Confused about the difference between a priority and a goal? Here’s a framework to keep you on track

If you're involved in any goal-setting effort, you're bound to run into a host of terms that all seem to mean the same thing. Here's how to keep them straight.

When working with leadership teams and executives on strategy planning, we often throw around a lot of terms. Some of these terms can seem to mean the same thing, and they often end up meaning different things to different people. Here are some definitions I've coalesced and use in my work to keep things clear.

Purpose

I use this to describe what an individual or organization is meant to do in their heart of hearts. It's something they can spend their entire lives pursuing and has infinite room for success. Some examples are: to rid the world of hunger or improve our lives through technological innovation.

Mission

I like to think of the purpose as the why, and the mission as the what. A mission defines what we want to achieve at the highest level. Some examples are: give every child three square meals a day or make tomorrow's technology available today.

Vision

A vision describes a future state in rich detail. We use a vision to create a compelling view for what our success will look like once we've achieved our goals. Generally, this is written in prose over several paragraphs and provides key details and taps into core emotions.

BHAG

Coined by Jim Collins in his book Built To Last, BHAG stands for Big Hairy Audacious Goal. I look 10 years in the future, but some people go as far as 30. There are different types of BHAGs, but they are always compelling and time-bound. Good BHAGs will move you into a new league of play and should invoke the slightest bit of fear.

Priority

Priority defines the one thing you are dedicating the majority of your time to. Your priority is the thing you do prior to working on other tasks. It is often helpful to have a list of things that you are deprioritizing in return. Priorities are generally set for a year or quarter and can involve multiple tasks or projects.

Focus

Your focus is similar to a priority, but slightly more general. I think of a focus as a topic of interest or concern for a group or individual. A focus might be customer service, whereas a priority would be reducing the wait time for priority customers.

Initiative

I generally use initiative to describe a group of projects, often across departments, that achieves one or more key results in an organization. Some examples might include: improve safety to reduce shop floor accidents. This one initiative includes human resources, operations, facilities, and logistics.

Objective

Objective is defined as an area of focus that is clearly aligned with the long term strategy, reasonably narrow in scope, and compelling to the team. For example, a quarterly objective might be improve project management skills for all delivery staff.

Goal

A goal is similar to an objective but smaller and more specific; it also has a clear deadline and timeline. If the objective is improve project management skills for all of our delivery staff, then a goal might be have all delivery staff score over 90 percent on the PMI project management skills assessment.

Target

Used in conjunction with a key performance metric (KPI), a target is a specific number or measurement you're looking to achieve. If your KPI is number of orders per day, your target might be over 200 orders a day for five consecutive days.

Key Result

If you're using OKRs, then these are the specific, measurable, actionable things you are doing to move forward on your objective. Each key result is an independent task that adds value, not a series of steps in a project plan.

If your objective is improve project management skills for all delivery staff then your a key results might be 1) run three project planning workshops in March, 2) have two people go to the PMI certification class, and 3) hold a project retrospective on our last three projects.

Action Item

An action item is a commitment to do something. It has a 'who', a 'what', and a 'by when'. With any action item, I want to know what I will have in my hands or see with my eyes that will tell me it's complete. When running my weekly team meetings, I'm focusing on what actions people are committing to for the next meeting so that I can hold people accountable to what they've signed up to deliver.

I'm sure there are other terms that get thrown around in these types of sessions, but the ones above are the core terms that are good to know. While I like mine, they are not gospel. What's most important is that everyone on your team agree to each word's meaning so everyone has the right expectations.

This article was originally published on Inc.com: https://www.inc.com/bruce-eckfeldt/these-12-common-business-terms-seem-redundant-but-they-have-practical-differences.html

Most companies struggle to develop a good business strategy. Here are 6 common mistakes and how to avoid them.

Many companies struggle with creating an effective business strategy. Here are six ways to get yours right.

While I enjoy all parts of growing and scaling a business, creating an effective scaling strategy is one of my favorites. I love running sessions and helping a leadership team collect information, develop insights about their market, and decide on their unique course of action.

However, many teams get strategy wrong. Here are the most common mistakes I see and suggestions on how to avoid them. Get these right and you'll not only improve your success, you might just have more fun.

1. Don't compete to win, compete to be unique.

Many people frame business strategy as one company pitted against another in a battle of force and will to decide who will dominate a market. And while that might make for a good movie, it's not a good approach to business.

The reality is that most markets are multifaceted; there are plenty of customers for you all to have a reasonable slice of the pie. The trick is to create an approach and niche that will be reasonably profitable and that will allow you to efficiently sell to your target customers.

Instead of seeing strategy as a race to win, see it as a race to be different. An effective strategy is one which clearly defines your niche in the market based on your unique strengths and weaknesses as a company.

2. It's not about motivation, it's about making choices.

Another common mistake people make is to see strategy as rallying the team to put in extra effort and long hours. They string together inspirational quotes to excite people about the future and the wonderful things that will come with success.

Instead, I find that a good, effective strategy should make things easier. A good strategy clarifies who will be targeted with what product/service. This clarity helps you make decisions and allows a company to simplify their processes to do just those few things really well.

3. Know what you're not doing.

Strategy is fundamentally about choice. It's about reducing the areas of focus to a carefully chosen few. Unfortunately, I see many companies that define their strategy in such a way that still leaves them trying to sell everything to everyone, everywhere.

One technique I use is to have a company list all of the prospects they are not targeting, products they are not offering, and locations they are not servicing. If this is a long and clear list, I know that company has a clear strategy which focuses on doing a few things well. If it's short and vague, I send them back to the drawing board.

4. Don't chase the puck, get out ahead of it.

Another thing I often see is a company developing a strategy in reaction to a specific market event, competitor move, or industry situation. While companies need to respond to events and changing markets, that is not the core of business strategy. Your strategy should guide you on how to respond, but it's not the response itself.

A strategy defines a set of choices and a series of policies on how you are going to make decisions and what you are going to prioritize. By design, strategies are long-term plays based on a logical analysis of the trends in the market and where future opportunities are likely to exist.

5. Strategy is worthless, if it's not communicated.

Often times, companies spend weeks developing a sophisticated and smart strategy, but then they put it in a binder and leave it on the shelf. At best, a few people on the leadership team can recall the content months later, but the vast majority of the company has forgotten or is oblivious of the work.

Strategy needs to be simple to understand and easy to communicate. The fact is that everyone in the company needs to know the strategy as they are the ones implementing it. Your front line workers make more decisions on strategy each and everyday than any executive. It needs to be simple and it needs to be communicated frequently.

6. Strategy is a regular process, not a document.

Too often I see teams create a great strategy and then frame the final document on the wall. They check the box and get back to day-to-day business. The power in strategy is the discussion and application not the document. Great teams talk about strategy weekly and grapple with strategic decisions on a daily basis.

Strategy is not easy, but it doesn't need to be hard. The trick is to make it a regular process and routine inside your leadership discussions. And while strategies should be simple to be effectively communicated, they need not be simplistic in approach. Much like writing a good letter, the more concise a strategy is, the longer and harder a team most likely worked on it.

This article was originally published on Inc.com: https://www.inc.com/bruce-eckfeldt/most-companies-struggle-to-develop-a-good-business-strategy-here-are-6-common-mistakes-how-to-avoid-them.html

6 key skills that will improve your goal setting and success in business and in life

Setting and achieving powerful goals requires more than one skill. Here are the six skills that great goal achievers have mastered.

As an executive and team coach, I help individuals and teams set goals every day. And while all teams are very different and have very different goals, the ones who are most successful share six key skills--skills which you can use to accelerate your success, too.

1. Polish your crystal ball.

The first thing to develop is your ability to see the future. Having a powerful imaginationthat gives you a clear vision of yourself in your future success will drive motivation and inspiration. Great goal setters spend time carefully envisioning themselves in the future having already achieved this success.

Visualizing future success sets up a cognitive dissonance in your mind. And since the mind doesn't like it when thinking doesn't match reality, it begins to take action to change reality, driving our unconscious thinking towards reaching your goals sooner.

2. Get good at planning.

Great goal setters know how to think through the steps needed to reach their objectives. They see the tasks that need to be performed and the order they need to be performed in. Good plans create a path to success by connecting the dots between where you are now and where you want to be.

