Are Your Goals SMART?

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I have had the privilege to be a part of a strong peer business group, Vistage, where part of the accountability is our goal setting.  What I have learned over the years is the more specific and measurable the goal the better.  My team forces me to put a timetable on each goal, otherwise, they tell me I have an aspiration, not a goal.  I encourage you to set your own SMART goals.

  • Specific
  • Measurable
  • Actionable
  • Realistic
  • Timely

When you implement these concepts with each of your goals, watch your accomplishments go to the next level!

Mike

Time Management: Are You Focused?

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I have often heard how well someone can multi-task to get things done.  However, in my experience the person is not so much multi-tasking but rather is switch-tasking and they are not as productive first observed.

Studies have indicated that it can take between 10 minutes to 30 minutes to get back on track with a task that was interrupted by a phone call or email.  In a 2009 study by Stanford researcher, Clifford Nass, he experimented with college students on switching among tasks.  What he found was chronic multi-taskers for terrible at filtering irrelevant information and working memory.

For me the art of getting things done is to stay focused. I start each day with my top 3 priorities that will move the needle for me and my business. I stick with the first priority and finish it before moving on to the next one. It is similar to the acronym FOCUS… Finish, One, Course of action, Until, Complete.

Here’s to you staying focused on the one thing that will move you forward!

Mike

A “How To” For Constructive Criticism

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Feedback from customers and employees is important to our growth.  How we give feedback will make a big difference on the recipient’s desire to act.  At times, the feedback will require some criticism.  Vistage speaker Bill Scherer gives some tips on giving constructive criticism.

  1. Praise in public, criticize in private
  2. Focus on behavior, not the person
  3. Clearly describe the behavior you want an employee to change and why
  4. Ensure the person has an ability to change the behavior
  5. Keep comments short and on point
  6. Maintain a positive tone
  7. Use “I” statements
  8. Show empathy
  9. Avoid spontaneous criticism
  10. Recognize positive behavior change

Follow these guidelines to help deliver the message in the right context, where action can and will want to be taken.

Here’s to positive dialogue that propels your business health!

Mike

10 Signs of Owner Burnout

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As busy leaders and owners of a business time is a precious commodity that is not renewable.  I sometimes hear owners and leaders say phrases like “I have to stay on top of everyone to make sure it gets done”, “it’s crazy busy around here and I can’t seem to come up for air.”

These are phrases that tend to point toward a business owner and leader headed for burn out.  Are you headed that way?  Here are some signs.

  • Feeling exhausted and overwhelmed.  Each time you look at a “to do” list a mountain of dread flows over you.
  • You don’t think clearly.  You find yourself not able to focus on one thing for long before the next “fire” erupts from someone else.
  • You are frustrated and don’t feel things will get better any time soon.
  • Your performance is waning so you make it up by working longer hours after everyone has gone home and it often spills over to the weekend too.
  • You are always “at work” even when you are away from it.  You can’t seem to disconnect from it and your mind is always racing through issues that you want to solve at work.
  • Are people avoiding you?
  • Nothings seems to be going right.  You head towards the negative instead of the positive, and can’t seem to find the good in most situations.
  • You don’t socialize outside of work in part because you don’t disconnect from it.
  • You are experiencing health issues and fail to exercise or eat right, and you know it.
  • You are finding sleep harder to come by.  Studies have shown a lack of sleep over a period reduces your cognitive ability.

If you see any or a number of these symptoms, you could be headed for burnout.  Make sure to avoid it by:

  • Eating healthy
  • Get adequate sleep…7 to 8 hours each night
  • Delegate
  • Implement operating systems that are simple and proven that help with accountability and drive results

Here is to make sure we understand what burnout looks like and making the changes necessary to avoid it.

Mike

Leadership and Sleep

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In this age of instant access via phone, text message, LinkedIn, twitter, and other social media platforms, we find ourselves in a 24/7 inundation of information and time constraints.  It leaves less time for ourselves.  How we sometimes get around it is by sleeping less.  A Harvard Business Review study showed that 43% of business leaders indicated that they don’t get enough sleep.  A lack of sleep has shown decreases on executive function capabilities.  This is the area where we process problem solving, reasoning and organizing.

