Apr 21, 2015 | Leadership, Self, Team
Are You Leading Or Managing Your Company?
As the owner or chief executive in your company, how much time do you spend on leading and not just managing? If your goal is to create a growing, profitable business that can work without you, strong leadership is a must.
Author William Arthur Ward once wrote, “Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticize me, and I many not like you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and I may not forget you.” Leaders come in all shapes, sizes and from all ways of life, but they do have common characteristics.
- They create a vision and understand that true change is driven by emotion, not logic. In other words, they transform the mundane into a passion that their team can rally around. What benefit do you create for your customers? Don’t think you have one? Here are some examples: bankers and financial planners make dreams come true, communications companies educate and inspire, consultants and recruiters create a livelihood for workers, photographers preserve memories. What noble cause does your company provide?
- Leaders know how to link vision and action. It’s not just about a vision; it’s about making that vision come alive. They have a unique way of separating the important from the interesting and then focusing on one of those things.
- Leaders create an environment of accountability. Not only do great leaders demand accountability of themselves, they demand it of their team. Excuses are not allowed.
- Leaders have a strong character and aren’t swayed by what’s easy or popular. When faced with a challenge, they do what is right, not what is easy.
- You are not a leader unless you are willing to make the tough decision.Sure it is easier to say “yes”, than “no”. Charles Nielsen once said, “When, against one’s will, one is pressured into making a hurried decision, the best answer is always ‘No,’ because ‘No’ is more easily changed to ‘Yes’ than ‘Yes’ is changed to ‘No’.” As a leader, it is more important to make the right decision than the easy decision.
- Leaders inspire through their everyday actions and words.You don’t need long speeches or memos to inspire. Lincoln’s, “Gettysburg Address” was less than three minutes long and Churchill’s famous, “Blood, Sweat and Tears” speech was two and a half minutes long. Words are important, but actions inspire even more. Mother Teresa’s credo was, “Let no one come to you without leaving better and happier.”
- Leaders realize that no one, including himself or herself, is indispensable. Once you become bigger than the cause, you cease to lead. Translated into business, teach your team to do things better than you ever could and you will both benefit.
Leadership doesn’t happen overnight, but a mentor, like me, can help you understand how to take the first steps and then work with you as you transform your management skills into leadership skills.
Practice your leadership skills! This will benefit you, your family, your team and your customers.
To learn more, come to the next GrowthClub!
Mar 3, 2015 | Self, Time Management
Stop Blaming Time
How many times have you heard people say “I don’t have enough time to do …” or “If only I could find the time to do …” Or “I am too busy to do …” Perhaps the person you heard saying these or similar things is the same person who stares back at you every morning in the bathroom mirror. Well, it is time to stop blaming time!
Time is an absolute-there are 24 hours (1440 minutes, 86,400 seconds) in a day and that will never change. We cannot “manage” time. What we can manage is what we do during the next 60 minutes.
How we use time is one of the great determinants of how successful we are both as business owners and as individuals. Everyone from Bill Gates to the small business owner is given the same amount of time each day, 24 hours. Think of it like the auto races where they make all the drivers drive identically built and tuned race cars. The winner is then determined not by who has the fastest car but who can drive that identical car the best. Similarly in life the “winners” are those who learn how to drive their use of time the best.
So how do you take control of your time?
- Accept that there is no such thing as too much or too little time. There is enough time available for you to be successful-others have been successful and they had no more access to time than you do. Take ownership of your situation. Be accountable for your results and your actions.
- Decide what you want to accomplish. How do you define “successful”? To some it may mean making a million dollars, to others it may mean being healthier while others are looking to have better relationships with their family and friends. This is your goal. You must also understand the benefits to you of achieving the goal – how will it make you feel when you achieve it. Both the goal and your “why” must be written down with a timeframe.
- Once you have decided the goal and your “why”, you must now determine the actions that will be necessary for you to accomplish that goal. What do I have to do? What time commitment will I make? What do I need to stop doing? What will I need to adjust/sacrifice/reduce/delegate in order to have the time to do the activities identified? Remember if it was easy everyone, including you would have already done it. What separates the successful users of time from the unsuccessful ones is the discipline and determination to obtain their goals no matter what. Winners never give up and they never quit on themselves.
- Understand that life and business are about choices. You choose how you will spend your time – on what activities and how much on each. This is a marathon, not a sprint. Being successful in many different areas takes effort and time. Success comes from laser-like focus on one or two goals. Once you accomplish them, you move on to the next set of goals and focus on those.