But don't get attached the plan itself. As Eisenhower once said, "plans are worthless, but planning is everything." Great planners know that the value comes from the process of thinking through your options, developing a good strategy, and assessing risks. Highly successful people take action, get feedback, develop insights, and then re-plan quickly.

3. Just do it.

If you want to achieve your goals, you can't spend all day looking at your navel. Yes, you need to think and plan, but even more importantly, you need to take action. Action not only moves you forward, but it also gives you feedback.

I often use the analogy of when you first turn on your phone's GPS and it's confused about which direction you're facing. While you could wait there and let it think, the quickest solution is to just take a few steps forward and it will quickly adjust your position on the map.

The same goes for working on your goals. Sometimes, you just need to do a few things and then see if you're making progress, or if you need to turn around and go in the opposite direction.

4. Master the juke.

Great running backs learn how to juke to avoid tackles by dogging, weaving, and spinning to avoid defenders. They know that trying to square up and bash through them will not usually be successful and will almost always hurt.

The same is true for those who are highly productive. When faced with an obstacle, these high achievers don't put their head down and drive into it with brute force. They find a way to avoid it and move around it. Even if the obstacle adds a little time or wasn't the path they originally planned, they know that maintaining forward progress is more important than sticking to a plan that isn't working.

5. Discover your inner zen.

In the late 1970s while researching why artists get so absorbed in their work to the point of not eating for days, psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi discovered that these people entered a physical-mental state of hyper performance which he named flow.

He discovered that anyone can get into this highly productive state. And when they do, they can achieve up to ten-times their normal level of performance. Not only that, but people report having a euphoric experience of blissful satisfaction where time passes without notice.

Finding your flow state is critical to being productive. Choose the right day of the week, time of day, environment, and frame of mind to make yourself hyper productive. For some it's a nature retreat, and for others it's a noisy coffee shop. Experiment to discover what works for you.

6. You can do anything you want, just not everything you want.

The fact is, we all have real limits on time and energy. We can't work on everything at once. Great achievers know that it is better to focus on one priority at a time and drive it to completion before changing course.

It's good to have a few different projects going so you can switch gears when you're stuck or frustrated, but keep this variation to a limited few. And don't try to multitask between them. Bigger blocks of dedicated time will allow you to get deeper and tackle bigger, more complex challenges.

While there are other skills that will improve your ability to set and achieve great things, these six are your core building blocks for success. And like most skills, there is always room for improvement. Getting better at goal setting is a lifelong pursuit.

This article was originally published on Inc.com: https://www.inc.com/bruce-eckfeldt/want-to-get-good-at-accomplishing-your-goals-master-these-6-skills.html

Don’t get fooled by a good outcome (or deflated by a bad one)

In a world of 100% certainty, making decisions is simple: list the pros, the cons, and total up your columns. If the pros outweigh the cons, move forward. If not, don’t.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of business decisions are full of considerable uncertainty and situational factors. There is no sure thing, and waiting for more information might seem like a good idea, but oftentimes waiting to get more information is extremely costly in terms of time and money. And if you’re in a high-growth company, this is even harder.

In these situations, where uncertainty and variability thrive, decisions and outcomes can be more loosely correlated. Sometimes things work, sometimes they don’t.

The problem is, people will often assign more meaning to outcomes then they should. And the result of this association impacts their confidence (both good and bad) and skews their future decision-making process.

In some cases, people make a bad decision, but get lucky with the outcome. This gives them positive feedback (erroneously) and increases the chances they make a similarly bad decisions in the future. A little positive feedback for a bad decision can go a long way in rooting a destructive cycle.

In other cases, people make a good decision, but Murphy’s Law strikes and they end up with a bad outcome. Still licking their wounds, they tend to play it too safe in the future.

In my video, I give some examples of how outcomes work when variability is high using bets with dice roles.

Or, you can read my article on Inc.com which you can find here:

Not All Bad Outcomes Are The Result of Bad Decisions, Here's Why

Effective leaders have developed the skill and insight to know the difference between good and bad outcomes. They know when they screwed up and when they had a bad role of the dice, or when they got lucky with an outcome but shouldn’t take that path again.

Not sure how to figure this out? One of the best ways to uncover these situations is through a retrospective. I’ve written a lot about those. Here are a few links.

The Secret To Turning Your Mistakes Into Opportunities In 6 Simple Steps

We’re always looking for new ideas, insights, and opportunities for improvement. Retrospectives are the best place to find them.

And if you’re looking for help, check out my work as a facilitator of retrospectives…

http://www.eckfeldt.com/retrospectives

And if you have a specific challenge or decision you’re trying to make, reach out and let’s talk about it.

Bruce “Beat The Odds” Eckfeldt
bruce@eckfeldt.com

P.S. Whenever you’re ready... here are three ways I can help you grow your business faster, and with less drama:

1. Take the Growth Readiness Assessment
Download the 24 questions, send me the results, and set up a free one-on-one call to review the results and identify where you can accelerate your growth with the right focus. - CLICK HERE

2. Check out my Leadership Team Intensive
Every team can get into a rut—leadership teams are no exception. My half-day intensive helps the top team take a step back and see what’s working, what’s not, where they can develop new, better habits, and where they can break old ones that aren’t working. It’s like a B12 booster for your entire company. - CLICK HERE

3. Let me facilitate your next annual or quarterly planning meeting
Want to kick your planning sessions up a notch? Have me come in and we’ll work together on your annual or quarterly plan. Set goals that will really drive strategy, and create an action plan that will make sure everyone has clear accountability for results. - CLICK HERE

Just because you’re a nonprofit organization doesn’t mean you can’t act like a for-profit company

Being a nonprofit organization doesn't mean you can ignore good business practices.

Any business that doesn't follow good business practices will struggle. A lack of attention to costs and profits will lead to financial troubles, a loss in customers, and an exodus of good talent.

Nonprofits don't have that same Darwinian force at play. A poorly run nonprofit can limp along for years based on the good intentions of its managers and the hopeful support of its funders. However, while nonprofits don't have the same money motive and financial goals, they can still benefit from adopting many for-profit best practices.

As a business coach who works with both for-profit and nonprofit organizations, there are several good for-profit business practices that I employ to help mission-driven organizations dramatically increase their impact and reach.

1. Clarify your organizational focus and desired outcome.

At the core of strategy is choosing a clear focus for the business. Focusing creates alignment for the team and eases the daily decision-making process. Having a clear focus allows you to concentrate your energy and resources and move the needle. A business without a focus will chase too many priorities and produce lackluster results.

The same is true for nonprofit organizations. While there are many noble pursuits, if you want to truly make an impact, choose one you can advance the most and define the specific outcome you desire. Once you've made a choice, explicitly clarify all of the things you are not going to do. This will help you avoid distraction which water down your efforts.

2. Paint a vivid picture of the future you are striving for.

Stalin has been quoted to say, "single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic." It's sad, but true. Because of the way our brains work, we emotionally attach to stories not numbers. If we want to create a compelling vision of the future, it's better to describe it as a narrative rather than with numbers.

For businesses, we create vivid visions of the future by describing accomplishments in rich detail and writing them in the present tense as if we've already achieved them. For nonprofits, we take a similar approach: we focus on the core beneficiary and desired impact for them; we describe the good we want to achieve in a rich language of success.

3. Create measurable outcomes and objective definitions of success.

In business we say, "what gets measured gets managed." By finding ways to benchmark our efforts and outcomes, we can begin to keep track of our progress and success. Only then can we know if we're getting closer to our goals and desired outcomes.

The same can be done in nonprofit organizations. Once we have a clear focus and defined outcomes, we can create a set of objectives and criteria we can measure as we proceed. Without these, we don't know if our action and efforts are moving us closer to or farther from our goals.

4. Measure and track program costs and impact.

Beyond just a way of measuring financial value, money gives us a way of directly comparing otherwise disparate outcomes. It allows us to compare the value of two different types of customers or compare to the return on investment of different initiatives.

While money is not our end goal in nonprofit organizations, it can still be used to compare costs and measure value of different programs and initiatives. A program which generates more value while using less resources is better than one who consumes more and delivers less. By tracking the direct and indirect program costs and monetizing program value, you can see which programs you should double down on and which you should scuddle.

5. Balance core programs and investing in future innovation.

In business, you need to generate results now and in the future. If you only focus on driving short-term results, you'll soon find yourself with employees who are stunted and products and services that can't keep up with the competition. But if you only focus on long-term training and innovation, you'll run out of cash by the end of the month.

