Tag: Leadership

When You Think You’ve Done Enough…

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Do More.

This is a quick motto that I keep in my head for those days when I just want to get that euphoria (I can’t be the only one) that can only be felt by clicking the task as completed in Outlook.

We all have project timelines and it’s important to keep to them. But, the difference between good and great could be that little extra effort that you put in when the competition has already gone home. This is especially true when working with customers. Take the extra time, make the extra effort, and they will reward you by coming back and telling their friends. If you don’t, they will still tell their friends, but you won’t like what they say.

Meetings As Contracts

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One of the biggest complaints I’ve run into in the past few years is that of the meeting. Done correctly, meetings are an efficient way to share information and make decisions. Done incorrectly, they are a dreadful waste of time and energy.

My advice is to treat meetings as contracts and to treat the people involved as clients. When you request to meet with someone have the end goal in mind. Don’t simply meet because you, “have several things to discuss.” Draw up an agenda for where the meeting will go and important questions that need answered and stick to the time allotted.

You wouldn’t show up late to a meeting with important clients, so don’t do it for your internal clients either. Encourage everyone to be there on time, if one person is 15 minutes late for a meeting with four other people – that’s one hour of productivity lost forever. End on time as well – you never know what other meetings yours is running into.

Some other quick tips: Produce and circulate summary of the decisions made and next steps to help keep everyone on the same page. Only invite those people absolutely necessary to the process, if they can’t make the call, they probably don’t need to be there.

The Hidden Dangers of Micro-Management

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I don’t think you’ll find too many management consultants espousing the benefits of micro-management. But, a lot has been made of Steve Jobs’ command-and-control-style management. Legend has it that Mr. Jobs was deeply involved in each project, including designing the Apple stores’ famous glass staircases.

We are all well aware of the success that Apple enjoyed under Jobs’ watchful eye. What we are yet to see, is whether he succeeded in passing on his passion for detail, design, and simplicity.

When we micro-manage everything, we may think we are relieving our co-workers of work. In the end though, we aren’t relieving them, we are depriving them.

Micro-management deprives co-workers of the lessons learned from first-hand experience. It stifles creativity, favors inactivity over pro-activity, breeds dependence, and creates workers that are robbed of the thrill of a victory or the agony of defeat (both are important).

One of the main rewards of the employer/employee relationship is that the employee gains experience that can be used to succeed in a more senior position within or without the company. By teaching workers to wait for someone else to give the answer, we rob them of that reward. When you teach someone to depend on you for everything – they depend on you for everything. That’s a great ego boost for you and that’s fine for folks that just want to keep their head down and float along. It’s a death trap for career-minded people. And what happens when you are gone?

As leaders, we need to build environments that thrive on creativity, managed conflict, independent thought, and responsibility. Set goals, provide vision, and give feedback, but try to steer away from becoming the micro-manager-in-chief.

Set Your Goals

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With the new year in full swing, let’s talk about goal setting. Goal setting and tracking should be an essential part of your planning process. If you don’t have the Commander’s Intent in mind before starting, you are likely to end up somewhere nobody anticipated, with little idea of how you got there.

The article linked above is interesting because it states that the Commander’s Intent is not simply the end state, but also a description of the tasks, and sometimes, the purpose of the mission. This helps teams better understand the reasons for the mission and thus helps them think proactively about achieving the preferred end state.

Does this take more effort? Sure. Does it delay the work? In the short term. Is it worth it? Absolutely. The time and effort spent planning and tracking your goals will reap plenty of rewards in terms of a shared vision, results, and knowledge.

There are plenty of tools out there for goal planning, I’ll list some below. But the main point is to take the time to think about your goals BEFORE starting any project and to revisit them while you are chasing them. Otherwise, it’s very hard to know where you came from and even harder to control where you are going.

http://milestoneplanner.com/

http://www.goalsontrack.com/

http://weekplan.net/why/

Words, Words, Words

MattLeave a Comment on Words, Words, Words

Here’s a quick hit for Friday thinking.

If people make these statements, it’s probably not good for your team or your business.

“It’s just one client.” – I just heard this the other day and it made me cringe. It’s most assuredly not one client. That client knows a ton more. And if this person is willing to write one client off now, it’s guaranteed they’ll do it to another, and another.

“No” (All the time) – I’m sure you know these folks. The ones that are resistant to change. The “We’ve always done it this way,” people. A healthy dose of pragmatism is warranted. A constant source of negativity is not.

“Yes” (All the time) – Your title probably dictates how many of the people are in your life. While we all like to hear it, it’s not a sign of a healthy dialogue. No one is right all the time and if someone is telling you that you are – you better check your wallet – they want something from you.

What are some words or phrases that you think lead to issues?

Words I love to hear:

“Thank You” – At times we all get swept up in our head-down daily grind. It’s important to remember to thank the people beside you that are working just as hard and maybe getting paid half as much. A good thank you is always a good idea!

“Figure it out” – This could be a double-edged sword, but in the right environment, you are fostering your team to think creatively and be proactive. Those two traits are highly desirable in anybody!

I bet there are a ton of key words that tip you off to someone’s true intentions. What are some phrases you hear that are inspirational to you and your team?

Between the Customer and the Bottom Line – Who Wins?

MattLeave a Comment on Between the Customer and the Bottom Line – Who Wins?

