up where you want to be rather than some unintended place.)  Everyone can then see how your decisions and intentional actions move the entire organization closer to your goals.  This is a fabulous way to lead by example.

Target – Set realistic milestones aligned with your overall targeted goals.  You achieve big goals by taking one intentional step at a time toward your targeted dreams.

Expectations – Expect success, expect results, expect a lot of yourself and expect a lot of others.  Expectations set the tone for what we will or will not achieve.  If we think we can, we can. If we think we can’t, we won’t.

Share -  Achieving results and managing toward success starts with personal leadership, but to be effective and have the organization move forward dreams, goals and plans must be written down, talked about, and shared openly. 

You eat a big block of Swiss cheese, one morsel at a time – enjoy all those tasty BITES.

 

BE FAB

I got this from Sharon Lechter, author of Three Feet From Gold and several other best selling books.

You have to BE FAB because no one will hire you or buy your products or come to you for service if you aren’t…

Back Straight – Erect, purposeful, confident

Eye Contact – Meeting others in the eye establishes your presence and is the first step toward instilling trust.

Firm Handshake – Establishes confidence, takes trust to the next level of depth, and creates personal connection

Ask Questions – Asking causes you to listen more than talk and listening is the key to servicing, selling and satisfying others.

Be Behold – Being bold required confidence, knowledge and projects capability – all key ingredients for business and personal success.  

 REMINDERS of things you know, but may have forgotten…

• Make a DO NOT DO list to ease your mind and gain valuable focus.
• Rejoice rather than worry – focus on your abundant blessings. Worry is praying for what you DON’T want.
• Quit trying to find the ‘one’ right answer – focus on the options and possibilities.
• Live your life for yourself rather than for others.
• RUN, DON’T WALK away from negative people – surround your self with those who believe in possibilities.
• Hire slow, fire fast – get the right people on the bus and help those who are misplaced get off the bus.

 - Joyce Friel      

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                                   Peak Performance Consulting * 480-236-4266

 

 

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The higher you go in an organization the more the skill set needed changes from technical competence to the broader skill of conceptualization. Getting in the door requires technical knowledge of your chosen field, the right attitude and the inherent characteristics valued by the hiring organization. The first several positions you hold are quite likely to be based upon your knowledge, job skill and the ability to delivery specific results. Results get you promoted to higher and higher levels, but at some point the skill set requirements change.

Leading an organization requires the ability to conceptualize about the issues and concerns of an organization, as well as, what is needed in the future. Conceptualization is all about being able to see that which is not there. The ability to look at a set of actual circumstances and see beyond them in order to determine the problem or opportunity they present. This skill is about recognizing how the functions of an organization are all interdependent; how changes in one area impact all the others. The ability to see customers needs and project the solution in not-yet-developed products or services your organization can provide. Conceptualization is critical both in solving today’s problems, as well as, anticipating the needs of the market and then having the solution prepared in time to capture the opportunity.

Conceptualization is not a skill learned once you are at the executive level. It is a developmental skill that needs to be honed all along the way. The ability to see conceptually can be improved by holding a variety of positions and thereby broadening your entire conceptual spectrum of how business operates, taking on special interdepartmental assignments, and working with specific problems that you would not otherwise encounter in the course of your normal work, but which are necessary to broaden your thinking and skill.

So if you are already a good conceptual thinker, what do you need to be doing to help others in your organization achieve this same level of expertise? What did you do to learn this skill that might be of particular value to others? If you need to develop your ability to see conceptually more easily or more deeply, what projects, tasks or assignments do you need to seek out? Is your mentor a good conceptual thinker? If not, maybe you need to find an additional mentor who is particularly good at thinking conceptually.

You’ll be hard-pressed to find a senior-level leader that is still operating at the technical skills level. The higher you go the more you get removed from the technical side of your business. However, you’ll find the best leaders you know are good conceptual leaders and if they recognize this as a weakness in their skill set, they have surrounded themselves with others who have this talent.

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 First of all I want to credit my friend, client and fellow golfer, Deb Waitkus, with the idea for this article.  Deb is the founder and CEO of Golf for Cause.  She is an expert in demystifying the game, turning ‘Golf into Gold^TM, and leveraging golf for business.  The Rules of Golf which as you may know can be very obscure, daunting, and at time bewildering.  It struck me as I read them there are many parallels between golf and leading a business.  The rules of leading effectively can also be quite daunting and at times bewildering. 