The same is true with your nonprofit organization. You need to invest in your staff and create new programs and services for your beneficiaries. But you can't do so in a vacuum and ignore the short-term reality of budgets and delivery. Set aside a reasonable portion of your money and resources for each.

While running a nonprofit is not the same as running a for-profit business, there are many best practices you can borrow to be successful. Many nonprofits shun running themselves like a business thinking that purpose trumps profit. Unfortunately, even though nonprofits are not driven by money, failing to adopt good for-profit business practices will often leave these well-intended nonprofits struggling to create the impact they were designed to make.

This article was originally published on Inc.com: https://www.inc.com/bruce-eckfeldt/just-because-youre-a-nonprofit-organization-doesnt-mean-you-cant-act-like-a-for-profit-company.html

Here’s why your executive team struggles to solve problems and what you need to change

Many executive teams struggle with addressing issues quickly and effectively. Here's how the best ones avoid drama and get better results.

As a leadership team coach, developing a good decision-making process is one of my main areas of focus. And while many teams are good at simple decisions that come up frequently, these same teams can be challenged by new and complicated decisions that come up when the company starts to grow quickly.

The key to getting good at decision-making is to have a process that everyone knows and has had experience using. While it's true that every decision is different, the process you use should be the same. Here is the one I coach my teams to use.

1. Define

First, I have teams start every decision-making process by clarifying the problem in front of them.

In this step, it's fairly common to discover that the decision on the table is simply the presenting problem and there is, in fact, a deeper, more important problem hiding underneath the surface layer. By getting to the core problem, we will not only address the surface issue we're having but we will also be able to address other issues on a more systematic basis.

For example, one team I was working with recently had a problem with low sales numbers during the previous two months. Their first reaction was to spend more on marketing. However, it became apparent that one of the sales people was on maternity leave for three months and hadn't been replaced. The real issue was not having a good process for covering people while they were on planned leaves, a problem that would not have been solved with more marketing dollars.

2. Debate

Once the team has defined the problem well, I have them develop criteria for the options they want to consider. The goal here is to get clear on the definition of solved and all the possible ways they could address the problem.

For the criteria, I'm looking for objective tests we can apply to all of the options to evaluate and sort them. For simple problems, this might be things like cost, speed of implementation, and/or measure of impact on the problem. For more complex problems, you might have criteria that address risks, organizational change, or undesirable collateral impact.

Creating as many options as possible is critical to a good problem-solving process. If there's only two or three options to choose from, a team can easily become stuck with a less than ideal outcome. Create time and space to brainstorm ideas. Suspend judgement and generate as many ideas as possible. Often times the winning idea comes late in the game and starts out as an off-handed comment.

3. Decide

Once you have your criteria and your options, the team can start the final decision-making process. Use the criteria you've developed to evaluate and rank the options you've generated. For some criteria, the budget for example, might be easy to calculate and apply.

On the other hand, it might be harder to quantify things like risk and undesirable collateral impact, but taking some time to discuss is important. In the end, I like to see absolute numbers, scales of one to five, or high/medium/low for each criteria and for each option.

However, all of this only works if people are free to speak their mind and share what they know and see without fear of judgment or shame. If people hold back, you'll miss key insights.

Most of the time, one of your options will float to the top as the most desirable choice. On occasion however, you might find that two or more options seem good for different reasons and it's not obvious which one to choose. In these cases, try to develop a trade off value between the criteria.

For example, if one solution costs more but is faster to implement, decide how much a week or day of schedule is worth in dollars and then discount/add it to one option to compare them head-to-head. You can do this for many types of criteria and effectively normalize options to reduce the complexity.

While you won't always need to create complicated matrices to compare and score you options, when the stakes are high and the issues complicated, it's a good approach to have in your toolbox.

Good decision making is a core skill for every leadership team. It takes training, practice, and experience to build that muscle. But once you have achieve that capability and honed it, your work will become much faster and easier, and you'll have better outcomes to celebrate.

This article was originally published on Inc.com: https://www.inc.com/bruce-eckfeldt/if-your-team-is-struggling-to-find-good-solutions-to-hard-problems-try-these-3-steps.html

Good and efficient decisions will make or break your business. Here's why.

It’s not enough to make good decisions, you need to make efficient ones as well

One of the key lessons I’ve learned over the years as a founder, CEO, and business adviser is that it’s not enough to make good decisions; you need to make good decisions efficiently. Bad decisions are never good, but it’s just as bad to make good decisions late.

The fact is that business is full of decisions. Effective executives and effective leadership teams learn how to make tens, if not hundreds, of decisions every week to keep the business running well and growing. They do this by applying the right amount of energy, brain power, and focus required for each decision and not an ounce more.

As a CEO, one of the key moves I made for company growth was to establish a leadership team within my company. This was the team I worked with to think through the bigger issues and the team that became responsible for key departments. I realized I couldn’t do everything myself. I needed more input and insights into where to steer the business.

However when I first established this team, I made a critical mistake. I assumed that everyone should be involved in all of decisions. I made a long list with copious notes and called our first meeting with all of the senior team members. The first few decisions felt good because everyone was included. We had good discussion, and we found directions that everyone stood behind.

The problem was that we only had completed three or four items over the course of two hours and we had over fifty items on the list. Clearly, this wasn’t going to work going forward. I realized that I needed to find a way to make both good decisions, and also make them in the limited time we had available.

In order to speed things up, we decided that not everyone needed to be involved at the same level for every decisions. For some decisions, certain people needed to be at the table to discussion, but for other decisions we just needed to collect information from a few people.

In order to streamline our process, we came up with several different levels of involvement and worked to minimize everyone’s time commitments within our key decisions. We came up with five levels.

Input

For many decisions, we needed to collect information from several sources for input into the process. We learned that while gathering the information was critical, the key executives who provided the information didn’t need to be part of the process. Once we had the information, they could go back to other work. This worked well for staffing and planning.

Collaborate

At times, we realized that we needed certain people at the table to discuss options and think through scenarios and possible outcomes. It was more than input, so we made it a higher level of involvement. We used this for deciding project team leads and new clients.

Make

One of the best things we did was get super clear on who was actually going to make a decision. Generally we got it down to one person. They took in all of the data, considered all of the options, and applied all of the criteria discussed to make the final choice. Our rule here was to have the person who was closest to the issue make the decision when possible. What we found eventually is that the person closest to the issue and the person who was going to have to live with the decisions were the best people to put in this role.

Approve

As CEO, I realized that I needed to delegate a lot of decisions if I was going to free myself up to focus on more strategic tasks and to empower the team. However, there were some things I still wanted to give a final blessing to before they were implemented. The rule was that I couldn’t change the decision, I could only approve or vote it. It freed up my time immensely and developed my team’s leadership skills.

Inform

This was a powerful move for the team. We realized that many people were coming to the table just so they could hear the discussion and learn what the final resolution was. Rather than having them sit through the meetings, we promised to take notes, record final decisions, and distribute them to the right people in a timely manner. This greatly reduced the people who needed to be at the meeting.

Once we had these levels defined and agreed to, we found the best strategy was to push people from the middle to the edges, to either to input or inform, if we could. We generally tried to only have one person make the decision and then I would often take approve simply to coordinate with strategy and longer term planning.

Now as a business coach, decision making is one of the main things I help leadership teams get right. The key is to balance quality with efficiency and to know when you’ve hit the “good enough” point so you can move forward onto the next decisions quickly and confidently.

This article was originally published on Forbes.com: https://www.forbes.com/sites/entrepreneursorganization/2018/06/06/its-not-enough-to-make-good-decisions-you-need-to-make-efficient-ones-as-well/#3931f612215e

Hate going to networking events? Here’s how to make them productive, if not enjoyable

While being an introvert can make networking events more business than pleasure, it doesn't need to be difficult.

I've been a consultant and entrepreneur for over two decades and networking has undoubtedly been the key to my success. Ironically, I test off the charts as an introvert. And while I have approached networking differently than a natural extrovert, I've found ways to be extremely effective in these social situations.

Networking is critical to most professional careers. If you're in a sales or business development role, networking is central to your ability to develop relationships and leads. But even if your primary responsibility is not lead generation, networking will have a significant impact on your success.