- Prepare your calendar each week by creating “appointments” to do the activities that you have identified. These are entered into your calendar before anything else. Treat these as if the appointment was with your most important customer. Would you easily change your Monday 2-3pm “meeting” just because someone asked for that time slot? No, you would negotiate – “I am booked at that time. I can see you at either 1pm or after 3pm, which would work for you?”
- Be militant about your schedule. If you don’t care how you spend your time, why should anyone else? Learn to say “No”. In Stephen Covey’s book “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” he breaks activities into 4 quadrants based on Urgency and Importance. 1) Not Important/Not Urgent, 2) Urgent/Not Important, 3) Urgent/Important and 4) Not Urgent/Important. The danger for most people is the Urgent/Not Important category. This is when we are responding to other people’s urgencies, however the activity does not move us toward OUR goal – by definition it is Not Important. Beware of the time and effort devoted to those tasks. Conduct your own time usage study. Every minute that you can divert from ‘not important’ categories to the important categories will move you closer to your goal.
- Review your successes/challenges in meeting your schedule each week and adjust where necessary. Be honest with yourself and continually reinforce your “Why” – what are you trying to accomplish and how important is that to you.
- Find an accountability partner or mentor to help keep you on track. We can all use help every now and then – it is a strength to admit this, not a weakness.
In summary, stop blaming time, take ownership of your time and commit to the discipline necessary to win the race by being the best “driver” of time you can. If you are really serious, come to the next TimeWise seminar on March 13th.
Dec 22, 2014 | Self, Time Management
Time to Rest, Time to Play
It’s the holidays, and I thought I would give you a break from my normal ‘how to be a better business owner’ blog, and decided to instead adopt a piece written by John Niland about using your time outside of business.
Time to Play:
The quality of a business owner’s life and the success of the business is heavily dependent on sources of energy and inspiration outside the workplace. These activities and relationships are enjoyable in their own right, and are vital to maintaining physical, mental, spiritual and emotional well-being.
- Do 20 minutes of physical exercise (swimming, cycling working-out, walking, running etc.) immediately after work. In a few weeks you will enjoy it, and it serves as a ‘switch-off’ from the working day and generates more energy.
- Consider ending any relationship that is consistently keeping you awake, dragging you down or draining you. Seek professional help and advice earlier rather than later. Whatever you do, deal with it.
- Always speak the truth as you see it. It never pays to lie or exaggerate.
- Block out holidays and planning time in your calendar for the following year. We will only plan if we have planned the time to plan.
- Unless repairing appliances is a fun hobby for you, do not waste weekends fixing things. Either replace appliances that do not work, or employ somebody to get them repaired.
- Unless you love gardening, consider employing a gardener.
- Rise at the same time every day – even during weekends. Eventually you will not need a wake-up call; and the extra time you have at weekends can be used for relaxation and play.
- Eliminate from your circle of friends people who criticize, judge or try to change you. Trying to please others is a huge waste of time.
- Avoid excessive indulgence in food or drink; this leaves you lethargic and hung-over, with less energy.
- Spend some time every year writing / reviewing a mission-statement or life purpose. You will have more fun, make better decisions, and make much better use of time when you are clear about your personal and professional direction. When you love what you do, you will never have to work again.
- Avoid idly surfing the internet. If you have to use it, consider keeping to a set of sites you want to visit, and then limit your time online. Many clients have saved an hour per day on this alone that’s five hours per week, over 200 working hours per year.
- Get a swim-buddy or workout-partner so that your commitment to them will over-ride the temptation to stay on in bed or in the office.
Time to Rest:
- Relaxation after a busy day is a real challenge for many business owners. Tiredness causes mistakes, inattention, frustration and disorganization; in turn prompting more long hours that exacerbate the problem. Business owners who are well-rested are not just more productive, they inspire better relationships with clients and colleagues.
- Avoid invalidating a day off by opening a briefcase, checking business email, sitting down a computer, visiting the office or reading your calendar. The objective of a day off is to get totally away from the business.
- Employ a cleaner so that your home is clean and tidy. Do not waste time off by doing chores. Similarly, can you delegate laundry, ironing and shopping?
- When you want to switch-off, put the phone on voice mail and silence the ringer.
- Go to bed earlier (or later) so that the timing of your sleep is ideal for you. Rather than compromise with other family members, ask for their support if necessary.