The Royal and Ancient Club may not have had business lessons in mind when those rugged Scotsman devised this challenging game, but they did us all a great service both recreationally and professionally when they codified the rules of the game over the years.  Here are a few samples of how golf and business parallel each other.

Golf	Business
Penalty Strokes	OK, you goofed.  You did something by mistake or even knowingly did something that you could have done better.  Be honest about it, admit the error, take the penalty stroke, learn from the error and move on.
Maximum 14 Clubs	What are the 14 ‘go to’ tools you use most frequently and effectively to lead and manage effectively?  Golfers are continually following technological development and buying new clubs to get that edge.  Are your ‘leadership tools’ the ones you need in your bag? Are you technologically savvy?
Be Ready	Being ready and prepared for your next shot are critical in maintaining pace enjoying your round of golf.  Are you anticipating and are you ready to meet your next business challenge?  Are you considering the lie, have you lined up your next move, can you visualize the ability of your company to respond, are the other players on your team ready to respond?
Etiquette	Golf is not just getting the lowest score.  It is also about etiquette, honesty, and following the rules.  You learn a great deal about a person’s character, ethic and personal code of conduct when you’re playing a round of golf.  Wouldn’t it be nice to know how your potential clients and colleagues react under pressure before you engage them in business?  You can learn this in a friendly round of golf.

For those of you that are golfers I have adapted the Slow Play Test from Golf for Cause newsletter to a Slow Play Test for Leaders and Managers.

Slow Play Test for Leaders and Managers                                                                                      Yes      No

1. Am I courteous?
2. Do I know when it is appropriate to make the next move to close the deal or coach a subordinate?
3 Am I ready and proactive when action is needed?
4. Do I note the reaction and change in market to my strategy and tactics; do I learn from the markets reaction?
5. Do I delay and procrastinate to avoid difficulty decisions?
6. If in doubt, do I have a contingency plan prepared?
7. Am I decisive and committed to my decisions?
8. Do I know how to ‘take relief’ and guide my team when minor adjustments need to be made?
9. Am I preparing for my next leadership action as I observe the activities of my team?
10. Do I note the score, take a quick assessment of results and then move on rather than dwelling on the past?

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The older I get the more powerful this saying is yet living this philosophy is challenging.  If you saw the movie or play, Chicago, you may recall Renee Zellweger singing this line to Richard Gere in a jail scene from inside her cell.  I certainly hope none of you ever face that set of circumstances, yet even in these circumstances she recognized she loved the life she lived despite the consequences of her choices.  Can we each say the same about our lives? 

One of my clients is a realtor to high-end clientele. I recently asked her if she was envious of the vast wealth many of her clients have. “No,” she said.  “My goal is to be happy in my life with balance in all aspects of it. I want to live with purpose and within my means.”  I had a great respect for her already, but my opinion was reinforced significantly by this statement.  For her the grass isn’t greener on the other side of the fence or security wall.  She finds a way to see the green grass right where she is.

 I have a few personal beliefs that help me stay centered and content. 

* Know your personal mission – I know the purpose of my life and the value I am providing.

* Short-term goals with a future focus – If you have longer-term goals then near-term goals help you stay focused on that objective while achieving results and accomplishments now.  When I focus on my own plan and objectives I tend not to get caught up in unrealistic wishes or the lives of others. 

* Be a realistic dreamer – Dreams are important.  They cause us to stretch beyond where we are while living in the reality of today.

* Know yourself well – Be self-aware, reflect and self-examine.  This helps me stay focused on all the reasons to be content where I am rather than being envious of others.

* Surround yourself with positive people – We get what we focus on and those around us shape our world-view so choose to make it a positive picture.  Doing so helps make our self-fulfilling prophecy positive and filled with possibilities.

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Thinking in pictures, seeing circumstances as a series of cause and effects, and using theoretical models or mental models as guides for making decisions comes natural to about 50% of the population.  To 50% of the population seeing things in this perspective is a bit more of a challenge.  It isn’t a matter of intelligence or education.  It is a matter of natural preference for how we see the world. However, for all of us learning to see and use mental models as decision-making aids can be very beneficial. 