Networks give you access to information, resources, knowledge, and most importantly, talent. One of the best ways to find candidates for open positions is your professional network. And when you need freelancers or service providers, your network can provide you with names and recommendations.

There are many ways to network, but the most common and often most productive is the tried and true networking event. This could be a one off event some evening after work or a cocktail hour at a longer conference or industry gathering. Either way, these types of situations provide a good opportunity to meet many people in a short amount of time, if you approach it correctly.

Here are the strategies I've developed over the years and the ones I coach my clients on when they want to make the most of an event.

1. Set a specific goal to achieve.

As an introvert, I don't naturally work a room. I'd rather find someone interesting and sit in the corner and talk. To motivate me, I set a reasonable goal to kick start me into meeting people. It could be as simple collecting 20 business cards or meeting three of the speakers. The goal gives me purpose and helps me make decisions and take actions.

2. Prepare yourself mentally and physically.

I suggest that introverted people prepare both mentally and physically for the event. If I've been at work or conference proceeding all day and then head straight to a happy hour, I run out of steam quickly. Instead, I'll sneak in a workout, go for a long walk, or just find a quiet corner and grab some down time. By "pre-charging" for big social events, I give myself the energy I need to be successful at them.

3. Have a few opening lines ready.

Starting a conversation can be difficult in many social situations. Fortunately, events come with some context that make openings a little easier to develop. I like to have 3-5 general open-ended questions in my back pocket that are specific to the situation. "What did you think of so-and-so's talk?" or "Did you come to last year's event?" are great examples of openers that can kick-start the conversation.

4. Work the room to meet new people.

Too many times I see people meeting someone early in the event and then speaking with him or her the entire time. Networking events are great opportunities to meet lots of new people. Focus on moving through three steps: building rapport, making a connection, and setting a reason to follow up (my go to is to send them an article). I generally spend between 3-5 minutes per person to get these. Once I set a reason to follow up with them after the event, I move on to meet someone new.

5. Give yourself a break.

If you're an introvert, you'll need some downtime. If an event is more than two hours, I often plan a 10-15 minute break about half way. I might call and check in with my kids or just find a place to relax for bit. Be sure to set a specific time for when you'll jump back in so you don't convince yourself to call it a day.

6. Follow up on your commitments.

After the event, be sure to follow up with everyone and mention the items you agreed to. I try to do this by the end of the day or first thing the next day. You don't need to do the follow up itself, but definitely touch base with them and set expectations for the follow up you mentioned in the conversation. If I promised to send them an article, my email would just tell them I'll send it to them by the end of the week or by some date. Many times this is a better approach since it allows me to email them again which, in turn, builds more connection.

Just because you're not a natural extrovert doesn't mean you can't handle a social event like a networking pro. In fact, by using these techniques, you can often get more accomplished in less time than someone who can close the bar. You'll also feel much better the next morning.

This article was originally published on Inc.com: https://www.inc.com/bruce-eckfeldt/hate-going-to-networking-events-heres-how-to-make-them-productive-if-not-enjoyable.html

Want to know the one secret to Amazon’s success? The SEC has a letter from Jeff Bezos that tells all

Amazon has been ranked number one by the American Customer Satisfaction Index for eight straight years. Here is how they did it.

As a business advisor and leadership coach, one of my first tasks with any organization is to help the top team set the bar. Without a clear bar, we have no target and no way to measure progress. However, my real job isn't getting these teams to reach that bar; my real job is teaching them how to raise that bar when they reach it.

For companies like Amazon, the idea of continuously raising the bar is hardwired into their DNA. The only way a company can reach and maintain such high levels of success is by systematically resetting their sights on higher and higher goals as they continue to succeed on previous ones. They are never "done" and they never stop thinking about how to be bigger and better.

Recently, I came across a letter Jeff Bezos wrote to shareholders, a letter which the SEC posted on their website. In it Bezos writes about how the constant pursuit of customer satisfaction has instilled an ethos in Amazon.

"One thing I love about customers" he writes, "is that they are divinely discontent." And it is this natural tendency of the customer to constantly want more that has driven the company to be fanatics about continuous improvement.

Bezos identifies one simple thing that drives continuous improvement within Amazon. And any company can use this simple tool to fuel growth and innovation. It's simple, but not simplistic, and it's something that you can spend a lifetime pursing and still not be finished with.

What drives Amazon's success is their dedication to always setting high standards.

Setting high standards does not just apply to the executive team, but with every team and at every level of the organization. High standard are part of Amazon's culture and ethos. It's a core value and a continual pursuit.

But setting high standards is not easy, nor is it cheap.

First, standards are infectious. Once one person raises or lowers the standards, others tend follow. It's critical to set the standards high and then push people to achieve them. It's a virtuous cycle: success will continue to build more success.

However, the opposite it true as well. As soon as one person gets away with lower standards without comment or correction, then others will quickly follow suit. And once this momentum builds, it's difficult to arrest.

For companies like Amazon, where employees tend to be some of the smartest and brightest in their fields, another problem presents itself. People who are exceptionally smart in one area will tend to assume they are exceptionally smart in many others--even when they are not.

Bezos emphasizes the need for everyone to be open to the fact they have weaknesses and blind spots. The answer he gives is to get good feedback and insights from the people around you. Reflecting back on the early days of the company he says, "my colleagues were my tutors."

Having such high standards has cost Amazon a lot of time and money.

For example, instead of quick and easy slide presentations, teams at Amazon write six-page memos to lay out ideas in narratives which are read in silence at the start of a meeting. When well-written, these frame up concepts perfectly and kick off highly-productive discussions.

But these memos are very hard to write well and people often spend a week or more creating a memo. Many companies would baulk at that kind of time investment. For Amazon, it's just one more example of the bar they are willing to set and the work they are willing to put in.

What are the practical benefits of such high standards?

The positive outcomes show up in their products and services. High standards drive the breadth and depth of Amazon's offerings and the quality of their service. Bezos lists out all of the innovation and success initiatives they have recently launched. He lists everything from Prime Video, AWS, and Alexa to the internal accomplishments with programs such as Career Choice where they pay up to $12,000 towards the education of Amazon employees.

Beyond their products, high standards drive internal culture. And while it's a demanding place to work, it's also an engaging place to work. Good people are drawn to high standards and so they are drawn to Amazon. This creates a virtuous cycle so long as these standards are maintained.

Good companies learn how to set goals and achieve them. Great companies learn how to continually raise the bar on performance to reach ever higher levels of success.

While the vast majority of companies are a fraction of the size of Amazon, they can adopt the same approach to set high standards and achieve the same benefits of this continuous pursuit of improvement. It's certainly not easy, but it's worth it.

This article was originally published on Inc.com: https://www.inc.com/bruce-eckfeldt/this-shareholder-letter-written-by-jeff-bezos-reveals-1-simple-secret-to-amazons-success.html

The 12 external factors you need to consider to create an effective business strategy

Too many companies create their strategy in a vacuum. To be successful, you need to consider and react to these external factors.

If you want to grow quickly and successfully, you need a solid plan that positions you well in the market and gives you plenty of business opportunities. Strategy is fundamentally about how you are going to respond to what's happening in your market and what your competitors are doing. If you're only looking at what's happening inside your company, you'll miss the bigger picture and many of the great opportunities--and risks--that are out there.

Developing strategy is one of the main things I do with leadership teams as we plan for how they are going to scale and grow their businesses. When we conduct our strategy sessions, we start with a broad assessment of the external factors that we need to look at. From these, we can pull insights, predictions, patterns, and trends that are going to play key roles in the decisions we make about where we go.

1. Customers

Knowing what's happening in your customers' business and having insight into their market is critical. Ask them how things are going, what they are worried about, what their big plans are, and where they are investing their time and energy. Look at your best customers and worst customer and see what they are doing differently.

2. Prospects

Beyond your current customers, what are your prospects doing? Try to understand why they are the not buying, what else are they buying, and how it is different from your product or service. Look at what criteria they are using to make decisions and what channels they are buying through. See if you can develop insights into what's preventing them from buying.

3. Direct competitors

Knowing what your competitors are doing is critical. Have they launched or announced new products or services, made key hires, or opened new locations? One of the best sources of this information is the people who have recently left said companies. If you're connected to someone who just left, take them out to lunch and see what you can learn.