Sleep deprivation has been proven to impair our ability to focus attentively on issues or problems that we want to solve.  A study showed that a person who only slept 4 to 5 hours a night had the same performance as someone with a blood alcohol level of 0.1% which is the definition of drunk in the U.S.

Some of our brightest and best minds of the past century (Churchill, Da Vinci, Franklin…) maintained how it important it was for them to get adequate sleep.  In fact, some had a routine of taking a nap in the afternoon from anywhere between 20 minutes to 45 minutes.

Getting adequate sleep each night, some say between 7 to 8 hours, can be the difference between effective leadership and your cognitive ability to make the right decisions for your organization.

To your health!

Mike

Employee Engagement

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Do you remember your first day at a new job?  It’s often filled with excitement and new opportunities on helping the company you just joined succeed in its mission.  However, have you also felt this excitement wear off after a while?  Did you feel yourself get more disconnected?

This dissatisfaction with some or maybe all aspects of your job is also something you have seen among other employees.  Keeping engaged and excited employees is a difficult process for any company, and especially for ones with fast growth and lots of employees.  Recent research has found that when we can make a connection of one’s work to the beneficiary of that work, like our customer, employees get more job satisfaction.  For instance, Adam Grant of the Wharton School found that fundraisers who were attempting to secure scholarship donations felt more motivated when they had contact with the scholarship recipients.

Giving feedback to employees on how their work is impacting the company’s customers is a strong motivation tool that lifts productivity.  Its making these types of connections for all employees in all areas of the company can give them a picture of how they contribute to customer satisfaction.  What opportunities do you have in your organization to provide these types of connections?

Make the connections to level up your employee engagement!

Mike

Make Your Compliments Count

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One of the best ways to brighten up someone’s day is to give them a compliment.  

However, not all compliments are equal.  In her article “The Secret to Giving a Compliment that Makes People Glow” by Mary Halton, she describes the 3 ingredients for a great compliment.

  • Use their name
    • Using someone’s name says you value them as a person
  • Compliment something specific
    • Instead of using a generic statement like “Good job,” be specific and say something like “Your singing took me back to my childhood when my family would sing around the campfire.”
  • Don’t praise and run out
    • After your compliment, ask a follow up question such as why they chose to sing that particular song

Compliments can go a long way in building your relationships, so make them count.

Here’s to making it count!

Mike

Step Up Your Interview Questions

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As companies are struggling to hire qualified people these days, recruiting has taken on new challenges. That being said, are you still asking the same old recruiting questions? Do you feel that the questions you ask still don’t elicit the information that you need from a candidate? Does the interview process seem like a “show up and throw up?” If any of these or other similar questions pop into your head about your current interview process, then consider the following questions that award-winning marketing consultant Jano le Roux (https://janoleroux.com/about) asks his candidates. Some of these questions seem off the beaten path and at first you may wonder how they may be applicable to your business but think through the “why” of the question and how you can adjust it for your situation.