Simple 2 X 2 matrices are easy to remember, can represent a wide variety of situations in a simple format, and can help you sort out complex situations and reduce them to a manageable few set of circumstances upon which to base your decision. The model below is a great tool for sorting out the impact any employee has on the performance and culture of an organization.  However, it is particularly useful in sorting out the importance of a manager’s or supervisor’s performance versus their impact on the culture of the organization.  If you believe as I do that the more a manager or leader understands the importance and visibility their role plays in shaping both the organizational culture and the results they are able to achieve, the more valuable this model becomes as a tool for decision making.   Here is the model…

                                                                                                Culture

So how do you read the matrix and how do you use it to make effective decisions?

Time Bombs – you all know who these employees are.  They are the ones infecting everyone else with negative attitudes, rumor and innuendo, etc.  They may be good performers despite their negative attitude, but you can’t afford to have them infect others and undermine the performance-based culture you are trying to foster. They are carriers of infectious diseases.  Get your documentation in order and terminate them before they infect other good performers.

Losers - This group of employees don’t ‘get it’. They don’t understand the culture you are trying to create nor are they performing.   They are the one’s you’ve tried to train, you have tried to motivate and they just don’t respond.  The difference between the Losers and the Time Bombs is the Losers aren’t infecting others so they are less dangerous.  Identify them, try to rehabilitate them, and if unsuccessful, terminate them.

Positive Potentials – This group is probably the majority of your employees.  They are solid contributors and they behave according to the organizational values.   Nothing really wrong only you know they have more potential and could become real Superstars.  Corrective action and coaching can get them to step up to the challenge and become real leaders.    

Superstars – Their name describes their behavior and value. They understand what is expected and why it is important, they are leaders, they are high producers, and they positively influence the behavior of others.  These are the real keepers.  They are early adopters and the leaders who help move your organization forward toward your goals. 

Very frequently I run into situations where managers know an employee is in the Time Bomb or Loser category, but they haven’t 1) documented the employee’s performance or 2) talked with the employee.  When I ask them why, they often say, because it is so hard to hire employees that I can’t afford to lose them.  My position is that it is better to have fewer employees who are either Positive Potentials or Superstars than to deal with the ‘carrying costs’ of managing the poor performers.  You all know how much time you spend trying to manage the behavior and performance of these few when your effort would be so much more enjoyable, rewarding and productive if it were spent helping and developing the majority who really produce and help you achieve your goals.  It’s the 80/20 rule, but we get caught up in spending 80% of our time on the wrong group of employees.

  

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As if the general news wasn’t enough to get you down, spring is often when the performance review process rears its ugly head in many corporations.  As a manager for six divisions at Eastman Kodak Company over the course of my 27-year career there, I can relate to this concern, but I also know it doesn’t have to be this way.  Why is it that so many people dread both writing and reviewing performance reviews? As a leader, you have it in your power to make this annual conversation one of recognition and encouragement or at least positive coaching and empowerment. 

Here are a Few Reasons Why Performance Reviews are Dreaded by Everyone Involved 

• Poor Training and Development – Promotions often occur because of great individual contribution followed by little training and development on how to be a good manager and supervisor. If you are in this situation, ask your HR department or the leader you report to for training and coaching in this area.
• Yes, But – Often you are told how you’ve performed through the year and then the conversation quickly segues to a yes, but of what you need to do to improve.  All the positive energy and good feeling you just created was just lost.  Guess what the employee will remember?  Avoid this problem, but separating performance review and performance planning into two different conversations.
• Poor Documentation Processes – It is really difficult to remember accurately the specifics and details of a person’s performance without good documentation throughout the year.  Avoid this problem by keeping an active folder for each employee.  This is simply a memory-jogger file for collecting specific performance notations that need to be included in the annual review.  Once the official review documents have been completed, purge this file and start a new active file for the coming year.  This is not an official performance file, but a place to keep your own notes so you more accurately provide details to the employee.
• Generalities - Not providing specific examples is a real downer for employees. Being told you did a good job or receiving coaching without specifics provides nothing to grow on.  Make sure you keep detailed notes in your active file mentioned above.
• No Surprises - All too often what an employee hears during the performance review is a surprise.  Nothing the employee hears during this discussion should be a surprise.  Any time something occurs throughout the year that deserves coaching and correction or praise and encouragement should be mentioned and reviewed at the time it occurs.