4. Indirect competitors

Too many teams only focus on direct competitors. Instead, you need to consider all of the options your customers and prospects have to solve their problems. Don't forget that coping with the situation is a viable option for some of your current and prospective customers. Knowing the options that these people are considering is key to positioning.

5. Markets

Knowing what's happening in your local market is critical. And if you're in multiple markets, this is even more important because it's easy to become blind to local conditions that might impact your business. Understand what's happening on the ground in the place you do business.

6. Industry

Stay aware of shifts in your industry that will impact you and your business. If everyone else is moving staff from 1099s to full time hires, this will impact access to talent and the expectations of your potential employees.

7. Technology

Staying current with the changes in the underlying technology and the infrastructure of your industry is critical. Many companies have gone belly up or been swooped up in acquisitions because they missed a key shift in technical trends. These tend to happen quickly, so suss them out early.

8. Labor

If you're a growing company, access to good talent is critical. Understand what's happening with salaries, benefits, and who else is competing for the same people you are. If labor is tight or expensive, it will hinder your growth and cut into your margins.

9. Economic

Macro issues like interest rates and general economic growth will impact the business environment. But you should also pay attention to how these impact your specific industry. For example, interest rates will impact real estate, which will hit construction, which means building supplies will be less in-demand.

10. Political

Politics define policy which can have a significant impact on business conditions. New regulations or changes to existing ones can make or break businesses. Make sure to look beyond national politics; pay attention to state and local issues because hese can often fly under the radar.

11. Cultural

Trends and movements can change customer expectations, behaviors, and priorities. And sometimes this happens more quickly than we anticipate. Companies that respond quickly can take advantage of the slower competitors and gain market share.

12. Social

While there are others you can, and should, consider that are unique to you business, these twelve factors are a good starting point. By collecting what you know about each of these you'll be better informed and will make better, more insightful choices about the strategic moves you plan to make. Good teams look at all of these on a regular basis to catch changes that can have a big impact on the business and help them take advantage of opportunities and avoid pitfalls.

This article was originally published on Inc.com: https://www.inc.com/bruce-eckfeldt/12-external-factors-you-need-to-create-an-effective-business-strategy.html

Here are 12 ways to make emailing a more effective tool for your team

While many businesses are switching to collaboration tools, email hasn't gone away. Here are a dozen ways to make it more productive.

As a team coach, I'm focused on elevating the performance and results of the organizations I work with. And regardless of whether it's leadership, management, or project teams, communication is critical to their effectiveness. Unfortunately, email tends to be an area that generates a lot of problems and drama for these teams.

The problem with email is that it's easy to send a lot of information and create a lot of work for everyone else. Here are twelve rules I generally suggest teams adopt to reduce the number of emails, make them more effective tools for communications, and help people prioritize and manage their inboxes.

1. Don't email when a phone call will do.

If you can pick up the phone and have a conversation, do that. Anything that is not a simple yes/no will require some back and forth and it's better to that by phone than a long email thread. And if someone is just down the hall, a short walk is better than typing.

2. Stick to one topic or issue per email.

I generally suggest one issue or topic per email so that people can reply with just that answer or response. This way, you'll get faster responses since the person is not waiting to pull together all of the answers before they reply.

3. Only put people in the "TO" field who need to respond.

Only put the people who need to be directly addressed or need to reply in the top line. And think twice about who you put in there and if they can be excluded or just CC'd. I assume that if I'm in the "TO" I need to read and reply.

4. CC everyone else who just needs to know.

For anyone who just needs to know about the email or needs a copy of it for their records, put them in the CC field. By separating these out, you'll help people prioritize what they need to read and reply to.

5. Make reading CC emails optional.

Make reading CC emails optional or at least low priority. Create filters that put CC'd emails into a separate folder and skim once a week.

6. Don't hijack emails.

It drives me nuts when some replies to an email with an unrelated topic or issue. Even if it's related but a different thread, make an new subject line or start a fresh email.

7. If you have a lot to say, start with a summary.

If your email is going to have in-depth details, lists, and background, then start your email with a short summary that includes what actions need to be taken. Long emails will not be read right away, but a summary might.

8. Name people who you want to respond.

When you need specific people to respond with answers or decisions, make sure to call those people out by name with a clear description with what you need from them. Ideally list the call to actions on separate lines so they can reply inline.

9. Confirm receipts with reply timeframes.

If you get an email but can't reply to it right away, send a note saying you got it along with anything you can give or share at that moment as well as a timeframe for when you'll finish your reply. Don't leave emails hanging out there for more than 24 hours if you can avoid it.

10. Include documents as attachments (unless they are huge).

If you have documents, attach them rather than sending links. Many people have emails downloaded to their phones and tablets which don't have internet connections and they will be unable to see the information offline. If the documents are extremely large, consider attaching the key pages with links to the full documents.

11. Use numbered lists with more than three items.

When you're listing items or points, use numbers when it's greater than three. This allows people to refer to the points in replies or other conversations. It also helps you see how many things you're including which can help you to prioritize.

12. Set no-email hours for your team.

Emails can be very encroaching on personal lives. If people on your team have a habit of emailing at crazy hours, set up "no email" times where people agree to not send emails or cannot reply to emails. Create fun penalties for people who break the rules. Giving people time off email will prevent fatigue and burnout.

While there are many more rules you can, and should, consider, these are my top twelve recommendations that will help you and your team get your emails under control and your inbox to zero more often.

This article was originally published on Inc.com: https://www.inc.com/bruce-eckfeldt/is-your-team-overwhelmed-by-emails-try-these-12-rules-for-better-emailing.html

Struggling to set effective quarterly objectives? Make sure you’re using these 5 types

Many team struggle with setting effective quarterly objectives. Here are five types that will create better alignment and simplify implementation.

The core of my role as a leadership team coach is to help my clients set strong objectives each quarter that advance the companies growth strategy and critical capabilities. Without these, they only focus their time and energy on the day-to-day demands of the business. Powerful objectives align the team and create urgency and progress on long-term goals.

However, when I walk into many teams, the objectives they've set are often vague, lack key details, and don't serve to focus and align the team. Generally this results in lackluster performance and frustration with progress. With a few revisions and an understanding of what makes good objectives, these pitfalls can often be avoided.

Here are five types of objectives, and examples of each, that I find work best for driving results. If you're having difficulty with your objectives, use these examples to fix them.

1. Completion

When you have an initiative or project to finish, use a completion objective. The key with completion objectives is to define what your "definition of done" is and to set a clear date. Here are three examples,

Allow new affiliate partners to sign up via the website by October 1st

Route all new customer service calls into the new CRM system by August 15th

Complete and deliver all senior executive 360 feedback reports by June 1st

2. Proficiency

Use this objective strategy for when you want to raise the bar on performance for a specific capability in the company and keep it there. For proficiency goals, select a specific performance indicator (how to measure) and a target (the number you want to achieve).

Increase the customer service NPS above 0.25

Get inventory level under 90 day inventory turn

Finish weekly leadership team meeting in under 55 minutes

3. Reduction or elimination

If you're trying to reduce or eliminate something in the business, use this approach. This one is similar to proficiency but opposite since there is a lower limit your trying to get to.

Eliminate all returns due to missing shipping address information

Have zero accidents on the shop floor due to liquid spills

Get same-day employee call-outs to zero

4. Run rate

With run rate objectives we're focused on an absolute number or volume, rather than a proficiency standard or ratio. We want to set a target rate and keep it there going forward. By focusing on rates rather than one total number, we focus on the system that needs to be put in place, not just creating a one-time win.

Increase our inbound lead rate to 25 qualified leads per week

Improve sales in the northeast to $750,000/month

Publish three new white papers per week

5. Composition

Sometimes you want to change a ratio in the business. With these goals, there is usually a range you're targeting with a high and a low. You want to achieve a specific balance, not set a bar to overcome and exceed. Numbers that are too high or too low are both undesirable.

Have 20-25 percent of new clients be small businesses

Spend two to four hours a week on learning and development activities

Keep two to three days of inventory on the top 20 best selling products

Don't over complicate your quarterly planning process. Pick three to five things to focus for the coming ninety days and leave everything else for later. It's far more productive to complete a handful of goals in a quarter than to get halfway on twice as many initiatives. And by focusing on these five types of objectives, you'll simplify your planning even more and accelerate your grow even faster.