  1. Do you have a screen protector on your phone?. . .Why? Asking this question seems strange and may have nothing to do with the position for which you are hiring. However, for Le Roux, the answer to the question would provide insight into how careful and intentional a person is with a simple device like your phone. Protecting it shows that you are careful. If you don’t have one…. why not? This may show a lack of intentionally caring about a device that while replaceable, isn’t necessarily inexpensive to replace.
  2. How do you criticize people? As Le Roux says, it’s not easy to criticize people, even if it’s constructive criticism. How they do it shows well that they can deliver a tough message. He even asks the candidate to criticize him during the interview to see their skills at work. Can they be honest without being a jerk?
  3. Teach me something fascinating that I don’t know? This is a prompt for him to see if the candidate has done any research on Le Roux or if they are simply flying by the “seat of their pants” to see if what they say he just happens to not know. One candidate Le Roux interviewed in answering this question asked Le Roux….” What are you into right now?” Le Roux responded, “Right now, it’s productivity.” With that answer, the candidate showed Le Roux an app on their phone for enhancing productivity. He hired the person on the spot.
  4. What would you do to implement trust among coworkers in a remote setting? Given our flexible work environment today with many knowledge workers having the option to work remotely, building trust on teams can be a challenge. This question drives to the candidate’s creativity to think on the spot how to address this issue.
  5. What do you want written on your gravestone and how does this position help you get there? Everyone’s time here is short, and we spend a large part of our lives at work. Working somewhere with meaning is part of the ingredient for self-motivation. Typically, a business owner does not want an employee coming to work who feels miserable at their job and is not reaching their full potential. These are just a few interview questions that I found interesting for me to consider in my business. Recruiting good talent on our teams is more of an art than science. We can teach “skills,” but it’s difficult to teach “attitude.”

Cheers to your talent search!
Mike

What does your second half look like?

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I read a book a while back titled Halftime by Bob Buford. It spoke to me because at the time I was turning 50, and the book outlined the difference between the first half of our life versus the second half.

Now that I am further along in my second half, I find myself reading articles about how to stay vibrant physically and mentally. It’s been said that “health equals wealth” and my intention is to be on the journey with continued health as a focus.

Below are six habits that resonated with me from a recent article on this topic:

  1. Mindset of Abundance
    Worrying about money at any age is not fun. I sure don’t want to worry about it in my older years. The abundant mindset was a game changer for me, and it not only included financial, but also spiritual, work, and relationships. The way I practice this comes with making sure any business opportunity is sourced with the right resource. If a referral comes to me, but it’s not quite the right fit or maybe my bandwidth is such that I couldn’t meet the client needs properly, then I actively help them find a better resource. Even if that means referring them to a competitor. It’s the “Pay it forward” mentality and the idea that there is an abundance of work out there for everyone, and what comes around goes around.
  2. Take Care of Your Spirit
    Do you ever feel not present, or your mind is racing all over the place? Or someone asks you a question, but you really didn’t hear it, and you must ask them to repeat it again? I have been working on a practice where I focus on my “active listening” skills and intentional mindfulness exercises to be present. It is not easy, but in today’s fast paced world, it is necessary. As I age, I am realizing that spiritual fitness is just as important as physical fitness.
  3. Goals
    I have generally had goals most of my life. Not always written down, but goals that helped me go to where I wanted to take my career. Eventually as I got older, I began to write down my goals and reviewing intermittently during the year. I have kept copies for the past 15 years and it’s amazing what I accomplished towards the life that I wanted to lead. The goals kept me focused, engaged, and motivated. Where I needed to pivot, I did. Some goals changed or were dropped, but I had a goal because I wanted to be “intentional” with my life and business.
  4. Take Care Physically
    When I was young, I took a lot for granted and didn’t feel that I would ever wear out. I pushed myself physically as an athlete. Well, I did better than some…my weight is still good, nutrition is on solid ground (except for the chocolate that I enjoy), and my strength is rebounding. Get a good night sleep. It is the most underrated aspect of recovery that is necessary for us to continue running the marathon of life.
  5. Do Work You Enjoy
    Enjoying what you do as a profession nourishes the body and your spirit. Long-term health and happiness are a function of a healthy and satisfied mind, and work that fulfills these attributes will give you inner satisfaction.
  6. Choose Your Relationships Wisely
    The emotions of others are contagious. Be mindful of who you hang out with because as Jim Rohn once said, “You are the five people you hang around the most with.” If you are not hanging around with people who you want to emulate, then time for a reset.

Cheers to your 2nd half!

Small Changes Lead to Big Productivity Results

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Some people seem to have the golden secret to being highly productive. They may be naturally motivated and organized, but in truth, everyone has the power to increase their productivity. It’s all about habits. There are small, very feasible changes that when done repeatedly become habits. Even people who seem inflexible and stuck in their ways can learn to be productive.

