During the check-in portion of a recent quarterly session with a client, several team members mentioned that their Marketing Strategy was “not working”. When I dug a little deeper during the V/TO review, everyone agreed that the Marketing Strategy was correct - they just weren’t sure what to do now that their 3 Uniques™ were defined.
A helpful discipline when giving feedback to someone, or when having a tough conversation to help correct someone’s unproductive actions, is sharing three data points. Data points are examples of what the person is doing that demonstrates the bad behavior.
If you have to confront one of your people for bad behavior – let’s say he or she is treating people in the office poorly – you owe that person three examples. There is truly magic in three. Two is not enough and four is too many. If you don’t give three examples, he or she will rationalize his or her way out of it.
When something good or bad happens, or when we have an idea, we want to share it. When we have a question, we want to ask it. When we are frustrated, we want to vent.
Sharing our news, ideas, questions and frustrations whenever the urge strikes, consumes an incalculable amount of time and human energy, and that matters because many of us say we don’t have enough time to accomplish everything we want to accomplish.
Hiring is often cited as one of the most challenging parts of growing a business. When it comes to building your business dream team, right people-right seat decisions are rarely black and white.
For example: when a new position is created, it’s quite common to have a ‘right person’ on your existing team. This person shares your core values and really wants the opportunity, but falls short on getting it or having the capacity to deliver what the position requires. The question becomes: should you invest time and resources to develop that person or fill the position with someone outside your team?
I used to think of an executive assistant as a luxury that only high-powered CEOs in large companies could afford. It seemed silly to pay someone to do something I could do myself, and I figured that it would take more time to explain what I needed than to do it on my own. But as my company grew, I realized that delegation is not a luxury—it's a necessity.
Ever notice how everyone in a workplace knows who the bad boss is—except the bad boss? If you’re supervising others, and you’re frustrated with their performance, it’s possible that the problem isn’t your team. You could be the not-so-great boss.
Disengaged employees cost the U.S. more than $500 billion in lost productivity annually, and most of that disengagement can be traced back to poor leadership and management. From large corporations to small marketing agencies, the impact of a bad boss can have catastrophic consequences to morale, revenue, and customer satisfaction.
Hiring is often cited as one of the most challenging parts of growing a business. When it comes to building your business dream team, right people-right seat decisions are rarely black and white.
For example: when a new position is created, it’s quite common to have a ‘right person’ on your existing team. This person shares your core values and really wants the opportunity, but falls short on getting it or having the capacity to deliver what the position requires. The question becomes: should you invest time and resources to develop that person or fill the position with someone outside your team?
Meetings are often seen as the most useless part of business life, but they don’t have to be. In fact, meetings can be an important tool for driving your company’s growth, but they have to be run effectively for your team to get value and stop viewing them as a waste of time.
As an entrepreneur and advisor to business leaders, I always have a stack of books sitting on my desk that have been recommended to me by friends and colleagues. Each year, I compile a list of books that have either stuck with me year after year, or have emerged as new favorites in the last year.
As you build your reading list for the coming year, here are some books to consider adding to your list! I plan to buy all of them in bulk and regularly recommend them to clients and colleagues in 2017.
“I really want the promotion. I’d love to take on that manager position,” Fred says enthusiastically. Fred has been on your team for several years now and he knows your business well. He’s proven himself to be reliable and professional. But why does he want the position? His enthusiasm reminds you of a kid in a candy store repeating I want it, I want it! But just like that kid in the candy store, does he actually want it? Is he about to bite off more than he can chew?