This article was originally published on Inc.com: https://www.inc.com/bruce-eckfeldt/you-can-set-many-types-of-quarterly-objectives-here-are-5-types-that-work-best.html

Most meetings suck. But they don’t have to.

As much as I’m sure you would like to, you can’t run a business without meetings.

Let me agree with you upfront, most meeting suck. In fact, so many meetings suck that my friend Cameron Herold has written a book about it. And a quick search on Amazon shows that he’s not the only one. Bad meetings are rampant in most organizations.

Despite sucking, however, we need them.

Meetings provide a critical time and place to discuss issues, debate options, and make decisions in real time. And meeting face-to-face allows for broad-spectrum communication that collaboration tools and online documents just can’t match.

But while we can’t, and shouldn’t, try to get rid of all meetings, we can zero in on the meetings we really do need and work to make them as good as we possibly can.

I run many types of meetings for my clients. Strategy meetings, planning meetings, retrospective meetings, and progress review meetings are just a few of the examples

And while they are all different and have different goals, they all still have common elements that make them good meetings.

Here is an article I wrote for Inc.com on the five things that I make sure all of my meetings have. If you’re finding yourself in a lot of sucky meetings, try a few of these.

Why Most Meetings Suck—and 5 Things You Can Do to Make Sure Yours Don't

And here are some other articles I’ve written about meetings…

Is Your Culture Suffering From Death by Meeting? Try This 1 Simple Change

Bad Meetings Suck, But These 5 Types of Good Meetings Can Save Your Company

Still struggling?

Set up a call with me to discuss your meeting woes and I’ll see what I can do to help. I have yet to see a meeting I can’t improve somehow.

Bruce “Facilitator” Eckfeldt
bruce@eckfeldt.com

P.S. As Lou Holtz once famously said, “In this world, you're either growing or you're dying so get in motion and grow.” Whenever you’re ready... here are three ways I can help you grow your business faster, and with less drama:

1. Take the Growth Readiness Assessment
Download the 24 questions, send me the results, and set up a free one-on-one call to review the results and identify where you can accelerate your growth with the right focus. - CLICK HERE

2. Check out my Leadership Team Intensive
Every team can get into a rut—leadership teams are no exception. My half-day intensive helps the top team take a step back and see what’s working, what’s not, where they can develop new, better habits, and where they can break old ones that aren’t working. It’s like a B12 booster for your entire company. - CLICK HERE

3. Let me facilitate your next annual or quarterly planning meeting
Want to kick your planning sessions up a notch? Have me come in and we’ll work together on your annual or quarterly plan. Set goals that will really drive strategy, and create an action plan that will make sure everyone has clear accountability for results. - CLICK HERE

Want to improve both your culture and your performance? Stop looking for problems and look for this instead

While it's completely natural to look for problems, it's not always the best approach if you want to improve your work environment and results.

Just about all of the leaders I work with are chronic problem solvers. They love to search for things that are broken, need improvement, and present risks, and then they love to try and fix them. Much of the time this does, in fact, deliver value to the organization. But not always. Like many tools, if overused, being overly-focused on problem hunting has some liability.

First, people who are overly-focused on finding problems are also typically tinkers. They like to go in and make changes to try to get improvements. However, they often make changes that have broader impacts that end up creating more problems than they solve. At best it's net neutral, but it often makes things worse.

Second, if you look hard enough at any situation, you'll always find lots of problems. Problems are never ending. And if you focus all of your time and energy on pointing out problems, you'll create a tough culture for your colleagues. Nobody wants to be surrounded by people who are pointing out everything that is wrong or not good enough.

So, how do you avoid creating a culture where people are creating more problems than they are solving and bringing everyone down in the process?

When working with teams and companies, I suggest they strike a healthy balance between focusing on things that are working as well as things that are not working. My rule is at least half the time should be spent identifying and acknowledging those things that are going well and talking about how they keep them going well.

Here are a few things you can do to increase the amount of time and focus you spend on the things that are going well.

1. Start every meeting with wins.

I start every meeting by having each person mention one win they had recently. The goal here is to find and focus on things that are going well for people. It sets a positive tone for the meeting. It also lets other people know what was successful, and it can inspire people with new ideas and models for solving other problems.

2. Do a Root Success Analysis.

Many people do Root Cause Analysis when they are dealing with a problem. The goal here is to dig underneath the problem to find the source problem and fix it so that it never happens again.

Root Success Analysis is similar but the opposite. Here we want to identify something that is working well and then ask the all important question of "Why?" Ideally we should ask the question four to five times until we get at the root source of the success. Then we want to make sure we keep doing it and find other ways of repeating that success.

3. Define your core capabilities.

Francis Frei, Harvard Business School professor and co-author of the book Uncommon Service, says the key to strategy is defining what you are willing to "suck" at in your business. The idea is that in order to compete, you need to select one or two attributes that you are going to be the absolute best at in your market. These are your core capabilities. However, since resources are limited, you need to be willing to suck at everything else.

Knowing your core capabilities becomes a very powerful tool when it comes to problems solving. Knowing them means that not all problems, are in fact problems you care about. You only care about the ones that directly impact your core capabilities because they impact your strategy.

4. Create a "keep" list.

In any meeting or review, it's easy to create a list of things you want to change and fix. Do this, but also create a list of things you need to "keep" as well. Too often, when you go into fix one thing you end up breaking something that's working well. Creating a "keep" list draws your attention to the things that are creating value and reduces the chance that you accidently make that changes something for the worse.

By bringing attention to the successful parts of the business, you are doing two things. First, you are decreasing the likelihood that someone will accidentally make a change to something that's working well. Second, you are creating a culture of positivity and optimism. Both of these initiatives will have significant impacts on your overall success.

This article was originally published on Inc.com: https://www.inc.com/bruce-eckfeldt/most-business-leaders-spend-too-much-time-looking-for-problems-heres-what-to-look-for-instead.html

Celebrating America's core values this 4th - Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness

I'm sure most of you in the United States have burgers (or some plant-based protein substitute) on the grill and have hydrated with a beer or two by now, so I'll make this quick...

For me, the 4th of July about a celebration of the grand experiment designed by our founding fathers. The United States of America was a radical idea. And one that came with great uncertainty and cost. The signers of the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution took great personal risk and sacrificed much.

How did they do this? And why did they bother? Why not just copy what had been done before?

What drove all of them was their unstoppable conviction of a core set of values.Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These values underpinned every decision they made about how to create a new country and how a better government could work.

Their focus on these values allowed them to created alignment, rise above disagreement, make the tough decisions, and find confidence to make great sacrifices.

So, here is my question for you on this July 4th...

What are your organization's core values?

What is so important to your business that you would be willing to fire an employee, or say no to new client, or incur a great expenses? Core values don't come cheap. You need to pay for them if you're going to truly live them.

However, done right, they can be extremely powerful. They create focus and resolve that allow you to take on the big challenges, implement the risky changes, and make the hard decisions.

But you can't that if you don't know what your values are.

So here's my little gift to you...

For the rest of this month I'm making my Discover Your Core Values online program totally FREE.

The course walks you through my process for discovering the values deep inside you and your organization that drive your decision making and priorities. Over a dozen videos and a workbook to walk you through, step-by-step, the process of exploring your values and finding examples of where they have come up in your life and your business.

I've used this with dozens of clients (both businesses and individuals) and it's always a eye-opening processes. In fact, I do go through the process every two to three years myself and learn something new each time.

If you've never thought about your organization's core values, this is a great opportunity to learn about what makes you and your business tick and how you can make better decisions and create more alignment.

To get the FREE program, just click on the link below:

http://www.eckfeldt.com/corevalues

As a little bonus, I'm happy to jump on a call for 30-min to help you at any point. Just email me and we'll schedule a time.

Have a happy and safe 4th!

Bruce
bruce@eckfeldt.com

P.S. What to grow your organization faster, and with less drama? Whenever you’re ready... here are three ways I can help you grow your business faster, and with less drama:

1. Take the Growth Readiness Assessment
Download the 24 questions, send me the results, and set up a free one-on-one call to review the results and identify where you can accelerate your growth with the right focus. - CLICK HERE

2. Check out my Leadership Team Intensive
Every team can get into a rut—leadership teams are no exception. My half-day intensive helps the top team take a step back and see what’s working, what’s not, where they can develop new, better habits, and where they can break old ones that aren’t working. It’s like a B12 booster for your entire company. -CLICK HERE

3. Let me facilitate your next annual or quarterly planning meeting
Want to kick your planning sessions up a notch? Have me come in and we’ll work together on your annual or quarterly plan. Set goals that will really drive strategy, and create an action plan that will make sure everyone has clear accountability for results. - CLICK HERE

Don’t let your air travel get in the way of your productivity, use these 5 tips

Even if you only take a few flights a year, here are five tips to help you get more done.