In the business of marketing it’s our job (among others) to drive new sales. Often, we get caught in the middle between a sales team that wants all-or-nothing, no holds barred tactics, and our own sense of ethical marketing. While gimmicks and tricks can help boost the pipeline in the short run, in the long run they can be a death sentence. Think about these facts from SCORE :

The High Cost of Losing A Customer

  • The lowest-ranking employee in a business can lose more customers than can be gained by the highest-ranking employee.
  • In the average business, for every customer who bothers to complain, there are 26 others who remain silent.
  • The average wronged customer will tell 8 to 16 people (about 10 percent will tell more than 20 people).
  • 91 percent of unhappy customers will never purchase goods or services from you again.
  • If you make an effort to remedy customer’s complaints, 82 to 95 percent of them will stay with you.
  • It costs about 5 times as much to attract a new customer as it does to keep an existing one.

The fourth bullet really stands out to me. 91 percent of unhappy customers will NEVER purchase goods or services from you again. In tandem with the last bullet, it’s plain to see that we want to do everything we can to keep customers happy.

The temptation is always there when it comes to e-mail marketing. It is simply too easy, and too quick to push a button to see if you can move the needle. Keep customer interests, not your bottom line, as the number one priority. The beauty of it all? Find where those two intersect and you’ve got a winner!

If you are asked to choose between pulling tricks to pull in revenue and honest, effective marketing, remember these stats!

Lessons From the Sock Drawer

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You start out with the best intentions. Everything is in order. Everything has a reason for being there. But somewhere down the road, it happens. You stop getting the same results. Sometimes you take out more than you put in. Sometimes you add new things in to the mix without taking out the old.

At some point, things start getting a little out of line. No worries though, you always seem to find what you’re looking for, it just takes a little more time. Fast forward a little bit. Soon, you can only find one pair that matches and one of them has a hole in it. But it’s 6:58 and you have to be out the door by 7 so you take what you can find and rush out the door. Everything was so orderly at one time and now it’s a wreck. How did this happen?

Sound familiar? Is your sock drawer a mess? Don’t keep adding to an already cluttered agenda. If something needs added, see how it fits in with earlier plans. Does it replace something you already do? Are you (or somebody else)  already doing it and don’t know it?Are you doing some things just because you’ve always done them?

Often this is the case. If we keep adding responsibilities and initiatives without regard for prior objectives, it’s easy to get off track. If this new initiative truly is more useful than the old one, figure out how to effectively combine them. Or, better yet, get rid of the old one. If you  keep your agenda focused, it’s easier to focus on your agenda.

Four Ways to Keep Projects in Motion

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As Newton’s first law states:

An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.

Ever feel like you are continually being acted upon by unbalanced forces? While trying to overcome the unbalanced forces is probably another (series) of blog posts. I would recommend that each of us do our best to keep the project rolling. How do we do so?

  • Sum it up:
    Projects often get bogged down when people aren’t sure what they are expected to deliver in the next phase. End each meeting or call with a wrap up that details specifically what was decided and who is responsible for handling each deliverable. This is often relegated to the meeting minutes but it’s important to reinforce what’s been decided before the meeting ends. This gives everyone involved the chance to clarify the goals one last time, something we may be unwilling to do if we are simply e-mailed a meeting summary.
  • Check up:
    If you’re worried about a project and haven’t heard anything on it, it doesn’t hurt to ask. Just make sure to come across as helpful, not as a dictator. This can also be achieved by building a project time line with regular update intervals. Don’t forget to give credit where it’s due!
  • Keep it moving:
    We’ve all been stuck behind the car driving a little too slow and it’s always amazing to see the trail of cars that piles up in the rear view mirror. Don’t be the project roadblock. Respond to inquiries in a timely, organized manner. Alan Weiss, adheres to a two hour rule.
  • Keep it moving (forward):
    Keep the project moving forward, don’t get bogged down with endless details  and re-dos. Once something is done, put a stake in the ground and move forward while keeping your goals, quality, and the customer in mind. This gives the project momentum and gives those involved a sense of accomplishment.  Motion is good, but direction is a key component, otherwise you’ll end up where you started, just more tired.

Just Be Better

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Just got done reading Adobe’s clever new ad re: Apple. How much energy does your company spend trying to keep others from copying you? How much time do you spend trying to let good leads in while keeping the bad (competitors) from peaking in?

My advice is to take that time and invest in making your product better. Talk to your existing customers. Talk to potential customers. Talk to people who’ve never heard of you. Explore promising solutions in other industries and find new ideas. Don’t engage in a feature war. Features can be copied. That’s how the game is played. The trick is to change the game with innovation.

in an open market, the best products will win in the end – and the best way to compete is to create the best technology and innovate faster than your competitors.

Chuck Geschke and John Warnock Adobe Founders

Don’t worry about what your competition might do. Just be better than it.

Are You Waiting Your Turn?

MattLeave a Comment on Are You Waiting Your Turn?

I’ll be honest. I’ve thought about starting this thing for quite a while now. But until today I hadn’t. I was waiting my turn. ‘Surely, the people out there blogging today are much more qualified and experienced than I. What can i say that hasn’t already been said? What do I want to say?’ I thought, that in a few years, when I had more experience I would be ‘ready’ to take on this challenge. But as time went on, I began examining my rationale and realized that it didn’t make sense.

I was overlooking the unique voice that I could bring to the conversation today. My experience, while perhaps similar to others was still quite unique. That was my strength. Not the subject matter – The analysis of it.

So that’s my question to you. Are you (or your company) waiting your turn or sitting on the bench because the field is too crowded?  Ask yourself why and you might find out it’s not because of anything others are doing, it’s because you aren’t looking at what you (and only you) can do.