There are a million ways to improve our businesses and our lives. The ideas float in the window, arrive via email, pop into conversation, pile up in droves when we read, appear as “suggestions” from the boss, and are promoted by colleagues, friends, customers, suppliers, and more. But we can’t do them all! If you run with every exciting new idea, you will drive yourself crazy and get nowhere of significance. The answer is not to block out new ideas and information. Listening, learning, imagining, evolving, and, occasionally leaping, are important.
It takes a company, if not a village, to successfully and profitably provide value to your customers. Honor your employees, suppliers, shareholders, customers, and community for the role they play by showing respect and appreciation and by sharing the rewards you have reaped.
Get your year off to a great start with these 10 tips for creating the clarity that can speed and improve results in 2011: If you want different results in the new year, you, and those with whom you work, must behave differently. Business as usual won’t magically produce increased revenue, greater profits, better products, fewer problems, less confusion, more productive employees, and happier customers. Get clear about what you and others will do differently to make this new year different. Make your top priorities clear. It is better to catapult 3 – 5 priorities into the next county than to slog up the mountain inch by inch with dozens. Decide what to stop doing. If you have too many priorities, you have no priorities. Make a clear decision to abandon, postpone, outsource, or cut corners. Don’t leave such decisions to chance.
We all have so much to do that setting our sights on anything above surviving the daily rush can seem unthinkable. Thus, organizations without strong leaders surrender to the daily struggles and believe that tomorrow or next quarter or next year will be a better time to start making changes. Unfortunately, tomorrow is always tomorrow. That’s why leaders insist on starting today. Leaders don’t wait. Leaders Create Time By Creating a Shared Vision If you create a shared vision of a better future state, you will generate energy, commitment, and time people didn’t know they had. If people are excited about a better future, their excitement propels them forward. They find a way.
I just came from a meeting that could have been finished in a quarter of the allotted time. Max. But what is sad is that no one seems to have even noticed. As the newest member of the group, I listened and waited for something to happen. It didn’t. Granted this was a BOD committee meeting, which means there was a social and networking component. But that didn’t really happen either. How could all these powerful and accomplished people sit there and do so little? Are they so conditioned to standing still in meetings that they can’t recognize it? Have they given up? At least when people complain, you know they care. If your employees are complaining about wasteful and ineffective meetings, seize the day! If they aren’t, maybe the bar has sunk so low you should insist on meetings without lights so people could at least get some sleep. Wake up! Raise the bar! Don’t let 20, 30, or 50% of your organization’s resources be devoted to standing, or sitting, still. If you would like to turn your meetings upside down, make better use of your resources, and save free up numerous hours of company time, give me a call!
Politicians provide such excellent examples of how not to behave! Rewriting history is one of their favorites. Recasting their own beliefs, statements, and behaviors to reflect current sentiment rather than an ugly or unfortunate past is all too common. Worse, we seem to forgive them for it! But don’t make the mistake of following their example, especially not in the workplace! Instead, own up to your mistakes. Take heed from Verna Bailey, who said: “When history collides with self-image, it is not history a principled person seeks to change.”
I take exception to both “Pfeffer: Company Loyalty is Dead — Fend for Yourself!” http://blogs.bnet.com/harvard/?p=7563 and the referenced article. A business is a team sport. No one can win alone. If you help the business win and help those around you succeed, you are unlikely to be laid off or stabbed in the back. At the same time, you must don your own oxygen mask first. Toot your own horn when appropriate. Don’t expect others to intuit your willingness to step up, recognize capabilities you have yet to demonstrate, or identify opportunities to help you grow. Take responsibility for your own career and brand; neither is known to arrive on a silver platter for free.
Org charts and goals can be extremely hazardous to profit margins. You may wonder how this can possibly be, especially after all the recent focus on cost cuts. The reason? Not all revenue dollars are created equal and not all cost cuts increase profits. With everyone responsible for something other than profits, profits suffer: The sales force is responsible for booking orders; big orders and lots of orders are what counts. They may not have any idea which customers and products are most profitable. The production people are responsible for shipping quality products on time. The more products that go out the door on time, the bigger their bonuses and raises. It doesn’t matter how many of those products have low or no margin.
The year is nearly half over. How are you doing? Now is a good time to take stock of your priorities, progress, and neglected initiatives. Have beginning-of-the-year “priorities” lost their sheen? If so, why? What assumptions drove them to the top of the list and are those assumptions still valid? If those “priorities” aren’t really important, take them off the list explicitly to eliminate guilt, confusion, and misdirected investments of time and money. Are there important objectives that have been neglected? If so, why? If under-supported, why are they getting insufficient attention and resources? With what are they competing for resources? Who owns them? Are those owners committed to them? How are those owners being held accountable? Has the list of priorities grown? If there are too many priorities there are no priorities. You can’t only add to the list unless real progress is shortening the list just as fast. If the list has grown, cut it now. Turn attention to the top priority or two across the board and ensure some real progress. Don’t allow additions to the list without completing or removing something.
Many businesses are gearing up to meet recovering demand. This is important to you whether you are hiring or not. If you are hiring: Don’t let loyalty drive you to re-hire an under- performer unless providing opportunities for under-performers is part of your mission. Rethink your needs before simply filling the same old positions using the same old criteria. Hire talent over skill and experience. Skill and experience can be acquired, talent can not. (For more about talent, read Talent Is Not Overrated, Nor Is It What You Think. )