In my hay day as a road warrior consultant, I would spend a lot of time in the air. It wasn't uncommon for me to have two flights in a week, traveling nationally and internationally to see clients. Making the most of my time in the air was critical to maintaining in my productivity.

Today, as a business coach working with leadership teams on growth and development strategy, while I don't travel nearly as much, I still use the following techniques to get work done on each and every flight.

1. Plan your work.

Like any productivity system, planning is key. Make a list of the most important things you need to do. Then, mark those which you can do on the plane. Prioritize these and set goals for the flight. I like to give myself a list of 15-30 minute tasks to work on while I travel. I know other people who prefer to work on one bigger task for the entire ride. Experiment to find out what works best for you.

2. Have a back up plan.

I always have contingency plans for common challenges. I make sure I download all of the files I need for my key tasks so I don't need the internet. I also keep in mind that I can do work on my phone if I can't comfortably use my laptop. (In fact, I'm in the air right now, writing this article on my phone.) Don't let challenges such as no internet or uncomfortable conditions be an excuse; have a plan and a backup strategy and push through.

3. Use the right technology.

I travel with a small laptop, an iPad, and a phone with me at my seat. I also carry an external battery and multi-connector cable which can charge all of these devices. I carry wireless earbuds and corded earbuds in case the former go dead. (I know some people love over-the-ear noise-cancelling headphones, but I find them too bulky and not super effective.) Create a tech setup that works well for you and keep it up to date.

I put all of these items in a separate pocket of my carry on bag so that I can quickly grab everything I need at my seat and put my bag overhead. This ensures that I'm not "that guy" who's holding up everyone trying to board the plane. It ensures that I don't forget anything for my seat in case I can't get out of my seat during the flight.

4. Get started quickly and find your flow.

As soon as I sit down, I start working. I review the to do list on my phone and choose the first task I can begin with before we take off (and one that doesn't require my computer). Make it super easy for you to start working because once you start, it's easier to keep going. If you don't have a system to help you start quickly, you're more likely to throw in the towel and start watching a movie instead.

I also immediately put in my earbuds and start playing some good productivity music. I have a pre-set series of playlists so that I don't have to spend time choosing songs. Each playlist has a different mood and keeps me focused. For me, I choose songs without words and nothing too jarring. Play around with different styles and combinations, and select a few for different moods and keep them handy on your device.

5. Eat and drink to stay focused.

My first and number one rule is no alcohol. The only time I drink is on a longer flight, in the evening, and after I've done a lot of good work. Only then will I relax and watch a movie or read while enjoying an adult beverage. Drinking not only makes it harder to stay focused, it dehydrates you. Instead, I drink lots of water and maybe a black coffee while I work.

For food, I always make sure I have a few protein bars and snacks for the flight. Generally, I find airline food not very appealing and often heavy on carbs which kills my focus for flights. Nuts, jerky, or even a sandwich grabbed from the terminal are better options. Again, always have a plan.

While I try to avoid airline travel whenever I can, it's still required to reach my clients and attended conferences and speaking events. Making the most of my time in the air is the best way I stay productive and focused. Even if you only fly a few times a year, the strategies above can help make the most of the flights and help them go by quickly.

This article was originally published on Inc.com: https://www.inc.com/bruce-eckfeldt/5-ways-to-have-most-productive-flight.html

Have you been accused of micromanaging?

It’s a common situation. One I run into a lot.

An expert technologist, a renowned scientist, or a guru marketer decides to leave their high-paying consulting job to start their own business and build a company of a few dozen people.

Then, things start to breakdown: they become overwhelmed with managing delivery. They are constantly putting out fires and saving projects.  They get frustrated with the business and begin to burn out.

These desperate CEOs try to hire managers and people to take over various parts of the business, but nobody seems good enough or cares deeply enough about quality or deadlines. So they step back in to fix it.

This works for a time, but they are right back into the situation they wanted to get out of.

Eventually, they come to their coupe de grace: someone tells them that they are no fun to work for...because they are a micromanager.

What!?!? A micromanager? “I’m just trying to make sure we delivery properly and keep the customer happy,” they say.

At this point, they tend to get even more defensive, “Well, I wouldn’t have to be a micromanager if we had people who knew how to deliver.”

Often times, this is when I get the call. Frustrated with the lack of growth and drama, they call me in to fix the people on the team or replace the current people with “better” ones.

During these meetings is when I usually have to tell the CEO the bad news.

I explain that we can hire all new staff and coach them for hours a week, but it won’t solve the root problem. I tell him or her that we can only begin to make progress when he changes his  approach to being the leader of the business. The results appear when he stops acting like a micromanager and starts acting like a CEO.

It’s not an easy conversation to have, but it’s critical that these CEOs make the transition. If they don’t, their businesses will never scale and they will remain stuck.

So how do you stop being a micromanager?

The big switch is shifting your focus from managing delivery to building a team who can manage delivery. The difference is subtle, but it changes a lot of things.

In that process, you need to stop focusing on how things get done, and get good at clarifying outcomes, standards, and measures of success.

I like to use a football analogy: show them the end zone and the sidelines; explain the rules of the game, and tell them they have four downs before you take back the ball. Let them decide if they are going to run or pass or try a quarterback sneak.

Then, you coach. Review their performance, give them feedback, and put them back in the game. Resist the urge to jump in and grab the ball.

Recently, I wrote an article for Inc.com on this. It’s been one of my most viewed articles to date. Here is the link.

https://www.inc.com/bruce-eckfeldt/3-signs-that-youre-a-micromanager-what-you-can-do-to-about-it.html

Curious to know if you’re ready to grow your leadership team?

I have an assessment that might help you answer this question. Download it and have your team answer the questions and then we can jump on the phone for 30 mins to review the results.

http://www.eckfeldt.com/leadership-download

Once you have the results, send them to me at bruce@eckfeldt.com and then click here to book a time in my calendar.

Bruce “Macromanager” Eckfeldt
bruce@eckfeldt.com

P.S. As Lou Holtz once famously said, “In this world, you're either growing or you're dying so get in motion and grow.” Whenever you’re ready... here are three ways I can help you grow your business faster, and with less drama:

1. Take the Growth Readiness Assessment

Download the 24 questions, send me the results, and set up a free one-on-one call to review the results and identify where you can accelerate your growth with the right focus. - CLICK HERE

2. Check out my Leadership Team Intensive

Every team can get into a rut—leadership teams are no exception. My half-day intensive helps the top team take a step back and see what’s working, what’s not, where they can develop new, better habits, and where they can break old ones that aren’t working. It’s like a B12 booster for your entire company. - CLICK HERE

3. Let me facilitate your next annual or quarterly planning meeting

Want to kick your planning sessions up a notch? Have me come in and we’ll work together on your annual or quarterly plan. Set goals that will really drive strategy, and create an action plan that will make sure everyone has clear accountability for results. - CLICK HERE

Good strategy requires good situational awareness. Here’s how to improve yours.

Consider this: you would never make a move in chess without looking at where your opponents pieces are on the board. And before you make any move, you typically think through how the other side will likely respond and what you would do in reply to that.

Good chess players think ahead 2-3 moves. Great chess players think through 5-6, and Grand Masters think through 15-20. (If you can do the combinatorial math, email me.)

But that’s not all…

According to research reported in Nature, the reason Grand Masters are so much better than regular tournament players is that they are much better at thinking through their opportents possible moves and avoiding traps.

It’s the same in business. If you don’t think through what is happening in your market and how people will respond to your moves, you risk leaving yourself exposed and poorly positioned.

Yet far too often, I see leadership teams develop elaborate business strategies without looking at what’s happening outside their company.

On the one hand, I can understand why people do this:. it’s easier to see what’s happening inside the company and much more difficult to see what’s happening outside it.

But on the other hand, that’s using the same logic as the drunk who drops his key by his car in the middle of the block at night and looks for his keys at the corner where the streetlight is shining and helping him to see.