- Prioritize the elimination of all debt, except that secured on property. Cut expenses if necessary to ensure that you live within your income. Financial worry is a frequent cause of sleepless nights.
- Have regular checkups with your doctor, optician, audiologist and dentist.
- Review the newspapers and magazines that you read. Are these really inspiring or relaxing, or are you bingeing on a diet of depressing material?
- Avoid watching television, unless you have a specific program you want to watch. Random TV is ‘chewing gum for the eyes’, and contributes little to quality of life.
- Clear the clutter from your life. Whether its old files or old clothes, it takes up space both in our heads and our lives. If you are in any doubt about this, just choose one room, clear it, and watch what happens!
- It may be difficult to adjust to a vacation if they are too infrequent. Plan at least 4 weeks of holiday every year.
- Make amends to anyone you have hurt, damaged or offended. This will allow you to reclaim the hours wasted on feeling guilty.
- Spend at least 20 minutes every day in deep relaxation, meditation, or other peaceful or spiritual activities. These give perspective, and make all other activities more enjoyable.
- Before settling down to relax or play, remove all traces of work from your lounge, bedroom, or other immediate environment.
This time of year is a great time to focus on relaxing and recharging and creating the energy to start the new year fresh and ready to make a difference.
Oct 13, 2014 | Marketing, Self, Team, Time Management
Here are 5 business mistakes to avoid (now more than ever):
1. Ignore your customers. If you neglect your customers, someone else will be happy to take them. Did you know that 68% of customers leave due to perceived indifference – they think you don’t care!
Instead of focusing all your efforts chasing new ones, cut yourself a great deal and focus on keeping your existing clients. Its 6 times more expensive to get a new client than it is to keep the one you have now. By the way, have you graded your customers A – D? Focus on A & B, convert C’s, and let the D’s go!
The general rule is to keep some kind of contact at least every 90 days. That could be a call, visit, card, or email, or even try JibJab. You are only limited by your imagination.
2. Stop advertising, marketing, promoting. Avoid the knee-jerk panic reaction to stop promoting your business. It just accelerates the downward spiral. Remember, real marketing starts long before the sale and continues long after.
You don’t have to spend a lot of money. You just have to be selective and track your results.
Contact me and I will be glad to share inexpensive ways to get noticed. By the way, any advertising you do should include a “call to action”. Forget image, ring the cash register! Focus on your target, communicate a compelling offer, and drive the sale!
3. Neglect your team. Now more than ever, the team has to “hit on all cylinders”. You need to have less tolerance for under-performance and waste. There are a lot of great people looking for jobs. One advantage of economic downturns is the opportunity to select some strong talent.
As the leader, you must strike a careful balance, encouraging and motivating the team while sharing feedback and holding them accountable. Don’t forget training and development either. Your team is one of your greatest assets; invest in them now to pay dividends in the future.
4. Waste your time. Your only non-renewable resource is your time. You can always make more money, but you can never create more time. Once today is gone, it is gone forever. Ask yourself: What is the best use of my time for the business right now? Ask that every day, especially as you plan the next one.
By the way, the best time to plan tomorrow is at the end of today. Another suggestion: Turn off automatic downloading and notification of email. The time you save each day from that distraction will startle you. One more thing: When was the last time you updated your default calendar? Take control – do it today!
5. Make excuses for doing any of the above. Who are you kidding? If you are guilty of succumbing to the temptations above, I have two things to say to you: One, congratulations, you are human. Two, you can do something about it.
Decide to start now, take ownership and be accountable.
All of us choose how we respond to the challenges that our business throws at us. If what you have been doing is not yielding the results you want, something has to change. Nothing will change until you do.
Are you involved in or committed to your business? Involvement means we take action when it is convenient, commitment means we accept no excuses, only results.
Now, get out there and do what you do best.
Sep 29, 2014 | Sales, Self
Do you really know how to motivate yourself? Do you struggle with making deadlines? Do you feel burnt out and tired all the time? Do you frequently put tasks off? These are some signs of being unmotivated. Below are four key ways to help you motivate yourself. When you’re motivated you are more on top of your priorities and feel good about yourself and your work. Try these motivation tips to better yourself and your work.
1) Make time psychology work for you. If you have ever taken a time management course before, you have learned how to pack more into less. But have you ever noticed how difficult it is to leave a project or job incomplete? You can play on this psychology of completion by writing out a “things to achieve” list before you go home at the end of the workday. Chances are if you don’t have a good system for picking up exactly where you left off, it’s like starting over. Tonight, instead of just tidying up before you leave the office, lay out the pieces where you need to pick up to get off and running first thing in the morning.