We’ve highlighted a few of our favorite productivity tips below:

  • Prioritize. It’s fine to write a 5-page to-do list, but make sure to separate the “must happen today” list from the “must happen this week/month/year” list. There’s also the “would be nice if it ever happens” list. You get the picture. There is a saying about the “power of three” which I use for my daily work.  Listing only three priorities on my daily “to do” list in order of priority.  I start on the first priority on the list, and I don’t go to the second one until the first one is completed.
  • Give yourself deadlines. Deadlines are powerful psychological tools. If you are expected to give a presentation on Friday, you would get everything done, even if you cram it in at the last minute, right? For most people, simply having the intention to do something “soon” or “eventually” means there’s a good chance it won’t get done at all. The more time you must do something, the longer it will take you to do it.  Set a date and stick to it!
  • Make work time work time. Have a specific work area and everything ready to go when it’s work time. Keep distractions at a minimum. Stay focused and avoid podcasts, TV, social media, online shopping, email, and unplanned phone calls. Turn off all unnecessary notifications and alarms. You’ll be amazed at how your production skyrockets. Find the time of the day you feel best suits your energy levels and block off a 3-4-hour chunk of time to do your deep work.
  • Keep your free time free. Time is not renewable, so honor yours. It’s quite easy to cram too much into a day and feel guilty when you don’t get everything done. It’s ok to say no to someone if it is not a priority that fits into your day. Resist the temptation to rearrange your schedule to make room for more obligations. As Derek Sivers, founder of CDBaby.com, says about making commitments:  “If it is not a heck yeah, it is a no!”
  • Take a walk. It’s not new news that physical activity is good for you. Add “increased productivity” to the list of walking benefits. Walks are refreshing and they provide much needed breaks, fresh air, and renewed energy. Don’t think you have time for it? A 5-10 minute walk will do the body (and mind) good.
  • Drink water. This is another one that we hear all the time. That’s because your body and your mind need enough water (2.5 liters/day for women and 3.5 liters/day for men) to operate at 100%. Dehydration impacts cognitive and motor functions, skin, mood, and more.
  • Take regular breaks. Everyone is different so be mindful of what you need for optimal productivity. Some people do best by working 25 minutes followed by a 5-minute break (pomodoro technique), while others do better work for an hour then taking a 10-minute break. These mini breaks are powerful when used correctly and can drastically improve a person’s ability to focus. Feel free to set a timer if it helps you to stay on track!
  • Prepare the night before. A day that begins by scrambling to find matching shoes, a coat, lunch, medication, your laptop, workout clothes, etc., is not fun. In fact, it’s stressful. I don’t regret waking up feeling prepared for the day ahead. So go ahead and make that list ahead of time.

While this list of tips might seem simple, implementing these small changes into your daily schedule can lead to big results. You will feel more productive in your work time, and you might even feel as if you have more free time.

Mastermind is the Name of the Game

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What is a mastermind group? This timeless concept is explained by Napoleon Hill in his books published in the 1920s and ’30s, The Law of Success and Think and Grow Rich.

Some mastermind groups are informal with 2-3 people and other groups are more formally organized, such as organizations like Vistage (www.Vistage.com), YPO (www.YPO.org), or View From the Top (www.viewfromthetop.com).   More formal mastermind groups consist of approximately 8-12 peers who meet on a regular basis (weekly or monthly) either in-person or via Zoom. Members pay monthly dues, and their fee often covers in-person speaker(s), activities, and/or retreats.

CEO & Co-Founder of Sustainable Investment Group (www.sigearth.com), Charlie Chichetti, has belonged to a 10-person mastermind group, Iron Sharpens Iron (“ISI”) as part of the View From the Top, for the past six years. Chichetti says the strength of a group lies in the diverse personal and business experiences of its members. Participants share best practices and hold each other accountable for tackling problems and meeting goals. Each member takes a turn in the “hot seat,” while the rest of the group brainstorms strategies and solutions to aid them in facing their challenges head on. A successful mastermind group enhances its members’ business AND personal lives.