I think many companies don’t look at the external factors because they don’t know what to look for; they don’t know where to start.

When I plan a strategy session, I use a standard list. I might add a few things based on the specifics of the business, but I have a go to base set.

I wrote an article for Inc.com on these factors recently. Here’s the link…

https://www.inc.com/bruce-eckfeldt/12-external-factors-you-need-to-create-an-effective-business-strategy.html

For each of these, I want the team to think about potential changes, trends, and risks that could have an impact on the future success of the business. Good or bad.

If you’re planning a strategy session, use this list to prompt your team’s thinking and the discussion.

And if you need help on how to plan and structure your session, I’d love to help. Just email me or schedule a call and we can discuss your goals, the format, and how to best run the session.

Here the link to my standard two-day strategy session agenda. Feel free to use it.

Do you really want to get serious about your strategy session? Let’s talk about how I can help you design and facilitate your strategy work so that during the meeting you can focus on being in the meeting rather than running the meeting.

It’s your move...

Bruce “Grand Master” Eckfeldt
bruce@eckfeldt.com

P.S. As Lou Holtz famously once said, “In this world, you're either growing or you're dying so get in motion and grow.” Whenever you’re ready... here are 4 ways I can help you grow your business faster, and with less drama:

1. Take the Growth Readiness Assessment

Download the 24 questions, send me the results, and set up a free one-on-one call to review the results and identify where you can accelerate your growth with the right focus. - CLICK HERE

2. Come to my one-day Planning Intensives

About once a month, I hold a one-day intensive for Founders/CEOs to help them find the current bottleneck in their business and develop a 90-day plan for breaking through it. The in-person intensives are held in Manhattan, but we’re scheduling virtual programs, too. - CLICK HERE

3. Check out my Leadership Team Intensive

Every team can get into a rut—leadership teams are no exception. My half-day intensive helps the top team take a step back and see what’s working, what’s not, where they can develop new, better habits, and where they can break old ones that aren’t working. It’s like a B12 booster for your entire company. - CLICK HERE

4. Let me facilitate your next annual or quarterly planning meeting

Want to kick your planning sessions up a notch? Have me come in and we’ll work together on your annual or quarterly plan. Set goals that will really drive strategy, and create an action plan that will make sure everyone has clear accountability for results. - CLICK HERE

 

We’re always looking for new ideas, insights, and opportunities for improvement. Retrospectives are the best place to find them.

In 1981, a group called Narcotics Anonymous was trying to convince its members that expecting to stop using drugs on their own while simultaneously continuing to use narcotic drugs was folly.

They published a guide book for addicts who were trying to overcome their disease. In it, they published the quote:

“Insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results.”

How true. Yet, how regularly I run into situations where people have seemingly never come across this quote or logic.

So many of the the companies and leadership teams I work with find themselves in the same patterns, the same ruts, and the same undesirable outcomes as they found themselves in previously. Yet, they don’t seem to do or change anything about it.

From the outside, it’s like watching Bill Murray in Groundhog Day.

From the inside, however, it’s like being in a bad dream where you know something is amiss, but you just can’t do anything about it.

The challenge in these situations is remembering that the cycle is created by the system, not the individuals. The system is what allows the pattern to continue.

In order to break out of this pattern, you need to create a broader level of awareness of the forces at play and see the situation from a higher vantage point. Only then can you begin to see the situation for what it is and take actions that will really create change.

People look everywhere to learn. They read books, they talk to friends, they watch videos, they take classes. But if you want to learn how to change your future results, there is one place to look which is superior to all of these other options.

The best place to look is your recent past. And the best way to do this is through something called a retrospective.

It’s known by many names. Some people call them post mortems. The military calls them After Action Reviews (AARs). If you’re big into Lean or Japanese management culture, you might call them Kaizen meetings.

They are all basically the same. And they all follow the basic same format.

1. Collect data
2. Develop insights
3. Brainstorm possible actions
4. Make decisions and commit

I recently made a video outlining these steps. I discuss the ways I use retrospectives with clients. (See above.)

It’s only by looking at the recent past and seeing the patterns we’re in that allows us to see how the system is working. Once we have that information, we can see what adjustments are required to change that system.

I also wrote an article for Inc.com on this topic. You can check that out here:

The Secret To Turning Your Mistakes Into Opportunities In 6 Simple Steps

Want to learn how you can use a retrospective to improve your company? Start with the video and the article. Then check out these two books.

Project Retrospectives: A Handbook for Team Reviews by Norman Kerth. This is the bible. Check out his Prime Directive, which I use at the beginning of each and every retrospective that I run today.

Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great by Esther Derby and Diana Larsen. Great book by two amazing women in the technology field. Full of ideas and techniques for running retrospectives for any type of team.

Need more help?

Check out my webpage on retrospectives and learn how I work with teams to create powerful retrospective meetings that inspire change.

http://www.eckfeldt.com/retrospectives

Still need more help?

Let’s jump on the phone for 30 minutes. I’ll help you develop your agenda and choose the best approach for you and your situation. Click here to book a time in my calendar.

Cheers,
Bruce
bruce@eckfeldt.com

P.S. As Lou Holtz once famously said, “In this world, you're either growing or you're dying so get in motion and grow.” Whenever you’re ready... here are 4 ways I can help you grow your business faster, and with less drama:

1. Take the Growth Readiness Assessment

Download the 24 questions, send me the results, and set up a free one-on-one call to review the results and identify where you can accelerate your growth with the right focus. - CLICK HERE

2. Come to my one-day Planning Intensives

About once a month, I hold a one-day intensive for Founders/CEOs to help them find the current bottleneck in their business and develop a 90-day plan for breaking through it. The in-person intensives are held in Manhattan, but we’re scheduling virtual programs, too. - CLICK HERE

3. Check out my Leadership Team Intensive

Every team can get into a rut—leadership teams are no exception. My half-day intensive helps the top team take a step back and see what’s working, what’s not, where they can develop new, better habits, and where they can break old ones that aren’t working. It’s like a B12 booster for your entire company. - CLICK HERE

4. Let me facilitate your next annual or quarterly planning meeting

Want to kick your planning sessions up a notch? Have me come in and we’ll work together on your annual or quarterly plan. Set goals that will really drive strategy, and create an action plan that will make sure everyone has clear accountability for results. - CLICK HERE

 

We’re always looking for new ideas, insights, and opportunities for improvement. Retrospectives are the best place to find them.

In 1981, a group called Narcotics Anonymous was trying to convince its members that expecting to stop using drugs on their own while simultaneously continuing to use narcotic drugs was folly.

They published a guide book for addicts who were trying to overcome their disease. In it, they published the quote:

“Insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results.”

How true. Yet, how regularly I run into situations where people have seemingly never come across this quote or logic.

So many of the the companies and leadership teams I work with find themselves in the same patterns, the same ruts, and the same undesirable outcomes as they found themselves in previously. Yet, they don’t seem to do or change anything about it.

From the outside, it’s like watching Bill Murray in Groundhog Day.

From the inside, however, it’s like being in a bad dream where you know something is amiss, but you just can’t do anything about it.

The challenge in these situations is remembering that the cycle is created by the system, not the individuals. The system is what allows the pattern to continue.

In order to break out of this pattern, you need to create a broader level of awareness of the forces at play and see the situation from a higher vantage point. Only then can you begin to see the situation for what it is and take actions that will really create change.

People look everywhere to learn. They read books, they talk to friends, they watch videos, they take classes. But if you want to learn how to change your future results, there is one place to look which is superior to all of these other options.

The best place to look is your recent past. And the best way to do this is through something called a retrospective.

It’s known by many names. Some people call them post mortems. The military calls them After Action Reviews (AARs). If you’re big into Lean or Japanese management culture, you might call them Kaizen meetings.

They are all basically the same. And they all follow the basic same format.

1. Collect data

2. Develop insights

3. Brainstorm possible actions

4. Make decisions and commit

I recently made a video outlining these steps. I discuss the ways I use retrospectives with clients. To check it out, click here.

It’s only by looking at the recent past and seeing the patterns we’re in that allows us to see how the system is working. Once we have that information, we can see what adjustments are required to change that system.

This article was originally published on Inc.com: https://www.inc.com/bruce-eckfeldt/6-simple-steps-that-toyota-navy-seals-both-use-to-continuously-get-better.html