2) Give yourself daily and hourly goals. Very few of us have the ability to stay disciplined all the time. Yet studies have shown that a big difference between those who succeed and those who fail is constant and concentrated activity. Big hitters report such behaviors as not taking lunch until they make a pre-set number of phone calls. They don’t allow themselves to play golf until they sell a certain number of units. Sure they make sacrifices. But in the meantime they also make sales. Most who practice this method of self denial say that when they do earn a lunch or a golf game, the taste is very sweet when linked to successfully accomplished activity.
3) Make selling a game. When you take your work too seriously, it becomes drudgery instead of enjoyment. Most top producers mention that their income takes a back seat to how much fun they have on the job. Interestingly, many poor producers look at their paycheck as being the biggest motivator. The problem is that your sales production will fluctuate. Try “playing” more often with your best customers. Send out birthday cards to prospects or customers you care about. Turn sales calls into a game by counting how many times you have to get a “no” before you get to a “yes”. Then make a game out of getting to that “no” number, knowing that a “yes” is just on the horizon.
4) Burn out is a key factor in maintaining motivation. A great way to avoid the symptoms of burn out is to link rewards to activity instead of success. This idea is a bit contrary to most opinion that you must set goals (and I agree!). But to change things up, and avoid killing motivation because you didn’t hit a goal, try giving yourself a reward for activity. A great way to create motivation is to give yourself a reinforcement gift that comes as a result of superior effort. If you maintain it consistently, effort always results in success!
For more great ideas on motivation and other topics, join the ActionClub program.
Aug 19, 2014 | Self
What! Take It Easy? I thought you were a business coach?
Yes its true, most of what I tell my clients does not sound like a recipe for taking it easy. However as I’m preparing to attend the ActionCoach global conference next week in the Bahamas, I’m reminded about the need to occasionally stop and take it easy.
So you’ve taken my advice, read all the books and attend all the presentations on how to get the most out of yourself and your team. You know hundreds of “Time Management” tips and tricks. You “eat the frog”, stick to your “default schedule”, et cetera. There are so many tidbits of advice that you are overwhelmed trying to apply them.
You have figured out that we all have a fixed number of hours during the day, so now you are managing your “self” rather than “time”. You have an energy-producing diet and exercise regime to support your regimented work hours. You even have hours dedicated to having “quality time” with your loved ones.
And then, periodically, the whole fine-tuned machine collapses in a belly-flop. “I’m tired of this,” you declare. Then it starts, you call yourself a slouch. Now it is time to list your faults and admit that you will never be that ideal self. By this point your determined plan to manage your time has gone from being a day-to-day program of excellence to the evidence of your weakness and failure that you cannot sweep under the carpet.
Now you sit there by the side of the track hanging upside down, held there by your seat belt in the crashed wreckage of your self-discipline, while all the other race cars zoom by.
Hold on there. What if your knowledge, planning, and execution were all fine…except for one missing ingredient? What if adding that one thing into the mix will get you across the finish line first, over and over?
The facts are that you have a great race car, the best crew, and you are a fantastic driver. You just forgot to change your oil every 3,000 miles. Then, when you revved your engine and hit your stride at high speed, all those metal parts got to grinding and shearing.
So what’s this human oil that we need?
Self-compassion, that’s what. We are notoriously harder on ourselves than on others. If we treated our staff like we treat ourselves they would walk. But where are we to go to flee the lash of our inner disciplinarian? Bad moods, long stretches of low productivity, substance abuse, you name it – none of these are places where you recharge in gratitude and contentment.
In “Go Easy on Yourself, a New Wave of Research Urges,“ Tara Parker-Pope explains that the “…biggest reason people aren’t more self-compassionate is that they are afraid they’ll become self-indulgent… They believe self-criticism is what keeps them in line…our culture says being hard on yourself is the way to be.”
Any coach will tell you that is good advice for a sprinter, but terrible advice for a long-distance runner and your business is a marathon, not a sprint. So don’t be too hard on yourself. While self-criticism is helpful in small doses and when administered with care, stay above the line with it. Take responsibility by learning from what happened, figuring out what to do better next time, what the next steps are, and take some time to truly thank and appreciate yourself for all the work you do so well. You’ll find yourself getting more and more done with better quality and a far better attitude.
