Are You Playing Whack-A-Mole with Your Company Issues?
If you don’t have a handle on the fires (or issues) hitting your business daily, then you will get consumed by them! I’m constantly telling my clients that they need to pause (pause from the fires, the immediate issues), look up and look out (see what’s coming so they can make better decisions now to mitigate more of the coming issues). When we’re so focused on all of the problems around us, we don’t have time to do anything else. We get exhausted. We get decision fatigue and that makes the bigger, more important, more strategic decisions harder to make.
Scorecard Data – Your Course Correction Tool
“The goal is to turn data into information, and information into insight.” – Carly Fiorina, former executive, president, and chair of Hewlett-Packard Co. There’s been so much talk about big data this past decade – and yet, unless you can afford the big data software, many of us small and mid-sized companies have lots of data and are just trying to figure out what to do with it! Or, on the opposite side of the spectrum, many entrepreneurs don’t have much data they’ve collected at all. Both sides of the coin are unhelpful. Here’s what we teach in EOS,
Small Businesses and The Great Resignation
Some quick stats: About 4 million workers in the US quit in April, a 20-year record, the Labor Department said (BusinessInsider) There were 9.3 million job vacancies at the end of April, another 20-year record (BusinessInsider) 77% of executives plan to hire in the months ahead (West Monroe) Job vacancies rose the most in the accommodation and food-service sectors (BusinessInsider) Surveys show that “one-third (35%) of respondents said they would quit if Work from Home ended. (Robert Half and Blind) What is happening? Why are people quitting? We have come off of a year that was scary – physically, emotionally,
Where Are You and Your Business Going?
“We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.” ~ John F. Kennedy, 1961 When you think of vision, what comes to mind? For many people it’s this amorphous word we believe we know what it means until we really have to define
Clarity, Accountability, Success
How to Structure Your Business to Get to the Next Level You’ve seen organization charts before. But, beyond telling you who reports to whom, how helpful are they? As a Professional EOS® (Entrepreneurial Operating System) Implementer, one of my favorite tools we teach is the Accountability Chart. What is the difference between an organization chart and an Accountability Chart? Clarity, accountability, and success for your business! The Accountability Chart defines the responsibilities of each “seat,” and how each person ties to the success of the organization. Often, company structures simply evolve to fill immediate needs, not necessarily by purposeful intention. I’m
Process: A Surprisingly Simple Way to Add Value to Your Business
Ask yourself, if you could find out the secret to adding 15 to 25% to the valuation of your company would you want to know the secret? Would you follow the steps even if it might take some time? If you could do one thing that would make your company more stable and resilient during periods of high growth or great change, would you do it? The truth is that your business operations either encourage growth or discourage it. The secret to encouraging growth is so apparent it is often overlooked. The answer is simple and when done right easy.
Prediction: Pause, Look Up, Look Out
I’ve heard that we leaders/entrepreneurs spend about 75% of our time on items below our pay grade. Stunning! We must stop getting sidetracked by the shiny, the urgent (not necessarily the important), the problems that pop up daily demanding our time and attention. A few years ago I chose “strategic not squirrel” as my theme. I had a habit of being easily attracted to new ideas, new technology, the shiny objects of any business owner! Some ideas were really helpful, many took me off of my core purpose. Strategic not Squirrel Good idea: For example, 3 years ago when the
Delegation: A Vital Leadership (and Life) Skill
So, after years of breaking your back working for someone else, you finally take the plunge and start your own company! Your wish finally comes true! For a little bit, you revel in this accomplishment. You are now running with the cream of the crop. You feel your dreams begin to come true. The possibilities run wild in your mind! However, the reality of the sheer scope of responsibilities that come with the new position sets in and the excitement may gradually wear off. The stakes are high and the weight of the expectations feels almost crushing. Along with this
Simplify to the Essential
I have decided my theme for this year is SIMPLIFY. It sounds easy, but I have found it’s not! What it requires is: Clarity in my values, my vision Setting my goals to live by my values and achieve my vision Reviewing my calendar to see where I have allowed busyness to settle in – and decide “does this serve my values, vision and goals?” If yes, keep it. If no, remove it, or simply make it optional – who knew I could say no?! The Internet is chockful of “self-help gurus” who swear by the effectiveness of their productivity
Who’s Winning the Thought Battles in Your Head, Your Saboteur or Sage?
An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy. “It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.” He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.” The grandson thought about it for a minute