Make no mistake, these formal groups like Vistage and ISI are not laid-back clubs.  Attendance and participation are  required. Members are expected to present problems, as well as provide feedback. The group devises a method of holding members accountable for following through, which keeps everyone focused and on track.

Charlie Chichetti offers the following guidelines to create an efficient and productive mastermind group:

  • Meetings are not the time to multi-task; they should be structured and begin and end on time.
  • Be present – both physically and mentally.
  • Members should come with a giving—as opposed to taking—mindset.
  • Include a mix of members, including “solopreneurs,” people from small- to large-size businesses and from different industries.

Trace Blackmore, owner of Blackmore Enterprises (www.blackmore-enterprises.com), has been part of a mastermind group for the past 10 years. He currently facilitates a mastermind group, Rising Tide (www.scalinguph2o.com/mastermind), and is a firm believer that learning from others’ mistakes and successes is one of the best tools for good decision making. Like Chichetti, Blackmore contends that the structure of mastermind groups is key to their success. He provided the following guidance to anyone who is part of a mastermind group, or is considering joining one:

  • All devices should be on silent mode during the meetings.
  • Progress is expected every week and a group may choose to offer consequences for members who come unprepared.
  • Before deciding to join a mastermind group, be sure you have the time, energy, and desire to make it a priority.
  • Each meeting should start by celebrating wins. Support and accolades are integral to keeping members motivated.
  • Ask questions! Questions help people think and look at circumstances from different perspectives and keep people from jumping to conclusions until they have all the information.
  • Members should be honest, while doing so in a tactful way. A book titled Fierce Conversations by Susan Scott is a good resource.
  • Individual goals and plans should be clearly verbalized to the group and should include deadlines for completion. This keeps people focused and on track.
  • What happens in mastermind stays in mastermind. Like all of life, business and personal events overlap, and problems and solutions are often of a personal nature.

Now you are officially aware of the who, what, when, where, and why and of mastermind groups. The benefits— accountability, strategy development, and healthy business and personal habits—are invaluable. Perhaps you will think it over and decide that membership is right for you.

As a member of a mastermind group for 10+ years now, I’m happy to advise you if you are thinking of joining one.   Feel free to contact me to discuss.

The Positive Power of a Flexible Workplace

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Employers, employees and studies say remote working in many instances can result in more productivity. The past two years guarantee that an increase in remote working will be a permanent result of COVID-19.

When people work from home, they have more control over their time and working environment. Employees work when they are most productive, which is not always regular business hours. People who work from home tend to dress comfortably and can fit more exercise and sleep into their schedules.

Traditionally, extra sleep and comfy attire for staff are not high on the list of employer goals. In fact, it may seem like these factors are counterproductive. But many employers say remote work has had a direct and positive result on business. Employees are happier, healthier (more sleep and exercise), take fewer sick days and accomplish more than those who spend the entirety of their work hours in an office.  Communication by text, email, Zoom and phone is proving to be more efficient as people focus more intently on their time management with these channels.

Call center employees, for example, take more calls when they work remotely, in part due to less noise and generally fewer distractions at home (apart from slightly distracting unsupervised toddlers), as opposed to a busy office.

Job satisfaction tends to increase without a daily commute. There is the appeal of a commute-free lifestyle. Statistics show that traditional commuters suffer from high blood pressure, high blood sugar and high cholesterol, more often than those who commute from the kitchen to the office down the hall. Increased anxiety is also associated with a commuter lifestyle.

People value a remote workplace option and may opt to take a pay cut for a job that offers it.  Having the flexibility to work even with a hybrid model of home office and work office environments can add a dimension to a job that makes it attractive.  The greater acceptance of a work-from-home option has opened the opportunity to reduce geographic limitations when recruiting.  Hiring employees is not cheap and a high rate of employee retention helps both overall morale and the bottom line.

Pandemic-life has proven that working remotely, at least part of the time, is feasible and profitable. Businesses can use remote working to their advantage to pivot their company and meet the demands of a new reality.