• Lack of clarity of expectations – Very frequently organizations have done a very poor job of establishing performance expectations.  When employees don’t have clarity about expectations for their job, it is almost impossible to contribute what the organization and supervisors are expecting, yet they will be receiving a performance review documenting what they did or did not do well.  No wonder they look upon performance reviews with trepidation. Avoid this morale buster and ensure everyone can contribute effectively by ensuring every position has well documented, shared, and thoroughly discussed performance expectations.
• Subjectivity – In the absence of objective standards and expectations, supervisors have no option but to write performance reviews subjectively.  By human nature, some subjectivity usually creeps into reviews, but favoritism and subjectivity can be minimized by writing performance reviews against well-established, openly-shared expectations for each position.

History is hard to overcome and many, many employees and supervisors have negative experiences relating to performance reviews.  As a leader, you have an obligation to simply not repeat history.  Examine what is the state of performance reviews in your organization and commit to making more positive memories for yourself and your employees.

Don’t Miss Out!

Strategic Planning for Entrepreneur’s, April 16 and 17, give me a call at 480 391 3861 for details.

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Turn off the news!
With all the doom and gloom in the news today, it would be easy to believe there is nothing positive coming out of our current global economic situation. I am not belittling those many very unfortunate situations in which people have been very adversely affected. However, I, for one, and many of my friends and clients believe now is the time to look for and create positive opportunities.

It is easy to get caught up in what you hear on CNN and the news stations. Turn it off! And get turned on to all the good things that are going on around you. Opportunity abounds, but only if you are looking for it and decide to take advantage of it.

Refocus in order to grow!
From whom and from where will the next breakthrough come? From you? From your company? Stranger things have happened. Rather than focusing on down sizing, cutting costs and laying off people, focus on what it would take to increase sales or launch that new opportunities which could grow your business rather than shrink it. Raising capital and increasing capacity rather than struggling to cut costs and reduce investments in your company and your people is not only exciting, it is a positive growth strategy rather than a declining negative approach.

Best of luck. Let me know the stories from your own experiences.

TIPSÓ – Touch Points, Ideas, Possibilities and Solutions

Please feel free to share these TIPS with your colleagues and friends.  If you wish to include any of this material in any of your own work or publications, please contact us for permission. Thank you.

The Best Don’t Need to Manage

We all are continually seeking to be the best at leading, managing, owning, development, etc.  Just note the huge sale of books such as Good to Great, Developing the Leader Within, The Leadership Challenge, Built to Last, and on and on and on.  While these books very effectively point out examples to follow and practices to emulate, there is just nothing quite as powerful as experiencing greatness first hand.  The case in point below demonstrates how ‘the best don’t manage’.

Over the years I have worked with hundreds of CEOs, Presidents, and owners some of whom were very effective and all genuinely and sincerely were trying their best.  Once in a while you come across someone who possesses a personal belief about the goodness in people and has a personal style that allows their belief to permeate through all they do. As a result those around them accept challenges beyond their expected horizon and truly blossom into a heightened level of their own potential.

I have a client who fits this description.

I’d like to share with you some of the traits that allow this person to maximize the best in others by very subtly ‘managing’ not only their own behaviors but all the activities of their company. Seldom do they have to overtly ‘manage’ people or processes, they surround themselves with people who have potential and then allow that potential to grow.  Here are some examples of what they do and how they do it. They realize

• The critical importance of hiring the right people – better to do without than hire the wrong person.
• That even it is difficult to do, sometimes you have to ‘de-hire’ a person who just doesn’t fit and never will.
• If an employee can’t be inspired, they made a mistake in hiring them and both the employee and the organization at-large will be better served the sooner this employee is gone.
• Employees really do know what they are doing, the key is to get out of their way and let them do it.
• Accountability and consequences (both positive and negative) must be used hand-in-hand for empowerment and human potential to grow.
• You must first trust before you get trust in return so they willingly give the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise.

While this client spends a lot of time thinking about and subtly positioning his own behavior and that of others in order to get the results that are needed, he does very little overt ‘managing’ of people and processes because the employees have willingly stepped up to the challenge.  His role is to set the direction, chart the course, keep the organization on task at a high level, ensure accountability is in place and provide liberal positive consequences for work well done.  As a result he seldom has to step into the more typical ‘manager’ role that is so typically stereotyped. He spends a lot of time listening, asking questions, helping, thinking and smiling.

I recently facilitated a senior leadership team work session for this organization.  And, while I didn’t actually keep track of the amount of time this person talked versus the air time of others in the session, I feel confident in saying he spoke less than 30% of the time.  He set the tone, stated the objectives, asked questions, gave affirming answers and confirmed decisions others were making.  This CEO is a delight to work with and I can only image how empowering, energizing, and engaging it is to work with him. 

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